Dwarf Fortress Succession game

[Jostain]

Hi. I recently got the urge to play some dwarf fortress and I have always wanted to try a succession game.

You basically make a rotation list of people who wants to play and everyone on the list plays the game for one in game year and then sends the whole thing to the next person on the list. when you have completed a 1 year gaming session you write a journal like description of what happened in the fortress during that year. You usually write from the perspective of the dwarf with some humerus results.

Would anyone be interested in joining a game? The list length have no practical limit and you can jump in and out of the rotation as you please.
you don't have to be an experienced player by any description since you cant really lose in dwarf fortress.

practical rules gets decided once we have at least a starting rooster.

Edit:
Current rotation
Asrz
Jostain
GaspodeTheDog
rustak

[GaspodeTheDog]

/me raises hand.
I'll play, also you got that wrong, you can't win in Dwarf Fortress but losing is fun!
Also if this gets going i vote for using something like the lazy newb pack so newbies don'T have to deal with the matrix.

[Jostain]

Ok you can lose but the game never ends since even if you screw up and kill all the dwarf its the next persons job to reclaim it.

I agree with the newb pack. it is what I usually use. with larger maps things may go slower with graphics packs but that usually only becomes a problem very late in a game session and with larger maps.

[Jostain]

Im going to go ahead and bump this to see if we cant get some participants.

[War Monkey782]

I started playing again and I realized how terrible I am at it.

[Jostain]

Nobody is good at it. Part of the game is that horrible things will happen to you. Sharing the horrible things that happens to the dwarfs is part of the fun. And the trickiest part is the first year and you don't have to start if you don't want to. If you take the second or third year the food and defense is generally handled and you can focus more on specific rooms.

And like I said. even if you completely fail there will be a story about how you failed and there will be a story about how the fortress was reclaimed. its like jenga. the tower is supposed to fall.

[asrz]

I'd take a turn. It'd be nice to get more people though.

[Jostain]

Yeah we need to be a couple of people. at least 5 to begin with and hopefully more people will tag along if its fun.
you can get a good way into the game in five years. (you can also fail horribly in 5 years...)

[rustak]

I'd take a turn.. I haven't played DF in forever. I remember being horrible at it, but that seems to be the norm

[Jostain]

That makes it five depending if monkey wants to take a turn or not

[War Monkey782]

Sure

[Jostain]

Excellent!
So the current rotation in order of signing up is:
Jostain
GaspodeTheDog
War Monkey782
Asrz
rustak

In this I go first but if anyone wants to begin they can just say so. The first years has its charms and difficulties.

So to the practical details:
-Every player plays one year in game.

-The year Should be completed within 2 weeks of time or your turn will be skipped (time can be extended if they player asks for it. Its more of a limit in case someone is never heard from again.)

-When the year is up each player writes a journal entry from an in-game perspective. this means that you should keep the meta game discussion to a minimum in the journal report. some people like writing one entry for every in game month but usually its one for every season. you can post the journal in sections or all at once when your session is done. Do it however you find most convenient.

-The game map itself will be shared as an individual file to save space and everyone can use the setup they like. You can do the file sharing however you find the most convenient. providing a download link in the forum makes it easier communication wise but sending trough email works too. as long as the end of a session and the start of another is indicated in the forum you can do it however you like.

-Any type of tile sets is allowed and encouraged and any management utility is fine to use. Dwarf therapist is almost a must to enjoy the game.

Questions?

[asrz]

I'd like to start if Jostain hasn't started yet and no one else minds.

[rustak]

Ah good, that gives me plenty of time to start a fortress and remember how to play by the time my turn comes around Should be fun!

[Jostain]

@asrz
go ahead. just don't make the starting area larger than 4x4. the world gen size is not that important but it does make the world map smaller.

[asrz]

What are we looking for in a site; dirt, clay, metals, temperature?

Also, what should I embark with?

[Jostain]

The short answer is whatever you like,

try to get a varied starting spot. sand is better than clay and a river is really useful but other than that do what you think is best and the rest of us will play that hand.

bring a stonecrafter as a dwarf. he is really useful because he can make stone pots for brewing and mugs to sell as souvenirs to traders.

[Jostain]

how did that get there? Im not very good with computers...

[GaspodeTheDog]

This is going to be FUN!

