Let's Play Dwarf Fortress!

Prime Junta

RPGCodex' Little BRO
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There's been a certain amount of interest here to repeat SomethingAwful's Boatmurdered experiment, so here goes.

First, let's get the rules down. Here's my proposal -- please comment in the thread, and I'll edit this message for changes.

(1) WTF is Dwarf Fortress?

See here.

(2) Can I play too?

Sure, just yell on this thread. First come, first served.

(2b) I've never played DF before. Can I still play?

Hell yeah! But do take the tutorial first; if you jump head first into a fully-functioning fortress, you run a serious risk of violating rule 4.

(2c) The game's already started! Can I still join in?

Absolutely!

(3) What are the rules?

Rule 1: One year = one turn. At the start of the turn, name a dwarf after yourself. If s/he dies during the turn, the turn ends. When the turn ends, give your dwarf a professional title "Former Overlord," save the game, upload it to the server hosting the savegames (instructions and address provided later), and drop a message on this thread.

Rule 2: You have one calendar week to complete your turn. If you don't manage, save and upload, and the next player will pick up from there.

Rule 3: You are also required to keep a diary of the game, in-character, as your Overseer, documenting all significant events during your turn. Screenshots rawk.

Rule 4: In fortress management, anything goes -- the crazier, the better. Unless, that is, "anything" involves something that makes the fortress completely unplayable, such as
(a) flooding it with water or magma,
(b) killing off enough of the population that it becomes unviable,
(c) mining into a demon pit, or
(d) generally painting yourself into a corner from which there is no emerging. If this happens and there is still interest in continuing the experiment, we roll back to the previous save.
 
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I will participate... obviously :D
Calendar week? Seriously? Surely the in-game year does not take a week to play through no matter how slow you play. That would also make things awfully slow for us. I say three days. This is more than enough to play an in-game year and pop a few screenshots and write something about the events. It's not like casual "15 minutes a day" gamers would touch DF anyhow.

Also, let's call this project something original instead of copying the boatmurdered thing. Any ideas? I was thinking of something along the lines of "Logbook of the Overseer: The dwarven fortress" :D
 
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I will participate... obviously :D
Calendar week? Seriously? Surely the in-game year does not take a week to play through no matter how slow you play. That would also make things awfully slow for us. I say three days. This is more than enough to play an in-game year and pop a few screenshots and write something about the events. It's not like casual "15 minutes a day" gamers would touch DF anyhow.

Um... I have a day job, so I can't be certain I can play every day. If I did, three days would be no problem; as it is, I say a week.

Also, let's call this project something original instead of copying the boatmurdered thing. Any ideas? I was thinking of something along the lines of "Logbook of the Overseer: The dwarven fortress" :D

Sounds good to me.
 
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The funny thing is... shortly after I made that post .. I got a phone call.
And now I have a job too. So one week might not be a bad idea after all :D

So.. You'll propably go first, yes? Might be a good idea and would be ok for me.
You know the game pretty well - the beginning part of the game is pretty crucial - and you would propably be the best person to start with the journal.
On the other hand having a newbie begin the fortress might provide some additional... challenge :D I'm ok with anything.
 
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I'm up for it.
 
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I am in the process of trying to... "convince" an IRL friend of mine who also plays
DF to participate in this. He is not an rpgwatch member... yet...
I am using methods such as bribery, extortion and threats. He should be here soon.
 
Greetings, sign me up!
I'm an experienced DF player so don't worry, and if you are wondering who I am, I'm a friend of Zakhary, he convinced me to join to this game. :p
I was a big fan of Boatmurdered. So lets hope for a fun game!
 
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Ahhh... nothing you can't accomplish with a right amount of leverage.
 
Another Finn too, if I'm not mistaken.

All right, I think there are enough of us here. Who wants to go first? Picking the site is a great responsibility...
 
