Adam Powell (00:06.807)
Okay.
Adam Powell (00:11.959)
Hello and welcome to Snyder's Return, a table top roleplay podcast. My guest today brings us a healthy bowl of TTRPG goodness from his tribe to ours. Its flavor profile gets the blood pumping and its lip smacking servings are a marvel to savor. He also brings us art and rebellion, purple dragons and nobles schemes. A city more alive than the name Magnolia would have you believe. Having set sail on the seas of Vodari, it is a pleasure to welcome into safe harbor.
writer, TTRPG content creator, and game designer for Magnolia, City of Marvels, Mr. Tomas Gimenez Rioja. Welcome to the show, Tomas.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (00:50.212)
Well, quite a great intro you got there. Thank you very much for the honorable introduction. As you said, my name is Tomás Giménez Rioja and I am a TTRPG game designer, writer, project manager, software engineer. I've got many hats on me. But today, you can find me on social media on at tgmenesrgm.
pretty much everywhere and yeah that's what's been going on so far with all that you've been saying
Adam Powell (01:26.994)
Well, I will make sure we touch on more of the things we touched on there in the introduction for sure expand on a number of those things. But before we do, would you mind telling us how you yourself got into tabletop role playing games, please?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (01:43.78)
Okay, well as regards typical pro playing games, I got started as many in my generation got started and quite new at this I was one of the kids that watched stranger things and found out of the existence of D &D I had played the game a year beforehand But the GM or DM that I had I didn't have that much of a great experience with him
So I didn't have that sort of great flavor in my mouth about the whole TTRPG space. Now, a year later, when I started seeing Stranger Things and how the kids reacted to the whole scenario and everything, a friend of mine came to me saying, OK, I want to play D &D. Are you in? Yeah, I'm in. OK, we need a GM. And he keeps looking at me.
Adam Powell (02:16.759)
Hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (02:36.836)
So yeah, I got the DM's guide and got rolling with it and six years of one same campaign later, I am here. I've got, I think, two more years after that, but we have run all sorts of different games and I'm quite happy with my position right now and very much in love with the whole DT RPG scenario, not only D &D.
Adam Powell (03:02.807)
I mean six -year camp, congratulations for keeping a campaign going for six years. That's a win in itself. If you don't mind me asking a little bit, because I have to pry, is your campaign, is it based around one of the modules or is it homebrew? How have you sort of used the structure that is 5e and sort of built out your campaign from there?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (03:11.172)
Yeah.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (03:27.62)
I entirely winged it from scratch. I knew that I had to get something going so I got the usual town in the middle of nowhere and they started going after an owlbear because I liked the art. Then they kept finding whatever I found exciting in the Monster Manual and the more I kept looking the more I kept learning. I started watching a lot of articles and videos.
reading articles and watching videos, watching Critical Role, Matthew Colville, all sorts of stuff. Yeah, I pretty much ended up writing my own articles about GM design and how to be a better GM.
Adam Powell (04:12.567)
Yeah, amazing. You submit work. Well, you've created content, you've created games, and you also submit work to at least two separate websites. What's it been like going through the creative process yourself and then providing works out to Gnome's Jew and, let me try to get the name right, Tribality?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (04:37.828)
I think it's tribality, but yeah, it's pretty much close to that.
Adam Powell (04:40.727)
websites. But what's the creative process been like for you?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (04:47.3)
Okay, well the creative process is pretty much I kept my six year campaign going and all the things I learned from week to week or I just banged my head against a rock or a wall there. I said, okay, I need to research this and I'll go in and research what other people thought, watch videos and just incorporate a lot of knowledge. And once I got all that, I'll write in a note app.
that I had enough knowledge to write about a certain article. And I just kept writing whatever I learned and whatever I found useful to me. So I knew that more people could find the views and be a better GM.
Adam Powell (05:33.335)
Well, there you go. And you mentioned that you've, through the last sort of six years and on, that you played a number of different systems. So outside of your campaign, your D &D 5e campaign, what sort of systems have caught your eye? Which ones have you enjoyed and sort of loved the experience that you had while playing them, please?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (06:00.452)
those in regards of everything that has been going on with D &D 5e and all that, I wanted to just take a step back from all that D &D was and start exploring the whole world of TTRPG because there is much more to explore besides the big monster that is D &D in this space. So I started looking at games like
Kits on Brooms in which I ran a campaign for two entire years, which is quite a lot considering it's a game that is usually for one to two months. Then I managed to get some other games going. I ran a bit of Call of Cthulhu as well. I read the rules of several games. One of my favorites so far is
Morgborg, mostly because of its design. I think that its simplicity and the way its graphic design looks is just incredible. So I started creating content, started creating content for that as well as whichever thing I find my way. I try to play as many DT RPGs as possible just to incorporate more game design knowledge into my brain.
