Dwarf Fortress - Interview @ Gamasutra

A lengthy edited transcipt of an IRC interview with Dwarf Fortress creators Tarn and Zach Adams is up at Gamasutra.  Over the 10 pages, they discuss the genesis and move through to ideas and story telling and Dwarf Fortress systems.  Here's a snip:

In most RPGs, hit points are something wholly replenishable. In DF, if a character loses a limb, he's not getting that back!

TA: Hit points are depressing to me. It's sort of a reflex to just have HP/MP, like a game designer stopped doing their job.

While I think a lot of people who stick with that kind of system do it in order to simplify the game, it does seem to be unexamined by many who use it.

TA: You should really question all of the mechanics in the game from the bottom up. I dunno. It really doesn't seem like a conscious decision sometimes.

Of course, somebody with a game with dwarves and elves and goblins should be careful, but I think about that too. I don't think it's a bad decision many times, but that's assuming it was a decision. I just don't see it as the case. And there are so many equally simple things you could do that are more inventive.