The closest I can think of is Unreal World.
It's not nearly to the level of DF, but things are still horrifyingly deadly.
bay12 thread here:
www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=123138.0From a coding point of view, it's a lot easier to go with layers. Bits (fairly big ones. Arms, legs, heads, torso) and layers comprised of those bits.
From inside out: Skeleton, muscle, skin, armour layer 1, armour layer 2. How hard are they to cut, hammer, burn, good magic, bad magic.
Bits: # of heads, # of arms, # of legs, # of torso bits. Bigness modifier for each. Harder-than-basic-stuff-it's-made-of modifier for each.
You can still chop bits off, randomize (and keep) their appearance to the player (foot, lower leg, full leg. Does it really matter?) while lowering combat abilities by that amount. Can do deepness of chops or how hard it is to bust armour by these amounts. Or magic their very bones or skin to death (or life) from them. Big negatives and bleedouts for full leg chopped off, but still pretty damn substantial ones for a busted foot. But if it's got 30 legs, not so much. Randomize the bejeesus out of descriptions and bits left over. Memory overhead isn't a bad thing if graphical overhead is kept light.
But take a step back. Breathe deeply. In... Out.... No one needs more than 5 layers of a creature's bits. Or more than 10 part types per creature. Or more than 5 weapon thingos. Plus about 3-5 types of stats for each. And some skills. And maybe a few modifiers for each one of these things. No one. Never. Ever......
I wonder what the weather's doing today? Will that make it colder near the forge? And where will the water go?
No one really needs this.
Except DF. But it's got so many things that not even Toady can balance them easily.
Just completely and arbitrarily reduce them to "useful" stats. It's alot easier than pseudo-realism. Tends to make for funner games. Quicker to code at least.
Abstraction is good. Set your detail level and don't move off it. Then you can actually make what you want.