I recently started playing Dwarf Fortress again! It's been years since I'd touched it last and a lot of things have changed, but a lot have stayed the same. With the help of the DFWiki and some playthroughs on YouTube, I have begun making my way through the world of Dwarves and their Fortresses and the dangers, wonders, treasure, and chaos that come with them.
Follow along as I recount the tales of tragedy and triumph that I have to offer from the realm of Dwarf Fortress! =)
Shemmishthem, "Plankscholars"
Camade Liceva, "The Realm of Legends". What more fitting world can there be for our Dwarves to live and prosper in??
Of course, we'll need to select a proper location for our fortress. Can't just build in any old place. For those unfamiliar, you typically want most if not all of the following for your fort, especially if you're a first-timer: a nearby river, NO nearby aquifer, lots of wood in the surrounding area, and a ready availability of metals in both shallow and deep areas nearby. There are other things that you can prefer or not at your leisure - a temperate climate and calm environs helps, avoiding an evil-infested territory keeps some problems to a minimum, and not being too near other communities - especially those of goblins - can stave off hostilities for longer.
As you can see, I found a pretty suitable location here. My cursor isn't visible in this shot, but the place I've selected is in the inner curve of those grey mountains, alongside the green and gold areas in the bottom-center-right. It is to the descent of these mountains here that we will travel and build....
Plankscholars!! ... wait, what? Who picked this name?
Well, nothing for it now. We're in the southern foothills of the mountains and our dwarves are stuck in the open sun! Get digging, ladies and gents! We'll start by building a simple meeting area for people to gather whilst they wait for more instructions, then work on more detailed tasks.
It doesn't take us long to get a few rooms dug out. Most of these will be storage rooms for supplies - wood, stone, and so forth. That room at the bottom will be a kennel for our war and hunting dogs.
Meanwhile, all our chickens are underfoot! A coop is quickly constructed a short distance outside the main fortress entrance.
Stockpile rooms are made and designated, now it's time to start on workspace and residential. Dwarves don't want nor need a lot of room space unless they're nobles, at which point they get cranky and fussy and suddenly want a huge room all to themselves. So in the meantime, all these little apartments will do them just fine. And this big room here next to the stockpiles will be perfectly sized and located for a labor locale, where all our workshops will be set up.
That doesn't take long at all! A stockpile for finished goods is quickly added adjacent to the working quarters and a woodworker's is the first craftsdwarf workshop built, and almost immediately begins churning out the beds and doors that'll be needed for the residential areas. Meanwhile a food stockpile is constructed to the north, and work begins on a kitchen, brewery, and slaughterhouse.
Huzzah! A tavern is completed as well. So far so good! But there's already dwarves not at work. Let's do something about that.
... hey there little guy. Where'd you come from? I didn't bring you with me.
A representative from the homelands arrives and offers Kosoth Erithamen, our expedition leader, a barony title for establishing our fortress in such a remote, uncharted land. Here's hoping it doesn't go to his head.
We sent our miners down a level into the mountain to start delving, digging out stone and gems and carving open a large side space here to be used for eventual burials. Our chief miner, Led Medtobthimshur, carved out most of this on her own! Uhm, in fact, it's been a while since she's come back up. Led, you doin' okay down there...?
So something I'd either forgotten or hadn't learned at the time, dwarves have... problems... with stairs. And Led here accidentally dug away the upwards stairs that would have been her way out. So with nowhere else to go and mining orders waiting, she dug and dug and dug until she got too thirsty to work, had a freakout, ran around the room, and died of dehydration.
Plankscholars's first loss. You will not be forgotten, deep delver.
A coffin is swiftly built, new stairs are built down - and properly back up this time! - and Led is the first to be interred into the burial chamber, along with a slab inscribed with the details of her life, accomplishments, and passing. May she rest easy.
... and the rest of the dwarves scarpered off with her belongings. Well, I guess she doesn't need 'em anymore.
I'm gonna need a new chief miner, though. And more labor in general.