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[Abyssal Squid]

Pieces of metal, wood, or stone attatched to a wall (plaques) or post (signs), with a legible inscription.  Mostly they'd add flavor to towns and abandoned fortresses, but they could also provide directions and identify buildings and rooms from the outside.

The inscription is added when the plate is created at the workshop, and is sent to the furniture stockpile when not in use.  The inscription is read in roughly the same way art is viewed, except instead of "The item has images of objects in material" it tells you "The object has an inscription reading 'halaulhalghlughalhg.'"

[Toady One]

I think there's a bloat on Etchings (the word I used for this, although it's not really a good word) that is related to this that would include writing on objects (including things like axe blades).  For signs specifically, I was thinking of doing store signs and so on in adventure mode, but I'm not really sure how the signs would work in dwarf mode -- I guess giving the player the ability to place them wouldn't hurt, although I guess it's pointless unless you get really disoriented in adventure mode and want to help yourself out.

[Aquillion]

You could give the player the ability to place signs that would influence dwarf behavior, although I don't quite know how that would work...  something like:

'In case of river attack, pull this lever!'
'DANGER: Armed dwarves and miners only beyond this point!'
'FLOOD WARNING.  Avoid this area during river flood!'
'During a siege, civilian dwarves should not go left of this sign!'

They could be expanded like rooms to show the area they refer to.  Of course I know that the pathing on some of those could get  horribly complicated...

Signs to clarify what levers do (and maybe determine conditions under which the dwarves will pull them automatically) could be particularly useful.

[Draco18s]

Or labeling levers.  I just designed and built most of a Main-Passage-Way-Steaming-System and had to VERY carefully place the levers so I didn't forget which one did what (I attached on lever to one floodgate arranged *in order* that they are on the channels--exception: the river-to-channel and maga-river-to-channel lever are the same one).
Well designed system except for the flaw of making fortifications into the wall between the main hall and the levers...meant it to be a defensible position for the army-dwarves toe occupy while they pull levers.  Complete with food stocks and wells (reason the fortifications are bad: they let in floods).

[Abyssal Squid]

Yeah, this was originally a solution to having a confusing mess of levers; laying them out logically works to a point, but sometimes there's no logical order to put them in, and adding new levers would probably screw up your layout (at least it would mine, but that's mostly because I insist on digging out a square in front of the lever and building a glass window there, as a "console monitor").

Anyway there's that, and what Aquillion said, except I was thinking more in reverse, having fun tricking kobolds and such who like to pull levers.  "WARNING: This lever floods the entire fortress.  Do not use except in dire emergencies." on a lever that floods the lever room, for example.    That would be even less useful, though, and probably harder to code since kobolds would have to have intentions past "pull the lever".

[Aquillion]

Can Kobolds even read?

[RogerN]

Pardon my necromancy, but I'd like to add another vote for signs or custom inscriptions of some sort.  It'd be great for creating a fortress for others to play in Adventure mode.  For example, I'd like to create various traps and puzzles for an adventurer to solve.  Riddles on signs or inscriptions could provide clues.

[Red Jackard]

This could be benefit the idea of adding Tapestries as well: http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=001815

[Silveron]

Wow. Abyssal just inspired me. If you make the window out of gems, you can set a color pattern for the flash. So for instance put a red-red-blue window next to the lever and object it controls. Use a double color so you have a reference for which way the pattern is. Other wise red-blue-red will look exactly the same when you dont know where the start of the pattern is.

[Granite26]

Bump

Making signs to label levers, traps, and otherwise make notes for yourself in DF mode and for later in AM mode would be crazy helpful.

You could also mark artilerry ranges, put a sign out front, etc etc etc.

AM wise it could mark boundaries of towns and stuff

[gurra_geban]

not to mention the possibility of putting a sign next to your levers

[Gorjo MacGrymm]

I just want to be able to street signs to keep dwarves happy.  I dont think this thread is apliccable tho........

[ShadowDragon8685]

I for one, would like greater control over the fluff and signage in my fortress.

For example, I could have a wall [e]ngraved with what I want it to say, something like "Drowning Chamber 7", so I could mark out which levers in another section of the map connect to Drowning Chamber 7, instead of playing "guess the lever" after awhile.