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You go first, PJ.
I'm sure nobody has a problem with that.
And yeah, we're Finns :D

But.. uhh... I'd like some more details and guidelines as to how are we doing this? I mean posting the log part... Just slam the stuff in this thread? ...

I'm coming in second to mess up everything and shake things up a bit :D ! After that we'll proceed in order of appearance.

And guys, take a phuckload of screenshots. The more images the better, crop them with something like irfanview and save in compressed png format. They are nice. The more screenshots the better.

And please do remember that Urdim Cattenolil has grown to become a donkey.
 
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Yeah, I say we slam the log in this thread. We can collect it into a neater format later on, if you feel like it.

All right then, I'll start looking. Any requests about the site?

Oh, and -- PM me and I'll give you the link to the upload site.
 
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I don't care about the site. Well.. water would be nice.
The main thing is... WE'RE GOING IN DEEP!
And treehuggers shall not be tolerated. PM sent (did you mean.. like... to send it now :D ). Sorry. Perkele.
 
Fair 'nuff.

How do you feel about <drum roll> ... carp?
 
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Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fishes originally from Eurasia and southeast Asia. Some consider all cyprinid fishes carp and the family Cyprinidae itself is often known as the carp family. In colloquial use, however, carp usually refers only to several larger cyprinid species such as Cyprinus carpio (common carp), Carassius carassius (Crucian carp), Ctenopharyngodon idella (grass carp), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp), and Hypophthalmichthys nobilis (bighead carp). Carp have long been an important food fish to humans, as well as popular ornamental fishes (see koi and goldfish). As a result, carp have been introduced to various locations, though with mixed results.
 
Pick something, and we the rest of the players just have to live with it :)
Part of the challenge :D

The more challenging, the more journal diaries to write about. :p
 
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I'm looking forward to reading the log. I sense a few "extreme personalities" on the horizon.
 
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Don't say you weren't warned.

--
arrived.png


Overseer's Log -- Day 1, Gatelightning reckoning.

We're here, and not a day too soon. The heat was starting to get to me; I can't wait to be back in the cool underground. This scorching sun is not fit for an elf, let alone an honest dwarf, and it's barely even spring!

Free. Free from the shackles of custom, the oppression of the so-called King, free of sweating tears of blood so the so-called "nobles" can extend their waistbands another notch. All that is behind. A new era starts today: the era of Gatelighting, an era of honest labor, brother (and sister) -hood. A new tomorrow.

Minkot says I'm wasting ink, so I'll cut that short.

There is good stone here. Mainly dolomite, with a surface layer of red sand. I spotted a few veins of lignite and coal up on the hillside, so fuel shouldn't be a problem. Plenty of solid iron ores as well, so we won't want for metal either. There is some hardwood growing here too; as soon as Aban has his forge up, we'll have him make a few axes to get a steady supply.

I've never seen a site quite like this before. It is a maze of rivers, streams, and tributaries at three different levels. Where two of the streams join, there is a great waterfall and a pool below it. Perhaps we could make some use of them later. The only thing that worries me is more of a feel than anything definite; it is as of a... presence... lurking beneath the foaming waters of the river. It's not the crocodiles (Id says there's plenty of good eating on a crocodile)... just... something. Perhaps it's best we stay clear of the rivers until we're set up a bit better.

units.jpg


First thing to do: dig some temporary lodgings in the soft soil here. Id and Oddom are keen to set up a farm plot, too, even if they'll be scratching in the dirt like hoomans to start with. Won't hurt to get some 'helmets coming up, for sure -- the booze is starting to run low. We'll get a proper underground floodgate farm going later. But the main thing is to get our supplies safe. I don't like the way one of those crocodiles was looking at us.

river.png
 
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Sounds like fun, I'll play if there's room left
 
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I doubt I get to play, just starting out with the tutorial yesterday, and probably Real life will keep me way too busy to play AND write. But I am looking forward to the journal, and who knows, if you are still going in my next vacation, I may ask for a spot as head dwarf after all. Good digging, Gatelightning.
 
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