FOREWORDBy Ray WinningeR

Twenty-odd years ago, I wrote a book called the Chill Companion for Mayfair Games. Like it says on the wrapper, the Companion was a general- purpose supplement to the Chill RPG, a compilation of advice, optional rules, and brand new terrors to vex its poor, unfortunate players. In its first (Pacesetter) incarnation, Chill died after a couple of years of modest success, only to have the stake pulled from its heart by Mayfair a few years later. By the time the Companion was released, Chill was on the verge of going to its grave a second time. Relatively few copies were printed, and even fewer sold.

Yet, even after all these years, I get more mail with questions and comments about the Chill Companion than any of the thirty or forty other RPG books I worked on—and, I worked on plenty that dwarfed its popularity. The Chill audience may be small, but it’s vocal and fiercely devoted. It’s no wonder that—like the good Count from Transylvania—the game is

crawling out of its coffin once more, ready to terrify a new generation.

Appropriately enough, the Count himself facil-itated my introduction to Chill. When the game first appeared (way back in 1984!), I noticed it with interest, but I was already obsessed with (and start-ing to write for) too many other RPGs to find time to give it a whirl. It wasn’t until I thumbed through a copy of Chill co-creator Gali Sanchez’s Vengeance of Dracula a few months later that I knew I had to play this game. I was still a high school student at the time and enamored with Stoker’s novel. Perusing Vengeance, I was surprised to discover that Sanchez drew upon the literary Dracula rather than any of the better-known cinematic adaptations for inspira-tion. What’s more, this was clearly a new and exciting type of RPG adventure; even a casual scan revealed its rich narrative and detailed cast of characters. Back in those days, most published adventures consisted of

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Foreward

little more than a map and an associated key letting you know how many goblins are in each room and how many silver pieces are in each of their knapsacks. I still consider Vengeance of Dracula to be one of the most interesting and innovative RPG adven-tures of all time. It’s a shame it was overshadowed by Chaosium’s legendary Masks of Nyarlahotep that adopted a similar approach and was released at about the same time.

In fact, a number of Chill’s other innovations are sadly under-recognized, as well. Shortly after Vengeance, Pacesetter released an entire “source-book” about vampires that detailed how to effec-tively employ them in the game. That sort of thing is a given these days, but back in 1984, the idea of delving so deeply into one particular “monster” was quite uncommon, if not totally unheard of. Also, in the waning days of Chill’s first incarnation, Pacesetter published a supplement called Creature Feature that pioneered the notion of vampires and werewolves as player characters almost a decade before White Wolf ’s eponymous smash successes of the early 1990s.

Anyway, Pacesetter folded after just a couple of years in business and, sadly, Chill went right down with it.

Chill and I met again five years later. Mayfair Games had just acquired the rights to Chill and was busy revising and updating it, hoping to capitalize on the horror boom that was just ushered in by White Wolf. Mayfair was right in my backyard and I was pretty friendly with most of its staffers, so I was given an opportunity to leave my own tiny mark on the game. Its editor asked me, in a pinch, to write some flavor text in the form of a series of spooky quotations from an otherworldly adversary, the diabolical source

of all evil, to be introduced later. This fiend was later named “Rax” after the editor noticed that the “y” in my signature looks an awful lot like an “x,” thanks to my terrible handwriting. As promised, later source-books detailed his malevolent plans. I had so much fun banging out those quotes that I soon agreed to pen the Companion.

Unfortunately, the Mayfair incarnation of Chill lasted only slightly longer than its predecessor. David Ladyman, Jeff Leason, and Lou Prosperi did a great job updating the game for more modern sensibilities, the mighty Joe DeVelasco provided a suitably creepy new look, and plenty of terrific supplements were written by my late friend Nigel Findley and others, but the game just couldn’t sink its fangs into a large enough audience to sustain it over the long haul. The early 90s were a tumultuous time in the RPG busi-ness and lots of great games went to early graves right alongside Chill.

So, twenty years later, here come stalwart Matthew McFarland and crew to finally pull the stake from Chill’s icy heart, allowing it to rise once more. The key to any revival is finding just the right blend of old (to bring back the faithful) and new (to broaden appeal), and to my eye, it looks like Matthew and team have their alchemy in order. In the pages that follow, you’ll find a skillfully executed fusion, blend-ing the best parts of the earlier versions of the game with plenty of new and exciting ideas. I can’t wait to sit down and do battle with my diabolical “namesake” once more.

Anyway, here’s to another twenty glorious years of Chill. Happy ghostbusting, monster hunting, and fearless vampire killing.

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COMIC

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