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[ZombieRoboNinja]

Hello DF forum. I showed Dwarf Fortress to my bro a while back and he said it looked way too confusing to get into. Which is pretty much the truth. But recently he said that he might give it a shot, it's just that I don't know how best to teach him. I thought about showing him Captnduck's video tutorials, that's how I learned, but I don't think he would be too keen on having to watch hours worth of videos just to play a silly game. Maybe reading people's guides where you kind of play with them and learn? Tell him that any time he's confused, just ask the wiki?

The problem is that I think if something happens and I do it wrong, he'll never give it another chance, and that would suck. What do you guys think is the best way to teach him how to play?

[Michaelsoftman]

The wiki does have a beginners guide.

When I showed my cousin how to play, I showed him the wiki, and spent like 2 hours with him on the phone trying to explain everything.

[Martin]

I taught my son how to play by doing a fortress together. I started by showing him examples of other fortresses, above and below ground. Showed him defenses, and how trade worked (took maybe 20 minutes to give a tour of the map archive and a combat movie). Didn't worry about mechanics at first.

Then based on what he saw I asked him what kind of fortress he though he wanted to make. We picked a location, worked on the embark details together, and started off. He told me he wanted to dig a big hall to put the depot in, so we scouted positions - I told him what ones I would pick and why (close to soil for farming, close to water, not too close to the edge of the map) and what the trade-offs were and let him pick. And then we just went step by step until he had farms, food, and got through the first trade caravan and first combat. He was fine after that. I showed him the wiki and he asks a lot of questions, but once he had food/trade/combat basics figured out, he at least felt as though he wouldn't kill everyone right off.

I did start him with a good graphic/tile set, though. If you aren't experienced with roguelike games (I've been playing them for a LONG time) the character/object association is just an extra learning layer that can be minimized for a hesitant first timer.

[Rvlion]

http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/

Also a very nice link.
Personally I never used it, but I was reading it some time ago and it explains quite good what you are supposed to do.

Imho better then most "tutorials" you can find on the wiki.

[Rowanas]

My lady would peer over my shoulder to understand the symbols and eventually she said she wanted to start playing, so I sat beside her and told her what all the commands do, as well as telling her what I would do whenever she asked. Her first fortress looked like a clone of mine, but now she's figured stuff out and she only occasionally asks me which key to press.

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Ah, thanks guys. Good suggestions. I would probably just stand over his shoulder and tell her every little thing, but I think a mixture of all the things you guys said sounds perfect. Thanks again!

[Phazer]

Why i even started playing DF was because of the opportunities you have to make it how you want it. customation was all for me. and because the stupidness of the dwarves, that kept me going.

[Uber dwarf2.0]

Captnduck's Youtube series are really helpful for any player

[Lord Dakoth]

Really, the only way for him to learn is to play it himself.

But the interface seems to be the most popular Confusing Thing for new players. Give him plenty of help with the interface.

[milaga]

As a fairly recent player I'd suggest this:

* A good graphics and tileset. I use Guybrush's but Mayday's seems to be popular. I used to play muds as well as Angband, Rogue, etc. but I'm just not feeling the whole ascii thing anymore. Graphics sets make it seem a little bit more like the early Ultima games to me.

* A good tutorial. I used the one on the wiki which gave me just enough to be able to play the game, albeit I was missing most of the concepts. A video tutorial might be the way to go. If he's an adult, he might not like a few hours of you sitting down and showing him how to play the game. At least, I wouldn't.

* A good community. Make sure he's visits this forum to ask questions when you are not available. Even just reading the posts can be very helpful in seeing how others play and help him out. I sure learned a lot here.

* Most importantly, instill a desire to have "fun". The best way to learn is by doing. And you can learn a lot by failing. If you can impress upon him that it's fun to have all your dwarves die in a grisly mess, he'll learn pretty fast and enjoy the game. You can always get another seven dwarves ...

[elizar]

My 'mentor' just tossed me the version name of the last 2D and told me that it was a good beginner's guide.

Eight forts later, I found the current wiki.
Two forts after that, I found the 2D wiki.
Three forts after that, I struck adamantine.
One fort after that, I went to 3D.
Five forts after that, I hit year three and realized I hadn't used the wiki for this fort.
One fort after that, I lurked on the forums.

This process took me three years. So this is not recommended. And I don't really know how to mentor someone. This is just the worst case scenario. My 'mentor' left me after giving me the 2D version number.

[Beanchubbs]

Just watch the first 5-6 captnduck videos. They show you the basics. Then as you progress, watch more of his videos. When confused on something refer back to the videos or the wiki. That's exactly what I did and the only thing I'm confused with is which is the most efficient/fun way to kill elves.

[Huin]

My lady would peer over my shoulder to understand the symbols and eventually she said she wanted to start playing, so I sat beside her and told her what all the commands do, as well as telling her what I would do whenever she asked. Her first fortress looked like a clone of mine, but now she's figured stuff out and she only occasionally asks me which key to press.

Pretty much exactly the same for my own lady - although she does admit freely when she sees a new room design that she's going to steal it for her fort.

[taf_esra]

My favorite part of the game was learning how to play. It was just so damn hard until I found the wiki. So many dead dwarves...

[Rowanas]

My lady would peer over my shoulder to understand the symbols and eventually she said she wanted to start playing, so I sat beside her and told her what all the commands do, as well as telling her what I would do whenever she asked. Her first fortress looked like a clone of mine, but now she's figured stuff out and she only occasionally asks me which key to press.

Pretty much exactly the same for my own lady - although she does admit freely when she sees a new room design that she's going to steal it for her fort.

well, I'm trying a new room design based on something someone said on a multi-room thread. Having one huge room with beds in only drops the quality once, no matter how many rooms are overlaid. 34 grand bedrooms and counting... When she creates her next fort I'll advise her with all the things I've learnt and soon enough she'll be at the same point as I am (minus a bit of experience)