History VideoGame / DwarfFortress

** "S/he needs alcohol to get through the working day." Every dwarf, except in Adventurer Mode. From ''birth.'' Dwarves will only go sober if hospitalized, or if there is no alcohol available (and this will cause their productivity and mood to drop precipitously). This becomes a slight problem in 0.42 and on, since alcohol poisoning has now been implemented and dwarves have been known to pass out drunk and drown in their own vomit.

* NatureIsScary: Savage biomes, particularly 'neutral' (neither Good or Evil-Aligned) Savage biomes, are full of giant-sized animals and animal-people that are by default extremely dangerous: a Bluejay is normally a cute harmless bird, a giant bluejay? It can tear up unarmed dwarves with ease. v50 made Savage biomes even more unfriendly with the addition of 'agitated' animals, which can cause what is basically a siege of giant, very angry, very murderous animals on your fort.

* TheMourningAfter: Characters whose lovers or spouses die will never find another lover or remarry.

[[caption-width-right:204:You want a dwarf? There's your fucking dwarf. You want some better graphics? '''Fuck you.''' Dwarves can do lots of stuff. Like digging. Can you dig? '''Hell no.''' Play ''Dwarf Fortress''.]]

* MonsterAdventurer: With a bit of supported scripting, you, too, can now become a Scorpion Man and stab wolves in the face with venom. Any species capable of supporting a civilisation can be made playable.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: When the game's physics isn't buggy, it can produce some of this.
** For instance, [[{{Unobtanium}} adamantine]] items are ridiculously valuable, don't bend or break under any ''amount'' of stress once formed into items, can be sharpened to [[AbsurdlySharpBlade an incredible edge]]... with density akin to balsa or Styrofoam. This means that while adamantine plate armor gives you less weight than the ''chainmail'' of other metals with much, much more of the strength and edged weapons are capable of producing a OneManArmy in skilled hands, adamantine maces, warhammers and whips are a joke.
** For that matter, while the armor itself is nigh-impossible to penetrate, non-rigid adamantine objects still provide little protection from blunt force, meaning you can be hurt by a bronze mace even when wearing adamantine chain-mail.
** You also cannot go around kicking ass with [[NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight your bare hands]] [[ArmorIsUseless and no armor]], as even the most skilled wrestlers are still highly vulnerable to any armed opponent.
** Thanks to ProceduralGeneration of Forgotten Beasts made as MixAndMatchCritters made from any variety of materials given magical animation, they can sometimes only survive by having PlotArmor. For example, a Forgotten Beast made of ash could be FamedInStory having shaped the world's history, but it loses that PlotArmor when it encounters the player and its ashen body will likely fall apart in a stiff breeze shortly thereafter.

** One forum thread from the old days of 40d reported [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=46772.0 something similar happening to a human child kidnapped by Goblins]]. At the age of 13 she started a religious war, which apparently ended with her getting killed by a ''seven year old''.
** Experiments in [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=91093.msg2532118 "Dwarven Day Care"]], aka locking a small child in a room full of crowded animals so that the violence of fighting for their life every day would [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror harden them to tragedy]] and [[TrainingFromHell cause them to develop combat skills]]. It was pronounced a partial success when one experiment resulted in a child taking a permanent change to mental attributes--aka, ''permanent mental scarring''.
* ChunkySalsaRule: There is no HP system in Dwarf Fortress[[note]]Undead corpses were an exception, before the 2014 update[[/note]]. See SubsystemDamage.

''Dwarf Fortress'' is free, with further development paid for by donations. You can find the game [[http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ here]], some graphical tilesets to make the game easier on the eyes [[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Graphics_set_repository here]] or [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=28.0 here]], and the invaluable gameplay wiki [[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide here]]. Or you can get the Lazy Newb Pack, which includes the above + tutorials + auxiliary software and loads of useful stuff [[http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=7622 for Windows]], [[http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=7922 Mac]], or [[http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=12762 Linux]]. If you're interested in learning how to play, you can also check out [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL06686270DA5FF439 this video series]] on Website/YouTube by {{Lets Play}}er and veteran dorfer captnduck, or look up the [[http://en.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress active Reddit forum]]. And now there is even ''[[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=110480.0 a book]]'' written by Bay 12 forumite Tiny Pirate.

Fun fact: ''Dwarf Fortress'' was one of the first video games to be featured in the [[http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=164920 New York Museum of Modern Art]].

