sanctuary is a place of great power, power that needs to be protected and kept from falling into the hands of those who may misuse it. A group of guardians will rise to protect it, but by the time their final fight against the threat is over, only one will remain. Hello and welcome to Snyder’s return a tabletop roleplay podcast. My guest today returns to this particular harbour with a siren song carrying her every step to follow threads through the Silent Garden. She works alone to create games of great depth, walking us almost home, a guardian, a saviour, a Sentinel, you can play her games in our homes, our bastions are citadels our sanctuary, here to chat about her newest game sanctuary is Game Designer podcast, a content creator streamer and roleplay. Meghan cross. Meghan, welcome back to the show.
Meghan Cross:Hey, thank you so much for having me back. I'm super excited.
Snyder’s Return:It's always a pleasure to have guests back and yourself especially with this this game that's caught the eye and I'm so glad you've agreed to sort of come back and sent me through it. But in case people haven't listened to our earlier our first interview our chat together, Meghan, would you mind sort of letting people know who you are? And and when we can find you, please?
Meghan Cross:Yeah, of course. I am Meghan I am found pretty much anywhere you can find a person at Meghan Lynn FTW or as siren song games. Also on Twitter, I am a TTRPG content creator, indie game designer streamer podcaster little bit of everything for possums in a trench coat. You know your standard standard run of the mill internet person. But yeah, that I always forget everything about myself whenever somebody is like, oh, like tell us who you are. And like, I'm a personal I am a human who enjoys many human hobbies.
Snyder’s Return:Well, our joints, our hobbies. While we've got you here today TTRPG is your news game sanctuary. You u have released a number of wonderful games. They have been showcasing showcased on a variety of different agile play streams and podcasts. So please go and check those out as well. Your games available on each purchase? Yes. So
Meghan Cross:they're all on Meghan ftw.h.io and physical copies of one particular harbour or on any practice revolution.
Snyder’s Return:One of the games you have released previously that that is sort of linked to this one or can be should we say is Sentinel, would you mind give us a quick sort of recap almost on what Sentinel is and and what people would expect to find when they play that game. Please. Yeah,
Meghan Cross:of course. So Sentinel, Sentinel is my love letter to the Studio Ghibli film castle on the sky. I am completely in love with it. I'm completely in love with the robot gardeners that take care of the floating city. And I wrote Sentinel, completely inspired by them. And I wanted to make a game about a lone Guardian protecting somewhere important. And that's what Central is about. It is a solo journaling game. It could be played collaboratively. I have played it collaboratively with people, but it was designed that you can play it solo the same with sanctuary in Sentinel is really about this lone guardian in a sanctuary in this powerful place and their last period of time before their watch ends. It really starts in the middle of things. It's really up for the player to determine at the beginning like how long the Sentinel has been the lone guardian. In the game is about it's about memory and it's about reflection and it's also about safeguarding something important so the game is played both through Like a series of like flashbacks while also dealing with the present, and the present state of the sanctuary that the Guardian is, is protecting.
Snyder’s Return:sounds incredible. And as you say it's been can be run solo journaling, or collaboratively. You mentioned there that a sanctuary and that sort of dovetails nicely into the game that we're going to have a look at and sort of play through today. A mixture of explanation and playthrough as we go, so, could you tell us a little bit about sanctuary before we sort of dive into it a bit more please?
Meghan Cross:Yeah, so So sanctuary is what I am calling a companion game to Sentinel it very well could be played as a prequel. It is designed that it could lead almost immediately into a game of Sentinel after you've played sanctuary, but I am treating it as a as a companion game because they can both be played independently of one another. They are fully fleshed games on their own. But they are complementary to each other and Sanctuary tells the story of everything that happened before Sentinel begins. So sanctuary is about the sanctuary itself. It's a world building a map making, and a storytelling game. So the player creates the map of the sanctuary and determines what their sanctuary is, creates their guardians creates the threat that they're facing, to keep the sanctuary safe, and then plays out the conflict between the guardians and the threat leading up until only one Guardian being left which should you choose can be your lone guardian and a game of Sentinel if you're not quite done with their story. And it's, it's a game I've wanted to write for. For a while, I've wanted to write a companion game to Sentinel, because Sentinel is probably the game I've written that's the closest to my heart. And it is taken. I've been actively working on this for like a year, year and a half. And it is been a labour of love. And it has changed form many, many times to get where it is. And I'm just so in love with it as it is now. And I'm very excited to get to share it with people. Yeah, absolutely. So
Snyder’s Return:you've mentioned that it can be a companion game. And a few of the things like you sort of poured your, your heart into Centinela. And following on with this, what are some of the influences you've taken into the creation of sanctuary? Oh, I'm
Meghan Cross:probably the biggest influence when I was writing this game is one of my all time favourite games, which is beak feather and bone. published my possible world games, it is a absolutely beautiful, map based storytelling game. And every time I play that game, I'm like, I there's just something about it in its simplicity. That allows for like such deep storytelling I'm I want to create something like that. Like I want to create a game where you create this world. And before you go play around in it, like I wanted to make something that I've been saying that so with Sentinel, the Sentinels, the main character of the game with sanctuary, the sanctuary itself is the main character of the game. The guardians are there and the threat is there. But this game is about the place. And I didn't want it to just be here answer a couple questions about the sanctuary and then focus on the conflict that happens there. I wanted to spend as much time creating it and making you invested in this place. Because as you play through it, like things are happening that are detrimental to this place, and I wanted to make sure that the players have that kind of buy in, in creating their sanctuary and having spent time creating it. In it's the the other big influence as far as the mapmaking aspect like I love the quiet year. A quiet year is a wonderful mapmaking game by Avery Alder and And that ties mapmaking and storytelling together. And, and that's what I wanted to do. Because I knew I wanted it to be a world building game, I knew I wanted there to be a big world building element because the location is the focus of this game. So I drew from those two games, specifically as world building games that really facilitate great narrative storytelling. And then I grabbed from Sentinel, and I wanted it to feel like a different game. But I also wanted it to feel like I wanted the voice to be the same across the two. So So I spent a lot of time like poring over Sentinel, while I was also designing sanctuary. Yeah,
Snyder’s Return:and you say about making the place the focal point of the story. So we have our respective copies of the of the game open and available. So for someone that opens the game up, and wants to go into creating the sanctuary what what is required to play a game sanctuary. Yeah, so
Meghan Cross:all you need to play sanctuary is a standard deck of cards, and a D six, and then something to write on something to write with. But if you are playing like collaboratively, or over video or so like that you don't necessarily like you want something to be able to kind of note your map. But as far as like the prompts when it gets to the confrontation phase, you don't really need it doesn't have as heavy of a journaling aspect. If you are playing it collaboratively as you would if you were playing it, solo, but you do want something to write on. It's something to write with during your your mapmaking phase. And that's it.
