OSR Review & Commentary On 'The Giallo: Orpheum Lofts' By Miguel Ribeiro From Postmortem Studios

 
"A 'Giallo' (Italian pulp) style scenario/context for dramatic crime/supernatural adventures. A cast of strange characters, opportunities for conflict and suggestions for what may - or may not - be a supernatural threat."




So Miguel Ribeiro approached me about doing a review for Giallo: Orpheum Lofts &  his series of  adventure/mini campaign/ & source book all in one based upon the Italian pulps aka the Giallo (“Yellow”, in Italian). So what is Orpheum Lofts?! According the adventure's introduction; " Orpheum Lofts is a systemagnostic horror role-playing scenario, inspired by Dario Argento’s  T ree Mothers Trilogy [Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007)], Polanski’s The eTenant (1976) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), as well as‘80s and ‘90s sitcoms, and romantic comedies. Yes,"
Giallo: Orpheum Lofts isn't quite an adventure, not quite a setting book, & not quite a mini campaign all in one.
The book is well done as a modern borderline horror style supplement book. But what's the OSR connection?! After reading through the Giallo: Orpheum Lofts its obvious this is an advanced style adventure with its own internal rpg style loosly. But after reading over the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts. This might be a very good weird location for Kasimir Urbanski's   "The Invisible College" rpg! Why?! Because the implication here is that are some dangerously serious secrets involved in the Giallo: Orpheum Lofts. Because "The Invisible College" rpg is B/X D&D or OSR based its a nice fit for  the Giallo: Orpheum Lofts.

Magus dealing with the inhabitants of  the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts are going to be using magick & rituals to divine the nature of the location as well as its cast of NPC's. Think 'Rose Mary's Baby' meets early Eighties 'Friends' except creepier. In point of fact there's a bit of a David Lynch feel about this. The term I would use for the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts is "situational sandboxes".

If set within New York City, the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts is a place of the unreal meeting the heavy Pulp. But if your expecting flashing guns & hard core sanity ripping horror this isn't it. We have the thinking man's adventure here where magick would be approrpriate to solve a bit of the secrets. But  the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts is place where the weird has indeed settled & I highly doubt that one session is going to solve the peoples & mysteries of the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts. The only question is which society & organization is behind some of the mysterious. 
Is the  Giallo: Orpheum Lofts worth the price of a down load? I believe so for the following, the setting is original, the ideas solid, & its a great little book to introduce a group of players to the dangerous  side of Giallo