Written by: Keith “Saegan” Cronyn
Famed author Brandon Sanderson can be cited saying that a good fantasy story has enough Strange to be interesting, but enough Familiar to be relatable. I think this is a very poignant idea, and a hard needle to thread, and many fantasy writers slip too far in either direction, but I think the Sanctuary Questing team, does a brilliant job of threading that needle.
Sanctuary, a sort of pocket dimension for protected individuals, is empowered by 12 iconic forces, represented by beings called the Guardians. Players can take trials to align to these powers, either 1 or 2 of them, and gain specific benefits by doing so. These forces are made up of intangible ideas like Truth, Love, and Soul; as well as aspects of physics like Time, Space, and Light. Combined they create a deep meaningful system, that is both easy to opt into and relatable; while also offering deep actionable quality, and leading to important character moments.
It is not uncommon for players to say something like “I never realized “X” about my character, until taking the trials, that’s pretty cool.” and that comes from aged veteran and newbie alike.
The staff of Sanctuary Questing, are driven by the fundamental ideas that their plot should be available to everyone, taking steps to ensure that a plot that could be criticized as being overwhelmingly E-Questing centric, is not that. Over the last year they have introduced elements that allow for people to take home their Trials, as between event actions. They’ve created summary documents so that if you’re busy you can just read the bullet points, and be caught up with all the important information. They’ve organized meetings for players, and encouraged team work to create an environment of friendship and success. They strive to do everything they can to make this even series, fun, interesting, accessible, and unique.
In a more specific highlight, to encourage the arts within the community, as a specific benefit for the event, players are allowed to submit art pieces that represent themselves or their soul in some way. This benefit specifically aids the players in the quest in that it protects them from the Devourer of Soul. I think this is such a great idea, because the Arts can be so often left to the side as a part of the community. This highlight, and meaningful mechanic reinforces participation in the arts in a way I can’t recall having ever been done before. And it’s fantastic.
This weekend, our enemies will be the Devourer of Soul, and the Devourer of Light, and their respective minions. They sit as polar opposites of their respective Guardians, and I think their names represent their goals fairly obviously.
So, this has been a bit more of a long winded “Why I Want To Go” than usual. Why do I want to go? I want to go because I want to support the meaningful efforts of the staff. I want to go because I have a great time when I play in the world they’ve developed. I want to go because I know I am going to have meaningful choices to make, and important character decisions. I want to go because I want to see what’s going to happen. Who we can save, who will be lost to the light?
I am so excited to see you on the field.
Keith “Saegan” Cronyn
