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[IndigoFenix]

This is a tutorial fort played with the Gnome race from MasterworkDF.

Gnomes are small-sized race with a playing style that emphasizes both animal training and mechanics.  Gnomes can recruit animals from the wild, train, equip and manipulate them using a unique merit-based druidic system, build fully-automatic and previously impossible powered machines like item-processing factories, liquid-sucking drilling rigs, scanning geologic seismographs, and creature-launching catapults, harness electricity and magnetism, construct high-tech armor, weapons, and various types of robots, and more.  DFhack scripts are heavily used to accomplish this.  To show how to properly use and play the Gnomes, please come and visit Clawedgears!

For more info on the Gnomes, come to the MDF board, or read their manual. The more this fort progresses, the more screenshots and industries you will be able to see right here.

---Current named gnomes/requests (note: you can also be or have one of the animals if you prefer):
Indigo: expedition leader, fishergnome
Meph: angry druid/lumberjack/axegnome, accompanied by Dogmeat the wolf
Zach: farmer
Palu: tinkerer
Jax: smith
Arcticil: cook
Hooligan: fighter
Doc (Timeless Bob): mad engineer
Arcvasti: war-trained black caiman
Shamrock: redshirt

---THE STORY BEGINS---

I didn't ask to be the leader.  But then, neither did anyone else.  Ambition isn't one of the qualities gnomes are known for, at least not that kind of ambition.  When you're under three feet high in a big man's world, it's tough to get people to take you seriously.  You can shoot twenty orcs dead with an arm-mounted ion caster that you built yourself in using nothing but your wit and a box of scraps, and the twenty-first will still laugh at you if your face barely comes up to his groin.

That's where you bite him.  Who's laughing now, huh?

Not that you'd ever catch me doing something like that, of course.  I'm a simple fishergnome.  Give me a quiet brook and a place to sit in the morning, and I'll have enough fish to feed a small army by the evening.  It's an important job, to be sure, but hardly a glamorous one.  So how'd I come to be in charge of this expedition, anyway?

Why am even going out this way in the first place?  I could have been back at the Mountain right now, snacking on some plump helmet biscuts, my feet up in the air, watching the ripples in a fish-filled creek instead of being stuck on this bumpy old wagon with a half-crazed tinkerer rambling on about shooting orcs with high-tech superweapons in one ear and a grizzly bear grunting vaguely about biting people in the other.

Ah, that's right.  The druid.  I think it was his idea.  Something about how people just didn't notice us.  He said we had to get out into the world and show everyone what we could do.  And I might as well come too, because I was all out of fish anyway.  Since his bear had eaten them all.  And that I ought to be the leader, because I knew how to fish and he was the one with the bear.

That made way more sense when he was saying it, I'm sure of it.

We should arrive on the first of Granite.

[zach123b]

can i be a gnome? a farmer (that is if gnomes farm) preferably but anything will suite :p

[Meph]

Here you go: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j0n6rx6ldzcfll8/MasterworkDF%20V.5.00.7z

Please gnome me as, if you get one, the angry gnome. Otherwise any random gnome will do. 'Meph'.

[IndigoFenix]

Cool.

Also I should mention, gnomes can nickname, armor and combat-train animals, so I guess they can be valid options as well.

[Meph]

In that case I'd like some form of warbeast assigned to me, called 'Dogmeat'.

[IndigoFenix]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Granite 1, 100
Well, we're here.  Nearly fifty clicks west of the capital of the Rhyming Confederacies.  My back hurts from sitting for so long.

As far as wilderness locations go, it's not a bad spot.  Plenty of trees and vegetation, a nice river for drinking, fishing, and power production, a warm climate year-round so we won't have to worry about the river freezing over when the winter comes, and a picturesque waterfall right nearby.

I had a chance to speak with some of the others.  Bergrin 'Palu' Plannedfrill, the tinker, doesn't exactly have a way with words, at least intelligible ones, but he insisted on setting up shop underneath the river so that we'd be able to harness its power.  Stras Matchheld, the druid, said he didn't really care, just make him a block out of wood or stone as soon as possible and let him do the rest.

And then there's 'Meph' Blazecouncil.  You don't want to cross him, he's got a nasty temper.  Drinks like a dwarf, too - he was the one who insisted on bringing a barrel of ale instead of living off the cool mountain water like a regular gnome.  In earlier, less enlightened times, types like him tended to get themselves exiled, and their descendants degenerated into the feral "mountain gnomes" who roam the wilds, but these days, we're supposed to treat them as equals.  I asked him if he had any skills.

"Lumberjack," he grunted, swinging a copper hatchet into the wagon wood a couple of inches away from my hand.  "We getting started, or what?"

I sighed and ordered a cavern to be dug out behind the waterfall and a bridge to be made across it at the drop-off point.  The last thing we want is for someone to try wading across the shallow water and plummeting off the edge.

There are a couple of black caimans lurking in the water upstream, but they shouldn't bother us if we don't bother them.  All things considered, I think I'm going to like it here.  Nonotenni, "Clawedgears".  It's time to strike the earth!