Snyder’s Return:All right, well, I have pencil I have no pad and sticky notes. I follow the instructions in the PDF. And I have a D six. It's a lovely red Power Rangers, one from renegade game studios. So a guardian of their own type, I guess, our interest. And I've separated the following the instructions the suits out are all the suits required to play this game or run new suit.
Meghan Cross:So all of the suits are not required. So for the first part of the game, which is the work mapmaking world building portion, we will just be using the diamond suit. And then when we move into the confrontation phase, we will be using spades and hearts shuffled together into one mini deck. And we don't, we don't need clubs for this one.
Snyder’s Return:So I've taken the liberty of separate all the suits out, I have, respectively shuffled the diamonds on in isolation, and then the hearts and the spades together to form a deck. Is there anything else we need before we continue?
Meghan Cross:Um, no, there's nothing else that we need to get going. I do. Make a note in the game text. And I'll make a note here about just player safety. Safety and comfort of players is always the number one priority. And this is a game that deals very heavily in conflict and loss and death. With the advanced knowledge that this game has a sad ending, this game will end with only one person surviving. So it's just important that you're making sure if you're playing by yourself that you're taking breaks and checking in with yourself. And if you're playing with somebody else, just make sure that you are using safety tools if you need to. or not, if you need to safety tools are always a good idea. Make sure that you're using safety tools and just checking in with one another as you're playing just to make sure that you are getting your full enjoyment out of it, and not at the detriment of your own safety and comfort. Of
Snyder’s Return:course, of course. Very glad to see that included in the game itself. So as we move into creating our sense, sanctuary map, is there any sort of limit on how small or how large we can make it or is that down to what sort of factors do we can we take into consideration that,
Meghan Cross:um, it's really up to you. So the way that the mapmaking works is you take that diamond suit, and you lay cards face up in your play space in any physical position as you want. And I recommend four to six. For a game that'll last like two to three hours depending on like how in depth you want to dig into a lot of these prompts. Sanctuary is a game that can take a long time to play. Or it could take a shorter amount of time to play, it all depends on how much time you want to spend with each prompt. It depends on how large of the sanctuary you want. So each card is a location with the sanctuary. So obviously, the more cards the more locations, which means the more prompts you're answering, which means the phase will last longer. So it's really up to you, I'd say you would get the same amount of enjoyment out of if you did, like a four card sanctuary where you really poured in and like made your details very refined, like in those locations. Or if you did one with like six or seven cards, where you're a little looser, and you'll figure stuff out during play. It really all depends on how large of a space you want to create.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, well, should we should we start with the not starts, we create a four card sanctuary between us?
Meghan Cross:Yeah, I think that sounds good. That'll give us a good, good play area. So yeah, there are sample maps in the game. But you can put them in any layout you want. Like if you want all of the Locate like each card is location, if you want them all connected, you can connect them all, if you want them a little more spaced out, you can do that as well. I think it really all depends on what kind of sanctuary you want to build, I think
Snyder’s Return:something I was thinking about while reading through the PDF, and before we go into this, I'm going to make her an inverted y I suppose. So to sort of vertical pillars crossbar and then a vertical one at the top furthest away from me if that makes any sense. And upside down capital. Why I guess? Yeah, almost as best you can make with rectangles. Yeah, and cards and rectangles. So I will give myself a token shuffle. One to need to move my six sided dice. So that's left leg, right leg, cross beam and then final card out right.
Meghan Cross:So once we have placed our carts, there is a list of prompts associated with each card. That'll give you a header prompt and then several follow up questions. And then in addition, there is a question with each prompt about either the guardians or the threat. And I do make a note here that a lot of the details especially about the guardians and the threat will come out more in later phases as you go so don't feel obligated to get a tonne of details solidified in this is really just giving us our baseline bullet point. Details and then we can always build you can always build on more as you go. So I like to keep it a little a little looser in in this at least as far as the guardians and the threat go because they are kind of on the backburner in this stage and then they moved to the forefront all right in the SEC and the next stage.
Snyder’s Return:So I started I put my cards face down as much to keep it as a surprise as as nothing else. So I will do want to do them individually which will mean a flip all four and then
Meghan Cross:let's let's do one one at a time. That's fine.
Snyder’s Return:Okay, so we'll do left leg okay, structure and that is the queen of diamonds.
