History TabletopGame / Chill

''Chill'' was a somewhat lesser-known horror [=RPG=], originally published in 1984 by Pacesetter, then released to a second edition in 1990 by Mayfair Games. In 2015 yet another edition came out courtesy of yet another company, this time Growling Door Games, which sadly quickly folded.

* RottenRockAndRoll: The module "Death On Tour" was about a network of rock stars who are secretly monsters, and use their tours to hunt for prey while going unnoticed.

* TheDarkArts: Known as "the Evil Way", meant to be an evil counterpart to "the Art" available to players. Ends up more of a catch-all for the various supernatural powers monsters can have, than a set of special skills that such characters can learn.

* SecretArt: "The Art", with its various supernatural disciplines that S.A.V.E. members can wield.

The game is a little more optimistic than others in its genre, as the players belonging to an organization that actively hunts down the supernatural might suggest. The odds are certainly stacked in the monsters' favor (it wouldn't be too scary otherwise), but careful investigation can unearth their AchillesHeel and allow the players to halt a great danger.

* {{Dracula}}: Appears in, obviously, the Victorian-era adventure "Vengeance of Dracula", the mini adventure "Castle of Dracula", and got top billing in the "Vampires" sourcebook. Which when released to a second edition, even had an updated version of "Castle of Dracula" packed in as a freebie.

* {{Dracula}}: Appears in, obviously, the Victorian-era adventure "Vengeance of Dracula", the mini adventure "Castle of Dracula", and got top billing in the "Vampires" sourcebook.

''Chill'' was a somewhat lesser-known horror [=RPG=], originally published in 1984 by Pacesetter, then released to a second edition in 1990 by Mayfair Games. In 2015 yet another edition came out courtesy of yet another company, this time Growling Door Games.

** The case with some Evil Way powers, killing the supernatural being who inflicted the effect breaks the spell. Killing that supernatural being to do so is usually a job and a half, though.

* DevilButNoGod: SAVE's observations have most of its top minds believing the Unknown answer to some kind of central intelligence or source. There is, however, no benevolent counterpart fighting back against it with ''good'' supernatural power. The only advantage SAVE has is having learned to channel the same supernatural power to a degree in less powerful, more benign ways than the Unknown.

* NotUsingTheZWord: Not the actual "Z-word", as all editions go right ahead and call zombies, zombies. They do make a point not to use terms like "demon", however, instead just calling malevolent incorporeal beings "spirits", as they don't want to indicate that any particular school of faith is correct in the game's setting.

* MagicByAnyOtherName: The various books constantly insist that the Art is not "magic". There's no such thing as magic, because the Art or the Evil Way creating its effects involves someone, be they human or monster, manipulating ambient supernatural power in specific ways to create specific results. Which is a definition practically all gamers would find acceptable for "magic".

* VillainProtagonist: There were supplements with rules in both editions for switching roles, playing monsters instead and S.A.V.E. being the antagonists.

* TheCorruption: The in-narrative reason for encouraging envoys not to try to master multiple schools of the Art. It's manipulating the same supernatural energy that empowers the Unknown, and getting too powerful in it tends to attract monstrous attention, who then try to lure the envoy into experimenting with blacker and blacker powers until he's irretrievably lost to TheDarkSide [[note]] Mechanically, a PC is unlikely to be able to master multiple schools because it gets progressively more expensive to just to unlock new ones schools, as well as having to buy and level up each discipline within a school. Plus how in 3e, every use of the Art gives the GM more chances to make life difficult for the players, including giving the monster they're hunting more chances to use its own powers against them. To say nothing of how a PC is likely to be killed in action or have to retire from the strain of constant battles with monsters long before they'll have the chance to master their otherworldly potential. [[/note]].

* TheOrder: S.A.V.E. Near the end of the 80's [[TheFellowShipHasEnded it started to crumble]], however, thanks to a combination of a sharp uptick in the number of agent deaths and losing its previous sources of funding. Then the head office was destroyed in a surprise monster attack that still nobody can really explain. Eventually its previous members found ways of getting in touch and carrying on the fight, but with a less centralized structure to make finding and infiltrating it harder.

* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Can be introduced to menace the players, with some editions have stats for variants like the skunk-ape. The earlier editions of the game unfortunately afflicted them with the silly backstory of being the reincarnated ghosts of hermits who decide to get revenge in various ways for being "ignored".

* JackassGenie: One type of opponent the players can face. The "jackass" part mainly comes from ''Chill'' portraying djinn as wicked spirits more as they were in folklore, than as wish-granting creatures who live in bottles like in pop culture. They're more than willing to lie about granting wishes to get somebody to free them, of course.

* JackassGenie: One type of opponent the players can face.

* SealedEvilInACan: Various monsters, but especially djinn. They're immune to any kind of damage that the human players can do, and can only be removed as a threat by tricking them back into their bottles. And all it'll take to unleash the djinn again (burning for revenge against their captors, of course) is [[DontTouchItYouIdiot one gullible human to find it and fall for the whispered promises of wealth and power...]]

* GoodIsNotNice: SAVE is full of all different kinds of people with different methods for fighting the Unknown. For instance the journals on its hunt for the vampire Anton Garnier mention that the agent leading the explanation brought two beautiful female agents along primarily as bait.

* AdaptedOut: The lore in 2e was pretty consistent with the lore from 1e, in addition to [[AdaptationExpansion expanding on the setting]] and what had been learned about the Unknown, even giving it a main (if still mysterious) villain in a malevolent entity known as Rax [[note]] According to contributor Ray Winninger, this name was taken from the way it looked when he wrote his signature [[/note]]. 3e backed off on various details from the previous setting, such as there being any kind of identified central antagonist, or saying anything that previous editions did about S.A.V.E.'s encounters with {{Dracula}}, although other prominent vampires from the lore still get mentions. 3e also edited out some of the sillier background details for various monsters, like how Yetis in this game were actually the reincarnated ghosts of hermits who realized they didn't like being lonely after all, and go through elaborate schedules stalking people on mountain-climbing expeditions while gradually using their powers to turn people into more yetis to have company.

* TheCorruption: The in-narrative reason for encouraging envoys not to try to master multiple schools of the Art. It's manipulating the same supernatural energy that empowers the Unknown, and getting too powerful in it tends to attract monstrous attention, who then try to lure the envoy into experimenting with blacker and blacker powers until he's irretrievably lost to TheDarkSide [[note]] Mechanically, a PC is unlikely to be able to master multiple schools because it gets progressively more expensive to just to unlock new ones schools, as well as having to buy and level up each discipline within a school. Plus how in 3e, every use of the Art gives the GM more chances to make life difficult for the players, including giving the monster they're hunting more chances to use its own powers against them. To say nothing of how a PC is likely be killed in action or have to retire from the strain of constant battles with monsters long before they'll have the chance to master their otherworldly potential. [[/note]].

* TheCorruption: The in-narrative reason for encouraging envoys not to try to master multiple schools of the Art. It's manipulating the same supernatural energy that empowers the Unknown, and getting too powerful in it tends to attract monstrous attention, who then try to lure the envoy into experimenting with blacker and blacker powers until he's irretrievably lost to TheDarkSide [[note]] Mechanically, a PC is unlikely to be able to master multiple schools because it gets progressively more expensive to just to unlock new ones schools, as well as having to buy and level up each discipline within a school. Plus how in 3e, every use of the Art gives the GM more chances to make life difficult for the players, including giving the monster they're hunting more chances to use its own powers against them. [[/note]].

* SealedEvilInACan: Various monsters, but especially djinn. They're immune to any kind of damage that the human players can do, and can only be removed as a threat by tricking them back into their bottles. And all it'll take to unleash the djinn again (and burning for revenge against their captors) is [[DontTouchItYouIdiot one gullible human to find it and fall for the whispered promises of wealth and power...]]

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: There are multiple strains of vampirism in the game, each with its own abilities as well as weaknesses and immunities. Most notable is the African variant of vampire, which is actually a colony of blood-sucking insects controlling the movements of a corpse.