TTRPG Content Creator Interview – Meghan Cross – Sanctuary TTRPG Kickstarter

foreign [Music] the 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 Harbor 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 savior 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 podcaster content creator streamer and role player Megan cross Megan welcome back to the show hey thank you so much for having me back I'm super excited it's always a pleasure to sort of have uh guest back and yourself especially with this this game that's uh caught the eye and and I'm so glad you've agreed to sort of come back and step me through it but in case people haven't listened to our our earlier or our first interview our chat together uh Megan would you mind sort of letting people know who you are and uh and where we can find you please yeah of course um I am Megan I am found pretty much anywhere you can find a person at Megan Lynn FTW or um as siren song games um also on Twitter I am a ttrpg content creator indie game designer streamer podcaster a little bit of everything uh four possums in a trench coat uh you know your standard standard run-of-the-mill internet person um but uh yeah that I always forget everything about myself whenever somebody is like oh like tell us who you are I'm like I'm a person I I am a human who enjoys many human Hobbies well our joint uh Hobbies uh one we've got you here today ttrpgs your newest game Sanctuary um you have released a number of wonderful games uh they have been showcased showcased on a variety of different uh actual plays streams and podcasts uh so please uh go and check those out as well uh your games available on itch purchase yes so they're all on Megan thenftw.itch.io in physical copies of one particular Harbor are on um a new preface Revolution okay uh 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 giving a a quick sort of recap almost on what Sentinel is and and what Peak would expect to find when they played that game please yeah of course um so Sentinel uh Sentinel is my love letter to the Studio Ghibli film Castle on the sky um 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 um and I wanted to make a game about alone Guardian protecting somewhere important um and that's what's sentinel's 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 um and Sentinel is really about this lone Guardian in a sanctuary in this powerful place and their last period of time um before their watch ends and it really starts in the middle of things um it's really up for the player to determine at the beginning like how long the Sentinel has been the lone Guardian um and 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 that sounds uh incredible and as you say it's been it could be run solo journaling or collaboratively um you mentioned there that a sanctuary and that sort of dovetails nicely into the the game that uh we're gonna have a look at and sort of play through today a mixture of explanation and and play through as we go so could you tell us a little bit about Sanctuary before we sort of dive into it a bit more please yeah so so Sanctuary is what I am calling a companion game to Sentinel it very well could be played as a prequel um 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 flesh games on their own um 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 um 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 um between the Guardians and the threat leading up until um only one Guardian being left which should you choose can be your loan Guardian in 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 um I've wanted to write a companion game to set no 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 almost like a year a year and a half and it has been a labor 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 you mentioned that it can be a companion game um and a few of the things like you sort of poured your your heart into Sentinel and following on with this what are some of the influences you've taken into the creation of sanctuary oh um probably the biggest influence when I was writing this game is one of my all-time favorite games which is Big feather and Bone um published by 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 like I want to create something like that like I 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 Sentinel is 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 um in its the field the other big influence um as far as the map making aspect like I love the quiet year the quiet year is a wonderful map making game by Avery Alder and that ties map making and storytelling together and and that's what I wanted to do um 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 um so I drew from those two games specifically as World building games that really facilitate great narrative storytelling um 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 um so so I spent a lot of time like pouring over Sentinel while I was also designing Sanctuary yeah and you say about making the place the the focal point of the story um so we have our respective copies of the game open and available so for someone that opens the game up and wants to go into creating this Sanctuary what what is required to play a game of sanctuary yeah so all you need to play Sanctuary is a standard deck of cards and a D6 and then um something to write on something to write with but if you are playing like collaboratively or over video or something like that you don't necessarily like um 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 I'm solo but you do want something to write on um and something to write with um during your your map making phase um and that's it all right well I have pencil I have notepad and sticky notes uh I followed the instructions in the PDF and I have a D6 it's a lovely Red Power Rangers one from uh Renegade game studio so uh the guardian of their own type I guess yeah Power Rangers and I've separated the following the instructions the the suits out are all the suits required to play this game or they're only certain so all of the suits are not required so for the first part of the game which is the the map making World building portion we will just be using the diamond suit um and then when we move into the confrontation phase we will be using um Spades and hearts uh Shuffle together into one mini deck and we don't we don't need clubs try this one so I've taken the liberty of separating 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 uh is there anything else we need before we continue um no there's nothing else that we need to get going um I do make a note in the game text and I'll make a note here um about just player safety um 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 um with the advanced knowledge that this game has a sad ending this game will end with only one person surviving um 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 um 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 um as you're playing just to make sure that you are getting your full enjoyment out of it um and not at the detriment of your own safety and comfort of course of course uh very glad to see that included in the game itself so as we move into creating our 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 could we take into consideration there um it's really up to you so the way that the map making works is you