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You may only vote for a specific story/game once.

You may vote on as many story/games as you want, as long as you're honest.

A story/game will be added once 6 people vote for it. The number is subject to change.

Once listed, a story/game may be removed by no less than 10 votes. It's doubtful this will occur.

Make sure you don't just vote because it's a person you like writing! Quality is a must.

[Christes]

You mean she grows up into Urist?

That would actually be a pretty epic continuity tie-in. And it'd explain why she's insane/

I recall some talk about that during the telling of the story, but nothing came of it.

[Kugu]

You mean she grows up into Urist?

That would actually be a pretty epic continuity tie-in. And it'd explain why she's insane/

I recall some talk about that during the telling of the story, but nothing came of it.

It would make for an Epic addon to an already Epic story. I'm just going to go ahead and pretend thats how it actually went so I dont have to make up anything.

[Jackrabbit]

I think Cacame is well and truly in.

EDIT: Instead of Incomplete and Complete - could you please put Community/Succession/Stories, with complete and incomplete as sub-headings? I just find it hard to navigate.

Good idea.

But you still haven't done it...

Hey, this place has Internet. What I did was what you see on the front page now and Tack said it worked too. Since he was the only one interested I didn't change it. I made a mistake that worked out but if you want the change, provide a sample so I don't muck up again. And, since i'm using my ipod, don't expect changes until the 7th at the very, very earliest.

[gumball135]

I'd like to put in a vote for Lanternwebs. While it isn't as chaotic/failtacular/funny as most of the other forts, the writing's just brilliant.

Has anyone else voted for it?

[Sizik]

Hey, this place has Internet. What I did was what you see on the front page now and Tack said it worked too. Since he was the only one interested I didn't change it. I made a mistake that worked out but if you want the change, provide a sample so I don't muck up again. And, since i'm using my ipod, don't expect changes until the 7th at the very, very earliest.

Okey Dokey.

Main changes:
Sections for Succession games, Community Fortresses, Stories, Epic Fortresses, and Forum Games.
-Succession Games are forts where control of the fort is passed between players.
-Community Forts are where one person controls the fort and people can influence the fort in some way (this is usually having players request having a dwarf with a certain profession named after them).
-Stories are stories told by one person, and don't have to be played out in Dwarf Fortress.
-Epic Forts are fortresses where the main focus is the architecture.
-Forum Games are games played via the forums. They are to Stories as Community/Succession Games are to DF. (Does this make sense?)
Each section has the subsections "Finished/Abandoned" and "Active". The person hosting the community fort/telling the story/whose turn it is has to have posted in the thread a minimum of a month ago for it to be considered active.
Fixed some links

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Hall of Legends
Feel free to vote for a story you feel deserves to be here!

Throughout the time of bay12, a number of powerful tales, shocking accounts, and amazing feats of engineering have appeared on the forums. Some of these tales are still popular today, be they stories of exceptional quality, or simply so ingrained in the culture of our forum that we can hardly forget. Others, less so, but still memorable enough in their own right to not be forgotten.
 
This thread is a continued compilation of what are generally considered the best stories in the Bay12 forums, and some of the new and developing tales that have the potential to merit the title of "Beyond Quality" some day. Unfortunately, the creator of the original thread appears to have succumbed to the devilish and maligned beast known but never spoken of, save in a whisper (or italics) as 'Real life'. As such, because I have an insatiable ego, I took it upon myself to create this thread to take its place as many stories still deserve to be remembered. Obviously I will gladly hand the reigns back to our much loved Jamini should he return.

The goal of this thread is not to draw attention to particular tales, but rather to chronicle the best so that anybody, new player or forum veteran alike, can find them with little difficulty.
 
If you find such a story that is not on the list, or discover one of the links are broken please either PM me or make mention of it in this thread. I will do my very best to keep this listing up-to-date and accurate. And provide a synopsis. I can't read everything, though I do try.

Succession Games

Finished/Abandoned

Boatmurdered - The downfall of the greatest community fortress before our time. A must read!

SparkGear 1/2/3/4 - SparkGear. Also know as SG, also known as 'That Complete and Utter Disaster'. A new type of succession fortress where turns are measured in real time. Each turn takes 24 hours before being handed over to the next willing sucker. The result? Unchecked and unparalleled insanity from top to tail. This isn't a tale for the history books. This is a tale to be spoken of in a darkened room, with the doors locked tight. The sprawling, epic mess that is SparkGear has left scars on those foolish enough to even glance at it, yet still proves more addictive than the most dangerous drug.

SparkGear. Where the good, the bad and the ugly dwarves (and everyone in between) go to die.

