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Does Love Forgive?
Two One-to-One Scenarios for Call of Cthulhu
Does Love Forgive? is a collection of two special scenarios for Call of Cthulhu for one Keeper and one player. Both adventures are perfect for a fun evening of gaming for two people. Each scenario can be played over the course of one to two sessions, and is suitable for Keepers of all experience levels.
Love You to Death
Chicago: February 15th, 1929. It’s a cold winter’s day when the investigator’s good friend Hattie May appears in their office at the detective agency. Her beloved pet dog, Highball, is scheduled to be destroyed later today and she needs the investigator’s help getting him back from the Chicago Police Department. It doesn’t sound like too difficult a task, does it?
Love you to Death
Mask of Desire
New York: September, 1932. The investigator, together with their two close friends Anna Konrad and Lucas Reston, has been invited to a party at wealthy—and notorious—socialite Madame de Tisson’s swanky apartment on the Upper West Side. Anna is somewhat distracted by her audition tomorrow for Nancy Turner, the famous jazz orchestra conductor. What is the link between the audition and a mysterious parcel that arrives the next day? And, why do so many people seem to be interested in the contents of the parcel?
Does Love Forgive? Smoking Lady
This supplement is best used with the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set or the Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) roleplaying game.
Based on Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy? by Airis Kamińska and Anna Maria Mazur, published for the Polish version of Call of Cthulhu by Black Monk Games.
Does Love Forgive? is a collection of two special scenarios for Call of Cthulhu for one Keeper and one player. Both adventures are perfect for a fun evening of gaming for two people. Each scenario can be played over the course of one to two sessions, and is suitable for Keepers of all experience levels.
Love You to Death
Chicago: February 15th, 1929. It’s a cold winter’s day when the investigator’s good friend Hattie May appears in their office at the detective agency. Her beloved pet dog, Highball, is scheduled to be destroyed later today and she needs the investigator’s help getting him back from the Chicago Police Department. It doesn’t sound like too difficult a task, does it?
Love you to Death
Mask of Desire
New York: September, 1932. The investigator, together with their two close friends Anna Konrad and Lucas Reston, has been invited to a party at wealthy—and notorious—socialite Madame de Tisson’s swanky apartment on the Upper West Side. Anna is somewhat distracted by her audition tomorrow for Nancy Turner, the famous jazz orchestra conductor. What is the link between the audition and a mysterious parcel that arrives the next day? And, why do so many people seem to be interested in the contents of the parcel?
Does Love Forgive? Smoking Lady
This supplement is best used with the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set or the Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) roleplaying game.
Based on Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy? by Airis Kamińska and Anna Maria Mazur, published for the Polish version of Call of Cthulhu by Black Monk Games.
64 pages, ebook
Published July 30, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 15, 2024
Dos muy correctas aventuras, si bien algo cortas, para un máster y un jugador
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October 19, 2022A slim volume of two one-on-one adventures originally from the company that translates/publishes Call of Cthulhu in Poland (where Cthulhu is a little more popular than in the US), both with the theme of love.
Given the structure (one GM, one player) and the themes (love), the book wisely starts out with a discussion of how to set boundaries (along with a discussion about how to have one person with a limited range of skills solve a mystery when most games are designed for groups of characters with a diverse set of skills among them). Then the book ends with the standard Call of Cthulhu appendix: all the handouts for you to give to the players. I wonder about this handout section in all the Cthulhu books since it means the handouts are all included twice, both in the books where they're referenced and in the appendix. That appendix could've been helpful in the old days where you had to pull pages out to give to the players, but nowadays, you can easily photocopy (or photograph) the handouts--that is, if they're not already put online by the company for easy download.
And I only mention that because with the intro and the appendix lopped off, this book is only about 15 pages per adventure: "Love You to Death" involves a the PC being the romantic target of an evil occultist (Ellen) who wants to take over the body of someone she thinks the PC loves (Hattie). It feels a little thin as an investigation to me, and setting it in Chicago after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is thematically fine, but means there's a lot of background here on that, even though it's not important. Is that supposed to be a red herring? Because it's not really set up like that. (It's a real thin setup: Hattie's husband was killed at the massacre, where the dog was; and because the dog saw people dressed as cops massacre his owner, he attacked the real cops when they came; so now Hattie needs the PC with his cop connections to go get the dog before the cops kill it.) That said, I like the detail that Hattie was given a protective charm, but she put it on her dog's collar.
