Right Back Where We Started

Nothing new is new again

Hi friends, and welcome (back?!)  After enjoying the simplicity and convenience of Substack, I've made a change! You can do a quick web search and find out why a number of folks have left Substack in the last six months. I've wavered on the issue and perhaps reacted too hastily, but it was way too much work to repost everything here, and I already did it.  So fuck it, let's go!

With that out of the way...I'm back on Blogspot/Blogger.  This is where it all started, in early 2023. I have painstakingly migrated all the Substack stuff back over here and I've integrated this blog with Buttondown for a newsletter/subscription option, which was one of the appeals of Substack in the first place.  You should see a nice little form to the right and at the bottom of this post. I'd love it if you'd subscribe so you can see all these juicy maps and read my ramblings right there in your inbox.  It may take a me a little while to get everything working properly (it did,) so bear with me.  Expect the email experience to be as basic and bare bones as the blog, but it should serve its purpose. If you are still subscribed to my Substack, you should have already received this. Check that spam folder!

If you've been following along, you're probably wondering what happened with my Dungeon23 project.  I did it, I finished!  Yes, I was already behind on sharing maps, and by the time I was finished (only about a week late!) I was too tired of it to blog and the transition over here was something I procrastinated for a while.  But, here we are!  I've got ten weeks of maps left to share, so let's get right to it. I've got five for you here and the rest coming soon.  

...several other derailments later...

Week 43: Where were we?  Trash mountain! This is a sunken section of the main heap. Heavy machinery travels up and down a spiral ramp, transporting noteworthy junk for sorting and shipping. The venomous Foreman directs excavation operations at the bottom and reports to a Higher Power.  Lots going on here. Some secret tunnels lead to the Foreman's lair, where he embezzles and hoards the good stuff. Towering over it all is The Extractrix, a huge excavator/mining machine.  Imagine The Bagger with treaded appendages and a mind of its own.  It is ostensibly controlled by The Operator, who will not relinquish their controls willingly.

Week 44: The last area of Level 10 is a maze of tunnels and poorly routed ductwork. Definitely stop here if you want to find out what a Skin Jelly is. Something large glistens in the housing of the defunct exhaust fan. It may allow you passage to Level 11, but it's gonna be gross.  Really really gross.  This week also sees the start of Level 11, which is primarily accessed via portal and only if you've earned or stolen an appropriate piece of jewelry.  This level sees a return to a more elaborate, sacred type of space.  Ornately carved white bone with no visible seams, interwoven with golden wire and covered in luscious vines.  This place is something between a library and a monastery, and the beings that dwell here come from diverse groups and places. You will recognize creatures from previous areas of the dungeon, but here they seem to have gained clarity and purpose.  Dare you find out?

Week 45: This level is filled with beautiful spaces to meditate, converse, bathe, and study a wide range of disciplines.  Visitors are advised to be on their best behavior and opportunities to get some real answers may finally be presented.  This is a place of enlightenment and scholarship, but not all knowledge may be welcome.  Only a select few are chosen to come here and only a few of those can survive the rigors of the training required.  Those who fail or otherwise disappoint the powers that be are "transferred" to a more remedial and martial role.  You've almost certainly met some of these recently, and would do well to avoid their fate and their pointy teeth.

Week 46: Great glass cylinders full of colored vapor, organized according to the emotions they elicit in those who view them.  Hundreds of lifelike 3D paintings of strange beings.  If you look carefully you may recognize a few faces.  Teleportation training!  Master it to add a very powerful tool to your bag of dungeoneering tricks.  This is also a safe place to fail, which you will do.  An ancient blind creature, living here in secret, absorbing the psychic energy that education requires and feeding it back into the complex with unpredictable results.  A place of correction and rectitude, whispered of but entirely hidden. Try not to go there.

Week 47: By the time this project got to November, I had run out of ideas for interesting map aesthetics. I'm not particularly happy with the way these pages look, but that's never the point. Onward and downward!  For some reason, this week went back to a square orientation as opposed to the previous diagonal versions. Rounded corners are silly and don't add anything.  This area is the most important and secretive part of the level and security is tight.  Not everyone is here for the purpose of enlightenment.  Knowledge may be gained but it is also required for admittance. New opportunities for travel may arise.  Ceremony is important here, and can only be performed when fully submerged. How else did you think this was going to end?

Hey, thanks for sticking around!  I'm gonna get these last five maps up in something less than five months this time.  It's been long enough that I have a thousand other things I can blog about when I get the chance. It actually took me two months between the start of this post and the end, so it's nice getting this one out.  Stick your email address in that form in the sidebar and you might get a nice email when the next one comes out.  If you're new, please check out the old posts for some context!  

As always, please share, comment, ask questions. What do you want to hear about when I'm done posting my dungeon?  What can I do to make the Blogger page or the newsletter work better for you?  What are you playing?

Andy