Chill Companion - Worth Buying?

[Zak Arntson]

I've heard that the old Chill (with the crazy covers) is an amazing product, especially it's sense of horror.

I saw the Chill Companion book at the store, by Ray Winneger.  It's got a section on roleplaying horror, and another on creating horror adventures.

So I'm just wondering (and this is how the post ties into Indie Game Design) ... is this product worth buying for these sections, as a game designer who is interested in horror roleplaying? There's a lot of system-related stuff in the book that I'd wind up ignoring, so I'm hesitant to buy.

(My store doesn't have the main Chill book, but I _did_ grab Zero and the new Feng Shui/d20 adventure).

[hardcoremoose]

Zak,

I just picked up the Chill Companion (the hardcover from Mayfair, right?), along with another sourcebook called The Beast Within.  As an old school horror fan, I can say that I found the Chill Companion to be an interesting read.  It actually includes a pretty cool history of the horror genre, which although missing at least a couple important subgenres, is still fairly complete.

For actual Chill players, I was particularly pleased to see that the Chill Companion does away with SAVE.  Winneger talks about SAVE as a plot device to get beginning players involved in the game, and goes on to say that once you've familiarized yourself with the game and its rules, its more satisfying to do away with SAVE in exchange for characters with a more personal committment to the "horror".  Cool stuff.

I'd buy it again.

- Scott



[ This Message was edited by: hardcoremoose on 2001-11-16 06:00 ]

[Ron Edwards]

I have a comment about this thread.

"Worth buying" is a loaded and dangerous issue. I suggest that it has no place on the Forge.

"How is the game useful?" "Did you use it?" "What's in it?" and similar questions are much more constructive and in keeping with what this site is all about.

Since Scott has wisely chosen to answer the question AS IF it were one of these, I suggest that we keep it that way.

Best,
Ron

[Zak Arntson]

On 2001-11-16 10:20, Ron Edwards wrote:
"Worth buying" is a loaded and dangerous issue. I suggest that it has no place on the Forge.

Good point. Is there a way to change the topic heading?

Because yeah, what I meant by "worth buying" really is "coming from a horror game designer's perspective, did you find the product useful?"  Which would then push me towards buying the thing or not.

I'll be more careful with my headings