Game: Sanctuary

Thread: Solitaire Rules

kembial — 2008-06-17T06:32:31+00:00

Playing the solitaire variant of Sanctuary really boiled down to random luck and left me about as satisfied as a solo game of War.

The setup provides you with the five guard pawns in their starting positions. The five thief pawns start in the maze. Since only one thief is active at any given time, you could essentially "capture" the same thief five times and accomplish the same goal.

Then come the three basic, repetitive, and fairly uninvolved steps of play.
1. Draw a card which indicates where the thief pops up, and place its pawn there.

2. Roll the three dice, and move three of your guards, 1 pawn per die. Towards the thief, presumably.

3. If you can reach the thief, roll one die to see if you catch him. The thief can get away, but not with the loot. If no guard can reach the thief, return to step 1, and count the theft against your score.

My play didn't take long, though it was easy to see this dragging on in growing frustration if the randomness hadn't line up in my general favor.
I very quickly stopped bothering moving all three guards if the closest one couldn't reach the thief on the highest dice. If I couldn't make contact with the thief, there was essentially no point in moving anyway. The thief pawn would just be popping up somewhere new, next time.

I couldn't discern any form of strategy to utilize, here. At least not on my first encounter with the game. It seemed possible that richer sounding locations had higher thefts, and it might be possible to "guard" the better parts of the map, and let the little thefts go free, maintaining the damages to your score? Would it be more interesting to place all five thieves at the start (drawing the appropriate cards), but still only moving three of the guards for captures? Those ideas, and running a multi-player game are projects for another day, though.

I won't be pulling Sanctuary back out for its simple solitaire play again. Playing Solitaire on my PC has more potential and is much more rewarding than this.

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el_mpfive — 2008-02-10T16:13:38+00:00

Rumor cards, missing card 54.

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el_mpfive — 2008-02-10T16:12:36+00:00

Event cards

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el_mpfive — 2008-02-10T06:54:09+00:00

Tokens

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el_mpfive — 2008-02-10T06:53:17+00:00

Rumors and Event cards

Thread: Re: Cards?

Sokadr — 2007-06-22T17:46:15+00:00

Thank you, Albert! Much appreciated! [ EDIT] I just looked through my game and I don't have a duplicate of card #23 "Corlas the Camel Dealer Repays You" in order to make a replacement. Could you send a scan of this card by any chance?

Thread: Re: Cards?

fractaloon — 2007-06-21T22:04:08+00:00

#22
Mug Opponent
Collect one half of opponent's silver pieces if you end turn in the same space.
Save/Play During Movement

#23
Corlas The Camel Dealer Repays You
Collect 10 sp from Bank.
Play Immediately

#25
Boots of Speed
Add 1 to your movement each turn.
Save/Multiple Use

Thread: Cards?

Sokadr — 2007-06-21T03:48:14+00:00

Does anyone know what cards #22, #23, and #25 are? I got a copy that is short these so...any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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simonh — 2007-02-10T23:28:32+00:00

Diagram Showing the Areas of the Board

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simonh — 2007-02-10T23:27:58+00:00

The Board

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Mikosa — 2007-01-19T18:22:41+00:00

Sanctuary coins

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Mikosa — 2007-01-19T18:21:52+00:00

Sanctuary manual back

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Mikosa — 2007-01-19T18:21:12+00:00

Sanctuary box back

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fractaloon — 2006-02-20T19:54:29+00:00

The inside of the box..

Thread: User Review

fractaloon — 2004-09-21T14:10:29+00:00

I recently bought this game on eBay real cheap 'cause I liked the Thieve's World books and the game sounded interesting. After reading the rulebook, I was surprised to see this game included solitaire rules.

I like solitaire boardgames so I was excited by the prospect. Unfortunately, the game was not at all exciting. The solitaire game plays very fast. I think it took me about 15 minutes to finish.

The rules are very different from the normal game. Instead of playing thieves you control Hell Hounds trying to protect the city. Each turn, you draw a rumour card and place a thief in the location the card states. Then, you roll the three dice and use each to move a different Hell Hound. If you are able to land on a space with a thief, you then roll to see if you simply stop the crime or actual capture him. If you don't land on the thief that turn, he goes back into the Maze and gets away with the loot. Then, you draw another rumour card and repeat. The game ends once you've captured all five thief pawns.

You then total up your score and check against a chart to see how well you did.

The game is entirely luck based and not very fun really. Either you place a thief really close to your Hell Hound or you don't.

In the end, I felt very unsatisfied from playing this game solitaire. I found Outdoor Survival much more gratifying with just as much randomness and just as fast a game.