Active

Halltraded (incomplete) - Out of the 120 dwarves who have braved this land of skeletal carp, dead trees, and steamy jungles only 31 remain. The inhabitants of Halltraded consider it a blessing even that many survived so far.


Community Fortresses

Finished/Abandoned

Nist Akath - The Captain was stranded in a winter wasteland, a deathtrap. Read on as wth only his wits, six friends some meager supplies, he struggles to make his prison a bastion of hope that all dwarves respect. Hailed as one of the greatest DF stories of our time, on par with Boatmurdered, albeit on the other end of the spectrum.

Pirates of the Fondled Waters- the Dread Ship Bellsmaw sails the seven seas. Follow her crew's exploits as they struggle to survive their voyage on he ocean

All Dwarves are Bastards - A community fortress with a substantial twist, the story takes place over multiple forts. The first? The powerful, mysterious, and amnesiac dwarf lord Doomhammer and his cat... fluffycuddlekissesjoy. The second? a small, stout dwarven outpost of a few hardy souls working to survive directly on top of a goblin dark tower! What horrors... wait, why is that goblin offering us tea? ARGH!

Headshoots -

Never seen a fortress resemble post-WWII Germany before.

Death and Glory - It's us adventurers VS the world. But this time, YOU decide what happens. Kagus has left the thread, but he has left a challenge for any and all who come after him. Can you write a tale of incredible deeds? Can you record histories of great triumphs, great disasters, or great evil? Bring your mettle and pen to the table, and let us go forward together.

Active

Migrursut: Utopia in the Wastes - In a land dominated by Zombie Giant Scorpians, duplicious nobles, and religious zealots. A paradise... no... a Utopia will arise. It shall be called ... Migrursut.

The Rise of the Fahstrom Clan - {Description Coming - synopsis would help}

The Captain's Log - After Moist Vetek, a somewhat mediocre weather god, appears to Kubluk Taniden in a dream, the unlucky dwarf is thrust into an epic adventure featuring elves, demons, goblins, zombies and scattered showers.
With nothing but their wits and the somewhat suicidal dwarves of the Courageous Bolt to help them, the travelers must fight their way across the lands of the mountain home to build for their very survival.

To Venture North, Into Hell - Hell is other species. A disastrous attempt to start a fortress in the far north turns into a nightmare for the entire continent as demons are let loose and find more than a few supporters. The Goblin wars flare up for a second time and this time it's not some Dwarven extermination of Goblin filth but a fully-fledged conflict, one the allied races are losing. They're mean, they're green, they have demons on their side and things are going to go from bad to worse...
[/quote]

Stories

Finished/Abandoned

One Dwarf Against the World - Some say she was mad, others claim she was simply genius. Regardless of what people call her, her name still burns in the memory of dwarves everywhere.

A Kobold's Quest - The story of Fale Thimaiyilo, Kobold Adventurer.
 
A Kobold's Quest II- The young Kobold Prince Blitikus Thimaiyilo is forced to flee after an assassination attempt. Racing north, he digs out for himself a new home in the tundra and vows his vengeance upon those who have wronged his family in a story that crosses both time and space.

Questionable Ethics - The story of Kazo, the construct, friend of Blitikus. Long after the events of Kobold's Quest II, Kazo finds himself awakening in a new time and place without a clue on what to do in it.
 
A Journey to Mountain-Banners- A short introduction for a monster of a fortress. It is truly a marvel that must be seen to believe.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Zombie Troll - Sometimes authors try to rationalize the insanity of DF. Other times...

Cacame - click the link to the left for an introduction into an alternate world. An odd world, much like our own and yet so very different. A world where the unthinkable occurs. Elves, ruling Dwarves. But cultures can rub off, and the king of the Dwarves, Cacame, is... well... see for yourself.

God save whoever goes up against the king.

The Legend of Tholtig Cryptbrain - Dwarf Fortress at its finest. Death, destruction, mayhem, it's an epic and tragic tale of a true dwarven queen, locked in an epic struggle with the elves in a monumental war that devastated both civilizations. She is also reputed to have killed more living things than any other ever recorded. I say reputed because there were no witnesses left afterwards.

The Epic of Sodel Udir - 
                               
                               I’ll tell you the legend of Sodel Udir
                      A dwarf with a name that has come to mean fear
                          I’ll show you the doom of his lost fortress Ur
                 In the spines of the north where the dark creatures stir


Active

Blockedlance - Grave of a Thousand Dwarves - Come! Gaze upon the festering insanity and brutal evil of the self styled Queen Urist! Many, many dwarves have perished under her iron fist, made strong by religious furor and insanity. And yet still more come. But her destiny cannot be denied and blood will be spilled by the gallons! Witness, if you dare, the most brutal showcase yet of the horrors one twisted person can inflict upon a fortress that was doomed the moment it was founded...

