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Character development

1 (5.3%)

Dialogue and interaction

3 (15.8%)

Description of environments or interactions

1 (5.3%)

How the writer interprets the culture/society

5 (26.3%)

How close it sticks with what the game actually says

0 (0%)

Humour

2 (10.5%)

Other

2 (10.5%)

The randomness of the situations that can occur

5 (26.3%)

Realism

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 19

[Maloy]

Feel free to develop your thoughts more as a post not just a vote.
I can edit in an option if there's a specific thing in mind that is liked most by multiple people and not mentioned


I really like seeing how some people interpret dwarven/goblin/elven culture and politics personally.
Like to take something as bare bones as a dwarven god of death and hospitality and develop how society interprets and interacts with this being and how it has shaped them. That sounds cool!

I also genuinely love cheeky humor that sometimes happens. Sometimes things get so intense or ridiculous it is best served with humor


I read a lot and I find that how the author writes impacts a lot of whether I am going to enjoy their books more than an actual objective measure of quality.

[ZM5]

I'd definitely say a lot of it is the artwork that can come about as a result, thats always a joy to see.
I would definitely agree on the humor aspect, but I think its also great to see how differently people link various events and interpret the emergent story that comes out of it. One of the best parts of this game IMO.

[StrikaAmaru]

For me, "humour" is probably the top one, very closely followed by "randomness".

And there's another immense benefit to community forts: stealing good ideas from other people's play style. I've entered the community fort crowd almost two years ago, and my play style changed radically -- how I play forts now isn't how I played them a year ago, and is even less like how I played 2 years ago before joining. I'm a lot more aggressive, I've learned how to move magma wherever I want, I can make a dwarven reactor and an automated quantum stockpile. I started using workflow and work orders. Plus a bunch of tiny details that get mentioned randomly.

[chaotic skies]

The insanity of what happens. There's nothing else I've found that even comes close to the sheer chaos and awesome power of a 'well managed' community fort.

Also, talking to people that like things I'm interested in is nice. The community is a bit part of the draw for me.

[Mobbstar]

The poll contains "How close it sticks with what the game actually says", which technically makes no judgement on whether accuracy is good or bad.  Personally, I consider it to often be a detriment and an inhibition on the awesomeness of interpretations.  I've recently taken on the role of Dungeon Master and found that the most compelling stories come from only digging for official/actual facts until inspiration strikes or resurges.

I've been meaning to write an ongoing story of a Fortress, which hasn't progressed much due to afforementioned DM duties as creative outlet, and general busy-being.  While writing, I found that a single incident or fact can inspire me to write an entire episode, and I had to refuse the details of the in-game outcome in favour of a compelling development.  I do not know how well this work in the long-term, and can imagine it could entirely detach the story from the game eventually.

[Maloy]

...

Hey I'm a DM too! I agree and dwarf fortress is actually a fun source of inspiration for me.

I figured I'd include the option although I've rarely seen people express it I remember seeing a couple of folk having a gripe with one writer because he made an arena and portrayed his dwarves as loving the show even though in the civilization ethics dwarves find such things abhorrent and are disturbed by the death of sentients

But I LIKE interpreting my dwarves ethics and values loosely. After a thousand years of goblin oppression will my dwarves really still hate to see goblins die?

Course that's just my taste
If people need writing to stick strictly with what the game says to enjoy it than that's their taste

[AvolitionBrit]

I used a world as a base for my dnd campaign. Even looked at some of the big players of the world and modified them to NPCs of the world.

[Enemy post]

My favorite part is usually seeing mods get showcased, and people’s creativity in response. I’ve seen tons of standard forts at this point, but a new mod’s always a great experience.

[EuchreJack]

Death

The insanity of what happens. There's nothing else I've found that even comes close to the sheer chaos and awesome power of a 'well managed' community fort.

Also, talking to people that like things I'm interested in is nice. The community is a bit part of the draw for me.

And this.
But mostly just watching some other people's forts fall apart, and the frantic attempts to rebuilt it.
It's nice when it's happening to someone else's fort...