Meghan Cross:All right, so the queen. The prompt is a place used for gatherings. What makes this spot ideal for gatherings? What was the first gathering held here for? How does the sanctuaries power change when people are gathered together? Please use for gathering. So I don't know if you had any preliminary ideas as far as what kind of sanctuary we are going to have.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, I didn't want to take too much I guess. Certain media will always influence so in my mind this this gathering place has a large fire pit in the middle but it's a slightly raised brickwork fire ring descends down into a like a sunken fire pit so there is light and warmth that emanates up from the depths of this almost well. It's not as deep as well but where the fire is sat around the outside on. Maybe flagstone floors are wooden curved benches, so everybody sits facing in which everyone sits around the fire, there is not a focal point as such, but there is a gap in the seating that allows the entrance and or access and egress into the area and where a focal person would draw attention from the group. And I think something special I think that when, when we're all gathered in this, this place this half, I guess, the half of the century that the flames glow and flicker in different colours no more are they Amber's yellows, oranges and reds of flame. They're a mixture of greens and purples, that shimmer, iridescent shadows and light sort of flicker around a arched room. It's not. There's no frescoes, there's no paintings on the ceilings. But the way the light dances from the flame when we're all gathered there, sort of brings the place to life and sort of brings our community together.
Meghan Cross:I love that. So we call we call this the heart. I like the idea of calling this the horse.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah. Yeah, should be the horse.
Meghan Cross:Yeah. So then what I do when I was designing and like play testing out, what I would do is I would take like an index card or a post it note and write the basics of the location and then stick it on the card. So that when I'm looking at my place base, and I'm looking at my map, I'm able to be like, this is your this is here, this is here to kind of keep notate I'm a very brief messy note taker. So that's I like doing like the post it notes where I can just do like a overall glance and be able to see both by map is but however, however it works for anybody, whatever, whatever floats your boat if you want to write more in depth journal entries, and just make a note for everyone.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, I mean, I've gone for the sticky note approach for this so I can sort of quick glance and remind myself I think if I was playing this solo, I'd definitely be maybe dedicating a page or a part section of a page. So keep that going. or recreate the map in the book and then write text on a separate page so I can keep the image but I've gone for a sticky note in this case for the half
Meghan Cross:Yeah, I think it's definitely depending on if you're playing it with somebody or playing it alone affects the the medium in which you're what you're creating. And then are we have a question about the threat. So we're what makes them such a fierce enemy.
Snyder’s Return:They have the power to extinguish our flame our heart they will rob us of our vitality in that sense. And our hope
Meghan Cross:giving me like a like an Olympic flame type. When the flame goes out our powers go out type of vibe and I'm into it.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, even if it's not sort of physical power, just that symbolism of power. The behalf gives us
Meghan Cross:then yeah, that's like as long as this is burning, we are safe. We are home like this is our place. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. All right. Next card.
Snyder’s Return:Next console, I've done knocking the microphone. I've done the left leg so I'll do the the right vertical leg corridor. And that is the Eight of diamonds.
Meghan Cross:Okay, oh, so the Eight of diamonds is the main source of water. What kind of water source is this is their fear the waters source will ever run out. What about the sanctuary is power makes the water flow differently here.
Snyder’s Return:We sanctuary uses the half it is the heart but it is also the power cell. That's why the threat is so substantial. This room is separated because it acts almost like a like a steam generator. The water flows through the warmth of the heart, sort of moving through the stone warms this room, purifying the water creating the steam that is then collected and taken for our vegetation and things like that. So it is through this purification of steam and cleansing of the waters that we cleanse ourselves and we feed ourselves and we power using some of that steam. Other sections of our sanctuary.
Meghan Cross:Yeah, and I like the idea I think it fits in well to the How does the water flow differently here, like the idea that the water, like comes up as steam and the water that we're using is the collected condensation rather than it just being like, a fake, it's a flow of river or anything like whatever is flowing is underground. And then we collect it, once it condenses, is is very cool. Like I'm just imagining this very rounded cave like room that's just covered the domed ceiling just covered in water droplets that are being collected.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, and you have to step down into it. So because of the amount of condensation that is created, sort of a couple of inches of water is always sort of moving around, ready to be collected by our community? Yeah.
Meghan Cross:And we have another question about the threat. How do they know that the sanctuary and its power exists, the
Snyder’s Return:byproduct of the house, heat upon this water chamber, this this room, this source of, of fluid, and hydration, for us, does release almost like a steam cloud, we have to allow some of the pressure out or potentially sort of blow the lid off it. So every so often, that buildup of steam is released through a sort of a piping system which whistles loudly, it's its release, lets our our community know that it's time to go and empty and check on on us toilet steam room effectively. So they can hear that whistling sound as it rattles through the pipe works.
Meghan Cross:In perhaps this is the only place in any immediate vicinity where there is like potable usable water. So that makes it extremely valuable to to anyone outside of this this community that they'd want to take it for themselves. Absolutely. Or rather, they'd want to just
Snyder’s Return:stop.
Meghan Cross:Take the space for themselves.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, people are horrible. Like, why can't they just leave us in our sanctuary? So that is the sites left leg, right leg effectively. So I'll do the cross room, the horizontal playing card is the two of diamonds. Okay?
