What is a Sanctuary?

[Beran]

I'd say a more logical way to handle it...

I've played elves, mostly, so let's look at King Thranduil.

If the elven character comes home to his own halls, he HAS a place there for himself, he has friends, he has family, he has a place in his community. So it counts as a sanctuary, but only for the elf. His friends, human, dwarves, hobbits, whatever aren't given very good accomodations by the isolationist king, so they don't get the benefits of sanctuary. Only the character that lives there does.

Yep, totally understandable. However, Elves don't have an option like Hero of the Woodmen or Thegn of Dale

[Angelalex242]

No, they have things like 'Noble Blood' and 'Envoy of the King.'

Which are the two background I've used so far.

Noble Blood means "You are Sindar, as opposed to Silvan." I tend to favor a Sindar/Noldor crossbreed. My envoy of the King in Valarian's game has a similar crossbreed, and therefore he's the Envoy to Rivendell, officially. His wife is a full blooded Noldor who stays in Rivendell. I've noted that for beings that live forever, Tolkien elves seem to have exactly one marriage, and even if one partner takes off for Valinor, or the halls of Mandos, they don't remarry.

But the biggest thing elves have is "They live forever unless killed." Even if the adventuring elf is gone for 30 years, that's the blink of an eye to the Eldar, who cheerfully blow it off. Because 30 years is practically nothing, they keep an elf's place in the community set up, and he always has a home.

[Stormcrow]

So, your saying it is a case of "thanks for saving our village great hero, but make sure you have a reservation next time you stop by"?

No, it's a case of "thanks for saving our village, great hero, but we don't have enough food and space to accommodate your party for a month."

[Angelalex242]

Well...that's a little dodgy, depending on where it is.

In Erebor, saying 'we don't have the food and/or space to accommodate you' is flat out ridiculous. The dwarves have the money, the food, and the space, full stop. If the dwarves don't accommodate people, it's cause they're too greedy to bother.

While the elves have a martial standard of living, that's only because elves care a whole lot less about money. They've still got a surplus of food and space. If Thranduil turns a company away, it's "I don't like non elves, you guys can all leave now." Got nothing to do with his resources.

For men, it depends on which town it is. Dale and Laketown have the resources, smaller towns may not. There's a reason why Laketown is the 'default' sanctuary after all.

[Stormcrow]

Well, fine. Can you explain why these places are not automatically sanctuaries to all successful adventurers?

[Angelalex242]

I already mentioned why.

Dwarves are greedy. Helping 'em out doesn't make 'em less greedy. (Thanks for shooting the Dragon dead, Bard. But we're not giving you a single piece of treasure!)
Elves are isolationist. Helping 'em out doesn't make 'em less isolationist. (Thanks for killing those spiders. Return to your own lands, cause you're not welcome in ours.)
Dale is more narrowminded then Lake Town, so helping 'em out a few times doesn't give you a place among them. (This is a city of men, you guys can all go home now.)
Beorn flat out doesn't like people, so helping him out won't make him start. (Thanks, now go away, I've got bees to tend.)
Woodland Hall really doesn't have the resources. (Sorry, we're too poor to give you anything.)

[Woodclaw]

Ok, what about the new backgrounds Thegn of Dale and Hero of the Woodmen? Wouldn't these also convey the option of using Dale or the Woodmen Halls as a Sanctuary? I don't really see the Woodman making you one of their heros and then turning you away the next time you show up.

Where are these backgrounds from?

[Beran]

Darkening of Mirkwood p111 for Thegn of Dale and p. 83 for Hero of the Woodman. Now, it does say the person receiveing the tile of Thegn does get a plot of land in Dale to dwell on and that the Hero of the Woodman can have the use of lodging in the Woodman Halls. But, it does not say specifically that the PCs can use those location for santuraies; I guess it depends on LM interpretation.

[Rich H]

I certainly play fast and loose with the Sanctuary rules, starting some characters with their homeland as a sanctuary and also allowing PCs to open one individually rather than just as a group - eg, Gilbrannon the wood elf PC has Thranduil's Halls as one but Thogrim the dwarf doesn't. I don't have a problem with working it in this way; separate/differing sanctuaries are more narratively important to some PCs than others so I'm happy for the PCs to differentiate as such. Those with the place as a sanctuary get the additional Undertakings along with taking options (eg, Heal Corruption) more than once when their, other PCs can rest but don't get access to the elements in a Fellowship Phase that it being a sanctuary would offer.

[beckett]

I certainly play fast and loose with the Sanctuary rules, starting some characters with their homeland as a sanctuary and also allowing PCs to open one individually rather than just as a group - eg, Gilbrannon the wood elf PC has Thranduil's Halls as one but Thogrim the dwarf doesn't. I don't have a problem with working it in this way; separate/differing sanctuaries are more narratively important to some PCs than others so I'm happy for the PCs to differentiate as such. Those with the place as a sanctuary get the additional Undertakings along with taking options (eg, Heal Corruption) more than once when their, other PCs can rest but don't get access to the elements in a Fellowship Phase that it being a sanctuary would offer.

Hi Rich,

Do you allow individuals to take the Open Sanctuary undertaking? How do you handle a Fellowship where the individual players do not all share the same sanctuary? For example, if the Fellowship all have Woodmen-town as a Sanctuary and you add a new player-hero to the group who only has the default starting Sanctuary of Lake-town, would you allow them all to spend a Fellowship Phase in Woodmen-town? Perhaps informing the new player he/she must take the Open Sanctuary as his/her undertaking?

I'm about to run into a similar situation with my group and am looking for advice on how to adjudicate the situation. Thanks!