Adam Powell (06:55.703)
Mmm.
Adam Powell (07:22.775)
Absolutely. And so this game design has led down a couple of different paths. But the one I'd like to get onto now, which uses the Orc license, is Magnolia, City of Marvels, which has another wonderful subtitle. But I'll let you sort of dig into that. So what's it been like working on this particular game, this project, and the team that's involved in it as well?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (07:39.78)
Mm -hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (07:52.004)
Okay, so Magnolia City of Marvels is a project that started when I was during the pandemic. I had to just stay in a room shut for two weeks because my sister came home with the virus and I was forced to get in there and do nothing for two weeks and get bored. So I...
I got my brain going there. I had been playing a bit of Splatoon. I had been researching a bit of the street art and how it worked, how it affects culture as well, and all that sort of stuff. And from one moment to another, the idea of Magnolia, the city of marbles came to my mind. So I used all my free time and designed using World Anvil.
the whole city and run a campaign in it for my friends. And I understood that there was so much that I designed for it that I couldn't just leave it to waste. I had to create something with it, a whole formal setting that I fell in love with the more I kept adding more content to it. So I, because this is a touristic city,
one in which cultures from all different sections just clash with each other in the same manner that arts take inspiration from other pieces of art and things like that. This setting of art, punk and rebellion, was something that I knew I had to get a team for it. That's when I managed to get people like Kat Kruger, Scott Bullock,
Khymer Reches -Montragon, Lady Azzulina, and Taylor Navarro. So people from all over the world, pretty much, mostly POC, and from a diverse source of backgrounds as well. I knew that with a team of these magnificent people, I was able to just rock everything here and be able to write.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (10:14.788)
something full of lots of colors, very artistic, and something I could be proud of in the future.
Adam Powell (10:23.159)
So and it is such a fantastic team that you have brought together to work alongside you on this project. But within Magnolia City of Marvels, what is the purpose of the game and how does the game play mechanically in that sense?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (10:38.308)
Okay, thank you for asking. It's not actually a game, but a setting. It's a system agnostic setting in which you can just grab your game of choice, be it your usual medieval fantasy game or something a bit more modern, such as Call of Cthulhu or Monster of the Week. We've got, in fact, a group of people that are going to be doing a live stream, an actual play using Monster of the Week in this particular setting. And...
We have everything there for you to run a Pathfinder game as well if you want to. But as of how this setting works is that you've got the nobles that are conservationists of art. At the same time that you have these gangs that have started to appear in the background. And the nobles keep everything in the same manner in regards to art and the status quo because they know that that way they can remain in power. And they have...
full control of the law and the security system in the city. So when the gangs, mostly the Purple Dragons being the predominant gang in there that is leading the most changes into the city, start to show that there is another side of the coin to art and they can bring in their more modern or, which should I call it?
Yeah, distinctive and punk way to look at all of this. The Nobles hate them and they want to get rid of them, but they know that they can't do it in a very strict manner. They have to just start getting more and more power and forcing them to submission in a way, having them cornered.
Where the purple dragons are trying to create a whole rebellion of art in the city. It's pretty much the perfect mixture between medieval fantasy and cyberpunk, let's say.
Adam Powell (12:41.239)
Yeah, no, it sounds it. And so with this setting, apologies for before, with this setting that you've created, is it something that we can go and pick up now if someone's inspired by what you mentioned, the use of art, the noble houses, this sort of punk art rebellion, using all of the subtitle words there, sort of setting and.
Adam Powell (13:13.815)
And the word won't come to mind, and that's very annoying. Environment, that'll do. That is happening. Can we go and buy Magnolia City of Marvels today? Is it available to us to take with us to play at our home tables now?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (13:28.804)
Nolia City of Marvel's is a crowdfunding campaign happening on June the 27th. It's its launch day. And you can get a sample of most of the things you'll be able to find on the final product right now by just checking out the campaign site or the social media posts that we have been making in regards to the things that are going to appear, the art that is going to be.
Adam Powell (13:53.591)
Hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (13:58.916)
part of it as well as the sample with most of the content.