I usually embark with 3 miners 2 woodcutters 1 farmer and 1 admin, but that's just me.

[Jostain]

I usually take 3 miners 1 stonecrafter 1 farmer 1 brewer 1 admin. Recently Ive started replacing the admin with a fighting dwarf and just let him be the admin because he learns the basic skills needed for that so quickly and then replace him with the least useful dwarf in the next wave.

I used to have a woodcutter in the team but since pots were introduced you don't really need an awful lot of wood before the caravans starts arriving. The farmer usually handles the woodcutting and bed making since his part doesn't really take place until the end of the first year

[asrz]

The year is 251 and I begin these writings on the 1st day of Hematite. I am Rigoth Kontekkud, also called Masterpicks, and I find myself the leader of our little outpost we call Desisrigoth, or Snarledcrafted. It is just the 7 of us now. Our miner Thob has dug us quite a lovely home here. Led makes sure no trees grow too close to the fortress, and makes our beds and barrels. Edzul makes nearly everything else out of stone for us and tells us where best to construct our workshops. Zefon and Olon keep us fed and drunk; the former growing the plants, and the latter preparing it. Ilral stands by in case one of us would injure ourselves and keeps our stockpiles in order with the help of his donkey Ushrir. Myself, well I count things and keep our books. The summer looks to be warm, and we are well supplied. We have sorted ourselves out and begun to prepare for immigrants.

Today is Limestone the 1st, the first day of autumn. Summer passed uneventfully except for our new citizens arriving. Zulban has come to decorate our halls with the histories of our people. Id has come to help Zefon with the coming harvest, and Momuz came to us a trapper, but after sighting the elephants outside, she decided to pursue a career in hauling. A noble profession to be sure, my third cousin once removed on my mother’s side hauled furniture and metal bars for 140 years, before his untimely death from cave adaption after stepping outside one day. I can find nothing else to report on, and will write again come winter.

Autumn has passed, as I write this on the first day of Moonstone. This liaison from Isanducim won’t leave me be to write this. I have told him already we have no need for their wares. We can provide for ourselves just fine. Many more dwarves have joined us, but I cannot recall all their names. I have grown fond of Atir Konlikot, however, our new militia commander. His squad, The Copper Spirals can be heard wrestling at all hours, training hard for combat. They have even seen combat, if one would call that such. Some time past, Led went out to fell more trees, but was set upon by an enraged honey badger. She tried to scare it off with her axe, but it simply seemed not to care. It even broke her nose. The Copper Spirals were called upon and put it in its place, that is to say its several places. You can still see the blood smear. Also, Edzul has surpassed all our expectations, and can mine faster than any of us believed possible. He has still found no metals however as he has been busy shaping our halls and chambers. We have ample food set aside for this coming winter, nearly 50 roasts and 150 servings of the finest rum, and wines. I prefer mead myself, but Olon won’t listen to me, the bastard.

The winter was quite mild this year, and our supplies could have lasted twice our number. Today is the first day of Granite, the first day of a new year. Edzul one day up and decided to dig down and discovered expansive caverns below the fortress. We have not ventured into them, but the view is well worth the 25 flights of stairs. He also found a vein of sphalerite. Led has grown weary of chopping trees, so she has begun to burn the wood into charcoal to fuel our forges. No new dwarves found us over the winter, but those here improved. Thob could furnish a room in a day if given the stone, and as we have run out of things to occupy him, he has begun to smelt the sphalerite into zinc bars. Although we lack the smith to shape them. Zulban and Ducim have nearly finished smoothing the stone of our fourth floor, and they say they can’t wait to start engraving the dining room. I fear this will be my final entry for a while though. I grow weary of these journals and with 19 dwarves, the stockpiles need more managing than ever. Best of luck to whosoever shall continue.

[asrz]

Sorry I took so long, but I've been busy with school. The save is up at
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=37eec9085596c674&sc=documents&uc=1&id=37EEC9085596C674%21118#!/?cid=37eec9085596c674&sc=documents&uc=1&id=37EEC9085596C674%21282.

I suggest when playing you use seasonal autosaves, because then you know when to stop and if you choose to write the journal all at the end like I did, you can go back and check how far along you were after each season. Try not to have too much FUN.

Also, if you have any questions,post them here and I'll try to get back to you quickly.

