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[SirPenguin]

DF is such an amazing medium for storytelling, isn't it? All sorts of twists and turns and plot devices, largely thanks to the RNG and the sheer tools we have at our disposal. Indeed, I believe Toady has more than once called DF a "plot generator".

So, I run a very small blog about Dwarf Fortress. I've been thinking of ways to get community involvement, because, hey, this is a maintained by a community member for the community. Might as well bring everyone to the table that we can. So I was thinking of a weekly "story" segment, where users would submit stories and I'd post them for everyone to read, critique, enjoy, whatever. Just something for people to look forward to.

The idea is NOT longwinded walls of text, mind you. It's definitely in the realm of "Short, sweet, and to the point." Indeed, I'd love to have epic stories broken up into "episodes" that could go on for weeks. So you could either do that, or just submit a short story, or maybe even a section of a larger story.

The only criteria is that it has to be related to DF in a way. Not just some generic fantasy story, but a story given birth from the game itself, whether from an actual event you played, something on the Legends screen, or whatever.

So...my question is this: Would there be any interest? I'd love to start doing it as early as this Thursday.

Lemme know your thoughts.

[Iituem]

Sure, I'd be happy to contribute to this and I'd be interested in reading it as well.  Go for it, I say.

[Boksi]

I'll probably be able to get it counted as homework for my english class :3

[SirPenguin]

Glad to see at least some interest already.

Alright, as I said, I'd like to start by this Thursday. So! Anyone who is interested, please send me your contribution in any way you desire. PM, over this forum, over my blog, by email (jbossie@gmail.com), mores code, bottle in the ocean, etc. Here are the guidelines in a typical "rule" format.

1. Make it short. No defined length, but make sure it can fit comfortably in a browser without the user having to scroll too much.
2. About DF in some way.
3. Give me the name you wish to be credited under

We'll see how this first day goes, and take it from there!

[Kagus]

Well, there's Death and Glory, if you split it up into episodes.  But overall it is a pretty longwinded thing, and there are a couple mega walls o' text in there to boot.

But if you want to spread my stuff, go for it.  Kagus will do nicely as a creditable name, seeing as I loathe the idea of putting my name in any public place on the INTERNET.


Bwahaha.  Firefox spellchecker does not recognize "internet" as a word.  Instead, I have to use the INTERNET.

[SirPenguin]

It only counts if you yell it whenever you type it, by the way.

Thanks for the consent, though. I'm thinking if there's a lot of interest I could maybe do a couple at a time, or maybe a few a week, or...well, whatever. We shall see, eh?

[Jake]

Count me in! I've been using Boatmurdered to get people hooked on DF for weeks now, and I reckon it's time for some new material. Does it have to be based on an actual fortress you've built, or can we just make stuff up?

[userpay]

If you go through the link in my sig that leads to my parrell fortress thread and about the second or third page there a link to the wiki based on the world were in. Basiclly we each start at the same place and work our own forts in our own styles. If you want you can use mine, break it down into the kind of segments you need. I might write a straight up short story in the furture now that I've thought about it but this is what I have right now.

[SirPenguin]

Jake: It didn't have to actually happen, per se, but I don't want a generic fantasy story. The story should at least involve typical DF elements, and ideally you'd have genned a world to get "ideas" to draw from.

I'm debating how best to do this. I mean, I'm hesitant to just copy/paste existing stories because I'd say 95% of my auidience comes from these forums. What's the incentive to click my blog and read it when they can merely click this forum and read them, you know?

On the other hand, I'm sure there are PLENTY of hidden gems out there that people have yet to discover. And not everyone frequents this subforum...so it'd be a good outlet to get eyes on good stories.

But I originally envisioned people actually creating stores and having them evolve week by week. Maybe I can combine the two.

Maybe once a week we could have the "Hey, idiot, check out what you're missing!" section, giving a juicy part of some story to intrigue people to read more (link to the post included). Then we could have the "And then check out the latest new story!", which would be, well, a new story.

Thoughts?

[Kagus]

The way I see it, your blargh would offer a glimpse of Dwarf Fortress to outsiders.  It would be an extrovert site, essentially.  Taking various tidbits from the forum that have been deemed nontoxic to the newly-enlightened and putting them up as a display of the great powers we elders hold.

The forums have always been a little bit...  Introverted.  We like our little club, and we're often suspicious of new members.  Plus, there's a lot of content here that either wouldn't be understood by the less-acquainted, or would end up terrifying them.


Besides, this subsection is a pain to search through if you don't know what you're looking for.  You can't even find the thread that has links to recommended stories.

[Ascii Kid]

So long as I get a "written by Ascii Kid" consider anything I put up here up for grabs on your blog.

[userpay]

So long as I get a "written by Ascii Kid" consider anything I put up here up for grabs on your blog.

True all stuff used needs to give props to whoever made it. But boatmurder definetly needs to get put in, thats like the corner stone of stories 

[SirPenguin]

No worries about props. I'll be giving them a-plenty. After all, it's you guys doing the work, not me.

Kagus: You make some excellent points. Really excellent points, actually. I think I may start an entire series of post meant to ease people into DF. As you said, we here on the forums have too much of a "secret club" mentality going on.

[SirPenguin]

Alright, my computer is being real bitchy right now, so this is not only late, but not nearly what I was hoping for. But the user Frelock submitted a piece of work, and it looked good and I decided to at least slap that one up.

http://jreengusoccurring.blogspot.com/2008/09/very-dwarfy-story-vol-1.html

You'll find it there.

I'm thinking of also not limiting myself to a weekly thing, as I've gotten a few PMs already about it. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully you guys enjoy it.

[SirPenguin]

I'm getting enough PMs and submissions to make this a daily thing I think. A story a day to keep the Armok away? I think so!