Meghan Cross:An area that bears the scar of a past disaster. What did this place look like before disaster struck? And what does it look like now? What kind of disaster struck this place? How has the sanctuaries power been weakened here as a result,
Snyder’s Return:when the sanctuary was first founded, and the warmth of the hearth and the the sort of conjunction with the, the water? Well, the steam room came into being we were still learning of technology, we were still planning, still learning, still understanding, we hadn't built the release system that we now sort of know to listen out for, that our enemies or the threat have become aware of. And there was a pressure build up. So the area in front of our steam room exploded with a a hot pressure, buckling part of the wooden structure and pushing it out. So now, this sort of entranceway down towards the steam room away from the hearth, essentially exposed to the elements, more of a sort of a conservatory type construction open. So there was a walkway that sort of becomes covered towards the hearth, and you can feel its heat as you approach the doorway for the for the hearth. But here, you get that strange sort of cross between the moisture of the steam room, the fresh air here in the sanctuary grounds, and the wolves as we move towards the half.
Meghan Cross:And then we have a question that we can answer about either the guardians or the threat, and that is, where did they come from? Or where do they come from? dependent. So it's either the guardians or the threat. And I feel like it's equally interesting to do both. So I don't really have a preference.
Snyder’s Return:Say that the Guardians had been displaced. They were looking for As a place to settle and forge new lives with the community that they were able to sort of bring with them, collecting a myriad of, of folks from cultures across the lands, they travelled in search of a place that they could call home, as we would want our sanctuary to be. They have brought some knowledge of sort of engineering with them, to a certain extent, the creation of the hath, was built around that sort of central room, and the steam generation, but they didn't have somewhere to call their own. So the sanctuary became that here in this location.
Meghan Cross:Cool. All right. Last card,
Snyder’s Return:I'm just gonna make sure I write dispossessed peoples, I will put my sticky note on my playing card. Okay, last card is the king of diamonds.
Meghan Cross:Okay, a place considered sacred, is this place kept for most or can any come here, what event happened here for this place to be deemed sacred? What makes the sanctuaries powers so strong here,
Snyder’s Return:when the Guardians first settled, they needed to establish a home, they needed to establish a place of, of their law, and the community to spring out from then to this place is open to visitors. But it's also the, for the privacy for reflection, that the Guardians encouraged us to, to both rely on each other and look inward, to build inner strength so we can then help others in need within our community. This place allows us to focus our thoughts and channel our energies into what we can perceive to be the betterment of the community, whether we find clarity and purpose or we are able to deliberate problems which come up unable to sort of fashion answers and reasonable requests for assistance, should that not be forthcoming. This is effectively a prayer room for the for the mind, almost like a contemplation room that is held in high regard, because of how the Guardians established it to begin with.
Meghan Cross:All right. Question about the Guardians, what abilities physical or supernatural do they have? And how did they get them
Snyder’s Return:they have led the sanctuary through periods of great engineering that with the source of this knowledge, and the the understanding behind it is far beyond my comprehension is whether in lands from before they they learned these trades, or whether these trades were given to them by others is, is yet to be discerned. And I almost don't want to know, it is our togetherness, our community that drives our sanctuary forward that brings us our internal prosperity, so that we can reach out to others. So it may be supernatural, but I don't know.
Meghan Cross:Right? So that's our sanctuary. And once sanctuary is created, to your to your satisfaction. It's time to fight to keep it safe. We'll certainly try. Yep. So the second phase of the game is what I what I call the confrontation phase, or just the battle phase. And the way that about the way that it works is almost identical to the mapmaking phase, you will take the deck of cards that you made up of the hearts and the spades shuffled together. And one by one, you flip a card on top of one of your locations in your sanctuary. And wherever you have chosen to flip over this confrontation card is the location that This confrontation is happening in or around. And not every location, your sanctuary needs to have a confrontation happen there, you can let the story guide you, you can lay the cards wherever, wherever you want. And once you've picked your location and you flipped your card, you the first thing you do is we will read the top half of a prompt, and then roll to see if we are successful or not. If we are successful to see how successful we are, because the premise of this game is that the guardians are always going to be able to drive the threat back. Always, there is no all out failure here, it is just a matter of whether or not they are able to easily push back the threat or if they're able to push back the threat at a cost. So successes will celebrate being able to win, not necessarily easily, but without major losses or sacrifices. And a failure will be more reflective and talking about what was lost in the efforts to drive the threat out. And the mechanic is fairly easy. So like I said, the beginning it's one D six, when you start the game, anything over a two is a success. So one or two is a fail 3456 is a success. If you succeed, you succeeded, yay, you go to the Success section of the prompt associated with that card, and then you move on to the next card if you fail. Like I said things have been lost in that failure and it is now moving forward harder for the guardians to push the threat back, which means that now the threshold for success has increased. So when you start the game, a one or a two is a failure after your first failure, a one two or three is now a failure. If you fail again, it goes up to a four, and so on and so on. And once you have reached a point where you cannot roll a success, that is when you move to the end game phase. And there are definitely ways to play with this. If you want the game to be shorter or longer, you can play with a higher die, you can start with a higher difficulty or a lower difficulty, you can definitely adjust this depending on how long of a game you want to play. The way that I've set it up here is what I've found is a good length. But you can always adjust as as you see fit. If you want to play a little longer, you can always flip more cards that so but but that's what I say we can we can play it mechanically and see or if we want to just do one card for each location, just to because I know we're trying to make it a little.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, yeah, we can we can do that. Well, yeah. So do one per location. Yeah,
Meghan Cross:we'll do one per location, and then we'll roll for how our end game ends up.
Snyder’s Return:While I think the hearth is symbolic to the community, I think the steam room the water resource is more of a target for a threat. That makes sense. So I'm going to flip the first card onto the the steam the water, and is the four of hearts.
