Desert Ziggurat, Adept (Patreon)

Hello folks, this week I made the Desert Ziggurat (30x30), and for your alternate version you're getting the first desert map turned underwater, the Sunken Ziggurat! It was actually a little trickier than I thought, but I've got it figured out now. Maybe for this month's Revisited post I'll go back and transmogrify a few of this year's desert maps into seafloor versions, just to pad out that environment with some miscellaneous terrain. Alternately, I've been considering turning this one into a jungle map, which would take a little more work but would also be pretty useful. Since it's your reward, why don't you tell me what would you rather have? Let me know in the comments!

1. When it comes to desert maps, you kinda have to make your own fun in order to make them interesting. That is, unless the idea of the map is that it's intentionally empty like realistically the majority of a desert would be. This time I decided I would leave a lot of open space and just leave the Ziggurat to be the only big obstacle with a few scattered ruins to help make the edges of the map tactically interesting. 

Also, notice those circles on the corners of the Ziggurat's levels? I originally envisioned large stone braziers on the corners of each level, which could maybe be lit for the night version and make for a very dramatic and eye-catching scene when out on the desert. In practice, the big braziers really restricted the corners of each level, leaving only a single 5' square for movement around the turn. I didn't much like how that restricted movement, and at the end of the day I think that is more important than a potentially neat visual. 

2. I really wanted to snatch up the sand lines from another of my maps, but as it turns out I haven't drawn many usable patches of open sand. When I start drawing outlines I always stop to consider how I can save some time by grabbing assets from old maps, and the issue I've been dealing with is whether I'm actually saving time cutting pieces of ruins and stitching them together instead of just drawing it fresh. For particularly time-consuming things like rock walls, it's 100% worthwhile to hunt down patches with approximately the right size, but sand seems to be faster to just draw. 

3. Desert colors aren't terribly interesting, I think. Anything beyond yellows and oranges feel out of place for most of them, unless you're adding palms, colored ceramics, or something like that. This time around I emphasized the glare in the center of the map in an attempt to get across the scorching, unrelenting sun in the desert. I kinda like the effect, but it would be more obvious in a map without a huge structure in the center, so I'll have to try it again for the next desert map.