Thread: Re:Session Report

Gabusan — 2004-07-23T22:22:14+00:00

The game looks cool, but no one seems to be playing it. Seems kinda risky to invest in it...

Thread: User Review

gary_webster — 2004-07-15T15:37:18+00:00

Sanctuary, published by Mayfair in 1982, is inspired directly by Robert Lynn Asprin’s series of fantasy books, through the first two (there are now eleven, I think). The story (and game) occurs in the city of Sanctuary, ill-named as it is filled with cutpurses, thieves and assassins, as well as the Hell Hounds, nicknames for the city watch! Your “job” is to steal as much as possible from the various shops, palaces, etc. in Sanctuary. The amount of the theft is measured in silver pieces, which you may cache or keep with you.

Each player “lives” and caches his take in the Maze, a seedy section of town where even the Hell Hounds don’t go. The initial setup has each player with a small amount of silver, and three Rumor cards, indicating possible thefts, and the Hell Hounds (there are five of these constables) in preset positions.

A player’s turn involves: drawing an Event card (unless the player is in the Maze or underground in the sewers), rolling the two six-sided dice and the ten-sided die, and moving.

The Event cards come in a couple of types. There is the “Play Immediately” type, which usually causes angst by making a player lose a turn while standing where he is, thus becoming possible Hell Hound fodder (see below), or requiring him to immediately go to a location. If this is a location he needs to rob, this is good. If all of the possible theft locations are clear across town, this is bad. The other type of card is the “play anytime” card, examples of which are the expected “get out of jail” card and a “pick an opponent’s pocket” or “steal half of an opponent’s cache in the Maze” card (!).

Movement is somewhat interesting. The player chooses two of the three numbers to use to move his own pawn, and the third to move one Hell Hound. The Hell Hounds can block another player’s movement, and may send his pawn to jail (depending on a die roll).

If so, the player loses half of the silver he is carrying, and may lose more to bribe his way out of jail (!), so there is the option of caching his silver when he is in the Maze.

Another option for movement is (gulp!) Sewer movement, where if a player’s pawn starts a turn on a sewer hole (indicated by a number from one to six on particular squares in the city), he can “go into the sewer” and come out another hole if he rolls the number for that hole on one of the six-sided dice. There are “maps of the sewer locations” that help a player get into or out of the sewer included in the Event cards, and the Hell Hounds can’t go into the sewers, so…

The Rumor cards indicate a section of town, a specific location, type of crime and a “take” for committing a crime. At this point, it is useful to mention that there are two levels of game here. The basic game (easier to do well quickly) uses the specific location and amount of gain on the card. All a player has to do is to get his pawn into the location, and he turns in his card for the silver amount shown, which he is then carrying on his person. This can be a problem, as noted below. The advanced game rules use the section of town and type of crime as indicators, but the actual theft to be committed is unknown until the player’s pawn reaches the section of town. At this point, a die is rolled, and the crime is cross-referenced off a list, with a difficulty number, actual location and the “take.” In the advanced game, instead of a crime being a “slam dunk” success, a die is rolled and the difficulty is subtracted from the result, which is checked against a success criterion. The player may be caught in the act and go to jail!

The game is won when a player gets a certain amount of silver (decided at the beginning of the game) in his CACHE.

One other comment on the advanced game: in it, each player takes on the role of a pickpocket, thief or mugger, with ratings in each of the three categories. The success criterion for the crime to be committed is determined by the rating for that type of crime when the crime is taken off the list mentioned above. So, if you’re a mugger, you don’t want to waste your Rumors on pickpocket crimes!

In spite of the huge amount of die-rolling, this game is very entertaining, though the only real player interaction is in the use of the Hell Hound rolls and the event cards, and the occasional thievery between adjacent players or in the Maze. It plays pretty quickly, and the rules are very easy to understand. This is one of those “old” games that I’ve actually played with my game group, and Eurogamers that they are, they liked it quite a lot. It’s not the first game I’d pull out from my collection, but it’s on the suggestion list and gets asked for on occasion. It definitely qualifies as fun.

Thread: Re:Session Report

oldschool — 2004-03-13T20:59:36+00:00

gschloesser (#26631),

what's the use of copying the one and only other article here?

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-01-28T19:09:30+00:00

Report by: Michael Aucoin

Based on Robert Lynn Asprin’s “Thieves World” anthologies the game Sanctuary gets it name from the town called Sanctuary in the Rankan Empire. The town is the meanest and seediest town in all of fantasy. The goal of the game is to become the most famous thief by being the first one to accumulate 300 silver pieces (sp). Gathering silver pieces is done mainly by burglarizing the many shops, temples and government buildings in town. Silver pieces can also be obtained by various event cards and by stealing from other players.

