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[Uristocrat]

I just read the 03/07/2012 update which says:

We're going to start mixing in fixes for older problems to these releases now, starting with fortress exotic animal taming. The dungeon master is gone, replaced by training knowledge at the civilization and fortress level. I put in that infrastructure this morning, with the ability to view it from the Animals screen, and next I'll be adding the training status of individual creatures and changing how training jobs work (after another crayon run!). Right from the beginning, you'll be able to attempt to tame any critter you capture that is eligible (those with PET/PET_EXOTIC, i.e. most stuff). The trick will be that if you go out of your civilization's comfort zone, your fort might end up like a Fatal Attractions episode.

Attempts to tame/train creatures will add to your site's training knowledge of that creature, which augments future training of all creatures of that type. Civilization/fortress knowledge will help somewhat even if you don't have a skilled trainer around. For rare happenings like dragon taming for which there is no general knowledge, you'll want to have somebody decent at the job, though I suppose you could practice with any spare dwarves you have to build your knowledge base a bit, he he he.

I think this is a really cool idea, but I would also like to save the Dungeon Master position.  Maybe the DM could be sort of like your chief medical dwarf, but for taming related things?

I love this new idea, I just don't want the DM to vanish.  A fortress just isn't the same if there isn't a crazy dwarf wearing nothing but 4 cloaks and some mittens trying to tame a dragon and feeding it goblins.

[Kento]

Maybe during the personality rewrite we might get crazier stuff than this?

[Uristocrat]

Maybe during the personality rewrite we might get crazier stuff than this?

Oh sure, we might get crazy dwarfs and crazy nobles, but having that one cool dwarf who makes it seem as though the others have stubble instead of real beards is something special.

The only other dwarves who usually get cast obsidian rooms only have them from the time the magma lever is "accidentally" pulled while they're in there and the time the cast obsidian is mined out.

[Vattic]

I too am sad to see the Dungeon Master go. I realise we can still give a dwarf the position or even mod him back in a limited way but I think he added real character to the game.

[Areyar]

Yeah!

Areyar approves of this suggestion.

[Neonivek]

But why do you need a Dungeon master other then just to say you have one? They were pretty bad before in that they made no sense (And made tamers pointless)

Chief medical dwarf makes a bit more sense in that they organize everyone else, the supplies, and the records

But that isn't what the dungeon master does at all.

If the dungeon master comes back I would say it would either be an honorary title that isn't a VIP; or as part of a large taming or guild rewrite.

[MonkeyHead]

Meh, your main beast trainer will be a de-facto dungeon master equivalent anyway by the sounds of it.

[monk12]

I like the idea of the DM/Beastmaster type guy being an appointed noble similar to the CMD. Basically, all the dangerous/exotic animals your civ does not have access to need to by tamed by whoever you appoint DM- this ensures that your most exotic (and presumably most valuable/limited/dangerous) animals are being tamed by the most competent guy. And if you don't have any competent guys, you can just randomly assign dwarfs until one of them succeeds, presumably gaining enough experience in the attempt to justify his position.

That's basically how I roll with the CMD, and there's nothing preventing him from having a day job while you wait for the cage traps to fill. Heck, he'll probably be busier than the CMD in forts where I bother taming animals.

[Silverionmox]

It's good that the DM is gone, now we don't need to stick to the traditional notion of a smith/animal tamer/cloakwearer anymore.

As Neonivek says, it would fit best as the head of the Animal handling guild.

Another option is to allow the player to create honorary noble positions. I don't like the notion of the DM being cannon fodder. It's a noble position, not a peasant.

[Areyar]

Another idea:

DM could be the commander of a team/squad of 'wranglers',
equipped with whips, ropes, cloaks and maybe other weapons,
they could be ordered to capture specific creatures and then chain them in a dungeon owned by the DM inspired on the sherriff's' jail.
this would do away with having to rely on luck with animals wandering into your cage traps.
A pretty usefull advantage in my opinion and based on leadership, not 'magic'.

[monk12]

I like the thought of having your DM go on beast hunting/taming expedition similar to the beast hunters in world gen- heading off-site to nearby mountain/forest/whatever to get more exotic creatures than you can find locally. Obviously more of an Army Arc thing, but it could be pretty cool.

[Uristocrat]

I like the idea of the DM/Beastmaster type guy being an appointed noble similar to the CMD. Basically, all the dangerous/exotic animals your civ does not have access to need to by tamed by whoever you appoint DM- this ensures that your most exotic (and presumably most valuable/limited/dangerous) animals are being tamed by the most competent guy. And if you don't have any competent guys, you can just randomly assign dwarfs until one of them succeeds, presumably gaining enough experience in the attempt to justify his position.

That's basically how I roll with the CMD, and there's nothing preventing him from having a day job while you wait for the cage traps to fill. Heck, he'll probably be busier than the CMD in forts where I bother taming animals.

Yeah, something like this would be good.  I just hate to see the DM go.

[loose nut]

Well, perhaps the Dungeon Master could be a different sort of noble now.

Like, here's a thought: instead of being triggered by population, he comes after you first crack the underground caverns.

He also might be really good at a metalworking skill, a gemcutting skill, or the ol' animal training.

[Quietust]

Well, perhaps the Dungeon Master could be a different sort of noble now.

Like, here's a thought: instead of being triggered by population, he comes after you first crack the underground caverns.

He also might be really good at a metalworking skill, a gemcutting skill, or the ol' animal training.

If you look back at 40d, this is almost exactly how the DM used to be - it arrived once you had 50 population and had discovered a map feature (generally, a river/brook would suffice, but a magma pool/pipe or chasm/pit would also trigger it), and it came with Adequate skill in Metal Crafter and Furnace Operator as well as Animal Trainer/Animal Caretaker.

[Areyar]

The design goal has been for some time is that all migrants have a history tracked in worldgen, this is a prerequisite for having a fortress live in a living world that interacts with it and evolves.
Spawning the DM complete with skills and made up life-history would be regressing and only cause him to be removed when, with the caravan and army arcs, the goal seems to be that every entity and resource will be tracked also during play.