Not quite, Reign on your Parade, not quite.
The play now part isn't quite random enough for my tastes. I've got something else in mind. Something much more cruel, and less practical. See, these dwarfs weren't planning a colony, and they weren't part of a group, just travelers with no common thread but the bad luck to be on the S.S. Minnow's maiden voyage in a haunted sea. Each dwarf will be allocated a portion of the total points to be spent on their personal belongings, tools of their trade, and possibly goods they were planning to sell overseas, stuff like that. Whatever they want, actually. If they were a worthless noble, then they're allowed to bring nothing but gems and jewelry. If they wanted, they could be failed expedition leaders returning home or ambitious youngsters who planned to travel to the frontier mountainhome and stake out their claim, recruiting likeminded individuals there before setting out- but never made it. They could just be guards for freight, or a penniless stowaway.
As a bonus, before the game starts, the dwarves will meet each other, but not what the other dwarves brought along with them (with the exception of the captain, who may be allowed to be practical if things look really desperate- aka no picks) barring certain items that are essential to the dwarf's character. Such as a proud jaguar-hunting speardwarf has some items that are likely to be public knowledge, while a merchant will likely have most of his stuff crated up, only bringing a few samples, if any, abovedeck.
Practically speaking, this means that dwarfs would PM me their allocation of points and only know the full situation once shipwrecked.