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On February 1, 2025, a pleasant meeting with the writer Gabriella Genisi was held at Ottica Faggella in Via Calefati, better known for being the author of the character Lolita Lobosco, the detective from Bari, who had her definitive consecration thanks to the television series of the same name broadcast on Rai.

In this case, however, we are talking about a spin-off centered on Giancarlo Caruso, a character from the literary universe to which Lolita Lobosco belongs, and who will be able to enjoy a space all his own to conduct an investigation that will lead him to get to know the world of RPGs and role-playing players.

For the sake of accuracy, and for absolute coherence, every time I hear about fiction I get a lump in my stomach: if many like me have found refuge on the internet at a certain point by searching for (legal) streaming or by compulsively buying DVDs and Blu-rays - I know, I have a problem - it stems precisely from the drift of television in the last twenty, twenty-five years.

Series, even if innocuous like Don Matteo on the one hand or decidedly annoying like Le Tre Rose di Eva, Il Sangue e La Rosa, L'Onore ed il rispetto and dozens of others, have contributed significantly to spreading a certain way of making television that I have always personally detested: clichés, love intrigues, terrible acting, always the same actors who jump from one fiction to another, as well as often unlikely human reactions with dialogues written by those who have probably forgotten how to really live and conduct a normal conversation between ordinary people.

Now, I must say that when I started to approach the universe of the character created with care and love by Mrs. Genisi, whose roots belong to the land of Bari, I had some doubts: I love detective stories, I consider Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot to be among my absolute favorite characters and if we have to extend the thing to the field of manga I can only go overboard in praise and unconditional love for L, "the greatest detective in the world", who appeared in Death Note (I repeat, I'm talking about the manga and the anime, not that horror of a film produced by Netflix).

Now, as Stevenson wrote, what makes a story great is the villain: and in modern novels the recurring villain is rare, perhaps because one does not want to be trapped in certain dynamics, and precisely for this reason I had initially appreciated an all-Italian comic series, by Bonelli Editore, namely Julia - The Adventures of a Criminologist, because in it, on the contrary, they had had the courage to make this choice as far back as 1998.

One might object that novels and comics have almost nothing in common, but I remain convinced that they are only different media for narrating, each with its merits and defects, a story, at the service of the main storyteller who is the writer.

Remembering this, when I was a role-playing player myself, I often tried to create intelligent characters who were potential first-rate reasoners, which also implied an effort on my part since you can decide, yes, to play an intelligent character... but then it is the player who must consolidate this idea and it is always the player who must show himself, while playing, as intelligent as his character is called to be.

Returning then to Mrs. Genisi, during the presentation of the book she told several anecdotes that certainly tickled both those present and those who are great admirers of her works, including the famous passion that both the character of Lolita and the actress who played her on the screen, Luisa Ranieri, Zingaretti's wife, share for shoes - the actress herself apparently owns more than eight hundred.

More than anything, the writer's unconditional love for Bari in particular but also for Puglia in general shines through, given that the adventures involving the characters extend to various places in the Heel of the Boot, without neglecting homages, references and citations for other locations in the Bel Paese: there is no shortage, among other things, of moments dedicated to lighter themes, which traditionally ease the tension and offer a valuable interlude in the narrative, including culinary ones dedicated to local recipes, often badly distorted and reworked, in the best of cases, elsewhere.

Speaking of the book, the idea of ​​a spin-off about Giancarlo Caruso could be a winning idea since it is often the protagonist's "sidekicks", the secondary characters or the co-protagonists who are more sympathetic to the general public, or even better characterized: although the love story with Commissioner Lobosco can be considered archived, leaving a sense of mutual respect between the two, if nothing else, the character clearly enjoys a certain credit with the public, especially the female one, and that a bit like all the weak parts, or presumed such, of a relationship, can enjoy a very particular sense of empathy and solidarity.

Precisely for this reason, the dimension in which Caruso moves, alone and in an environment that is all in all new and foreign after a life of constant comings and goings, arouses sympathy and an instinctive sense of protection towards him, especially for what happens already in the first pages of the novel entitled "Giochi di Roolo".

In light of this, a new investigation unfolds and calls upon all the character's energies, especially when confronted with something far from his comfort zone, so to speak, that is, the element of the victim's passion, that is, role-playing games, RPGs.

And precisely for this reason the writer felt the need to consult a very dear friend and colleague of mine, as well as a great expert in the sector, Dr. Gilbert Gallo, who in addition to being a very well-known game designer is a very capable writer as well as a very old role-playing player, at least for as many years as I myself have practiced it: in this way I have the mathematical certainty that everything concerning the RPG field has been transposed, referred to and presented to the writer's audience with that care and attention that the sector, on the contrary, too often feels the lack of.

As I already wrote in another article, about Molfest, I am green with the memories of the Sassi di Tortona, with which "violent" comics and films were demonized, which compared to what I often see on talk shows are practically harmless, or the case of a boy who took his own life because his historical character, who he had been playing for many, many years, had died at the end of a role-playing game campaign.

As always, there are extreme cases in any sector, context, environment: all excesses, equally, are to be condemned, given that just by limiting oneself to smoking or alcoholism, which are absolutely legal ways of harming oneself, they kill thousands of people every year, directly or indirectly - in the case of alcohol, just remember how many accidents are caused precisely because of the altered state of those who drive.

That said, the RPG environment has often been portrayed as unhealthy, "sectarian" in the sense of sect, and not unlike a closed group with the typical characteristics of a cult.

Nothing could be further from the truth, given that role-playing is actually a healthy way to bring together the most diverse people at the same gaming table: never like today, in an era in which we often fill ourselves with beautiful words such as sharing, understanding, diversity, acceptance and so on, does RPG represent the ideal way to achieve them given that the only environment in which I have seen people cooperate with the most diverse ideologies, mentalities, personal life experiences and so on, is precisely role-playing.

Certainly there was no need for the words recently pronounced by Minister Nordio who, well out of time, thought it right to mention role-playing games among the realities that can create psychological discomfort and disorder, even leading to suicide, where it is quite well-known that the characteristics inherent in those who play lead instead to collaboration, cooperation, aggregation and the constitution of critical thinking, and can counteract social disorders and phobias as well as anxiety: I am a witness to this myself, as a child who was certainly not closed but rather shy and a little disinclined to new friendships, I managed to open up thanks to role-playing games.

Returning to the novel, we know that, just as happened with Professor Introna, who provided an alter ego in the universe of Lolita Lobosco, Gilbert Gallo also plays a role in the story, acting as both a dentist and a RPG enthusiast, thus managing to provide all the information necessary for the investigation to continue on the right track: let us hope that this is a first example of real multidisciplinarity, which can bring adults closer to the pastimes of the younger ones - and not too much - as well as allowing teenagers to approach, intrigued, a narrative that perhaps they perceive as "for adults" so as to immerse themselves in a more mature world.

Of course, thanks to my friend Gilbert for the invitation and to the writer, the very kind Mrs. Genisi, for having participated in the event.

- Lordgirsa-

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