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[Cruxador]

The After Action tutorial is kind of dated. I'd recommend something a bit newer.

On the wiki:
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Quickstart_guide

If you'd like a more in-depth video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL06686270DA5FF439&feature=plcp

There's also a book you could purchase if you prefer that route.

[jaxy15]

Here's important advice: If you see a pillar made from cyan £'s, don't mine it unless you have a VERY good military.

[GoombaGeek]

Yeah, it's so valuable that mining two squares of the stuff will send your created wealth skyrocketing, often triggering a goblin siege on the spot.

Come on you guys, when has anyone spoilered legitimately?!

[Mr Space Cat]

Yeah, I learned the basics of building a fort through the wiki's quick start guide. 

The game may seem forbidding, but trust me, it's very !!FUN!! and definitely worth it once you get into the game. Never think you've completely learned to play the game, as it's all one big learning experience.

After starting to play Dwarf Fortress I haven't touched Minecraft in months. Dwarf Fort is everything Minecraft could hope to be and more, in my opinion.

[hanni79]

And something very important is a "Legendary Dining Room". A Dwarf can loose two pets and a child at once without going berserk, if he only can enjoy a decent drink and meal in an absurdly valuable dining room.

This of course is only an option if you are either playing without invasions or if you already have a working military, since it contributes to the "Bigger value, bigger sieges" problem.

To do this, dig a rather large room ( 20*40 is somewhat overkill but doesn't hurt) and fill it with chairs, tables, statues and so on. Build doors wherever necessary to make it "enclosed". Now you can press "q", move the cursor over one of your more central tables. The interface on the right now reads "r: Make Dining Room", which you press now and then adjust the size by "+" and "-". As long as you are with the cursor over this table, you can press "h" to make it a meeting hall (which you should if you don't already have one).
A Woodfurnace is also advisable, since it is the only workshop that gives other dwarves happy thoughts, as it counts as a fireplace.
To get the value high, smooth the stone completely (Keys : d->s). You can then go on to engrave (d->e) the smoothed stone, but you should do this when your Engraver smoothed enough stone to become a legendary Engraver. Best method is to let him smooth out your dwarves individual rooms, he will get experience very quick, and your dwarves will love their better rooms, too. Be aware not to Engrave stuff you want to remove later, that can give the Engraver very negative thoughts

[Sonlirain]

DF is not as hard as some people make it out to be.
The main enemy will be the horribly inadequate interface (partially saved by dwarf therapist (don't even bother playing without it)).

The other thing that might be a problem would be vampires but unless you're playing fortress defense or immediately go to a high savagery evil zone things like immediate wipes don't really happen much.

Just remember to wall yourself in with a drawbridge entrance and have a farmland growing plump helmets with a distillery running and you can start experimenting and building things with near impunity.

Oh and keep an eye for possible vampires/werebeasts.

[The_Draf]

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Dune?

[smakemupagus]

Dune?

Or a really remarkable coincidence

[GoombaGeek]

The main enemy will be the horribly inadequate interface (partially saved by dwarf therapist (don't even bother playing without it)).

I play without it fine...

[Loud Whispers]

(don't even bother playing without it)

wat

[Donuts]

The main enemy will be the horribly inadequate interface (partially saved by dwarf therapist (don't even bother playing without it)).

I play without it fine...

Me neither 

[i2amroy]

A Woodfurnace is also advisable, since it is the only workshop that gives other dwarves happy thoughts, as it counts as a fireplace.

While wood furnaces may give happy thoughts, your reasoning is false. Any building that is designed by a building designer (which includes all furnaces, wells, windmills, trade depots, screw pumps, supports, bridges, archery targets, and paved roads) may give happy thoughts if the dwarf that designed it has a high enough skill.

[Putnam]

That includes modded furnaces, btw.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The main enemy will be the horribly inadequate interface (partially saved by dwarf therapist (don't even bother playing without it)).

I play without it fine...

Me neither 

Same here.

[gchristopher]

To mostly echo earlier comments, I had a relatively easy time with my first game of DF, thanks to:

- The wiki tutorial: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Quickstart_guide
It walks you through nearly every keystroke necessary to achieve a minimal, but complete and stable, starting fortress.

- Dwarf Therapist. (Do not attempt to play without it.)

The first real difficulty I encountered was limiting population size. Transitioning from managing a small group of dwarves to handling >100 of them is a big change from the early tutorial experience. A lot of the more difficult, potentially Fun, parts of the game are driven by population count, as well.

I initially handled this by murdering most immigrants to keep the population comfortably under 40. While fun, that can be messy and ultimately tedious. Consider setting [POPULATION_CAP:20] and [BABY_CHILD_CAP:0:0] in d_init.txt for the sake of sanity while experimenting with game interface and features before dealing with titans, sieges and psychological factors of large groups.