Adam Powell (14:04.663)
I will make sure there was a link to the Kickstarter down in the description below this podcast, along with the socials you mentioned at the start, and as many of the things that we'll mention as we go through the rest of this interview. So with respect to this setting, then, with respect to how it's brought together, what is your favorite element or component of Magnolia, City of Marvels?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (14:35.556)
What I will say is my favorite thing about this setting is how art takes like a primary role in there. Art can work in several manners. It's not just a graphic art. It can be food, it can be fashion, it can be the way you dance even. And all of these things are locked in its conservationist style because of the novels in the city.
the purple dragons and all other gangs that are there. Some maybe a bit more Machiavelli girls, some maybe more pacifist, but they all want the same and that is liberty of expression and art. And the values of rebellion and how art can be tied to everything going on in this city.
is just something that has always been very present for me and something I really enjoyed. It can be present in a lot of media, not just Magnolia, it's just that in Magnolia we make art primary focus.
Adam Powell (15:45.879)
No, it's a fantastic, I'd say new angle, but that sounds like I'm saying new art and something that I have no doubt will inspire DMs, GMs, MCs. As you mentioned, it's system agnostic. So if you have a facilitator or a bookkeeper, I can't remember all the terms, a storyteller and all these sorts of good things, you can sort of.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (16:07.844)
There are so much.
Adam Powell (16:11.735)
take either the setting as is or inspiration from it and really tailor it into your games and your game systems. And it's such a fantastic idea. So that is going on Kickstarter from the 27th of June for 30 days. So please follow the links and support that project. But it's not the only thing that you've worked on.
You have some 5e content, there's some wretched and alone content.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (16:43.542)
Yeah, I have much more content than I have in designing. Stuck in Wretched is the game based on the Wretched and Alone sort of toolset in which you can pretty much live the experience or try to sort of experience it in a way of this guy who went to the canyon that appears in the movie 127 Hours in which...
Adam Powell (16:58.263)
Hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (17:12.95)
He just went there alone, fell to a crevasse and got stuck with a rock on his hand. And you have to wait there on this very claustrophobic sort of environment, trying to survive while you play with the Schenker tower. And you do your best to keep your composure and survive, let's say.
Adam Powell (17:39.383)
Hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (17:40.79)
In addition to all that, I have several other games that I have designed, many smaller, like for example... I forgot the name of this one... Uncharted Hearts, which is more like the sort of Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley -like game, if you are more for those sort of approaches. So I have a wide range of games that I design. I go from very...
like horror -like to pacifist, let's say, and rebellion thrown into the middle there. Also we have Gothborg, which is if you like more war and you want more gothic horror sort of style games, this should be like your go -to to find more monsters primarily for the game. And yeah, many more.
Adam Powell (18:16.375)
Hmm.
Adam Powell (18:33.303)
Mm -hmm.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (18:39.99)
things that they have thrown in there.
Adam Powell (18:41.527)
Yeah, absolutely. And is there anything you're working on at the moment, playtesting, something that we can look forward to in the future? So as we mentioned, Magnolia is coming to Kickstarter June the 27th, 2024, depending on when you're listening to this episode. And you have mentioned other releases that are out and available now. But is there anything coming down the pipeline that you want to sort of discuss and bring up now?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (19:10.646)
Well, totally, yeah. In addition to Magnolia, that is, I suppose that when you're hearing this, it should be being designed at the moment. But I have a game that is like an engine of its own system called Rush and Punch that is this sort of very cinematic and frenetic action game in which you can play any sort of game that involves
running towards a monster while this sort of Leviathan, let's say, throws its tentacle towards you. You jump to the tentacle and run through it while you stab your sword all the way till you do a backflip and end up landing with a dagger to the middle of its eye. All of that you can do in one same turn, or the sort of way it works in the game. And that's the way that I'm trying to create
This sort of very frenetic style in Russian patch. It's a game that is very early in development, but you can play test at the moment if you enter my discord server in TGR games. I'm sure that Snyder will be able to throw a link over there as well.
Adam Powell (20:15.766)
Hmm.
Adam Powell (20:27.347)
Absolutely. And this sort of action -filled cinematic style of gameplay, it resonates with me. And there are clearly many out there similar to our interest in this style of game. So I'm sure that will get sort of picked up and enjoyed by many, many gaming groups far and wide as it is across the seas. And I mentioned seas because you.
you're part of a 5e compatible release, I'll be careful how I phrase that, the seas of Vdari. So what's it like going from city states and art and setting and Gothborg to adventures on the high seas in that respect?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (21:17.91)
Yeah, it's funny, I go all the way, all the spectrum in there. But piracy seems to be a topic that always comes back, mostly because in Russian Punch, the setting being worked on at the moment is a piracy one, Pirates vs. Suplivathans. But as for Seas of Odari and Under the Seas of Odari, these are books that I have worked with, tribality publishing, in which I was in charge of designing most of the monsters.
if you're looking for a swashbuckling sort of game for D &D 5e and want to just pile a ship and mostly if you have enjoyed Ghost of Solmarch and want like more of that piracy experience that the book didn't manage to give you much go in there and Seas of Odari has all the piracy that you may ever want with
Islands that all have a different theme to them so you can sort of play very different settings within a piracy one and then after that we have under the sea spotari creating a very unique sort of experience because you are under the seas of this same setting giving you a lot more cities to play in but all in 3d because you are underwater and that can be
a very unique experience.