The second adventure, "The Mask of Desire" (originally published as "The True Face" in Polish?) is another '20s adventure, but a little more of a sandbox: the PC is friends with a woman who wants to be a singer and has a big audition; and a shy man who loves her (and is also friends). They all go to a party with a weird occult-influenced host who offers a magic mask to the lovelorn guy, to either use on himself (and so become more handsome and outgoing) or to give to her (to help with her audition). On top of that, the mask is being sought out by an agent of the Japanese government, so anyone who has it becomes a target. What happens then? It's very dependent on the PC--maybe almost too much so. Maybe it's just the shock of reading the straightforward first adventure and then this one, but it feels like a sandbox where things could go many different ways. (And one thing I like a lot about the writing: they cover a lot of different possibilities.) What's interesting to me about this adventure is that there's sort of an occult win condition (defeating the mask, defeating the Japanese spy) and also a personal win condition (helping the singer ace her audition).
I'm really not sure how either of these adventures would play out, but they're both interesting, and show a lot of breadth with what you can do in Call of Cthulhu. (Well, I guess that breadth is "stop the evil occultist" and "stop the artifact," but they feel pretty different.) I do sort of wish both adventures didn't revolve around unrequited love as a motive, as opposed to exploring different themes of love, even different themes in romantic love.
Given the structure (one GM, one player) and the themes (love), the book wisely starts out with a discussion of how to set boundaries (along with a discussion about how to have one person with a limited range of skills solve a mystery when most games are designed for groups of characters with a diverse set of skills among them). Then the book ends with the standard Call of Cthulhu appendix: all the handouts for you to give to the players. I wonder about this handout section in all the Cthulhu books since it means the handouts are all included twice, both in the books where they're referenced and in the appendix. That appendix could've been helpful in the old days where you had to pull pages out to give to the players, but nowadays, you can easily photocopy (or photograph) the handouts--that is, if they're not already put online by the company for easy download.
And I only mention that because with the intro and the appendix lopped off, this book is only about 15 pages per adventure: "Love You to Death" involves a the PC being the romantic target of an evil occultist (Ellen) who wants to take over the body of someone she thinks the PC loves (Hattie). It feels a little thin as an investigation to me, and setting it in Chicago after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is thematically fine, but means there's a lot of background here on that, even though it's not important. Is that supposed to be a red herring? Because it's not really set up like that. (It's a real thin setup: Hattie's husband was killed at the massacre, where the dog was; and because the dog saw people dressed as cops massacre his owner, he attacked the real cops when they came; so now Hattie needs the PC with his cop connections to go get the dog before the cops kill it.) That said, I like the detail that Hattie was given a protective charm, but she put it on her dog's collar.
The second adventure, "The Mask of Desire" (originally published as "The True Face" in Polish?) is another '20s adventure, but a little more of a sandbox: the PC is friends with a woman who wants to be a singer and has a big audition; and a shy man who loves her (and is also friends). They all go to a party with a weird occult-influenced host who offers a magic mask to the lovelorn guy, to either use on himself (and so become more handsome and outgoing) or to give to her (to help with her audition). On top of that, the mask is being sought out by an agent of the Japanese government, so anyone who has it becomes a target. What happens then? It's very dependent on the PC--maybe almost too much so. Maybe it's just the shock of reading the straightforward first adventure and then this one, but it feels like a sandbox where things could go many different ways. (And one thing I like a lot about the writing: they cover a lot of different possibilities.) What's interesting to me about this adventure is that there's sort of an occult win condition (defeating the mask, defeating the Japanese spy) and also a personal win condition (helping the singer ace her audition).
I'm really not sure how either of these adventures would play out, but they're both interesting, and show a lot of breadth with what you can do in Call of Cthulhu. (Well, I guess that breadth is "stop the evil occultist" and "stop the artifact," but they feel pretty different.) I do sort of wish both adventures didn't revolve around unrequited love as a motive, as opposed to exploring different themes of love, even different themes in romantic love.
