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"You have been struck down." - Dwarf Fortress Adventure stories

Welcome!

This is intended to tell the stories of adventurers in the realm of Dwarf Fortress (one of the greatest time sinks in my opinion).

Note: The switch in forums has messed up some of the non-standard ASCII characters that I use to describe screenshots. Especially the "Ü"s are now shown as "A~". So don't get confused.


Short intro to Dwarf Fortress:
(Shamelessly stolen from wikipedia)
Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress (usually shortened to Dwarf Fortress) is a part roguelike, part city-building freeware video game set in a procedurally-generated high fantasy universe in which the player takes control of a group of dwarves and attempts to construct a successful and wealthy mountainhome. Along the way the player must face off with the dangers of their environment, invaders and sieges, vampires and other night creatures, and the occasional rampant megabeast, all while keeping their dwarves happy and their fortress alive. A second game mode, adventurer mode, places the player in the shoes of an adventurer as they wander the world and do battle with various creatures.

I encourage you to read the wikipedia entry as it sums the game up quite nicely and gives it some background.
Visit also the game's website and the very good wiki which is very useful to have open while playing.

I picked it up in an early alpha stage years ago when there still was no third dimension. The adventure modus was pretty useless back then, so I mainly played the fortress mode. It has a very steep learning curve and the UI is ..., well all ASCII. Back then I shelved the game as the fortress mode does not really have a goal and the newly introduced third dimensions made the UI even more of a pain.
I won't spoil anything by saying that it was not always a good idea to "dig too greedily and too deep"! But back then there were game mechanics that needed you to do exactly that eventually. But I was just a casual gamer and there were people out there that created fortresses that still are admired. Check out "Copperblazes" one of the most popular 2D fortresses ever. (This is btw a dedicated map viewer and archive for DF).

There are by now more and more external helping tools around taht make playing DF easier. For fortress mode the dwarf therapist is a must, I would say. It helps you manage your dwarves (up to 200 can be easily reached in a fortress). There are also "real time" 3D viewer.

But enough of that, this is for adventurer mode. I might do a thread about a fortress eventually. I know that succession games with DF have been tried here a couple of times but were suspended.

Also one thing to point out is that the fortress mode runs in real time, while the adventure mode is quasi turn based.

The idea of the adventure mode (again no clear game target is preset here) is to roam the world, discover its history, meet important and interesting NPC, fulfil some quests, kill some animals for food, get ambushed and die horribly.
The really interesting thing is that in theory you could play all your different fortresses and adventurers on the same map in successive order. (The game does not let you play a new fortress or adventurer on the same world if there is an active fortress game or active adventurer game ongoing.) You can for example create a nice fortress, mine iron, create steel, forge legendary steel swords, mine out adamantium, weave awesome adamantium armor and clothes. Then retire the fortress, create an adventurer, try to make your way to the fortress site and equip yourself with those weapons and clothes. Furthermore, after walking the wilderness for years (haha, more like several weeks only) and losing a leg and a kidney, you can retire your adventurer in a hamlet and create a new one in the same world. Then seek out the old adventurer and try to convince him to join you.
In all that time history and stuff goes on and is tracked by the game.

Countless possibilities!

And if you read on the developers objectives, this will get more and more complex and immersive (?) with each release.

I hope to draw more interest from the RB crowd to Dwarf Fortress, as those guys live from donations and I would love to set up a new SG style fortress eventually. There is even a "Fill the museum" kind of SG game ongoing over at the DF forums, where people pick up the game after one other and play adventurers to find interesting artifacts and stuff to fill a "museum". After each adventurers death the next player starts. And death or FUN as it is known in the DF universe comes quick and in countless ways!!! :D

Feel free to ask me any question and I will answer what I can.
One thing I would like to advise:
Should you decide to give DF a try, I strongly suggest you refrain from reading any spoilers in the wiki.
Trying and dying is the main thing in DF, especially as it is pretty much intended to be played ironman.

mh
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
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Oh I'm looking forward to this. popcorn
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So am I! I wish i had the patience to play a game out that far, but I get way too wrapped up in micro-ing my dwarves
Suffer Game Sicko
Dodo Tier Player
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What is dwarf fortress? Never heard of it.
Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you.
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So lets get started.
I created a fairly standard medium sized world, which I intend to run my adventures in.

Welcome to Numthur, "The Windy Universes"


I increased the number of sites and civilisations to make it more lively.