Meghan Cross:All right. All right, so I'll read the first part and then we'll roll and see ya please. It is early when a lone figure approaches unarmed and hands raised above their head, the Guardians immediately take a defensive stance against them, knowing that the threat moves in numbers and fears more lurking out of sight. On the figure gets within earshot of the Guardians. They loudly declare that they are representative of the threat and are here to offer their immediate surrender. Silence passes over everyone assembled the Guardians taking aback by this declaration. Many are overjoyed at the news grateful that a lifetime of conflict has come to an end but others believe it too good to be true.
Snyder’s Return:And this could go Yeah, I know unrolling the D six
Meghan Cross:D six. Yep. So and you just want to roll above a to
Snyder’s Return:come on averages for
Meghan Cross:All right, so on a success. The Guardian study the figure for a moment as they weigh their options. It doesn't take much for them to see through the threats lies and send the representative away, immediately arming themselves for battle as the figure disappears from you, as they march towards the sanctuaries entrance they are met by the threat ready for a fight. The Guardians raised their weapons in charge into battle. Victory is swift and casualties are few. What was the key to the Guardian success? How do those who nearly fell for the deception feel once the true plot was revealed? With the
Snyder’s Return:key to the Guardian success? So from from where I wasn't, I wasn't directly involved in the conflict. But from from what I could see that the Guardians they, they're able to sort of rush in and outmanoeuvre there were there was swift in thought and swift in embody the tactic to sort of impact and manoeuvre quickly overcame that the threats, the enemy's static response, and I turned to a few of the others and their faces. There was there was hurt even though we had sustained in casualties they were the faces of those around me who had believed the lie was It was painful to watch me. We sat by the hearth for a while, as the guardians returned and informed us that at least for now, we were safe and the offered time in the contemplation for for those that needed their their aid and their guidance, but may many who were caught unawares, that's drawn into the lion and surrendered to it.
Meghan Cross:You could tell it, it did hurt. All right. That's x.
Snyder’s Return:And next. We will go for the damaged room across the middle, looking like looking like a weak point to the structure. I'm glad you agree. Is the 10 of Hearts
Meghan Cross:10 of hearts. The guardians are already engaged with the threads standing their ground and driving them back at a steady pace when shouts for help cut through the fray. A frontal attack has been a distraction for now an even larger force from the threat circling from behind weapons raised as they hope to take advantage of the worn down guardians.
Snyder’s Return:role for a three
Meghan Cross:okay, the thread is once again misjudged the might and vigour of the Guardians as they fight to protect the sanctuary. Though they have been embroiled in this assault for hours they fight with the same strength and ferocity that they did when the battle began. How are they able to maintain their stamina in this way before long the threat knows they cannot best the guardians and a retreat is ordered. What show a force from the Guardians proved that they had one
Snyder’s Return:we could hear the clashing of swords and steal the cries of pain the guardians were route in the foot dealing what we've what we believe to be the largest opponent yet the the enemy the threat had sent us and the noise from echoing across the sanctuary grounds the structure of those attacking us now from this new new direction it caught certainly myself and many others off guard the Guardians thought they were swift they were able to sort of split their forces initially still driving back those initial attackers from the front and then with with almost indescribable powers resources of of internal strength and power stillness of mind they moved and recovered the situation to the rate we were in our friends dear friends of mine with the took our palms and it is with this new found courage we assisted the Guardians we couldn't do much and we were certainly an impedance if he got in their way but having our weapons and our tools at hand, I guess showed that we were one community one force one team one wall, one sanctuary. It was then that the Guardians they they use this new weapon they change this tactic somehow I hadn't seen it before and I'm I may never see it again. But they were able to break up the enemy lines pushing in two directions, maybe three I was losing count. There was things happening all around me. I held my nerve I held my tool. And together as a community, we aid the Guardians in pushing them back. Alright next, let's go with the the contemplation room. Okay, as the threat has seen the Guardians mental capacity for combat and determination, maybe try and break them mentally before Yeah, take away their recovery space. Yeah, sort of take them, attack them mentally before they go for the spiritual heart, the heart. So we'll go for the contemplation first. And that is an eight of spades. Okay.
Meghan Cross:On a warm, foggy morning a massive figure approaches the sanctuary. They stopped a few feet from it, staring down at the guardians who rushed to protect the sanctuaries entrance with unblinking eyes. In a low booming voice, they issue a challenge. They say that the threat is waiting nearby in numbers that would crush the Guardians without issue. But if they send forward a single champion to face them in one on one combat, the threat would not attack in full force. News of this challenge spreads throughout the sanctuary and within moments a guardian steps forward to meet the challenger.
Snyder’s Return:Nice. Yeah, okay. So I roll and I got a make sure I get this a six.
Meghan Cross:All right. The champion draws their weapon and rushes at the Challenger, who is this guardian who has stepped forward for the fight. Though outmatched in size, The Guardian manages to parry every blow threat throws at them, dodging out of the way while also trying to sneak in hits of their own. After many tense minutes, the garden Guardian manages to land a winning blow against their challenger. What does this look like? What makes it clear the fight is over. When it is clear, the fight is done, the Guardian lowers their weapon and makes their way back to the sanctuary, leaving the threat to retrieve their fallen champion. How was this victory celebrated by the Guardians?