take that diamond suit and you lay cards face up in your play space in any physical position as you want um and I recommend four to six um 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 um 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 a sanctuary you want um so each card is a location within 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 um so it's it's really up to you um 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 um it really all depends on how large of a space you want to create yeah well should we should we start with the or not start should we create a four card Sanctuary between us yeah I think that sounds good that'll give us a good good play area um so I mean yeah there are sample maps in the game um but you can put them in any layout you want like if you want all of the locate like each card is a 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 um I think it really all depends on what kind of sanctuary you want to build I think uh so something I was thinking about while uh reading out through the PDF and before we go into this I'm gonna make her an inverted y I suppose so two sort of vertical pillars a crossbar and then a vertical one at the top furthest away from me if that makes any sense okay so an upside down capital Y I guess yeah almost as best you can make with rectangles yeah all cards and rectangles so I will probably give myself a token Shuffle one two need to move my six sided dice so that's left leg right leg cross beam and then final card all right so once we have placed our cards um there is a list of prompts associated with each card um 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 um and I do make a note here that a lot of the details especially about the Guardians and the threat will come out more um in later phases as you go so don't feel obligated to get a ton of details solidified in this this is really just giving us our Baseline bullet point um details and then we can always build you can always build on more um 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 back burner in this stage and then they move to the Forefront all right in the SEC in the next stage uh so I started I put my cards face down as much to keep it as a surprise as as nothing else um so I will jaunt to do them individually or draw me a flip all four and then work um but let's let's do them one at a time that's fine okay so we'll do left leg of okay structure and that is the queen of diamonds all right so the queen um The Prompt is a place used for gatherings um what makes this spot ideal for Gatherings what was the first Gathering held here for how does the sanctuary's power change when people are gathered together okay it please use for Gathering so I don't know if you had any preliminary ideas as far as what kind of sanctuary we were gonna have yeah I didn't want to taint too much I guess um certain media will always influence so in in my mind uh this this Gathering Place has a large uh fire pit in the middle but it's a slightly raised brickwork fire ring uh that 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 a well but where the fire is is sat around the outside on maybe flagstone floors are wooden curved benches so everybody sits facing inwards 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 axis and egress into the area and where a focal person would draw attention from the group and um I think something special I think that when when we're all gathered in this this place this Hearth I guess the The Hearth of the sanctuary uh that um the Flames glow and flicker in different colors no more are they ambers yellows oranges and reds of flame there a mixture of greens and purples that Shimmer iridescent shadows and 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 um sort of brings the place to life and sort of brings our community together yeah I love that so we called what we call this the Hearth I like the idea of calling this the Hearth yeah yeah that should be the half 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 space and I'm looking at my map I'm able to be like this is here this is here this is here it's a kind of keep you know take I I'm a very brief messy Note Taker um 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 but my 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 whatever you want to do it 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 I can keep that going or maybe recreate the map in the book and then write text on a separate page so I can keep the info but I've gone for a sticky note in this case for the half yeah I think it's definitely depending on if you're playing it with somebody or playing it alone um affects the the medium in which you're what you're creating um and then our we have a question about the threat so we're um what makes them such a fierce enemy they have the power to extinguish our flame our hearth they will Rob us of our Vitality in that sense and our hope giving me like a like an Olympic flame type uh when the flame goes out our powers go out type of vibe and I'm into it yeah even if it's not a sort of physical power just that symbolism of power yeah the The Hearth gives us 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 okay awesome all right next card next card so I've done I'm gonna stop knocking the microphone I've done the left leg so I will do the the right vertical leg rather than the corridor and that is the eight of diamonds okay oh so the eight of diamonds is the main source of water what kind of water source is this is there fear the Water Source will ever run out what about the sanctuary's power makes the water flow differently here we this the sanctuary uses the Hearth 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 uh the water flows through the the warmth of the hearth um sort of moving through the stone warms this room purifying the water creating the steam that is then collected and taken for our [Music] vegetation and things like that so um it is through this purification of steam and colletting of of the waters that we cleanse ourselves and we feed ourselves and we power using some of that steam other sections of our sanctuary 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 in the water that we're using is the collected condensation rather than it just being like a flow of river or anything like whatever is Flowing is underground and then we collect it um once it condenses is is very cool like I'm just imagining this very rounded cave-like room that's just cover the domed ceiling just covered in water droplets that are being collected uh 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 uh ready to be collected by our community yeah oh and we have another question about the threat how do they know that the sanctuary and its power exists the byproduct of the half's heat upon this water chamber this this room this source of of fluid and hydration for us does release almost like a steam Cloud you 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 a sort of a piping system which whistles loudly um it's its release lets our our community know that it's time to go and empty and and check on on our sort of steam room effectively so they can hear that whistling sound as it rattles through the pipe works yeah 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 stop us take the space for themselves okay yeah people are horrible