Oh, yes, and Armok gets a boner at one point. You heard it here first!

Quest: The Most Interesting Dwarf in the World - It was year 201, a bitter cold spring thaw after an even colder winter, when Morul Cattenmat suddenly became obsessed with becoming the single most skilled dwarf in the multiverse. One skill after another, he went forth, practiced, and mastered each one, becoming renowned not just for his crafting ability, efficiency, or brutality in combat, but rather for all of those and more. It's a tale that must be heard to be understood, the amazing tale of the most skilled, and interesting, dwarf in the world.

Ironblood, look out.

Epic Fortresses

Finished/Abandoned
 
Copperblazes - "It was just pointlessly large"

FlareChannel - Quantum Sawdust started it. And awed us.

He has now finished it and any one of you who does not feel the need to drop to their knees and praise Quantum Sawdust must report to the magma chamber.

Active


Forum Games

Finished/Abandoned
 
TACTICUS - "The Complete Rules of Tacticus, New Expanded Abridged Revised Pantshelm Edition, cannot all exist in the same space, or else odd quantum-mechanical effects will result in the removal of all dwarven beards in that space. We wouldn't want that, now would we? Of course, that doesn't preclude a small amount of informal organization in which to experience the game, such as "unless the Complete Rules of Tacticus, New Expanded Revised Pantshelm Edition, instruct otherwise, the starter of the game is the one who keeps track of what the hell is going on for everyone else's benefit" or "once the starter of the game informs everyone what the hell went on the previous turn or other period of time-space-dwarfdom specified in the Complete Rules of Tacticus, New Expanded Revised Pantshelm Edition, everything else going on prior to that is what the hell is going on the next turn or other period of time-space-dwarfdom". Of course, as seasoned Tacticus veterans, we know that the former is implied via Enid Butterclasped's Interpretation of rule 107.908.1 Section E, subtitled "Ordering of Events - Game Information - Periods of Required Drinking - The Score and Its Relation to Hoary Marmots", while the latter clearly follows from Appendix D-2 Section 77B, "Time Flows Forward, Unless It Flows Backwards Or Sideways & Considerations on Special Temporal Conditions Both Alcohol-Induced And Not". Sure, there is some debate regarding Enid Butterclasped's Interpretation and its ramifications on interior antman movements - heck, I think we all disagree with her stance that brewing occurs before the second subsidiary non-underground event phase - but her general thoughts seem logically sound. " - Felix the Cat
 
Battle of the Gods RP thread - Following a battle of deiific proportions, where the planets shook and the cosmos shuddered under the combined weight of the magic of the gods brout forth in full force a truce was made. No longer would any god fight one another directly. Instead, a board game was devised for the gods to vent their frusteration, anger, and agression on each other in a less destructive manner.
 
The pieces being, of course, mortals.

Battle of the Gods II: an RP thread- A smattering of many civilizations in world too small to hold them all! Which race will come out on top in the end? I present to you, the Battle of the Gods II!

Battle of the Gods III - What was once now an oddity, a new and incredible forum tradition has been born! We bring you... the Third Battle of the gods!

Battle of the Gods IV - A new take on a popular forum game. The fourth battle of the gods is an attempt to take the more free-form gameplay of the second and first games, and the stricter ruleset and game moderator interaction of the third, and create a conglomerate that will be even better than it's predecessors!
 
Snoopicus and the Ham Sandwitch of Life of Death - Snoopicus starts out this story stark naked, with only one piece of equipment. "The Ham Sandwich of Life of Death". Its abilities remain mostly unknown, but there are several rules which govern its use/existance. Follow his adventures as he seeks enlightenment, recognition in combat, and true understanding of the sandwitchy way.
 
Right after he eats lunch.

Active

RTD - Multiworld Madness - A popular forum game first invented not long after forum games recived their own section in bay12. The premise behind RTD (Roll the Dice) is simple. You tell the game master what you want your character to do, and then roll a six sided die: On a 1 you fail spectacularily, On a 2 or 3 you fail marginally. On a four, you partially succeed, on a five you perfectly suceed, on a 6 you overshoot. What insanity can emerge from a game where literally ANYTHING can happen? FIND OUT! (Warning, this thread is excessively long and will take DAYS to read)

I was thinking of having a Legendary Legends section, for interesting tales created by the game. This would include Tholtig Cryptbrain and Cacame, but the Cacame entry also includes some stories, so I put them in that section instead.

