I started with DF in Vanilla.
I was put off by clunky controls and a lot of annoyance in early versions.
Some time later a friend recommended me a Masterwork DF, because it had graphics, a lot of modular options, warlocks, hermit mode etc etc.
Masterwork is not a "Mod" per se. It is a highly flexible collection of mods that lets you tailor gameplay to the way you like, but it remains in accordance with vanilla.
In my opinion vanilla is *worse* than Masterwork, due to a lot of options that MDF and DFHack provides being missing from vanilla.
Some of those are the ones that make your controls much easier, so you can actually enjoy game rather than fight with UI.
People who bash Masterwork,or say that vanilla is the best, simply have not played it or messed up badly with starting options.
Since I got back to playing DF (it wast between old MDF 6.1 and 6.2 versions) I can't imagine playing vanilla. I did, not long ago, in order to reproduce a bug, but it just sucks for me.
So in short:
- it has multiple graphical tilesets to choose from
- a lot of options to turn on and off including FPS optimizations (like decaying worn clothes so you don't have to dump them manually)
- simplified products. Cutting most of trees yields "wood" not 50 different types of it. Butchering animals gives you "meat" not 500 different types of it.
- easy interface. There are build in tools that make playing nice and easy. Manipulator for easy labor control. Auto melt and save/load stockpile settings, so that you don't have to enable/disable hundreds of options in stockpiles every time you start a new fort.
- other races. Basic vanilla races are so few, that after a world gen most of worlds look empty. in MDF we have brutal nagas, violent orcs, east-style pandashi, warloving white tigermen, mighty Jotun and the list goes on - you enable the ones you want to play against and believe me - having a succubi dancer in your dwarven tavern feels somehow much more fun than just serving them dwarven ale.
- more reactions, more buildings, you can use them - but you don't have to! some of them are the ones missing from vanilla for no good reason.
- you don't have to play dwarves, there are other races for you to choose from and more are on the horizon.
- if you enjoy Lovecraft, you can enable a mod that adds a cult of a Deep One (potentially turning your dwarves into mutated monsters)
- more animals, some outlandish, some more realistic
- adds wanderer mod - reactions in adventurer mode
- more megabeasts!
The list of changes is much longer of course, but in the end - MDF is the way to go if you are looking for a solid FUN.