why can't they just leave us in our sanctuary so that is the so that's left leg right leg effectively so I'll do the the cross room the horizontal playing card is the two of diamonds okay ooh 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 sanctuary's power been weakened here as a result when the Sanctuary was first founded in the the warmth of the Hearth and the the sort of conjunction with the the Water World 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 are 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 hot uh pressure buckling part of the wooden structure and pushing it out so now this sort of entrance way down towards the steam room away from the Hearth is actually exposed to the elements uh more of a sort of a conservatory type construction but open um 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 um but here you get that strange sort of cross between the moisture of the steam room the fresh air here in the sanctuary's grounds and the warmth as we move towards the uh the Hearth and then we have a question that we can answer about either the guardians or the threat um and that is where did they come from or where do they come from depend so that'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 I'll say uh that the Guardians had been displaced they were looking for a place to settle and Forge New lives with the community that they were able to to sort of bring with them collecting a myriad of of folks from cultures across the lands they traveled in search of a place that they could call home as we would want our Sanctuary to be um they have brought some knowledge of uh sort of engineering with them to a certain extent the creation of the Hearth was built around uh that sort of central room and the steam generation but they they didn't have somewhere to call their own so the sanctuary became that here in this location very cool all right last card okay I'm just gonna make sure I write this this possessed peoples there we go I will put my sticky note on my playing card okay last card is the King of Diamonds oh okay a place considered sacred is this place kept from most or can any come here what event happened here for this place to be deemed sacred what makes the sanctuary's powers so strong here 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 to Spring out from then so this place is open to visitors but is also the for the Privacy for reflection uh the Guardians encourage 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 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 um we are able to deliberate problems which come up and able to sort of fashion answers and and reasonable requests for assistance should that not be forthcoming um this is effectively a a prayer room for the for the Mind almost a contemplation room that is held in high regard because of how the Guardians established it to begin with all right and question about the Guardians what abilities physical or Supernatural do they have and how did they get them they have led the sanctuary through periods of uh great engineering the the source of this knowledge and the the understanding behind it is far beyond my comprehension it's we're 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 the 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 all right so that's our sanctuary and once the sanctuary is created uh to your to your satisfaction um it's time to fight to keep it safe well you will certainly try yep um so the second phase of the game is but I what I call the confrontation phase um or just the battle phase and the way that about the way that it works is almost identical to the map making 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 in 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 um and once you've picked your location and you flipped your card um you the first thing you do is uh 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 are 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 in talking about what was lost in the efforts to drive the threat out okay and the mechanic is fairly easy so like I said it's 1d6 um when you start the game anything over a two is a success so a one or two is a fail three four five six is a success um 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 um like I said things have been lost um in that failure and it is now moving forward harder for the Guardians to push the threat back which means that now the um threshold for success is increased so when you start the game a one or a two as 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 okay um and there are definitely ways to play with this if you want the game to be shorter or longer um you can play with a higher die you can start with a higher difficulty or a lower difficulty it 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 um is what I've found is a good length um but you can always adjust as as you see fit um 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 her if we want to just do one card for each location just to because I know we're trying to make it a little yeah yeah we can we can do that yeah so do do one per location yeah we'll do one per location and then we'll roll for um how our end game ends up okay 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 room the water room and it is the four of Hearts all right all right so I'll read the first part and then we'll roll and see yeah 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 when the figure gets with an earshot of the Guardians they loudly declare that they are a 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 this could go yeah okay now I'm rolling the the D6 the D6 yep okay so and you just want to roll above a two come on averages four 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 view as they March towards the sanctuary's entrance they are met by the threat ready for a fight the Guardians raised their weapons and charge into Battle Victory is Swift and casualties are few what was the key to the guardian's success how do those who nearly fell for the deception feel once the true plot was revealed the key to the guardian success so from from where I was and I wasn't directly involved in in the conflict but from from what I could see that the Guardians they they're able to sort of rush and outmaneuver there where there was Swift in thought and Swift in embody their the tactic uh to sort of impact and maneuver quickly overcame the threats uh the the enemies uh static uh response and um I I turned to a few of the others and and their faces there was there was hurt though we had sustained in casualties there 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 and informed us that at least for now we were safe and the offered time in the contemplation room for for those that that needed their their aid and and their guidance but many who were caught unawares it's drawn into the lion and surrendered to it you could tell it it had hurt all right what's next the next um we will go for the the damaged room across the middle looking like a looking like a weak point to the structure um I'm glad you agree uh is the Ten of Hearts ten of Hearts okay the Guardians are already engaged with the threat 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 threats circling from behind weapons raised as they hope to take advantage of the worn down Guardians and I roll yep 43.