[IndigoFenix]

Granite 27, 100

Well, things have been going pretty smoothly.  The miners cut a hole straight into the side of the mountain, where we've set up a somewhat cluttered but workable underground workplace.  Stras took a handful of stone blocks and set up a few druidic Nature Shrines around the area.  I asked him why he needed so many.  "One would be enough," he explained.  "But this way I can follow the animals wherever they go.  Watch!"  He then proceeded to stand at the Shrine nearest the caimans and started whispering gently to them.  Almost immediately, one of the caimans turned around and started following him around like a trained puppy.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"That's impressive," I said.  "I've seen that kind of thing with small animals like rabbits and hedgehogs, but never a caiman."  "Don't get too excited," he explained modestly.  "It's the same thing, I've just got a bit more experience.  Why, any gnome could run the Shrine if he wanted to.  The spiders help, of course."

"Spiders?" I asked.

"What, you didn't notice?  We've had a pair of forest spiders following us around since we left the mountain.  Big ones, too."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ah, of course.  THOSE spiders.  But what did they have to do with taming caimans?

"You see," Stras explained, "it takes more than just personal skill and charisma to tame a wild animal this way.  They have to trust you.  They have to feel that you're going to take care of them, and for that, you need druidic merit.  This merit, it's based on a number of factors.  Keeping your pets safe is important.  And never, EVER slaughter them.  Hunting isn't quite so bad, but you don't want to do too much of it.  But one of the main factors they look for is the animals already living with you.  And as it happens, forest spiders are seen as practically sacred animals.  Don't ask why, they just are.  We're lucky that we have a few with us.  Just make sure to keep them safe."

Even so, I decided to restrict use of the Nature Shrines to Stras.  We can't afford to have gnomes wandering off to play with wild animals, at least not until we have a bigger population and less work to do.  Leave this to the professional, I say.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Stras came by with two more trained caimans a few days later.  One of them had a broken leg, though.  Apparently, trying to tame groups of animals, particularly aggressive ones, can be a little risky, since fights can break out between the recently tamed creature and their still-wild friends.  These fights rarely result in serious injury, but Stras was still looking a little guilty about it.

I went off to the river to catch some fish.  It was a good haul.  We'll be eating well.  I hope Stras is okay with it, though.  Fish aren't animals, right?

[IndigoFenix]

15th Slate, 100

We've dug out a small hallway of small bedrooms and began carving out a dining hall.  It's time to start getting a proper fortress going.

I saw Stras walking around with a newly-recruited asp and he warned me that unless we had an animal training area set up, the animals would be likely to revert back to their wild state, so I had one designated and gave the order for any gnome to train them in their free time.  That should be enough.

21th Slate, 100

I spotted some foul blendecs across the river the other day.  They didn't cause any trouble, but at the same time it got me thinking about creating some form of defense for our newly-started outpost.  I asked Stras if he was okay with training his bear and wolf for war.  He said of course, warrior animals are the mark of a true gnomish druid.

Palu must have overheard, because only a few minutes later he started rambling incoherently about relying on animals instead of setting up proper traps.  I told him to take care of the traps, then.  He quickly built a small mechanic's workshop and started turning our piles of rocks into piles of mechanisms.  The workplace is looking a lot less cluttered now.

Felsite 3, 100

Stras came by the other day and handed me what looked like a small pebble in the rough shape of a leaf.  "It's a druidic token," he explained.  "You find them every once in a while.  It's a sign of the nature spirits.  You can use it to create an advanced animal training area."

It sounded intriguing, so I ordered a decent-sized room to be carved out underground and, at Stras' instructions, placed the token in the center of it.  I'm not really sure what happened next, but when I was standing at the center of the room, I felt... different.  More 'in touch' with my own animal side, you might say.

"You wanted war animals, right?" Stras asked.  "Leave it to me."  I ordered the other gnomes to pasture the three caimans in the room and left Stras to his work.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Felsite 10, 100

"We have a small problem," Stras explained.  "Training the caimans to attack enemies was easy. They're predators, it comes naturally to them.  But I think it's reasonable to train them to be good at it, as well.  Combat techniques.  Animal martial arts.  You know?"

"So what's the problem?" I asked.

Stras shrugged.  "I've never been in a fight in my life.  I don't know anything I could teach them."

"Flippin' hippies," Meph muttered, passing by.

"Are you saying you know how to fight?"
"I've been in a bar fight or two.  What's it to you, hairball?"

Stras grabbed Meph by the arm and dragged him into the animal training area.

"Teach them,"  he said.

[Meph]

'You want me to teach these damn alligators how to survive a bar fight? Yeah, right, maybe they can wield a hatchet with their teeth and throw bottles at you with their tails. Brilliant idea.'

[IndigoFenix]

Hematite 18, 100

As summer begins, I've started to put my mind toward making this outpost more economically productive.  We've uncovered a couple of green jade clusters while digging out the area, so I've ordered the construction of a jeweler's shop to start cutting them.