** The 31.17 update made the overworld of ''Dwarf Fortress'' much nastier, with bogeymen ready to tear apart anyone foolish enough to sleep outside and [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Night Trolls]] infecting humans with TheCorruption. Worse, [[DueToTheDead unburied dwarves]] [[spoiler: now might come back as ghosts.]] They may [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=70423.0 throw parties]] for the rest of your dwarves, or [[KillEmAll attempt to kill everyone]] in the fort, depending on what their mood was when they died.

** If the game is lenient with you, you may encounter Forgotten Beasts, Titans, [[spoiler: Demons or Angels]] made of a weak material such as snow, ash, grime, mud or steam. [[JustifiedTrope They are just as fragile as these imply]], and any and all hits that land will sever limbs, if they do not OneHitKill outright.

** Among players, [[spoiler:adamantine]] is sometimes called cotton candy, [[spoiler: demons]] are referred to as clowns, [[spoiler: the underworld]] is called the circus, to [[LateArrivalSpoiler try]] to avoid spoilers for new players. Endgame content in general may be broadly called "hidden fun stuff".

** "Fun" is generally used to refer to things going pear-shaped, like your Legendary+5 Swordmaster losing their mind and going [[UnstoppableRage berserk]], your miners accidentally breaching a magma pipe and flooding the fort with molten rock, or [[spoiler: [[DugTooDeep accidentally digging into the core of an adamantine vein, unleashing TheLegionsOfHell into your unprepared fortress]].

* [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Did You Just Build A House In Cthulhu's Backyard?]]: It's finally been done, someone actually [[spoiler: [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=65024.0 colonized hell!]]]]
** Alternately, there were also recommendations of building a tunnel that linked [[spoiler: hell]] directly to [[ScrewYouElves the nearest elven settlement.]] As well as a recommendation of building a cafeteria there so people "dine in [[spoiler:hell]]" literally.

* DiggingToChina: [[spoiler: Digging to FireAndBrimstoneHell]], more like.

* DueToTheDead: An actual gameplay mechanic. Failing to give dwarves a decent burial, or at least a memorial slab somewhere, makes their next-of-kin ''very unhappy''. [[spoiler: It can also result in the deceased appearing as a ghost, with consequences that range from merely annoying to potentially disastrous.]] Nobles also get unhappy about not having an assigned tomb that befits their status in life.

** "Curious underground structures", otherwise known as [[spoiler: demonic fortresses]]. Basically, they're giant dungeons full of undead, with a masterwork adamantine sword lying somewhere on the bottom level. [[spoiler: Taking the sword opens a gateway to Hell.]]

* BrutalBonusLevel: [[spoiler: Angelic Vaults.]] There is practically no reason for you to go inside one except for the challenge and bragging rights. The freakishly strong creatures inside there will never travel outside [[spoiler: because they were created to protect the slab within the Vault]] and pose no threat to anyone. It also contains the closest thing to a FinalBoss Adventure Mode has: [[spoiler: An Archangel]]

* CurbStompBattle: What trying to take on [[spoiler: a Vault]] with anything less than legendary in all relevant combat skills and a full set of the highest quality gear will quite certainly lead to you being on the receiving end of.

On March 13th 2019, Tarn announced that ''Dwarf Fortress'' is coming to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and itch.io with a new tileset and enhanced graphics support and audio. He said that he will continue updating the free ASCII version on the Bay 12 web page as ''Dwarf Fortress Classic''. The Steam version was released on December 6th, 2022.

* AscendedMeme: One of the official songs in the Steam release is called 'Koganusan', Dwarven language for "{{LetsPlay/Boatmurdered}}"

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: If you're a character in this game and you're lucky, you might die from being shot by an elf and slowly bleed to death as your hometown is burnt to a cinder. If you're unlucky, a Giant Desert Scorpion will ''rip your axe from your hands'' and ''hack you to death with it''.

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: You get to explore the shambles of your once-thriving fortress.

Additionally, the game recently released (non-free) on [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/ Steam]], with revised graphics and interfaces.

** This also applies to several of the weapons: in the current version, due to the combat system accurately representing contact area of attacks but not the amount of force one would be capable of putting behind them, dagger stabs and whip lashes are absurdly good at penetrating armor.