EDIT:
Here a map that looks much more realistic. Put a lot of work into photoshopping this.
Elevation, vegetation, ice and glaciers, rivers, villages and fortresses, agriculture land and major roads.
Needless to say, I like this a lot. Love maps.
Warning, this is massive.
[Image: worldgraphicelregion312.png]

EDIT:
MAP OF THE KINGDOM "The Slippery Confederation"
(will be updated as I go along)
[Image: worldgraphicelregion312.png]


Here the information on the rules and objectives for the SG game.
Rules and guidelines
  • Make for a good story!
  • DF version is 0.34.11
  • Adventure mode (no fortress mode for now)
  • Starting level up to the player
  • Be a Human of Goleanthath ("The Slippery Confederation")
  • Use your RB user name as a first name. (Makes it easier to track down your corpse! smile )
  • Use the DF wiki. Its very good! But be careful not to read spoilers if you want the full experience. There is an adventure reference page and a quickstart guide.
  • Write down your starting date (in game) and spawning place.
  • Try to use the nicknames of persons and sites, i.e. "Harmless Coalflights" and "The Slippery Confederation". The original names are unwieldy.
  • Upon an early death, you might try again or pass on the world to the next player.
  • You can retire the game if for example you are in a hamlet. The next players can then recruit your character or you might chose to re-activate him if it is your turn again.
  • Report every attempt as even instant failures become part of the history.
  • Give the saved world back after 2(?) days.
  • Don't exploit the game, by for example selling all the hamlets item on the market.
  • I can update the map according to the information that get reported.
  • Make for a good story!

Suggested objectives
  • Visit, name and possibly swim the narrow channel to the NE. Done. Harmless Girlishbridge, 9th December y125
  • Visit the south western dwarven kingdom in their mountain halls. Bring back trinkets. (I am not sure how randomly generated dwarven settlements look like. So find out an explore!) Not possible to find dwarven mountainhomes, goblin towers and elven orchards in this version.
  • Visit the goblins across the channel. Find out if they are hostile?Not possible to find dwarven mountainhomes, goblin towers and elven orchards in this version.
  • Find out who is actually the current law giver (ruler) of The Slippery Confederation.
  • Declare a suitable permanent home for adventurers. Stockpile treasures, equipment, food and artefacts there for others to use and admire. Uberfish "Shorelocked" the elf started stockpiling useful stuff in the keep in Empiresstring in y129.
  • Be the first to contact another distant civilisation. Harmless Girlishbridge, March y126
  • Name all hamlets and sites (i.e. fortresses, tomb sites, etc.) in the kingdom. Done. Harmless Girlishbridge, 26th December y125
  • Find deceased adventurers bodies and "bury" them or bring them back to their spawn points or the central adventure home.
  • Do Quests to rid our kingdom of evil.
  • Find out more about the kingdoms history.
  • Retrieve the bronze long sword of Harmless Seaplots from the catacombs under Freesquashes. It has a lot of kills on it.
  • Suggest other achievements.


Overview of past characters:
Harmless "Strappingraptors" Cebetislur of Creamslength; slayer of Nasnok Jokedtakes, the vampire; speared to death by a goblin

Harmless "Puzzlehorn" Necariskak of Gleamedprairie; speared to death by Kajeth Auburnpointed the sadist outlaw

Harmless "Ultrayor" Ishrauthral of Landhip; alleged murderer of civilians; alone in the dark gored to death by bogeymen

Harmless "Couplewater" Kamlocthomo of Knifesilver; slayer of Mamo Saffronmatches the leopard; killer of Umcos Danglequake the outlaw; victim of Kajeth Auburnpointed the sadist outlaw

Harmless M. "Coalflights" Shudsona of Waspstrokes; Killer of Kajeth Auburnpointed the sadist; slain by goblin clone (=bug)

Harmless "Hugssoapy" of Lessonmoment; Due to a crash assigned to a parallel universe

Harmless "Seaplots, the Dabbling Incenses of Catching" of Creamlakes; renowned for freeing Freesquashes of Evil and Terror; died in the catacombs to outlaw clones (=bug)

Harmless "Squashedcheese" of Fataldeath; visitor to Manydance; met fatal death (hah!) after disturbing a tomb

Uberfish "Phantomflakes" Warospic of Fataldeath (?); impressed a rattlesnake; killed by goblins in Empiresstring

Uberfish "Plaitfate" Aspasutar of ???; fell victim before his time to a goblin ambush

Uberfish "Dunecobras" Adornasnok of ???; tangled with bandits

Harmless "Girlishbridge, the Factional Immortal of Lancers" Anbaori of Breechesspring; swam across the Harmless Strait; Gave an arm and a leg to complete the map; became an ambitious explorer; killed by a waterfall far away from home!