Snyder’s Return:When we heard this, this booming, deep voice, we we rushed to see what was going on, to see to be greeted by the sight of a titan a giant, a behemoth of a of a person. We were taken in order the Guardians thought they were they were strong. And we heard from the gardens, the last flurries of the sides, cutting down some of our some of our plants. And we heard a steady set of footsteps. And as they came through from the garden towards where this opponent stood, the towering above the Guardians, we could hear the Guardians start to break into the chant for timeless the spirited and timeless you could see war simple robes used to just to do the menial garden work that the Guardians help us with. And as he moved through, he wielded these two sides one in each hand. And was so slick, it was it was not it was not showy. It was it was confidence it was reassurance it was though he was telling us through movement that we were safe that the guardians were here for us, I watched a thymus it was like a dance it was like almost like a ballet of movement and and rotation as parry have strike and small nicks and cuts. And we were watching as as this giant sort of began to sink as small slashes across the legs and the lower arms seem to be weeping and pooling blood on the ground around them. The more that the the more the Titan slowed down the almost the quicker time seemed to go but it was never never direct for a kill he potentially could have killed this time any time we were rather we were struggling to breathe we were caught in the except that the exhilaration the excitement we were there but we will never stood back we were watching it we were witnessing something spirited. Something of our of our hearts being portrayed in front of us is as timeless reached them as using the handle of the size in one hand. And as he moved across, he leaped gracefully from ground to tightened knee and drove the handle of the side in under the chin of this Titan. And there was a an audible crack and silence for a moment and, and I thought I'd lost my senses but the moment just seemed to hang as the Titans body began to swaying and fall backwards. Time has landed. Almost poetically on a on a single foot and gracefully strove to join his, his guardian companions that his robes slightly marked with the sort of the flicks of blood, but he was not showered or, or dirty, but yet this this Titan, he felt like however, the rest of it was the rest of it, but garbage to call it caught up and up.
Meghan Cross:How was the victory celebrated?
Snyder’s Return:Once the Titan have been recovered by the enemy and moved free from our grounds, we, we celebrated around the hearth, we, thymus had changed and worn the robes and as the guardians sort of, stood around the extremities of of the hearth, we, the the community, the just the mere people within we celebrated with time as he was, it was his victory, it was our victory, he, he retold it and, and regaled us with the tale and mocked the Titan, but simply to remind us of, of how great a community we are and how we must look to serve and protect each other, as well as ourselves.
Meghan Cross:Fantastic. And then the half, I suppose. Yeah. Last, and certainly not least,
Snyder’s Return:I don't want to break it. The six of spades
Meghan Cross:that's like that, that's what I'm going for. With this is that like, yeah, you spend your time creating these places, and you're like, oh, no, but I don't want anything. six of spades, okay. In the afternoon, right before the midday meal, a pair of patrolling guardians spot something amiss near one of the borders of the sanctuary. When they move closer to investigate, a trap is sprung. One of the Guardians manages to free themselves from the trap just as the threat descends upon the trapped guardian and carries them away from the sanctuary towards their nearest hiding spot, determined to extract as much information as they can from the prisoner. Well, that doesn't sound
Snyder’s Return:good. It does not. I wrote another six which is surprising. All right.
Meghan Cross:The Guardian steals themselves as the interrogation begins, a cacophony of voices scream at them to tell them the secrets of the sanctuary and the guardians to tell them anything that will make the threats fight against them easier. Soon, the emotional torture turns physical when they're used to reveal what they know. How do they find the strength to endure? What do they think of to distract from the pain? Just when things feel unbearable, they shout out a lie, when they are hoping is believable enough to fool the threat. What do they say? The lie is believed and thinking they have won the threat tosses the injured Guardian out and makes out to make their way back to the sanctuary, battered and bruised but satisfied knowing their lie has worked.
Snyder’s Return:The Guardian Safina they hold their strength, they hold their will they hold everything dear. The the mental torture, they are able to sort of focus and put themselves into the contemplation room, they're able to sort of almost detach themselves mentally from their body while they're being berated for questions and noise, they're able to use the time that they've spent in the contemplation room to centre themselves and just let the words the harshness, the aggression, the hate the anger and all these feelings, just wash off wash over them like water off a duck's back almost. But when it turns physical, something new is needed something to overcome that barrier, something that draws strength from community that begin to imagine picture and focus upon the hearth, the flame from the hearth as it changes from the reds, the Amber's the oranges through to these sort of greens and purples, that source of communal power, the flame, the one that burns the one who is the heart of the community, they guard steals their resolve, as the injuries increase, they can only take so long and using the flame as as like a fuel. They they tell that the enemy that there is a passage into the side of the hearth that would extinguish the flame and allow access under the under the sanctuary in a in a sort of covert tunnel system. Similar to to an underground river almost that would intercept into the hearth itself. There are tears streaming not only from the pain but what feels like lit In the community down knowing how important how integral how instrumental the hearth is to the community, they they break into streams that dumped upon the side of the road Did I catch all of those prompts? I think you did.
Meghan Cross:You did. Now since we've been doing nothing but winning normally we will keep going but because we are playing an abridged version of sanctuary playing to lose on to the last stand. So the fate of the Guardians has been sealed they cannot survive the final fight against the threat. And by the time the confrontation is over, only one will remain. So we will roll the dice six and depending on what is roles will determine what the last stand looks like.