The Sanctuary game board is divided into nine districts: The Temple district on the east side has some of the richest pickings. Just south of the temple district is the Jeweler’s Quarters. The center of town is known as the Processional. It is full of merchant and craftsmen’s shops. South of the processional is the Fisherman’s Row Wharf. North of the Processional is Palace area, which may contain government buildings. West of the Processional is the Westside. It is one of the seediest areas of town and contains the Maze, an area of narrow streets inhabited by thieves and cutthroats. The maze is where a player’s hideout and cache is located. The Bazaar is just north of Westside. Rumors can be obtained at the Bazaar for a price. Just north of the Bazaar is the Street of Red Lanterns where the ladies of the evening make their living. Finally, the far west side of town is called Downwind. This is where beggars and derelicts live.

Game Play:

The basic game of Sanctuary is played with two decks of cards. A rumor deck contains cards which name a place, a value in silver pieces and some flavored text. Rumor cards are the primary way a player gets sp. The event card deck contains 45 cards, which are drawn at the start of a turn. They can help or hinder a player. They come in two flavors, play immediately or save/play anytime. Examples of event cards are “borrow a horse add 7 to your movement this turn”, “burgle an opponent’s cache, collect 25 sp from another player” and “mug an opponent collect one half his sp if you end your turn in the same space”.

Each player starts in the maze with 3 rumor cards and 50 sp. Additional rumor cards can be collected from the Maze or purchased from the Bazaar. A player’s sp can be divided between your cache and his character. Each time you enter the maze you can freely exchange money between your cache and your character. If your cache ever reaches 300 sp or more you win the game. Money left in your cache is vulnerable to the two event cards that allow opponents to burglarize someone’s cache. Money taken with you is lost from other event cards and can be confiscated by Hell Hounds (city guards) if you are caught. On your turn you first draw an event card and save it or play it. Next you move by rolling 3 dice (two D6 and one D10) you can use two of the dice to move your pawn and the third die is for moving one of the five Hell Hounds. If you enter a building listed on one of your rumor cards you collect the sp listed on the card. If a Hell Hound lands on your space you have a one third chance of getting away, being detained for questioning (losing a turn) or being sent to the dungeon (and losing half your sp). Rolling a die and consulting the dungeon sentence chart tells you how many turns you lose (up to two). A player can also move using the sewer system. When moving through the sewer you risk getting lost and losing a turn. In addition, unless you have a sewer map you must exit the sewer at a random location.

Our game:

The Thieves present at our table were Willerd, RJ, Jason, Darren and Michael. Willerd made the first successful burglary at the Empire’s Wharf. RJ, Jason and Darren soon followed him with successful burglaries. Crime was rampid! My first theft, however, was elusive. The thieves did run into some trouble with some bad event cards: Willerd has his pocket picked and Jason was caught mugging a torch-bearer and had to go to a temple for repentance. Meanwhile I tried to pick a pocket but was cursed with a lost turn. Willerd lost his turn and something else in Amoli’s Lily Garden on the Street of Red Lanterns. Darren was able to use two rumor cards to steel from two temples on Temples Row. I finally made a couple of successful thefts but was forced to discard my last rumor card. I headed back to the Maze for more rumors. A rumor led me to a jewelry heist in Amoli’s Lily Garden. Meanwhile RJ was next door in the House of the Mermaids stealing some sp. The god of thieves smiled on RJ who was teleported to the location of his choice. Jason was the first person to be thrown into the dungeon by the Hell Hounds, however he had a card that allowed him to keep all his money. RJ picked up the +2 boots of speed and burgled two caches in the maze. He then stole a rumor card from Darren. Darren was caught by a Hell Hound but escaped. I was caught by the Hell Hounds and lost 55 sp, however, I had a “get out of dungeon card”. I had a shot at winning if I could only use my “mug an opponent card”. Unfortunately for me Darren was the first to make it back to the Maze with a whopping 385 sp.

Score Ratings

Darren 385 6.5
RJ 245 8
Michael 235 8
Jason 220 7
Willard 135 7

I though RJ was the leader, but didn’t realize he was hit hard by some bad event cards. The game lasted under 90 minutes.

