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[ThreeToe]

Thanks everybody for reading my story.  It means a lot.  What I was going for in this one was a story from the Age of Fairy Tales.  This is an advanced age when mankind has dominated the world and magic beasts are rarely seen.  This is not the only way things could go of course.  The history of the world could end in a land dominated by elves, or dwarves.  However, (by default; there are actually many options!)  as time goes on great magical beasts, like frog demons, fade from the earth. 

I was wondering how your favorite fairy tales, or ideas for fairy tales might fit into dwarf fortress.  How would this effect dwarf mode?  Monsters are bound to be more elusive as they are the last of their kind.  Could they like be like Moclem, a powerful kidnapper taking one dwarf at a time? 

[Aqizzar]

Regarding fairy tales, the old fashioned sort of fairy tales, the key is words are 'capricious' and 'unique'.  There's whole world of alien powers and bizarre beings lurking just beyond the bounds of ordinary life.  And if you wander too far, or look too close, or give the wrong answer, or just wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time, unknowable things will lash out in ways no man can explain.  So keep your door barred and your children close, don't follow the lights in the woods, don't go too deep in the swamp, and never ever trust the old hermit.

[Org]

I liked this story. Good job Threetoe.

But I have a question. What was magical about the bag?

[Mephansteras]

I found it fascinating. Good read, and nice fit for right after Comic-Con.

I found it very interesting that the Frog Demon didn't seem particularly Evil on his own. Cruel, maybe, but not needlessly cruel.

[Qmarx]

For some reason I keep seeing the title as "Modem:...

[timmeh]

I liked this story. Good job Threetoe.

But I have a question. What was magical about the bag?

If I remember correctly, it was not the bag itself but the contents that were magical.

[Little]

I think Jal should've exploded in gore when the rock hit him. 

Seriously though, good job. I can't wait to see more.

[Balathustrius]

Very entertaining story.  I think I've read most of these DF tales multiple times, now; ThreeToe has a great style.

When do we see a story where:

A stranger arrives in town.

Strange things are happening.

People suspect the stranger.

He ignores them, going about his business.

Someone attempts to arrest the stranger.

He casually murders the person and warns the others not to be so stupid, then goes back to his business - getting supplies and so on.

A posse forms to stop the stranger.

He plasters the walls with the blood of the posse, sighs to himself, and continues going about his business.

The entire town reacts, half the town trying to kill the stranger, the other half fleeing into the woods.

The stranger butchers everybody hostile he encounters, then spends some time wandering through the now-untended shops, whistling to himself as he picks up a few more items. 

The stranger leaves the now-deserted town.



... Seems to me this would be more in keeping with the behavior players are prone to.

Lol.     Actually, stories of the horrific exploits of incalculably cold PC adventurers could turn out pretty awesome.

[Sensei]

Thanks everybody for reading my story.  It means a lot.  What I was going for in this one was a story from the Age of Fairy Tales.  This is an advanced age when mankind has dominated the world and magic beasts are rarely seen.  This is not the only way things could go of course.  The history of the world could end in a land dominated by elves, or dwarves.  However, (by default; there are actually many options!)  as time goes on great magical beasts, like frog demons, fade from the earth. 

I was wondering how your favorite fairy tales, or ideas for fairy tales might fit into dwarf fortress.  How would this effect dwarf mode?  Monsters are bound to be more elusive as they are the last of their kind.  Could they like be like Moclem, a powerful kidnapper taking one dwarf at a time? 

I think this comes down to how megabeasts and magical things reproduce. Instead of having NO reproduction, like now, why not HAMPERED reproduction (far slower than deaths, but still not static). Monsters like dragons reproduce rarely. And to extend the state of there being very few such things, they might turn to other measures when they get desperate. Creating golems, or kin vampire-style, or summoning allies from the outer realms. They might also align with the lower races fro protection- a cruel _____ holds goblins in its sway with fear, or a benevolent _____ protects a civ of people. Or a cruel _____ holds people in its sway with fear. Maybe when they finally die they become religious figures, or a small few become (irremovably?) ghosts, or demon-spirits in the japanese style (rather than the western idea of them being extremely powerful).

[Thursday Postal]

Are all megabeasts (and the like) intended to be "evil" or antagonistic, or whatever? Moclem was a demon, but he seemed to have certain positive personality traits such as caring for the people he turned into rats and feeling guilt. Currently in the game, I believe, all of the megabeasts attack dwarves, but will there be any peaceful megabeasts? Like, say, many of the colossi in Shadow of the Colossus, some non-agressive megabeast, such as a giant tortoise. Instead of a Moclem-like being who snatches dwarves, maybe this tortoise has some tree on its back that produces some rare and wonderful fruit and it'd be worth keeping it around instead of slaying it and crafting a table out of its shell. Is this even in the realm of what megabeasts are intended to be able to do? 

edit: Forgot to say, it was a great story!

[ThreeToe]

I like thinking of mega-beasts as misunderstood creatures, born at the dawn of time.  The cyclopses are universally feared and hated, but later we were thinking of adding the great forest spirits and other guardian monsters.  Another fairy tale creature is the werewolf.  This is most likely where we will see our first transformations.  As far as reproducing, its mandatory that at some point dragons have nests in the high mountains and warm their eggs with fiery breath.  However, we don’t have the building blocks for that yet (eggs for instance).

[Qmarx]

I like thinking of mega-beasts as misunderstood creatures, born at the dawn of time.  The cyclopses are universally feared and hated, .

You have to be kidding me.  No man hates cyclopes.

[Footkerchief]

As far as reproducing, its mandatory that at some point dragons have nests in the high mountains and warm their eggs with fiery breath.  However, we don’t have the building blocks for that yet (eggs for instance).

Haha, when I saw "eggs and feathers" on dev_next I thought, "Chickens?  Cool I guess!"  That makes more sense now, at least the eggs part.  And feathers can be epic too, with giant eagles etc.

[Thursday Postal]

I like thinking of mega-beasts as misunderstood creatures, born at the dawn of time.  The cyclopses are universally feared and hated, but later we were thinking of adding the great forest spirits and other guardian monsters. 

That makes more sense, and it makes sense for them to have a spectrum of personality. It just seems like all of the current megabeasts are violent things to be slain or captured.

[ThreeToe]

You have to be kidding me.  No man hates cyclopes.

Indeed.  I spoke too soon.  If your settlement is attacked enough times by a mega-beast, they will start to worship it.  Maybe it could be like Moclem in a way, where the villagers start asking the creature to answer their dark prayers and do something wicked.