Call of Cthulhu: Does Love forgive review

Dear fellow Arcane Keeper,
If you are reading this blog article, it means that I might not be in this world anymore. The knowledge you will acquire below, the one I took weeks to gather from this blasphemous book called ‘Does love forgive’, may deeply harm your sanity, as it did for me.

So I implore you, be careful in your reading and take your time if you absolutely need to pursue this endeavour. That kind of love is dangerous.

The weirdness of the manifestation

At first, it looks like a regular book, but on a second look, it emerges: its nuances of gray, of black and white, of just a hint of red or a darker, devilish declination of it. The tone is set, it’s going to be grim.

The cover shows pieces of a broken mirror, different scenes, characters and maybe, yes, eldritch places.

There is something attractive, enthralling I dare to say, in these illustrations. They can linger in the mind, waiting in hiding for it to rest and, at night, slowly crawl and twist your dreams with luscious and dark promises.

There are only a few of them in this 57 pages opus but the overall design is one of a kind: a book within a book. Well presented but strange enough with its cabalistic signs to keep one going in their reading.

The non-euclidianism of the structure

You see, friend, the first singularity of this tome is its concept: it was designed for just one keeper and one player. So whatever happens in the two stories it gathers, it will remain intense in this one-to-one atmosphere.

But my mind is starting to wander, I must now focus in order to share what I discovered before it’s too late.

Of course it begins with a two-page introduction that will guide you into the genesis of this written work and give you a few pieces of advice on how to use it. 
Then follow the two scenarios with their twisted entanglements, I will come back to them in detail later, do not worry.

The third part being a collection of handouts, it is no surprise it takes ten pages to list them and, with the index as the subsequent chapter that shines by its efficiency and conciseness, it’s a perfect counterpoint before giving way to a biography of the three female authors.

Oh, by the way, if you are not a fellow Keeper of Lore, you might not want to read further as it contains dark secrets that in certain circles are called ‘spoilers’.

Love you to death: the miasmal tale of an abyssal obsession

At first it was a surprise. This story is supposed to take place in Chicago, after an event called the Saint Valentines’s day massacre in 1929. A tale of gangsters.

But in order to set it correctly, the investigator will preferably need to be a ‘private investigator’ with a not too clearly defined childhood background. Why, will you ask? Well, because a handout will give the PC some additional information regarding a few important NPCs they are tied to since childhood.

Following this part, you will find, dear old chap, a summary of the plot and the dramatis personae. It’s clear, abnormally well explained with roleplaying hooks for the NPCs along their main traits.

And yes, you have guessed, next comes the profanity itself: the scenario and its six scenes.
It is quite linear, to say the less, and will lead to a loathing conclusion that gives only a few options. Account for two to three hours of our dimensional time to complete it.

This first 14 pages story is good as an introductory scenario but will certainly need some elbow grease to be adapted. 

Because it is a one-to-one business, the dynamic between yourself and your player will be different from usual and the stakes higher as the PC can mostly rely only on themselves. So, don’t forget to find a balance between the sketchy NPCs and the lonely PC himself. Please, make sure they don’t steal the spotlight from your PC (especially Highball, an uncanny dog if there is …).

Before telling you about the second pact, it wouldn’t be wise to let you without a warning regarding the main villain: she is really consumed by her love and her jealousy, beyond redemption, and won’t hesitate for a second to use some dangerous witchcraft when she deems it is needed. So once again, weave your tale considering the (dark) effects you want to achieve as the consequences might be felt for the aeons to come.

Mask of desire: the ghastly curse of an aberrant deception

Second story. Time is an eerie concept my fellow Keeper. We are now in 1932 in New-York. My hair has become of a greyer nuance and I’m not as nimble as I used to be. 
I have the impression that someone, or something, is constantly watching me. I need to hurry to tell you about this scenario. I don’t know how long I have.

Once again, it’s going to call on two old friends of the PC but no gangster this time, no. Music is of the essence here and more exactly a jazz audition. Mix it with a historical event called the Mukden incident, involving the Chinese and Japanese armed forces, and you got the perfect cocktail for the melody to derail before exploding abominably.

The structure is rather the same as the previous one: Keeper information, Dramatis personae and then the scenario but this time you will have to face a more open one despite the fact it also has six scenes (I think it’s a sign, maybe of a hideous influence, don’t you agree?).

The threads are more complex here and the conclusion can go in many ways depending on the PC’s actions. But some say that a mask reveals who we really are. And what if this one could go further and give us what we want to be? That's the other theme, yes, brother.

Of course this chronicle will still need some arrangement to fit in your campaign if you wish so, but the core of it is an unfathomable desire and how it can pervert someone, even a good person. An hymn as old as the stars themselves.

A very powerful artifact linked to the Unnamable one itself can change the destiny not only of the NPCs but also of the PC themself if they wish to follow their own charnel desire. My advice here? Be ready for even the unutterable decisions and their squalid consequences.

Where everything ends, where everything starts

Like I said before, this tome is dangerous. Please check with your player that romance with NPCs is not beyond their safe zone.

Love is the main theme here after all, but we both know how perverted it can be and how it can send even the best of us into an abys filled with madness, despair and murders.

I know, I know. And what if your player is a female one? Well, you will have no choice but to adjust both stories adequately as I had to do. But believe me, dear Keeper, you can do it and even use some Pulp rules here and there to make things easier. It’s up to you, of course.

Lastly, before my sanity goes completely out of the window, I want you to know that I chose for the stories to take place in a 1922 Arkham, with some other adventures in between, instead of running them back to back. And to my great satisfaction, it worked well.

Dear Keeper, thank you for reading my humble prose. It’s time to let you, now. They are coming for me with their big white jacket. I don’t want to go but … I wish you good luck. May the stars be right for you.