Thursday, August 18, 2022

Review & Commentary On The Orpheum Lofts By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente For The Wrenchploitation rpg, Any OSR Wretch Rpg or Any OSR Horror rpg

 "Orpheum Lofts is a thriller/ horror role-playing scenario inspired by Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy [Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007)], Polanski’s The Tenant (1976) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), ’80s and ’90s sitcoms, and romantic comedies. Yes, it’s a strange mix, but it will get weirder… As usual in Red Room adventures, there is no predetermined plot, only suggested ones, and no described scenes; instead, there are many story seeds. Though it was planned for a series of connected stories set in the mid-80s, Orpheum Lofts can easily be turned into a one-shot. The timeline isn’t set in stone either."


"This book contains the scenario previously published by Postmortem Studios as part of the Postmortem Giallo series and also part of Her Heart was a Locked Room, and Nobody had the Key: A Giallo Series Companion, adapted to old-school mechanics. If you have purchased those two books do you need this one as well? No, not really." 
The Red Room continues to spoilt me with horror adventures that are dangerous, reliable, & batcrap insane. The Orpheum Lofts By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Sílvia Clemente is no exception. This is a Giallo adventure series that is wild and wicked to say the least. 
What is 'the Opheum? Well, as we look deeper into the introduction there's clues scattered deeper in the adventure; "Though it was planned for a series of connected stories set in the mid-80s, Orpheum Lofts can easily be turned into a one-shot.The timeline isn't set in stone either. Orpheum Lofts opens with the description of a location, the lofts featured in the title.This place has a convoluted history: it started out as a luxurious place for cosmopolitan upper-middle-class people before decaying along with the neighbourhood. Over the years, the lofts have been the stage for multiple homicides and other crimes." 
And this is simply the beginning of the Orpheum Lofts because this is an adventure location with several differences. This adventure location could be or might not be the sight of deep occult happenings. In one hundred and twenty six pages the Orpheum Lofts lays out random tables, a boat load of NPC's, more secrets then you could shake a witch at. And lots of multiple tables to various shades & mutations of the Orpheum Lofts circumstances, encounters, NPC's motives, and more. This adds a Hell of a lot of replay value to the Orpheum Lofts. 
Every play session is going to be completely different when the player's PC's enter the Orpheum Lofts. And it makes it completely for completely different circumstances. And this adds lots of value especially for the Wretchploitation rpg. 


And the Orpheum Lofts fits the rpg history range from Wretched Époque to the Wretchploitation Sixties or Seventies era right into the near future of  Wretched New Flesh - Postcards from Avalidad. And this brings up the possibility of using  the Orpheum Lofts as an adventure location in all three of these eras. A timeless place whose occult  horror invades the world from one era to another again & again. And the 
Wretched New Flesh - Postcards from Avalidad rpg is perfect run  the Orpheum Lofts By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Sílvia Clemente as an adventure location that will challenge adventurers of all stripes. 


The  Orpheum Lofts is a place not only where evil spawns but exels as the reality of the building pulls homicide, occult horror, and one that exists on the supernatural corruption of the location. 
The evil of the Orpheum Lofts is one that is driven by it's NPC's as they drive the adventure location again & again. Or one that explodes upon them as well as exploits them. There's the opportunity & potential of the Orpheum Lofts generating it's own mini campaign and this is evident of a read through in an OSR modern game?! 
Is the Orpheum Lofts worth getting?! In a word, yes! The Orpheum Lofts design is top drawer and the OSR resources found within makes the playability of this adventure location a must have for the modern occult & supernatural DM who wants to run Giallo adventures with a difference. So where is the Orpheum Lofts available from?! 

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