Snyder’s Return:All right, here we go. Well, it bounced out my dice tray but it rolled one
Meghan Cross:so All right. All right. The battle waged is on for days with no side taking clear lead over the other. It is nearly a week of relentless fighting before both sides have fallen, the sanctuary ground strewn with the bodies of Guardians and threat like there's a moment of stillness before a lone figure rises to their feet amongst the carnage. One of the threat has survived. They begin to stagger through the sanctuary searching for their prize claiming the sanctuaries power for themselves. As they stand in front of the sanctuary source of power, something in them shifts and they cannot bring themselves to take it. Why not? What has caused this change of heart as they walk away from what they nearly gave their life to claim what all of their comrades gave their lives to claim. They make a vow to stand where the Guardians fell and protect the sanctuary. The sanctuary rewards their decision by instilling some of its power in them. How does that manifest? How will the new Guardians previous allegiance to the threat help them face new threats that may come to the sanctuary? This is my favourite
Snyder’s Return:one wow that was luck
Meghan Cross:I know there's a lot of questions
Snyder’s Return:shaken and exhausted these i i struggled to my feet I catch my breath I'm coated in dirt blood some of it my own some of it my friends scanning the horror of my feet my it's I know what I came to do. I know what must be done what was charged to us for coming here what why we have worked all this time. The power I stepped over fallen comrades weapons dropped the theory stillness around me it's it's too much but something caused me something down these flaps down this flagstone corridor through this door this this warmth it caused me this is this is what I mean. This is this is it. I've done it. We Okay, are we Aye Aye All right. The warmth that beckons me forward but all I see is chairs and this this flame what does it mean? Do I take the flame is is the how they how they but they didn't have the flame the flame has always remained the fling has always remained everyone outside they were they were not defending a thing they were they were defending the This isn't this isn't an object like we were told this is a this is a notion of concepts I've destroyed a community to save a community on the on the only one left this was only me now bringing the flame I guess it's what I deserve I guess. No, no, we can we can make this right this this community this room this this communal hole this this group we can shall be allowed to fall again the flame must burn on I cannot I cannot leave it as I move closer to the fire pit. I strive through the benches they're simple but beautifully carved curved benches where they must have satin drank and sang and told tales and and supported each other and we have come in. Well I've come in the warmth. I feel it. I feel it through me i If I feel it holds me I, I feel that it is not mine, but mine to protect, I feel that I will never be cold again, I feel I feel like I have a lot to learn in this place. As they place a hand upon the small stone wall around the fire pit, the flames flick through and change to that sort of purple green coloration. And you see a thin veil of what colour the skin begin to sort of shroud the skin of this individual and bathe them in this sort of swirling, soft flame of purples and greens. And they move across through the seats to the door. And they close the door and remain with the fire to defend and protected until the next community can come surrounded. Oh wow. I was at Oh, so good. Well, I hope I did you gain justice.
Meghan Cross:I you absolutely did are just like sitting here this. Oh, my hearts all warm. I mean, it's sad. Because of the sad stuff that happened in the game. But my hearts all warm because the heart is there. Yes, exactly.
Snyder’s Return:And Home is where the heart is. So if I wanted to continue on the tale of the lone survivor, as it were the Sentinel as they now is, how do the mechanics of Sentinel differ from sanctuary so if I wanted to move from this game, having established all of this long backstory and, and really sort of felt a connection with this location, and now this individual that that stands as our Sentinel, how do the mechanics change?
Meghan Cross:Yeah, so they don't change too much. Which is cool. Really, if you are I will just say porting. If you're doing New Game Plus, with your guardian and your sanctuary from sanctuary and you wanted to carry them over into Sentinel, it's really as easy as ignoring the world and character building questions in the beginning, because or re answering them according to your game that you have already played. And then Sentinel picks right up. From there it is played the same way that sanctuary is so it's a deck of cards and a set of dice. The way that Sentinel works in comparison to Sanctuary is you shuffle all all the cards together, you take the Joker, you put it about a third of the way down into the deck and then you flip cards. And each suit is a different kind of prompt. So there are memories there are items found within the sanctuary there are conflicts and confrontations with enemies, and there is time passing. And you once you know what suit you are, you roll and there are rollable tables for each suit, and prompts associated with whatever it is you roll and you respond to the prompts much in the way that you do during both phases of sanctuary. And you go until you get the Joker and then the Joker symbolises that the watch of the Sentinel is coming to an end. And then much like sanctuary you roll in depending on how what amount you roll determines what the ending of your Sentinel is as their watch ends. Wow. So mechanically very similar. There's a little more moving parts to it, but not anything much more complex than you'd see in Sanctuary. Check Sentinel out now Sentinel is on my Ajio page. If you want to get a taste for it, and then
Snyder’s Return:absolutely well, I was just gonna say that say someone has played through sanctuary like we have either in a collaborative or a solo experience. And, and then wanted to because we've we've told the tale from the sanctuary perspective and we've we end up with this this lone individual Sentinel, but then tell the backstory of the lone individual and then their experiences within the sanctuary so I love the way that sort of you can fill out both sides of the story and and how it sort of knits together and that was
Meghan Cross:Yeah, It's I like it a lot because Sentinel is a very personal game. It's a very individual game. And sanctuary is about the community, it's about groups, it's about the Guardians as a whole, without focusing on any one or two particular guardians, it's about the threat as a whole, it's about the sanctuary as a place where it's Sentinel is much more personal because it is just this one person. And I wanted it to be to work like that, where it's like you can, like you could take sanctuary and play through sanctuary and then look at everything with a completely different lens, playing Sentinel, because it's a personal remembrance and a personal reflection on everything that has happened rather than a larger scale overview, which is what you get with sanctuary. Yeah.
Snyder’s Return:Amazing. No doubt that
Meghan Cross:a great deal of people
Snyder’s Return:will enjoy picking this up and going through it again, either as a solo experience or in a collaborative experience. Speaking of collaborative experiences, and sort of moving forward, we use community as a bit of a tie in here. When are we next going to see you appearing on things have you got shows coming up? Because you do podcasts and streams and things are you expecting to come on some further into the year?
