Character Creation: Chill 1st Edition

Well, what the heck. Just ran Chill yesterday, might as well do this character.

The Game: Chill (1st Edition)
The Publisher: Pacesetter Ltd, now defunct
Degree of Familiarity: Lots with the property in general, but I don't think I've ever actually played or run this edition. I started with 2nd Ed.
Books Required: Just the one.

I've said before that Chill 2nd Ed is one of the most 90s things I've seen, both in terms of aesthetic and game design. Chill 1st Ed, as it happens, is pretty darned 80s. It's all written in first person, though I'm not entirely sure who's supposed to be the narrator. The Campaign Book (which contains stuff like chargen and rules and so on) has almost no information on the backstory or setting of the game, and really doesn't even talk much about how to run a horror  game. The Horrors of the Unknown book (including in the boxed set, which is another thing that dates the game) talks about the monsters and gives us some flavor text, but as is common for games of the day, there's not much about what you really do at the table to bring across the themes/moods of the game.

Anyway, this edition of the game is somewhat pulpier than the later ones, which is fine; I personally prefer to play horror a little straighter, but that's not to say that this approach can't be cool. Let's kick this pig.

Well, I'm creating a SAVE envoy, as is usual for Chill games. We'll assume this takes place pre-1989, in case that becomes relevant.

Wow, all of this chargen is random. That's different. OK, then. Utilizing random.org, I get 28, 34, 73, 55, 69, 60, 68, 65. Overall that's not bad. What sort of fellow do I want to make, here? Interestingly, the book doesn't tell me to think about how my character learned about the Unknown or joined SAVE, but I'll probably do that anyway.

I think my character is something of a sad case. He lived in New York and had aspirations of striking it rich. He sold stolen goods, sold coke, sold whatever he could, but he could never quite crack into anything really lucrative, and he started sniffing a little too much of his own supply. And then one night he got a lead on a job - break into an office building, the folks there tend to leave cash, drugs, and other valuable stuff around. He wound up out on the street with $400 in his pocket and no idea what he'd seen in that office, but every time he tries to think about it he sees red light and smells something burning. SAVE recruited him shortly thereafter and he just kind of went with the flow, but he's pretty sure they're not telling him everything, and maybe that's OK. His name is Cyrus Liebach, but everyone calls him Cy.

OK, so now let's assign these traits. I'll put my low ones into Stamina and Agility; Cyrus isn't in great shape (too much coke, not enough veggies). I'll put my 55 into Luck, and my 69 into Perception. Personality definitely gets the 73, I'll stick the 60 into Agility, and that leaves 68 for Willpower and 65 for Dexterity. Sounds good.

My Unskilled Melee is (Strength + Agility)/2, which is 47, which isn't terrible.

Now, Skills. I roll a d10 (10!), and divide it in half, and that's how many skills points I get. 5. You kidding me? I can't take Master skills to start, only Student or Teacher (1 or 2 skill points, respectively). Wonder how stupidly granular the list is.

Well, combat skills are stupidly granular, but the professional skills aren't so bad. I mean, there are some big holes - nothing like streetwise or anything like that. I'll take Investigation, Lockpicking, Filching, Antiques, and Revolver at Student. And then I need to figure out my scores, which are Base + 15 in all cases, and the bases here are those crazy averages of basic abilities. I guess I chose my skills well; none of my scores are under 75.

Next, if my Perception is 60 or better (which it is) and my Willpower is 50 or better (which it is), I get to pick a discipline of the Art. Only three schools here (see, SAVE's understanding continues to improve, in 3rd Ed there are six). Well, of the disciplines available, I think Telepathic Empathy makes the most sense of Cyrus.

And that's pretty much it! Cyrus is 28. He's skinny and strung out, and has black hair and brown eyes. He's kind of faded out from his previous criminal life, but he doesn't have a whole lot on his resume so he's trying to push for work from SAVE, because at least they give you an expense account. He wears fake jewelry and track suits most of the time, and keeps a revolver in an ankle holster.