The Chaosium Group is incentivizing gamers to aid Ukraine in their hour of need by offering a free adventure while encouraging donations to several charities. The invasion of Ukraine by her former colonial ruler, Russia, triggered a massive humanitarian crisis. To help offset some of the costs and suffering, The Chaosium Group’s Black Monk Games released the following statement asking for help and offering a good well incentive.
We’re making the Call of Cthulhu scenario collection Does Love Forgive? ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ for the next two weeks (regular price is USD$5.99).
If you download it, instead of paying us, we encourage you to make a donation to organisations supporting people seeking safety from the conflict in Ukraine.
Does Love Forgive? was originally published in Polish by our friends Black Monk Games.
As a neighbour to Ukraine, Poland is welcoming an influx of refugees — it is reported over 327,000 people have sought refuge so far, with a queue still going for many miles on the Ukranian side of the border. Black Monk is running their own charitable support efforts, and have links where you can donate directly to Polish aid organisations.
Here are some other places where you can donate:
- International Committee of the Red Cross – Ukraine Crisis
- UNHCR United Nations Refugee Committee – Ukraine Emergency
- Save the Children – Ukraine Crisis
- Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres – Ukraine
National Public Radio NPR also has a non-exhaustive list of organizations that are asking for assistance.
Michael O’Brien said, “As our friends at Black Monk have stated, ‘We can’t do much alone, but together we have the strength that matters.’”
Through The Chaosium Group’s Black Monk wing, they’re offering Does Love Forgive?, a collection of two duets meant to be played by one Keeper and one player. To encourage you to download these adventures by March 14th, the PDF is free, though they request that you make a donation to a Ukrainian-supporting charity. To help spread the word, I’m doing a quick review of the book and why it is a perfect offering for your gaming table.
Does Love Forgive? From Chaosium
These two adventures were written in Polish and translated into English. Their authors are Airis Kamińska, Anna Maria Mazur, and Lynne Hardy (for the English version). Using the latest edition of Call of Cthulhu, these adventures give some close, personal moments perfect for a Keeper and single player as you rescue a beloved pet and work through the mystery contents of a parcel. The book comes in at 66 pages (including covers). In addition, the adventures include 10 pages worth of handouts to give to the table in order to deepen the experience.
The opening of Does Love Forgive? provides a bit of the history behind the product, talking about how these tales were composed in Poland and translated to English. They explain some of the aspects of the story and its use of love. The instructions include guidance to help the Keeper and player avoid uncomfortable situations. Since the stories center around love, there’s a need to insure everyone is comfortable with the concepts, and this book offers direction to insure everyone has a good time, not an awkward one.
“Love You to Death”
The first adventure is set in 1920s Chicago, and you play an investigator with a childhood connection to the catalyst NPCs. You’ve been asked to help retrieve a beloved pet from the police. That action opens up the adventure and leads to mystery and supernatural powers. To get the player in the right mindset, there are handouts that deeper their character’s connection with the NPCs. If the player is comfortable, this scenario involves detailed romantic relationships with both of the catalyst NPCs that can be explored via flashbacks. Otherwise, the details can be glossed over for a greater focus on the plot. Again, using love within the game requires complete consent from both parties.
In terms of layout, the adventure starts with a solid overview followed by the list of NPCs with all of the details the Keeper will need to roleplay them. The story is broken into chunk with the player handouts reprinted in the book so the Keeper can reread them at the same time as the player. There are historic notes to give this era and setting context. At the end of the adventure, there are NPC stat blocks and spells, making this easier for the Keeper to run at a glance.
“Mask of Desire”
Like the first adventure, this one deals with love as a theme and has the same cautions. Looking at the layout, it is similar to that of the first adventure. Where this differs is location – New York City – and it is a few years later. Playing a different character, you try to help out a friend, only to find someone else helped before you, and to that friend’s detriment. Again, there are handouts, NPCs, and historic notes to give this story context.
Each adventure has some fun twists and turns. The setup and execution are easy to follow over the course of the story. The artwork by Marcin Lesniak fits the tone of this project. It gives this a nice visual anchor and let’s the audience feel a hint of the wider world contained in CoC. Designed for a Keeper and a single player, these stories are a good taste of an RPG duet (a GM and a single player).
If you want to try these adventures out, but don’t have the latest CoC ruleset, you can pick up the free quick start rules to play this RPG from Chaosium’s website here or from DriveThruRPG here (though the pre-generated characters may not be a perfect fit for this story). The adventure, Does Love Forgive?, is PWYW on DriveThruRPG here through March 14th. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy that will kill thousands and leave hundreds of thousands or millions homeless. In the short term, many are fleeing the conflict. International organizations are working on feeding and sheltering this humanitarian crisis and they need donations to assist. The Chaosium Group is helping to draw focus onto this crisis and how gamers can assist. If you can, download the scenarios and, instead of paying Chaosium, donate to support Ukraine’s diaspora.
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