March 11, 2022
Two solo-play adventures for Call of Cthulhu. Recently returned to prominence as Chaosium set the PDFs as 'pay what you want' and encouraged people to donate to Ukraine. There are many who say that one-player-one-GM is the ideal way to play Call of Cthulhu or any horror game. The isolation of being a sole player cuts down on the reflexive comedy that often breaks the tension. There's also the knowledge that no help is coming and you have to face it alone. It makes a lot of sense.
The first scenario is set in Chicago in the wake of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The wife of one of the slain has had her dog taken by police and, though she's at loathe to admit it, she feels some sort of spectral evil has focused on her. This is a really good adventure with a solid plot. The protagonist, antagonist, and the principal NPC were all friends as children and their relationship is the basis for this with the antagonist's unrequited love for the PC spurring the events of the story. There's some room for investigation and branching paths, but this scenario is brief and will probably easily be completed in a 3-hour session. They also leave room for a downer ending and the writers are really pushing for it. They note at several occasions the keeper could be cruel and suggest luck rolls to make the investigator late to the final confrontation. I think that forcing the bad end might be a little unfair and it's somewhat disappointing how open it is. There's an entire other adventure there if the bad end happens or, perhaps, there's even a better adventure than the one presented if the bad end happened first and this turned into a Thing on the Doorstep sort of plot with the investigator coming to realize that something is very wrong with their childhood friend.
The second scenario, Mask of Desire, also features a group of close-knit friends. The romantic angles of the NPCs are given and the player is free to make it a love triangle. They all live together in a townhouse. One of the roommates is about to audition for her big break, a chain at stardom on a european singing tour. The other roommate, hopelessly smitten with the singer, wants to help her audition any way he can. Including, potentially, dealing with the dark arts. The Investigator is left in the middle of this. Oh also there's a Japanese spy tracking a magic mask from Manchuria and they are willing to kill to get it. This adventure is much more free-form than the first, offering a nice contrast. Most of the text is possibilities. A lot of things could happen and the Keeper will need to be able to work on the fly and respond to the directions the Investigator takes the plot and decide which elements will introduce the best drama and most satisfying conclusion. The ending is extremely split with multiple options given based on how the previous scenario played out. It should be a lot of fun to run.
It's a good collection and I'd love to see more solo play content for Call of Cthulhu. There is an intimacy in one-player-one-GM games and it's no mistake that love is such a prominent theme for this collection. It's also well put together in that the listed scenarios contrast very well offering varying degrees of structure. The cover is striking with the shattered glass and various scenes captured in the shards. The interior art does the job of illustrating important moments in the story. I was worried there would be no illustration of the mask featured in Mask of Desire but they didn't let me down.
The first scenario is set in Chicago in the wake of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The wife of one of the slain has had her dog taken by police and, though she's at loathe to admit it, she feels some sort of spectral evil has focused on her. This is a really good adventure with a solid plot. The protagonist, antagonist, and the principal NPC were all friends as children and their relationship is the basis for this with the antagonist's unrequited love for the PC spurring the events of the story. There's some room for investigation and branching paths, but this scenario is brief and will probably easily be completed in a 3-hour session. They also leave room for a downer ending and the writers are really pushing for it. They note at several occasions the keeper could be cruel and suggest luck rolls to make the investigator late to the final confrontation. I think that forcing the bad end might be a little unfair and it's somewhat disappointing how open it is. There's an entire other adventure there if the bad end happens or, perhaps, there's even a better adventure than the one presented if the bad end happened first and this turned into a Thing on the Doorstep sort of plot with the investigator coming to realize that something is very wrong with their childhood friend.
The second scenario, Mask of Desire, also features a group of close-knit friends. The romantic angles of the NPCs are given and the player is free to make it a love triangle. They all live together in a townhouse. One of the roommates is about to audition for her big break, a chain at stardom on a european singing tour. The other roommate, hopelessly smitten with the singer, wants to help her audition any way he can. Including, potentially, dealing with the dark arts. The Investigator is left in the middle of this. Oh also there's a Japanese spy tracking a magic mask from Manchuria and they are willing to kill to get it. This adventure is much more free-form than the first, offering a nice contrast. Most of the text is possibilities. A lot of things could happen and the Keeper will need to be able to work on the fly and respond to the directions the Investigator takes the plot and decide which elements will introduce the best drama and most satisfying conclusion. The ending is extremely split with multiple options given based on how the previous scenario played out. It should be a lot of fun to run.