On March 13th 2019, Tarn announced that ''Dwarf Fortress'' is coming to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and itch.io with a new tileset and enhanced graphics support and audio. He said that he will continue updating the free ASCII version on the Bay 12 web page as ''Dwarf Fortress Classic''. The Steam version was released on December 6th, 2022

On March 13th 2019, Tarn announced that ''Dwarf Fortress'' is coming to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and itch.io with a new tileset and enhanced graphics support and audio. He said that he will continue updating the free ASCII version on the Bay 12 web page as ''Dwarf Fortress Classic''.

* {{Unobtainium}}: Adamantine is even important enough to set off a major event in game.
** There's also a second kind of {{Unobtainium}} known as "Slade", which is unimaginably heavy and impossible to even scratch. Even with Adamantine picks, you cannot mine it out. Someone did find a way to obtain single stones of it (by digging a ramp up underneath a slade floor), but it is nigh unusable in dwarf mode. If you hit up the arena though, you can spawn creatures wearing slade armor wielding slade hammers. They're as effective as you think they would be.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: The random name generator can oftentimes produce these. One well-known character was known as [[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade Cacame Apebalded, The Immortal Onslaught]], providing an awesome name. Being the ''Elven'' King of the Dwarves made his full description, 'Cacame Apebalded, The Immortal Onslaught, Elven King of the Dwarves' a surreal combination of awesome, weird, and what-the-hell. Some players use the Elvish language version of his name, making him "Cacame Awemedinade Monípalóthi, Elven King of the Dwarves".

%%* RuleOfCool: One has to wonder.

%%* CorpseLand

%%* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Octopus men, squid men, and nautilus men.%%Are examples why?
* CursedWithAwesome: You can desecrate an altar or temple and have a deity "curse" you to become a vampire or werebeast. The former means you don't need sleep or food (besides blood) anymore and cannot tire out, and gives you a huge bonus to your physical attributes (although they become fixed). The latter causes you to randomly turn into a huge beast once a month, and the transformation just happens to heal any wound or scar (including missing body parts) you might have at the time.

* DayOldLegend: The game will have engravers start depicting epic events on the walls and precious items of the fortress as soon as the event has happened. Maybe they're just vain.In prior versions it's even possible, thanks to a particular bug involving sequestered items (ones dwarves can't get to, and don't necessarily realize they can't get to), to have an artifact contain decorations depicting ''[[DrosteImage the artifact itself]]'' (presumably including its decorations...) as well as the event of its completion.

*** Elves are much worse than goblins; they can siege a fortress with ''50'' individual squads!

* HorseOfADifferentColor: A wide variety of animals have the ability to be mounted, from regular horses to elephants to every giant animal found in savage biomes. When starting a party in adventurer mode, it's possible to give yourself a mount, or claim stray animals you come across as mounts. However, this isn't possible in fortress mode, as playable dwarves can't mount, though invaders may come riding mounts during sieges. The type of mount depends on the attacker: humans will come atop mundane animals like horses, camels, or sometimes [[BearsAreBadNews grizzly bears]], elves will ride {{unicorn}}s and giant savage beasts, and goblins ride [[FeatheredFiend beak dogs]] and subterranean monsters; if the RNG hates you enough, they might come riding ''[[BossInMookClothing cave dragons]]''.

** Among players, [[spoiler:adamantine]] is sometimes called cotton candy, [[spoiler: demons]] are referred to as clowns, [[spoiler: hell]] is called the circus, to [[LateArrivalSpoiler try]] to avoid spoilers for new players. Endgame content in general may be broadly called "hidden fun stuff".

** Let's put it this way: the only limit to the number of different death/torture traps you can build is your capability to make the subject X and the object Y collide at high speed. [[UpToEleven And then some]].

** The game treats such fungus as a form of wood, and anything that can be built from wood can be built from such fungus. A particular breed of fungus found in the deepest caves has triple the material density of the other breeds. Thanks to the game's material-based combat system, this makes ballista bolts made from such wood three-times more massive than usual, resulting in a [[UpToEleven huge net damage boost]] to [[InfinityMinusOneSword an already powerful weapon]].

* TantrumThrowing: If a dwarf becomes depressed enough they might start smashing or throwing things. One is fine, but if the dwarf pisses off other dwarves (or worse, kills them), other dwarves may [[DisasterDominoes start other tantrums]] and generally end UpToEleven in a fortress-ending tantrum spiral.