Adam Powell (22:45.655)
much so. No, it sounds it sounds unique. And so touching on the fact that, as we mentioned, you've had a six year in D &D 5e campaign, you've you've run kids on brooms for two years, you've dabbled in other systems as a game runner. I'll use that as a system agnostic term, a game runner facilitator. What realizing that there are articles you've placed on.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (23:07.158)
Yeah.
Adam Powell (23:13.431)
Gnome, Steward and Tribality. But what have you learned and what advice would you give to either new game runners stepping into a single system or game runners shifting from one system, say D20 based to Power by the Apocalypse or another AN other system as it were.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (23:34.87)
What I suggest mostly is having an open mind because I have met a lot of people that just go in there and say I don't want to learn another game. I am fine with 5e, I am fine with Pathfinder or whatever I'm playing at the moment and I don't really need something else and I want all my games to be in this and sometimes these people say that because they don't want to take the time to learn another game.
when the interesting part of all of this is that 5e and Pathfinder are some of the most difficult to learn games out there. If you go and try to read the rules of other TTRPGs, there are some that have like one page of rules and that's it. You don't need much more than that and you can run several sessions based on that.
games like Kids on Rooms or Kids on Bikes or all the kids -owned games from Hunter's Entertainment, you can learn how to play in just two hours and it's very streamlined and may have a lot of pages but that's mostly because it's filled with art, it's filled with a lot of tips to help you how to GM this game. But as for the rules,
and this happens with a lot of other games as well, not just with the kids' song games, they don't require much time, they don't require much effort to learn them. And if you take the time to learn how to play a new board game, for example, why wouldn't you do the same with a TTRPG?
Adam Powell (25:17.847)
very fair point and one I can't argue with in any way shape or description is a very good point. So keeping that open mind and being open to supporting and bringing in support, would you like to remind everybody where they can find you, where they can find your games and everything you associate with these?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (25:44.79)
Okay, so you can find me everywhere on the internet like on most social media because I have created them when I when everyone was thinking that Twitter was about to die and it kind of did but yeah, it's on at t g i e n e set r g on most social media and Yeah, that's where you'll be able to find me on most of my stuff
Adam Powell (26:13.559)
All right, well, I will make sure there are links to your stuff below. So your website, your stuff on, say, DriveThruRPG, links to your Gnome Stew, Tribality, and all the stuff that I've managed to pull together and find where you've helped support. And by support, I mean write articles for other DMs and Gems or sort of.
bringing together like the team that are involved in Magnolia City of Marvels. So I'll make sure those links are down in the description below. So please scroll down, follow those links, and support the fantastic work that is being created. Whether you want piracy on the high seas, gothic creatures within the sort of the morgue OSR framework.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (26:49.462)
Thank you very much.
Adam Powell (27:12.439)
a system agnostic setting such as Magnolia or you're really excited and waiting for that action -filled cinematic experience that Rush and Punch will provide when that is put through the mill and ready for us as GMs and players. Thomas, we've spoken about quite a lot in a rather compact sort of space of time. Is there anything we haven't mentioned that you want to bring up now?
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (27:43.446)
Well, one thing that I want to say just to solve you more on the idea of getting Magnolia the setting is that we are going to introduce both graffiti cans as a magical item in a way and skateboards. So if you're into that and wanted to see that in your medieval fantasy game of choice with D &D, Pathfinder or any other or even just...
present day games because they are very easy to adapt. Go in there and check it out. We have a lot of amazing content from fantastic creators.
Adam Powell (28:22.967)
Well, there you go. That's piqued my interest already to see how that could be used and interwoven into games with the various systems that I've had fun experiencing and settings and all that sort of good stuff. So, no, that's brilliant. I'd love to get you back on the show in the future if you'd be willing to join me to talk about, say, when Russian Punch is further through its playtesting and interdevelopment or once it's released it.
If of course you'd be willing and happy to come back and join me, of course.
Tomas Gimenez Rioja (28:56.982)
absolutely love that. Yeah, you have been a great host here and I would love to chat some more.
Adam Powell (29:04.023)
Amazing. Well, I look forward to our chance to chat again soon, Thomas. So thank you so much. Again, please scroll down follow those links, support all the different systems and settings that we've mentioned and the products and resources that have been mentioned here in this interview. So thank you so much for joining me. I can't wait for us to talk again.