It's a good collection and I'd love to see more solo play content for Call of Cthulhu. There is an intimacy in one-player-one-GM games and it's no mistake that love is such a prominent theme for this collection. It's also well put together in that the listed scenarios contrast very well offering varying degrees of structure. The cover is striking with the shattered glass and various scenes captured in the shards. The interior art does the job of illustrating important moments in the story. I was worried there would be no illustration of the mask featured in Mask of Desire but they didn't let me down.
February 20, 2022
My wife and I played both scenarios in this collection. She GM'd Love You To Death, and I GM'd Mask of Desire.
As a GM for Mask of Desire, I found the scenario to be well organized, intriguing, and gave me as the Keeper plenty of opportunity to roleplay as well. It's just enough of a sandbox where the player has plenty of agency to think creatively and come at situations from unexpected angles (which my wife did quite well). Being vague to avoid spoilers, this scenario concludes at a specific location and event which keeps the guardrails up to keep the scenario tight, focused, and makes it easy to keep it to one session.
As an investigator for Love You To Death, I liked that the guidelines for character creation ensured that my character would be fully entwined in the plot, but left enough up to the player that I got to be creative and make a character that I was excited to play. Again, being vague to avoid spoilers. This scenario had great noir tones that I imagine if turned up to 11 would make a very fun Pulp one-shot. The investigation took several twists and turns and wound up at a very cinematic setpiece for the conclusion.
I'd definitely recommend this collection to Call of Cthulhu players, particularly couples. Both scenarios involve some form of romantic entanglement, so before playing them, I'd just recommend a good conversation between the keeper and their players, but any good GM would likely do that regardless.
Lynne Hardy, Chaosium, I'd love to see more one-player-one-keeper scenarios.
As a GM for Mask of Desire, I found the scenario to be well organized, intriguing, and gave me as the Keeper plenty of opportunity to roleplay as well. It's just enough of a sandbox where the player has plenty of agency to think creatively and come at situations from unexpected angles (which my wife did quite well). Being vague to avoid spoilers, this scenario concludes at a specific location and event which keeps the guardrails up to keep the scenario tight, focused, and makes it easy to keep it to one session.
As an investigator for Love You To Death, I liked that the guidelines for character creation ensured that my character would be fully entwined in the plot, but left enough up to the player that I got to be creative and make a character that I was excited to play. Again, being vague to avoid spoilers. This scenario had great noir tones that I imagine if turned up to 11 would make a very fun Pulp one-shot. The investigation took several twists and turns and wound up at a very cinematic setpiece for the conclusion.
I'd definitely recommend this collection to Call of Cthulhu players, particularly couples. Both scenarios involve some form of romantic entanglement, so before playing them, I'd just recommend a good conversation between the keeper and their players, but any good GM would likely do that regardless.
Lynne Hardy, Chaosium, I'd love to see more one-player-one-keeper scenarios.
August 4, 2021
This was actually the print book that I read, but it's not an option on here.
I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I've been wanting more one-on-one scenarios. I've been thinking about how much more fitting that can be with Lovecraftian, Cosmic Horror. On the other hand, these scenarios are both interesting, but ultimately I think I'd need to seriously re-write/rebuild both of them before actually running them.
Love You to Death is interesting for its tie-in to a real historic event, though I don't know that the event is really all that important. I think if you and your player were up for some more intense, semi-romance themed stuff, there's a lot of potential here. As far as the Horror goes, I don't know. Again, a lot of potential, but I think I'd want to rebuild it.
Mask of Desire has much more potential and I think could be a very cool aside, or campaign opener. Though it's connected to Hastur, it might be interesting to link it instead with Nyarlathotep and somehow link it to the Masks campaign. Or, maybe it would fit with Tatters of the King? I'm not sure. Haven't read that one yet. Still, there's some cool stuff and I do like that it's connected to the Japanese/Chinese conflict in the lead-up to World War 2. I could see a lot of bits of this supporting or setting up for a larger story.
So again, while this may not be as fleshed out or workable out of the book as I'd have liked, there's enough to recommend it.
I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I've been wanting more one-on-one scenarios. I've been thinking about how much more fitting that can be with Lovecraftian, Cosmic Horror. On the other hand, these scenarios are both interesting, but ultimately I think I'd need to seriously re-write/rebuild both of them before actually running them.