I think the Stories section should be cut down a little.

Also, there have been 4 more SparkGears. Should those also be listed?

EDIT: Most Interesting Dwarf in the World moved to Active.

[Jackrabbit]

Okay, I'll do that. As for the Sparkgears, they are individually voted for, though most people all vote for them at the same time. I'll add more if people vote for them as well.

[Taco Dan]

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=33647.msg584691#msg584691
This...
This is awesome.

[Heron TSG]

Vote +1!

[LASD]

Oh wow, this is an old story, I was gonna call shenanigans on it, having read an almost identical story from tvtropes many months ago, but it turns out it was the exact same one, only shortened (now that I finally managed to dig it up as it isn't on the Dwarf Fortress page anymore):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dwarf Fortress is ripe for awesome, as is shown in the following story, taken from 4chan's board, /tg/. A certain fortress digs too far into the earth and discovers a pit of demons, lead by a legendary demon lord. The demons surge upwards from the depths of the earth, massacring dwarves as they go. The player forces the demons through labyrinthine traps and collapses the mountain on top of them, but their numbers are seemingly endless, and their king unkillable. In his grief, a legendary weaponsmith whose wife had been killed by the demons, forges a jewel encrusted artifact sword. The demons surge up into the upper halls, and only a few dwarves remain, the rest having been slaughtered by the demons. Those few dwarves put up a valian fight, killing the last of the demons, but the invincible demon lord still remains. Finally, only one dwarf still lives, one of the original expedition members. He takes the artifact sword, and with it he impales the demon king, hurling himself and the demon into a bottomless pit. Surprisingly, one dwarf is still alive. An engraver had fallen into the chasm and landed on a ledge. His bones were broken and he would soon die. As a final act, he engraved an image on the cliff face next to him. The image was this: "This is a masterfully designed image of a dwarf and a demon. The demon is in the fetal position. The dwarf is laughing."

Still there's the small voice saying that this is too unlikely to happen and it was just thought up, but I can't say it isn't a great story.

EDIT: Oh wait, that thread is from June.

[CobaltKobold]

votes++;

[darkflagrance]

Oh, I hadn't realized Lanternwebs wasn't already on there. +1 for the death of the goblin in the last page or so.

Also, there are numerous problems with the /tg/ one. The names of the dwarves except that of Sil are not in the Dwarf language file. Frog demons are trap-immune. Goblin sieges cannot be led by cyclopes.

Although, in theory some of these things can be attributed to horrible memory and the narrator's telling the game as he remembered it being played, rather than playing it himself and having the save-file as reference. The names of the dwarves could be random nicknaming. The fact that the demon is called Ashmalice rather than something like Zedan Ashmalice the Dusk of Midnights could be due to the narrator's remembering of only a part of his name.

Also, the map in the story is enviable: magma, ocean (and sand), bottomless pit and chasm, HFS, and enough rock to carve out a deep fortress without a significant aquifer...

It's nonetheless an excellent piece of storytelling.

[Taco Dan]

Oh, I hadn't realized Lanternwebs wasn't already on there. +1 for the death of the goblin in the last page or so.

Also, there are numerous problems with the /tg/ one. The names of the dwarves except that of Sil are not in the Dwarf language file. Frog demons are trap-immune. Goblin sieges cannot be led by cyclopes.

Although, in theory some of these things can be attributed to horrible memory and the narrator's telling the game as he remembered it being played, rather than playing it himself and having the save-file as reference. The names of the dwarves could be random nicknaming. The fact that the demon is called Ashmalice rather than something like Zedan Ashmalice the Dusk of Midnights could be due to the narrator's remembering of only a part of his name.

Also, the map in the story is enviable: magma, ocean (and sand), bottomless pit and chasm, HFS, and enough rock to carve out a deep fortress without a significant aquifer...

It's nonetheless and excellent piece of storytelling.

It may also be a combination of that and that the person has not played much/any DF and/or doesn't know much about it.

[Jackrabbit]

Thank you, Sizik.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

Jackrabbit, here's a synopsis for the Rise of the Fahlstrom clan. I'd sent one to Jamini back when she was running the thread but it never got posted.

"A story about the rise to power of a small clan at the end of the world and the beginning of a new age. When a group sets out to worship a goddess of death in a terrifying wilderness and establish their place of worship all sorts of bad things can happen. Including attacks by the unicorn riding avar! (winged humans from Legendary Lands) Read the story where Chaos and Order battle and where ties to Family and Clan override the ties to the Kingdom."

[Jackrabbit]

A-thank you.