Thread: Session Report

Maucoin — 2004-01-26T14:05:26+00:00

Sanctuary

Based on Robert Lynn Asprin’s “Thieves World” anthologies the game Sanctuary gets it name from the town called Sanctuary in the Rankan Empire. The town is the meanest and seediest town in all of fantasy. The goal of the game is to become the most famous thief by being the first one to accumulate 300 silver pieces (sp). Gathering silver pieces is done mainly by burglarizing the many shops, temples and government buildings in town. Silver pieces can also be obtained by various event cards and by stealing from other players.

The Sanctuary game board is divided into nine districts: The Temple district on the east side has some of the richest pickings. Just south of the temple district is the Jeweler’s Quarters. The center of town is known as the Processional. It is full of merchant and craftsmen’s shops. South of the processional is the Fisherman’s Row Wharf. North of the Processional is Palace area, which may contain government buildings. West of the Processional is the Westside. It is one of the seediest areas of town and contains the Maze, an area of narrow streets inhabited by thieves and cutthroats. The maze is where a player’s hideout and cache is located. The Bazaar is just north of Westside. Rumors can be obtained at the Bazaar for a price. Just north of the Bazaar is the Street of Red Lanterns where the ladies of the evening make their living. Finally, the far west side of town is called Downwind. This is where beggars and derelicts live.

Game Play:

The basic game of Sanctuary is played with two decks of cards. A rumor deck contains cards which name a place, a value in silver pieces and some flavored text. Rumor cards are the primary way a player gets sp. The event card deck contains 45 cards, which are drawn at the start of a turn. They can help or hinder a player. They come in two flavors, play immediately or save/play anytime. Examples of event cards are “borrow a horse add 7 to your movement this turn”, “burgle an opponent’s cache, collect 25 sp from another player” and “mug an opponent collect one half his sp if you end your turn in the same space”.

Each player starts in the maze with 3 rumor cards and 50 sp. Additional rumor cards can be collected from the Maze or purchased from the Bazaar. A players sp can be divided between your cache and his character. Each time you enter the maze you can freely exchange money between your cache and your character. If your cache ever reaches 300 sp or more you win the game. Money left in your cache is vulnerable to the two event cards that allow opponents to burglarize someone’s cache. Money taken with you is lost from other event cards and can be confiscated by Hell Hounds (city guards) if you are caught. On your turn you first draw an event card and save it or play it. Next you move by rolling 3 dice (two D6 and one D10) you can use two of the dice to move your pawn and the third die is for moving one of the five Hell Hounds. If you enter a building listed on one of your rumor cards you collect the sp listed on the card. If a Hell Hound lands on your space you have a one third chance of getting away, being detained for questioning (losing a turn) or being sent to the dungeon (and losing half your sp). Rolling a die and consulting the dungeon sentence chart tells you how many turns you lose (up to two). A player can also move using the sewer system. When moving through the sewer you risk getting lost and losing a turn. In addition, unless you have a sewer map you must exit the sewer at a random location.

Our game:

The Thieves present at our table were Willard, RJ, Jason, Darren and Michael. Willard made the first successful burglary at the Empire’s Wharf. RJ, Jason, and Darren soon followed him with successful burglaries. Crime was rampid! My first theft, however, was elusive. The thieves did run into some trouble with some bad event cards: Willard has his pocket picked and Jason was caught mugging a torch bearer and had to go to a temple for repentance. Meanwhile I tried to pick a pocket but was cursed with a lost turn. Willard lost his turn and something else in Amoli’s Lily Garden on the Street of Red Lanterns. Darren was able to use two rumor cards to steel from two temples on Temples Row. I finally made a couple of successful thefts but was forced to discard my last rumor card. I headed back to the Maze for more rumors. A rumor led me to a jewelry heist in Amoli’s Lily Garden. Meanwhile RJ was next door in the House of the Mermaids stealing some sp. The god of thieves smiled on RJ who was teleported to the location of his choice. Jason was the first person to be thrown into the dungeon by the Hell Hounds, however he had a card that allowed him to keep all his money. RJ picked up the +2 boots of speed and burgled two caches in the maze. He then stole a rumor card from Darren. Darren was caught by a Hell Hound but escaped. I was caught by the Hell Hounds and lost 55 sp, however, I had a “get out of dungeon card”. I had a shot at winning if I could only use my “mug an opponent card”. Unfortunately for me Darren was the first to make it back to the Maze with a whopping 385 sp.

.............Score ............ Ratings
Darren ...... 385 .............. 6.5
RJ ............. 245 .............. 8
Michael ...... 235 .............. 8
Jason ...... 220 .............. 7
Willard ...... 135 .............. 7

I though RJ was the leader, but didn’t realize he was hit hard by some bad event cards. The game lasted under 90 minutes.