[Jostain]

Initial Entry
After a quick inventory check it has come to my attention that the food stores are dangerously low and I have directed all dwarfs to man the fields in order to build up a buffer.
Zan Raznish also came to me complaining about the long draft they have endured. I cancelled their scedule for the rest of the year so that the freed labor can be used to improve fortifications. when morale improves the squad will be back to training. We dont want the best fighter in the fort to trow a tantrum. At least not near me.

Slate 21
Fresh Dwarves!
The fort now has a population of 30 dwarves. to cope with the new population 2 dormatories have been ordered. Theoretically male and female but since the symbols are exactly the same its anybodies guess which is which. all dwarves in the new waves have been assigned basic farm duty and wall construction

Felsite 6
with the new supply of dwarves I have ordered the dwarf to gather all the wood that is still out in the wilderness. We do not know when the Green ones will notice out presence in the area and I preffer not to be the first one to find out. let the caravans find out that part.

Felsite 19
A caravan! If we are lucky they will bring meat!

The Trade was not fantastic. I traded some of our sparklies for a bin of cloth in case of any strange moods and some booze. No meat I am afraid. only a bunch of berries and what is called "bloated tubers". Ill just tell the rest its some kind of kidney they wont know the difference.

SUMMER!

Hematite 2

Last month Dobar Sezuksigun entered a strange mood and occupied a crafting workshop. He has now emerged holding a wooden bracelet called Duzlek Ast Lakal. For this great feat he is now a master woodcrafter. The least useful of all crafters.

Malachite 23

More dwarfs!
The fortress is now 37 (in a row?) dwarfs strong.

Limestone 18
Ezum Tileshtekkud has lapsed into a secretive mood and has locked himself in a clothier shop. He is pushing out pictures of rough gems and stacked cloth from under the door. We have plenty of both but he has refused everything we have offered. It is probably the wrong kind of cloth but we have no other to come by. We will have to wait for the next caravan and see if we can buy a "sampler" for him. If he hasnt started drooling before then that is. We bared the door in the meantime in case he gets violent...

On another note We have started constructing mechanisms and cages to put up some cage traps around the place. We might be able to catch some elephants that we can tame or use as battle training for our troops.

Limestone 27

The dining hall is no longer up to standard. It is cramped and not of adequate quality. efforts to rework that floor to a larger dining hall has begun.

Sandstone 17

By Moridins Beard!
Ezum Seems to have gone insane and from the bangings he is indeed violent. I have discussed the problem with The Defenders and have decided to subdue him rather than waiting for him to break down the door or starve to death. We must put him out of his misery.

Sandstone 21

Ezum is dead. A worker removed the door from its hinges and the defenders dealt with the maddwarf. His body has been placed in a coffin in the temporary burial chamber.

Moving on to more important matters we are out of Booze due to a clerical error. The Fort took this very hard.

Timber 19

A trade caravan from the mothermine!
Hopefully we will be able to create a buffert for the coming year. I hope they like zinc. Zinc is good for you I hear.

Winter! (I am sure there was an autum at some point but who cares when you are underground)

Moonstone 23

A pretty good haul. some wood and other useful stuff.
I have asked the liaison to send a good supply of wood. I know it is plentyful but goblins will make it dangerous to gather. Let the traders run the guantlet instead.
I also looked at the meat menu and told them to send the lot. I am tired of eating plants! I think my ears are turning pointy. I even ordered the dragonfly brain! I have no idea what that looks like but I can imagine its tasty on toast.
The traders seemed to be very interested in musical instruments for some reason offering 196% the normal price for them.

We have also constructed a burial chamber for poor Ezum. due to the violent nature of his death the defenders asked to have him buried above ground to avoid any hauntings. It turned out rather nice.

As seen in stonesense

Obsidian 16

A boy has been born in the fortress!

The red part is rather common among babies I think

It is a great milestone and I am sure he will grow up to be a great hero to our people. Also it turns out that dwarfs are born with full grown beards. Did not know that.
Mr Erarezum took the liberty to arrange a party in the newly built great hall to celebrate this occasion.

Spring has come and new adventures await...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46565221/region1-spr-252.rar

[GaspodeTheDog]

Soon to come:

Murder, Death, Migrants, Mayhem, Babies, Monsters
and a lesson on why it's bad to assign one dwarf all the nice places.

[Jostain]

Exciting!