Okay the threat is once again misjudged the might and vigor 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 in a retreat is ordered what show of force from the Guardians proved that they had won we could hear the the Clashing of swords and steel the cries of of pain the the Guardians were out in the foot dealing what with what we believe to be the largest opponent yet the the enemy the threat had sent us and the noise from echoing across the the sanctuary grounds the structure of those attacking us now from this new New Direction it caught certainly myself and and many others off guard the Guardians though 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 it's Stillness of mind they moved and recovered the situation to the the re we we were in our friends dear friends of mine that took up arms and it it is with this newfound courage we assisted the Guardians we couldn't do much and 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 the Guardians they they used this new weapon they they changed this tactic somehow I 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 I held my nerve I held my tool and together as a community we aided the Guardians in pushing them back thank you all right uh who's next let's go with the contemplation room okay as the the threat has seen the Guardians mental capacity for combat and determination maybe try and break them mentally before take yeah take away their recovery space yeah sort of take them attack them mentally before they go for the the spiritual Heart The Hearth so we'll go for the contemplation room first and that is an eight of spades okay amazing on a warm foggy morning a massive figure approaches the sanctuary they stop a few feet from it staring down at the Guardians who rush to protect the sanctuary's 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 nice um yeah okay so I roll and I got a make sure I get this uh a six 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 the 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 is this Victory celebrated by the Guardians 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 a Titan a giant a a behemoth of a of a person who we were taken in all the Guardians though they were they were strong and we heard from the gardens the the last flurries of of the sides cutting down some of our some of our uh plants uh and we heard a a steady set of footsteps and as they came through from the garden towards where this this opponent stood The Towering above the Guardians we could hear the Guardians start to break into the chant uh for Thomas the spirited and time as you could see more simple robes used 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 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 timeless it was like a dance it was like almost like a ballet of of movement and and rotation as Parry of strike and small necks and cuts and we were watching as as this giant sort of began to to sink as small slashes across the legs and and the lower arms seem to be weeping and pulling Blood on the ground around them the more the the more the Titans slowed down the almost the quicker time has seemed to go but it was never never direct for a kill he potentially could have killed this Titan any time we were rather we were struggling to breathe we were caught in the ex the exhilaration the excitement we were there but we were we were stood back we were watching it we were witnessing something spirited something of our of our hearts being portrayed in front of us as as timeus reached and was using the the handle of the Scythe in one hand and as he moved across he leapt gracefully from ground to tightened knee and drove the handle of the Scythe in under the chin of this Titan and there was a an audible crack and silence for a moment and and I I thought I'd lost my senses but the moment just seemed to hang as the Titan's body began to Sway and fall backwards Time Has Landed almost poetically on a on a single foot and gracefully strobe to join his his Guardian companions that his robes slightly marked with uh the the sort of the flicks of blood but he was not not showered or or dirty but yet this this Titan he felt um I can't remember the rest of it what was the rest of it I got a bit too cold co-op in that [Music] um how is the victory celebrated once the Titan have been recovered by the enemy and and moved free from our grounds we we celebrated around the Hearth we Thomas had changed and uh worn robes and as the Guardians sort of stood around the extremities of of the Hearth we the the community the just the the mere people within we 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 tail 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 fantastic and then the half I suppose yeah last and certainly not least I don't want to break it yeah the six of Spades that that's like that that's what I'm going for but this is that's like yeah you spend your time creating these places and you're like oh no but I don't want anything to happen um 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 good it does not uh I wrote another six which is surprising all right um The Guardian steals themselves as the interrogation begins caffeine 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 refused 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 in 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 the the guardian Safina they hold their strength they hold their will they hold everything dear the the mental torture they were able to to sort of focus and and put themselves into the contemplation room they're able to sort of almost detach themselves mentally from their body of while they're being berated with