Love You to Death is interesting for its tie-in to a real historic event, though I don't know that the event is really all that important. I think if you and your player were up for some more intense, semi-romance themed stuff, there's a lot of potential here. As far as the Horror goes, I don't know. Again, a lot of potential, but I think I'd want to rebuild it.
Mask of Desire has much more potential and I think could be a very cool aside, or campaign opener. Though it's connected to Hastur, it might be interesting to link it instead with Nyarlathotep and somehow link it to the Masks campaign. Or, maybe it would fit with Tatters of the King? I'm not sure. Haven't read that one yet. Still, there's some cool stuff and I do like that it's connected to the Japanese/Chinese conflict in the lead-up to World War 2. I could see a lot of bits of this supporting or setting up for a larger story.
So again, while this may not be as fleshed out or workable out of the book as I'd have liked, there's enough to recommend it.
November 2, 2024
Intriguing experiment in supporting a non-standard structure for Call of Cthulhu. Specifically, the scenarios are intended to be played by a single player with a single referee, and account for the different dynamic such a setup involves. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
July 28, 2022
Yalnızca Love You To Death'i okudum ve oynattım; Mask of Desire'a imkanım olmadı. Yakın zamanda da olacakmış gibi görünmediğinden ve bu kitabın "reading"de sonsuze dek durması canımı sıktığından puanlama aşamasına geçtim.
Macera, tanıdığınız birisiyle oynadığınızda anlam kazanacak denli duygusal bir yapıya sahip. Keeper olarak sunacağınız betimlemeler ya da encounterler oyuncunun keyif almasını sağlayabilecek bir yapıda değil. Oyuncunun bizzat kendisinin de aktif olarak rol yapması, bunun bir "araştırma" oyunundan ziyade telaş ve umutsuzlukla sevdiği kadını arayan bir kara sevdalı hakkındaki bir yitiriş hikayesi olduğunu kavraması gerekiyor. Hikayedeki olaylarla değil, Keeper of Arcane Lore ve oyuncu arasındaki roleplayler ile akan ve keyif veren bir yapısı var. Oynayalı uzun zaman olduğundan anca bu kadar anlatabildim.
İkinci senaryonun da buna benzer tasarlandığını düşünüyorum. Sevdiklerinizle oynayıp beraber ağlayabilrsiniz.
EDİT: İkinci senaryoyu da okudum. Mask of Desire. Çok daha güzel tasarlandığını düşünüyorum. Hikayenin her bir parçası; her bir karakteri, olayı, hook'u birbirini mükemmel şekilde tamamlıyor. İş oynamaya geldiğinde nasıl bir sonuç verir bilemiyorum ama ben yaşatabileceğim dehşetleri hayal ettikçe fena halde gaza geldim. Siz de gelin efnedim.
Macera, tanıdığınız birisiyle oynadığınızda anlam kazanacak denli duygusal bir yapıya sahip. Keeper olarak sunacağınız betimlemeler ya da encounterler oyuncunun keyif almasını sağlayabilecek bir yapıda değil. Oyuncunun bizzat kendisinin de aktif olarak rol yapması, bunun bir "araştırma" oyunundan ziyade telaş ve umutsuzlukla sevdiği kadını arayan bir kara sevdalı hakkındaki bir yitiriş hikayesi olduğunu kavraması gerekiyor. Hikayedeki olaylarla değil, Keeper of Arcane Lore ve oyuncu arasındaki roleplayler ile akan ve keyif veren bir yapısı var. Oynayalı uzun zaman olduğundan anca bu kadar anlatabildim.
İkinci senaryonun da buna benzer tasarlandığını düşünüyorum. Sevdiklerinizle oynayıp beraber ağlayabilrsiniz.
EDİT: İkinci senaryoyu da okudum. Mask of Desire. Çok daha güzel tasarlandığını düşünüyorum. Hikayenin her bir parçası; her bir karakteri, olayı, hook'u birbirini mükemmel şekilde tamamlıyor. İş oynamaya geldiğinde nasıl bir sonuç verir bilemiyorum ama ben yaşatabileceğim dehşetleri hayal ettikçe fena halde gaza geldim. Siz de gelin efnedim.
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