Exploring Italian Murder Mysteries Through "Il Fantasma Del Giallo"

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This week, we’re delving into a very niche TTRPG project that brings Italian film history and horror into the TTRPG marketplace. Il Fantasma del Giallo is a new independent TTRPG project from Hardy Roach Games. The game is described as a “magical realist, Neo-Noir horror/thriller TTRPG” in which down-on-their-luck actors find themselves starring in a series of murder-mystery films made by a mysterious filmmaker. Eventually, the actors find themselves caught up in the films and stories, as though they’re real. There are also issues involving the character’s memories, rediscovering the character’s flaws and a lot of other storytelling elements. It’s a very specific sort of story, but the author seems to want to capture a very distinct vision of Italian filmmaking in the process. As someone who spent two years living in Italy and who’s also a film history buff, the project caught my attention.

The entire project is built around “Giallo”, or “Yellow” cinema. Giallo cinema is described by historians as a stylized subgenre where thriller and horror blend in Italy-based stories and are often more murder mystery than, say, the modern thriller. It’s a very distinct storytelling style from the 1960s, but the game's art captures the vibes immaculately. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of it, though. It’s hard to deny the unique look that its posters and designs emit.

We spoke with Laurence Phillips, the author of the game, about the game’s origins, how they drew on Giallo cinema’ss inspiration, and why people who are not foreign film buffs might want to try Il Fantasma del Giallo.

What Inspired this Project?
A surprisingly difficult question! A range of things, I think, I'll do my best to pull apart the tangled strings. My favourite kinds of TTRPGs are those with an extremely singular voice, and directed mechanics that actualise that voice and use it to communicate clear themes. A game I hold in very high regard is World Wide Wrestling - it's not only a great game in its own right about a medium of entertainment that I adore, but it's also exceptionally good at communicating the fundamentals of that medium, even to an audience that might not know much about it. Put simply, it educates not just through the fluff text, but through play. These are the kinds of games I like to engage with, and these are the kinds of games I like to create. So the question then is just which of my many hyperfixations am I going to trot out, and in this case, it was Giallo cinema and outsider art. 

It's an area that I feel has universal themes that can resonate even today, and I wanted to communicate those ideas in a medium that rewards direct engagement. The mechanical decisions I needed to make to enable the effective communication of these themes also led the project into other genres, ones I was happy to explore. This little creative line of dominoes is one of my favourite things about writing games. 

What appeals to you about the Giallo film genre?
If I had to sum it up relatively briefly, it's the humanist core beneath all the cynicism.

Just in case people aren't aware: Giallo is the name given by non-Italian critics/reviewers to the ouvre of '60s and '70s Italian crime/murder mystery thrillers and horror movies (in Italy, Giallo just refers to any and all murder mysteries, whether it be Agatha Christie or Anthony Horowitz). They're typified by their gritty tone, universally suspicious and often unlikeable characters, brutal violence, and visual stylism. They have their roots in Noir and Neo-Realism, and they're generally soaked in that post-war nihilistic post-modernism. 

So when I say "humanist core", what I'm getting at is that while Giallo tends to depict humanity at its worst, it has a level of empathy and understanding for both its victims and its killers that is harder to find in the earlier Noir films that inspired them. It's empathetic not in the sense that it approves of people, but in that it depicts their problems and flaws as a result of the ways they have been hurt, and the ways that the world is built to hurt them. In most Giallo films, the killer is someone who has experienced deep trauma or witnessed something horrific. Of course, in real life such people are more likely to be victims than perpetrators, but we can also interpret this in a more symbolic sense - trauma is transformative. It changes who you are, how you feel about things, the things you do. That may not seem like a significant statement, but it's important to note that most media that came earlier was far more moralistic about things like this. Giallo is not, as a genre, moralistic. It's concerned with our fundamental humanity, and identifies that our "evil" acts are as human as our "good" ones. I think there's value in that! 

Also they're just real sick and cool, and whooooaaaaa dude did you see that he stabbed the shit out of the guy holy shit, oooooh pretty lighting. It's a tapestry.

Of course, there's a lot of stuff that hasn't aged well or doesn't quite land in these films. These are not going to be a part of play, at least not in any way that reinforces them or accepts them uncritically, but they will be addressed in the book. I loved how Lovecraftesque approached those sorts of themes in Lovecraft's work, so I'm going to take a similar tack. 

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How familiar should players be with the Giallo concept to play this?
Not familiar at all! So to ensure this, I've been almost exclusively playtesting with groups with no experience whatsoever in this genre. I've had other GMs run this game as well, and again, I've selected people with no familiarity with this genre at all. To my delight, in all cases, people have ended up making Giallo movies authentically! Sometimes I would gleefully point out afterwards all the ways they played into the genre's tropes, usually to the complete surprise of everyone.

What I've tried to do, and thus far succeeded at, is to bake the genre straight into the mechanics. Yes, the fluff text also does a lot of work to set a tone, set expectations, and get the players and GM in the right mindset, but fundamentally, the mechanics themselves need to unobtrusively incentivise the engagement I'm looking for as a designer. Also, it's worth making clear that this isn't just a Giallo game! It's also a metatextual magical realist game that explores ideas around creativity, performance, and interpretation. 

In addition, the focus is on the characters. The genre stuff is a medium for creating rich, flawed (very flawed) characters. They'll start off with very little in the way of memories, and as you journey through different narratives in the Yellow, you'll unlock new memories (and new abilities), and perhaps find out why you're stuck in this purgatory to begin with. Just as players are creating Giallo film narratives in the Yellow, I want them to create interesting, character-driven narratives in the Real. 

Why should people play the game? What are the reasons that it stands out?
Genre pieces are very common in TTRPGs, which makes me happy, because I like them. But what I hope stands out with my game is that I'm not just trying to explore the genre internally by having players recreate its tropes and ideas, I'm also trying to explore the genre externally - extrapolate its themes, narratives, and forms, and feed those elements into a more character-focused narrative experience that is layered on top. 

It's not just a game about Giallo, but about filmmaking, creativity, and very flawed people. It's also fun and communally creative in a way that I really enjoy, and I hope stands out. 

Thanks to Phillips for the interview! The project is expected to go live in early February. You can check out the game’s Kickstarter page here.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].