Palu has been making mechanisms more or less non-stop for the past month.  He said it's for 'the Factory'.  I asked him if he started to set up traps, but he just shrugged.  So I asked him if I could borrow a few of the mechanisms for use in a seismic telegraph.  He looked annoyed, but said okay.
We sent out a few messages to the mountainhome until we got a response that a caravan has departed for our outpost.  They should arrive in early autumn.

3 rattlesnakes have joined our settlement.  I set them up to be trained.

Malachite 20, 100

I've been keeping an eye on Palu.  A little downriver from my favorite fishing spot, he's started making some kind of contraption out of water wheels, axles, and gears.  When I asked him why, he simply said, "To power the Factory" and left it at that.  The miners have dug a hole straight down into the ground nearby, and Palu has set up a vertical axle inside it.  I think his intent is to channel power to the inside of the fort.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I was interrupted yesterday by the sound of roaring and hissing coming from south of the entrance.  Our war Asp tried to attack a drive of wild drakes.  Somehow, it survived, but only just barely.

The war animals are now level 1 fighters and wrestlers... and it seems Meph has nothing left to teach them.

'You want me to teach these damn alligators how to survive a bar fight? Yeah, right, maybe they can wield a hatchet with their teeth and throw bottles at you with their tails. Brilliant idea.'

On the plus side, he seems to have learned a thing or two about animal training in general, and is now a competent druid.  We're going to need to try something else if we want these animals to be a viable means of defense though.

I decided to create a small military squad consisting of our two druids.  If they spar constantly, they should both become better fighters and will be more capable of training the animals.

Galena 28, 100

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We had our first invaders this week - two kobold thieves and a goblin snatcher.  Meph, along with his wolf, "Dogmeat", and one of our forest spiders managed to take out both of the kobolds, while the greenskin barely managed to escape, chased over the border by the spider who has earned the name 'Scoopyouths'.  They did succeed in killing one of our stray rattlesnakes, though.

A small family arrived at our fortress earlier in the month: Zach, a farmer, his wife Haen, a fishergnome, and Dimlin, their two-year-old child.  I assigned Zach a small plot of land to grow crops on, mainly for purposes of brewing.  Most of us don't need to drink alcohol, but Meph's been complaining about its absence, and we could use the extra flavor in our diet.

[palu]

Can I have the Mechanic?

[IndigoFenix]

Limestone 30, 100

The caravan pulled in, right on schedule.  Unfortunately, we've been a little behind in terms of production.  Putting together all of our cut gems, we barely had enough to afford a barrel of taiga pears.  And a wooly mammoth.  We took the opportunity and trained the giant beast for war.  Let's see those kobolds get through this, eh?

Speaking of kobolds, the last ones left their clothes lying about, so we made an Unraveling Machine to turn them back into thread.  Not too much we can do with them as they are, they're too big.

Sandstone 18, 100

A couple more migrants showed up today, led by a legendary engineer called 'Doc' Gizbo Flickerplanned, and if you thought Palu was crazy, you haven't seen nothing yet.  This guy had The Madness, I'm sure of it.  More jittery than a kobold in a warlock's dungeon, he had the look of a gnome perpetually balanced on the very borderline between creating a legendary artifact and going stark raving mad.  Legendary in several skills and talented in more of them, a brain like clockwork that's just about to go cuckoo.  His wife, Havis Strifefulbathed the grand master cheesemaker, was at the front of a line of twelve children.  And one giant toad.

Timber 25, 100

A dwarven caravan showed up today.  We didn't have much to sell, but we did manage to get enough together to buy an iron spear and a plump helmet man.

There's been some complaints about rotten fish in the main corridor.  Apparently I've been catching too many of them to clean, or our fish cleaners aren't doing their jobs.  At any rate, we could use some expansion, so the miners made an extra room to keep the food in.

Havis came in the other day carrying a dead strangler.  Apparently she's a hunter as well as a cheesemaker, but since we didn't have a butcher shop set up she just dumped the corpse in the dining room.

I was a little worried, though.  Didn't Stras warn against hunting?  "Not a problem," he explained.  "It's only natural creatures that we should avoid killing.  Monsters and supernatural critters, go right ahead.  Stranglers, blendecs, leprechauns..."

"Mountain gnomes?"

Stras shrugged.

"What about giant spiders?"

Stras grabbed me and shook me.  "DON'T.  HURT.  THE.  SPIDERS."

[jaxy15]

Ooh, ooh, can I be a smith?

[Arcticil]

I'd love to be a cook if possible! Arcticil or Arctic is fine.

[Meph]

Maybe you can add some more background info on the first post. Not story, but about the mod. Most people here will have never heard about them. Like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is a tutorial fort played with the Gnome race from MasterworkDF.

Gnomes are smallish, intelligent and benign creatures that are both in touch with nature as well as machinery. Gnome Mode allows players to invite and tame all types of beasts, train and equip them, as well as build previously impossible machines. Automated factories, drilling rigs, excavation sites, all running on power or electricity. Dfhack scripts are heavily used to accomplish this, and to show how to properly use and play the Gnomes, please come and visit Clawedgears!

For more info on the Gnomes, come to the MDF board, or read their manual. The more this fort progresses, the more screenshots and industries you will be able to see right here.