When a dwarf dies and is buried, his friends and family could declare a party-like event at his grave, with the job Attend Funeral. Spouses, siblings, parents, and descendants would cluster closely around the casket and exercise Consoler, Pacifier, and Liar. More distant friends and acquaintances would form an outer layer, exercising Conversationalist, Observer, and Comedian. Some non-relations might attend if they are very close to a dwarf in the inner circle. Interrupting a funeral would disrupt the grieving process (unhappy thoughts, random chance of doing a Mourning job for several more months), but letting it go through to completion would partially mitigate the impact of the death. Attendees would seek out and equip darkly-dyed clothing beforehand if any is available. A new Undertaker noble both hosts the event and inters the remains. Once religions are implemented, a priest from the deceased's cult would attend and perform the job Deliver Eulogy.
This could increase narrative depth and immersion by treating the passing of a dwarf as more significant both socially and in terms of game mechanics. Instead of only either shrugging it off or smashing something (both still possibilities depending on temperament, I guess), they can also have a little ceremony to help one another cope. The player's sentimental attachments might be satisfied as well (and I think newbies would be pretty impressed the first time they watched it).
From a game balance perspective, the cost to the player is the same as a party (unavailability of arbitrary dwarves for productive jobs), but it's triggered by deaths rather than idleness, and wouldn't be as easily cancelled. I suppose a clustering of freshly-unhappy dwarves would also present a risk of fights breaking out, so this should encourage players to build obscenely ornate crypts. It probably shouldn't happen for every death, especially for small forts, friendless corpses, or large massacres.
(Cue Footkerchief with links to the previous suggestions threads that I could not find... 
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Topic: Funerals (Read 695 times)