I have a wall of text for you, you don't have to read it but I think you will appreciate what I have to say about the most in depth RPG ever made and why you should try it.
I have always been an avid dwarf fortress adventure mode player. Ever since version 31.
I see a lot of people put off of the new adventure mode by the UI, but the UI is just as good as fortress mode and it is most definitely worth learning. Also press ‘?’ for key bindings it has them all in a nice easily read format.
What it is and why you should play.
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Slowly but surely adventure mode has had more and more content packed into it, with every update it has become more complex, like fort mode, remember every update to fort mode also has some kind of effect in adventure mode. With the vampire and were beast update we now have vampires hiding in villages under the guise of residents were creatures wandering the wilds during the full moon and hiding in caves when not transformed...mummies hiding in tombs. Tombs ripe with treasure for you to plunder unknowing of the danger you put yourself in. Towns with markets, sewers and catacombs and dungeons underneath them for you to explore. Rodent man infestations in the sewers for you to deal with vampires to purge. Towns to explore. Markets to barter in.
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Then the world came alive.
With the world activation update the world is now alive as you play... every effect you have on the world has an effect... that vampire you killed. He is no longer killing people... those beasts you kill. No longer threatening the villagers or your own fort. That goblin army you intercepted in the night. Sleeping in their camps and then obliterated will no longer be a threat to the town they were going to sack... though they won't be truly stopped until you find the slab with the demon's true name defended by the servants of the gods. The gods that betrayed their worshippers and brought a demon into the world for some silly reason like after "musing about fish" or for some more sinister reason "so that fortresses may be tested and destroyed" or "so that war may never end" .. And banish the demon forever into hell. Or perhaps force him to become your own dark servant. Then the goblins will be far less of a threat to the world because they can send out armies as you play now. But without their leader they will be far less successful.
The game has more choices then pretty much every other RPG I have ever played. And there are no plot restrictions...
You could go to a village... find out about the recent bandit attacks and then, you have many choices:
Perhaps find the camp and join them. And become a brigand and rob people in the streets demanding gold and clothing from them in the middle of their own village. Become rich. Beat people and rob them.
Or perhaps be sneaky. Use your new allegiance to kill the leader and become the leader yourself. You can also get tasks from the leader to complete...
You could also be a hero and kill the bandits and become a "defender of the helpless" or hunt animals and become a legendary hunter. Or hunt night creatures and rid the nobles of "nuisances" like vampires and become a hero or night creature hunter.
You could kill the bandits and ask the lord to become a hearth person, a knight of the lord and get tasks from the lord to rid the world of beasts and bandits alike and help your lord go up in the world of course...
Or you could do nothing and let them keep robbing the people for you have better things to do with your time. Just be careful... the bandits will rob you just like they rob anyone else.
And then you could go off and do pretty much anything else you want.
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This huge amount of choices is prevalent in the game. Not only with bandits but with everything. Why fight the necromancers when you can become one yourself. Unless you want to be a hero. Maybe become a performer for the tower. Hell... why not just be the bard for the head necromancer and entertain them for eternity.
Why even care? Perhaps become a vampire and live off the blood of the innocent, hiding your identity and your murders as you go and traveling the world...ageless...free to do what you wish.
You could go further. Why not become an incarnation of evil itself become a vampire->necromancer-> then walk into the glowing evil mist and then wander the evil parts of your world until you succumb to them as a thrall of evil incarnate... a mist thrall... a death knight. A creature on par with the gods then precede to kill every single living creature in the world…bring about the apocalypse.
The combat model is ludicrous you can do crazy things like jumping past two people and slashing at them both at the same time as you pass by.. You could come up behind someone and jab two daggers at the same time into their back and many other things. We will probably be swinging on chandeliers soon enough.
Become agile …jump over rivers\climb trees and jump down to ambush people.
The tavern update then came.
You can now fully customize your characters personality and values. You now have needs based on your characters personality and values that you need to accomplish to keep your character content. If you do really well at role playing based on your characters personality and values you even get buffs. It’s almost like playing a virtual version of D&D except with more to do.
Now adventurers can become bards and can perform music, dances, poems, or create their own. And spread the music and spread stories throughout the world. People recognize how good you are and soon enough people are asking you to perform in their taverns offering free rooms and free drinks just so that you can attract more guests to their establishment.
You can rent rooms at inns... inns that are subject to attacks by night creatures in the night....drink at the inns...become drunk...perhaps too drunk a drunkenness that results in a bar fight a drunkenness that results in death by alcohol poisoning. Or maybe make friends ask the people in the tavern to join you on your quest, whatever quest that is.
Not sold yet? Perhaps you could go to a library and read about the world and the knowledge of the world or you could write your own books become a philosopher… seeing copies of the books you wrote showing up in other libraries and even at your fortresses. Perhaps your dwarves will critique that book in fortress mode then you could critique theirs just like real life. Why not write books and debate people, you can now debate people over values in adventure mode, you can convince people to change their ways through voice through discussion, and perhaps you are an elf and want to spread your philosophy of nature.. Why not write books about it (those who read them WILL get their values changed) or perhaps you can debate them directly and become a legendary persuader a legendary philosopher.
You can do even more... why not go to a temple and piss off the gods directly by toppling their statues and be cursed.
This entire post is only scratching the surface of what adventure mode allows you to do.
Dwarf fortress adventure mode is the most in depth RPG ever made. It is as worth if not more worth learning then how to play fort mode.
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You should try out adventure mode.