The Prismatic Fortress (Patreon)

"I have sent many adventurers to the Prismatic Fortress, supposed home of the Archmagus Mekeri. While some have returned, even bearing the partially completed map shown below, none can even explain the contents of even the first chamber of their explorations… It is as if the fortress defends itself not with traps or guards, but by attacking the minds and memories of those who breach its walls." I drew this map just as I was finishing up the various dwarven city maps for the Dyson Mega Delve. I was in a deep need for something to rebel against the heavy square grid-based architecture of those levels, so I pulled out a compass and started working on this map. I envision it as a series of strange bubbles of shiny crystalline stone. Not quite perfectly spherical, as if it was grown or bubbled up from the ground instead of having been constructed in more traditional means. In the end it did not satisfy my need to break away from my dwarven architecture as it remained too regular, too solid, too hard. That said, I really like it – but it definitely didn't scratch the itch I was feeling. You can see it if you examine the structure – it just barely breaks away from the mold of the dwarven city by being circular, and yet isn't very circular once you get inside. As an escape it fails utterly, but as a strange fortress map for a psychedelic archmage, I like to think it still succeeds. This is also the third commercially-licensed map for the month of March. Unless there is a sudden surge in new patrons, we'll be going back to the regular personal use license for the rest of the month and will have another 3 commercial maps next month (perhaps more?) For versions of this map with and without the grid, as well as the details on the licensing of this map, head on over to the blog post at https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/tuesday-map-the-prismatic-fortress/