Harmless "Beerjewels" Onafcobim of Creamslength; brought home the body of Harmless Girlishbridge; Retired in Breechesspring

Uberfish "Shorelocked, the Gray Age of Pinnacles" Thiliriicala the elf from the east; Fought to rid The Slippery Confederation of evil; died in the process

Uberfish "Circlecut, the Combined Cloister of Passions" Asluuso from The Ponderous Union; A true hero fighting evil wherever he found it; slayer of a Swamp Titan; retired in Empiresstring

Harmless "Beerjewels, the Cunning Obstacles of Igniting" Onafcobim of Breechesspring; reactivated to do quests; got unlucky against a bleak creature

Harmless "Tipgoose, the Tube of Decency" Mecjathbi of Sweetnessfingers; fought evil in The Slippery Confederation; killed the dragon Obasp Gemgilds the Jewels of Wealth; melted to death in dragon fire

mh
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
Reply

Given the expected high mortality rate of my adventurers it makes sense to split the post between world generation and character creation. :D

So here we go. Let me introduce:



Harmless Cebetislur aka. "Harmless Strappingraptors" would be described by an unbiased observer as:
[Image: descriptiongs.png]
Since the Y-chromosome prevents me from recognizing more than 16 colors [the good old days of VGA!] I had to google "taupe". From interaction with the other sex I learned of the existence of colors like "champagne" or "egg shell" but "taupe" was unknown to me up to this evening!
It is a grey-brown color.

Nevermind "peach". "Peach" is easy. dubious.gif

Harmless Strappingraptors comes from one of the many hamlets (namely Quogubinid, "Creamslength" on "The Plain of Barricades"), of the human civilisation of Goleanthath, "The Slippery Confederation", located on the hot northern rim of the world.


Now, if the nickname of the civilisation sounds dubious to you, what do you make of the local site government, "The Girlish Council"??? lol
Anyway, H. Cebetislur is a devoted member of both, so no sniggering!



So lets get started, just outside a house, ready to set out. It is the 9th Malachite (July) year 125, it is hot, the sky is clear and the day already some hours old:



My equipment consists of some basic clothing, a pretty useless sword, a good shield, some basic food and drink:



First task:
Find some people and get information on the surroundings.
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
Reply

Oh! Adventure Mode! Even better popcorn
Suffer Game Sicko
Dodo Tier Player
Reply

Okay, now this adventure mode has me as flabbergasted as Bigger is. I thought you were supposed to be dying in a hole in the side of a mountain right now.
Reply

Entering the house I started next to, I found a bunch of farmers and a human axeman.
Here are some bits of my discussion with the axeman. Unfortunately he refuses to join me (because my social awareness setting and also fame is not high enough it seems).



Talking to the civilians give me a quest, which I am a bit hesitant to follow up on:


Surely my lowly peasant skills are nothing compared to a vampire that has slain 422 people! The town of Freesquashes is right to my south.

All the people in Creamslength are concerned about the vampire in Freesquashes, but there is no way I will face that quest now. I decide to head in the general direction of the capital (due north on the coast) and visit the hamlets on the way to check for easier quests.

People in the next hamlet, Amberblots, are concerned about an outlaw and want him killed.


I am a bit worried that nobody wants to accompany me. I guess I have to make a name of myself first. Not sure going up against an outlaw on the first day is a good idea though.
Anyway, as the sun moves further up, I am looking for the well to get a sip of water. Looking into houses at random I find a furnished house containing a farmer sitting (decorated throne!) on his table (well crafted), lots of bags with reeds and berries in the corner and a Golden Cabinet!!!

Are you kidding me? Why am I leaving my parent's farm when you can afford a golden cabinet as a farmer?!
I am even more amazed when looking at the contents of the cabinet. All sorts of leather clothing.


So, uhm, you guys want me to kill a bad boy for you?
So, you surely would not mind me "borrowing" some better clothes from you then?
After a long session of undressing and trying on new leather clothes, I am happy and continue to check for the well. As I keep looking into other houses, I noticed other farmers also own cabinets with leather items in them.
Needless to say it takes me a while to check my equipment and finally leave the nice hamlet of Amberblots dressed up like this:

.

Even found the well and drank from the bucket.
Onwards north I would say.
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
Reply

Moving further north following the line of hamlets leading to the capital, I enter Gleamedprairie. The people here are concerned about the same outlaw, Umcos Danglequake.
Farmers are rich here as well. Managed to exchange my leather low boots against leather high boots.

The odd thing about Gleamedprairie is that the people have goblins and dwarves in their houses. Living peacefully next to each other!
Talked to a dwarf and he told me how his son was abducted by goblins a year ago. In the same house there was a goblin pikeman twiddling his thumbs. Talked to him as well! Odd company these people keep!



Onwards to the hamlet of Landhip. Same story; rich farmers (another golden chest!) and dwarves and goblins living peacefully next to the farmers. They are also concerned about Umcos, the outlaw.

The people of Giftbands are more concerned about another vampire:


But hold on, isn't Empiresstring our capital?! Uhm, and I should search in the keep? I get a nasty feeling here.

It did not slip my attention that the goblin-lovers in Landhip and Gleamedprairie were concerned about an outlaw, while the "normal" people of Giftbands fear the vampire, that lives in our capital's keep!
Since the sun is setting, I asked for permission to stay in one of Giftbands houses for the night. Nicked a handful of fisher berries to still the hunger and drank from the well.
Will call it a day for this very first day of my adventure. No blood on my blade yet, but some chafing from the newly acquired leather shirt.

Good night.

mh
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
Reply



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