Does Love Forgive?

Does Love Forgive?

Does Love Forgive? Is a set of two one-shot scenarios for Call of Cthulhu designed specifically for gameplay between one Keeper and one player. Originally produced by Black Monk Games of Poland, these two scenarios provide the perfect solution for when it’s just you and another person itching to play a game.

“Love You to Death” is the first of the two scenarios. It is a fairly straight-ahead scenario that revolves around unrequited love starting from youth, the obsession that can result from it, and the problems that can occur when the obsessor has access to dark, unholy powers.

“Love You to Death” is an excellent choice for a new player because of its focus on role-playing within the narrative. Combat may occur, but it’s not necessary for the success of the scenario. It can be run through in an evening but can be the start of a campaign of the Keeper’s devising with very few, if any, changes. There are enough NPCs involved in the story to let the Keeper have some variety in role-playing, but not so many that they get bogged down in a who’s who. Role-playing the dog Highball can be especially fun.

The second scenario in the collection is entitled “Mask of Desire”. This scenario can have a much deeper emotional element to it than “Love You to Death”, giving the potential for a very roleplay-heavy game experience. The horror element of the scenario revolves around a very special mask that a lot of people want, giving the whole story a “Maltese Falcon” vibe. Despite being designed for one night of play, the immersion factor of the storyline could easily go for two sessions. 

“Mask of Desire” relies very heavily on the backstory of the investigator involved in the scenario, primarily in regards to relationships with the NPCs. There’s a decent amount of planning that goes into the investigator’s creation process because of this. This makes “Mask of Desire” to be the less spontaneous choice of the two in terms of “Hey, let’s play a game!” decisions. Still, the storyline makes it well worth it.

Both scenarios in Does Love Forgive? revolve around deep relationships and emotions (ye gods, what would Lovecraft think?) which don’t usually involve themselves in Call of Cthulhu games often, much less as a focal point. This is not meant as a discouragement to play them in the least. Give this collection a shot. I think they provide a different, entertaining, and very rewarding change from focusing on not getting tentacled to death.

Does Love Forgive? can be purchased in PDF format directly through Chaosium. If you buy the PDF, you can get a discount for its price off of the hardcopy version when it comes out.