questions and noise they're able to use the time that they've spent in the contemplation uh room to sort of Center themselves and just let 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 that draws strength from Community they begin to imagine picture and focus upon the hearth flame from the heart as it changes from the Reds the ambas uh the oranges through to these sort of greens and purples that source of communal power the flame the one that burns the one is at the heart of the community they guard steals their resolve as the injuries increase they can only take so long and and using the flames as like a fuel they they tell the the enemy that there is a a passage into the side of the heart that would extinguish the flame and allow access under the under the sanctuary in a in a sort of covert tunnel system uh similar to an underground river almost that would intercept into the The Hearth itself there are tears extremely not only from the pain but what feels like letting the community down knowing how important how integral how instrumental The Hearth is to the community they they break and tears stream as they're dumped upon the side of the road did I catch all of those prompts I think it did you did you did now since we've been doing nothing but winning normally we would keep going but because we are playing in Abridged version of sanctuary we're playing to lose um on to the Last Stand uh 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 D6 and depending on what his roles will determine what the Last Stand looks like all right here we go well it balanced out my die straight but it rolled a one so all right so yeah all right the battle wages 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 grounds strewn with the bodies of Guardians and threat alike there is 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 sanctuary's power for themselves as they stand in front of the sanctuary's 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 favorite ending wow that was luck [Laughter] I know there's a lot of questions shaken and exhausted these I I struggle to my feet I catch my breath I'm coated in dirt blood some of it my own some of it my friends that's uh 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 step over Fallen conrades weapons dropped the the Eerie Stillness around me it's it's too much but something cools to me something down these flat down this flagstone Corridor through this this door this this warmth it calls to me that this is this is what I mean this is this is it I I I've done it we okay not we are we I all right the warmth it it beckons me forward but all I see is cheers and this this flame what does it mean do I take the flame is is that how this how did but they didn't have the flame the flame has always remained fling has always remained everyone outside they were they were not defending a thing they would they were defending the this isn't this isn't an object like we were told this is a this is a a notion of concept I've I've destroyed a community to save a community I'm the I'm the only one left there's there's only me now me and the flame I guess it's what I deserve I guess no no no we can we can make this right this this community this room this this communal all this this group we can we shouldn't be allowed to fool again the the flame must burn on we I cannot I cannot leave it as I move closer to the fire pit I stride through the benches there simple but beautifully carved curved benches where they must have sat and drank and sang and and told tails and and supported each other and we have come in well I have come in the warmth I feel it I feel it through me I I feel it hold me I I feel that it is not mine but mine to protect I feel that I won 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 the fire pit the Flames flick through and change to that sort of purple green coloration and you see a thin veil of it not crawl up the skin but 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 these seats to the door and they close the door with the fire to defend it and protect it until the next Community can come and Surround it oh wow how was that oh that was so good I hope I did your game Justice um I I you absolutely did I'm just like sitting here with this ah my heart's all warm I mean it's sad because of the sad stuff that happened in the game but my heart's all warm because the Hearth is there yes exactly and home is where the heart is yeah uh so if I wanted to continue on the tale of the Lone Survivor as it were the The Sentinel as they now are yes how do the mechanics of Sentinel differ from sanctuaries so if I wanted to move from this game having established all of this law and 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 yeah so they don't change too much um which is cool um really if you are I will just say porting if you're doing New Game Plus with your guardian in your Sanctuary from sanctuary and you wanted to carry them over into Sentinel uh it's really as easy as um ignoring the world and character building questions in the beginning because or re-answering them according to your game that you have already played yeah um and then Sentinel picks right up um from there it is played the same way that Sanctuary is so it's a deck of cards and a set of dice um 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 um 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 on both phases of sanctuary and you go until you get the Joker and then the Joker symbolizes that the watch of the Sentinel is coming to an end and then much like Sanctuary you roll and depending on how what amount you roll determines what the ending of your Sentinel is as