Meghan Cross:I do have some stuff coming up. It's stuff that hasn't been announced yet, so I can't really talk about it. I have been doing a lot of podcasts. Kind of like one off things leading up to what has taken all of my attention lately, which is my zine quest ximo Kickstarter for sanctuary. So I've been talking to some wonderful folks on podcast talking about sanctuary. So, we I am looking to so sanctuary is done but not released. Sentinel is out. And I am running a Kickstarter campaign through the month of February. So it launches on February 1, and goes for 30 days till March 2. For a physical zine of both sanctuary and Sentinel. We are going we I am going to be releasing them as a two game zine. So it'll be both full games in the zine. That will be beautifully laid out by my wonderful friend Mac. You can see get a little sneak peek of the aesthetic on the pre launch page. We are going for a very mediaeval manuscript type feel. I'm a huge mediaeval literature nerd. She's a big mediaeval art nerd. So we're super excited about that being able to come together because sanctuary is a game, like I said, I've been working on for a while and really not struggled. But it was it was a tough decision to figure out whether or not like this is how I wanted to do it if I wanted to do another crowdfunding campaign. And what it comes down to, like this is a game that deserves to be beautifully laid out in in print. And that's how I want people to see it. So the pre launch page is up. Now it goes live on the first, I'll send you the link. So you Oh,
Snyder’s Return:yeah, I'll make sure links are in the description below.
Meghan Cross:Yes. So please check it out. If you liked what you heard. Please consider backing the Kickstarter. We've got PDF versions and physical versions will be available. So this is really where I've been pouring all of my love and energy. But there is some cool, actual play stuff coming up. That is still under wraps right now. But I think should not be under wraps much longer. But follow me on Twitter, where I will never really shout a lot about it. When I am able to.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, absolutely. We will. You know, I'll be looking out for the future announcements with respect to the actual pleasure involved with the further games the Kickstarter, I'll make sure the link is down there and I back it myself. I was I felt so privileged when we arranged to play this on the podcast so thank you so much for giving me the privilege to play through sanctuary. I just hope I did it justice my hope
Meghan Cross:100% It was absolutely wonder So this is the firt the first time I've seen somebody other than me play it, so it feels good. It feels good to see it in action from someone who's not me.
Snyder’s Return:Fair, fair enough. So we mentioned the kickstart. We've mentioned a future actual plays and other projects. Have you got much else coming on in the future anything else in the on the backburner that we should be looking out for or anything else you're excited for? In the year 2023.
Meghan Cross:I am working on a couple of things I've got, I've got some stuff in the works. I'm currently working on finishing up a game about it's a two person asynchronous letter writing game about a member of a lost civilization and an archaeologist, just recovering the ruins of central civilization. And it's about like, the passage and degradation of knowledge throughout time. That is like 90% done and my brain is really dogging me on that last 10%. So we'll see. When that rears its head, and then I just started work on a game for a game jam. That's being run by the wonderful supervillain called the winter werewolves jam is at this point right now and we'll see what happens within the next month. At this point right now it is a 30 day, prompt based journaling game about a werewolf who is in love with the moon. So
Snyder’s Return:lunatics and lunacy all round.
Meghan Cross:As somebody who loves the moon, I can't stop writing games about the moon. And otherwise, yeah, that's those are the main ones Sanctuary has taken up most of my brain space. But now that the draft as it is for sanctuary is done now I'm kind of like pouring back through my, my pile of WIPO, and being like, Oh, this game is like 60% done, let me pull this out. So I'm revisiting a lot of stuff that kind of fell to the wayside when sanctuary clicked in that became all that I did for, like six months.
Snyder’s Return:Well, so we can follow you. We mentioned the Kickstarter, but where can we find you on social media?
Meghan Cross:Please, so you can find me, you can mainly find me on Twitter, I am there until the last bit of that ship sinks below the briny deep. So you can find me there Meghan Lynn FTW or siren song games. I am on pretty much every other social media site under the same name. However, I will say I do not post other places I have just snatched up my name. For the inevitable in case the inevitable happens, you can find all of my games at Meghan Lynn ftw.h.io. And you can find pretty much a link to all of my stuff. Let me make sure I'm getting the site, right. It's my own site, and I still mess it up. Um, yeah, making enough tw.card.co card with two R's. And that's got my social links, it's got contact form, past AP experiences, all all that good stuff all in one place. But Twitter is the main place where you can find me where I am most active.
Snyder’s Return:All right, well link to your website. And Twitter will be in the description below this podcast along with the link to the Kickstarter, which I will be back in because that was a great experience. And something I'm going to recommend from now until I am the lone guardian. So yes, Meghan, I'd love to repay the favour and run something for you in the future. And I'm always glad to get you back on for new projects. It's always a pleasure to chat with you. So if you're willing, I'd love to get you back on the show again and
Meghan Cross:anytime. Anytime. That's the scheduling Gods allow. I will be back.
Snyder’s Return:Curse them scheduling guilts.
Meghan Cross:Yes, the true enemy of every TTRPG game.
Snyder’s Return:Indeed, indeed. Yes. So it's been an absolute pleasure. And I can't wait to speak to you again. Meghan. Thank you. All right.
Meghan Cross:Thank you.
Snyder’s Return:Thanks for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the show, then go to www dot Snyder’s return.squarespace.com. Alternatively, you can find us over on Twitter. At return Schneider. You have a link tree link in the description of this episode. And if you want to support us, come and join us over on Patreon and we also have a discord so Have a please leave us a review because we'd love to learn how to improve the channel and provide better content out for for those who are listening until we until we speak again thank you