their watch ends wow um so mechanically very similar um there's a little more moving parts to it but not anything much more complex um then you'd see in sanctuary yeah you can go check Sentinel out now Sentinel is on my Geo page uh if you want to get a taste for it and then yeah absolutely well I was just I was going to say that um say someone has played through Sanctuary like we have even a collaborative or a solo experience um and then wanted to because we've we've we've told the the tale from the sanctuary perspective and we we end up with this this lone individual Sentinel would then tell the backstory of the 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 of the story and and how it sort of knits together in that yeah um 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 a sentinel is much more personal because it is just this one person um 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 yeah um amazing and I'm no doubt that the a great deal of people will enjoy picking this up and going through it again either as a solo experience or in a collaborative experience um speaking of collaborative experiences and um 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 I I do have some stuff coming up it's stuff that hasn't been announced yet so we can't really talk about it um I have been doing a lot of podcasts um kind of like one-off things um leading up to what is taken all of my attention lately which is um my Zine Quest Zemo Kickstarter for Sanctuary [Music] um so I've been talking to some wonderful folks on podcasts talking about Sanctuary um so we I am looking to so Sanctuary is done but not released Sentinel is out um and I am running a Kickstarter campaign through the month of February so it launches on February 1st and goes for 30 days until March 2nd um for a physical Zine of both sanctuary and Sentinel um we are going we I am going to be releasing them as a two-game Zine um so it'll be both full games in the zine um that will be beautifully laid out by my wonderful friend Mack um you can see get a little sneak peek of the aesthetic on the pre-launch page um we are going for a very um medieval manuscript type field I'm a huge medieval literature nerd uh she's a big medieval art nerd um 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 struggle but it was all 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 um and what it comes down to of like this is a game that deserves to be beautifully laid out and in print and that's how I want people to see it um so the pre-launch page is up now it goes live on the first um I'll send you the link so you can uh yeah I'll make sure links are in the description below yes um so please check it out if you liked what you heard um please consider backing the kickstarter uh we've got PDF versions and uh physical versions will be available so this is really where I've been pouring all of my love and energy um 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 um where I will inevitably shout a lot about it uh when I am able to yeah absolutely uh we will you know I'll be looking out for uh 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 uh I was I felt so privileged when um uh we arranged to play this on on the podcast so thank you so much for giving me the privilege to to play through Sanctuary um I just hope I did it justice and I hope a hundred percent it was absolutely wonderful this is the fir the first time I've seen somebody other than me play it so it uh feels good it feels good to to see it in action uh from someone who's not me fair fair enough uh so we mentioned the Kickstart we mentioned um future actual plays and other projects uh have you got much else coming on in the future anything else in the on the back burner that we should be looking out for or anything else you're excited for in the year 2023 I I'm working on a couple things I've got I've got some stuff in the works I'm currently working on finishing up a game about um it's a two-person asynchronous letter writing game about a member of A Lost Civilization and an archaeologist uh discovering the ruins of Seth law civilization um and it's about like the passage and degradation of knowledge throughout time um that is like 90 done and my brain is really dogging me on that last 10 so we'll see uh when that rears its head and then I just started work on a game for a game Jam um that's being run by the wonderful super Dylan called the winter werewolves Jam um and it is at this point right now and we'll see what happens within the next month um at this point right now it is a 30-day prompt based journaling game about a werewolf who is in love with the Moon foreign as somebody who loves the moon I can't stop writing games about the moon um and otherwise yeah that's those are the main ones Sanctuary has taken up most of my brain space um 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 wips and being like Oh this game is like 60 done let me pull this out so I I'm revisiting a lot of stuff that kind of fell to the Wayside when sanctuary clicked and that became all that I did for like six months well so we can follow you we've mentioned the kickstarter but where can we find you on social media please so you can find me um you can mainly find me on Twitter I am there until the last bit of that ship sinks below the Briny deep um so you can find me there at Megan Lynn FTW or siren song games um 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 um for the in case the inevitable happens um you can find all of my games at meganlinftw.itch.io and uh 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 Megan Lyn FTW Dot

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