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[Chattox]

But if you wall it off, how can your later Adventurers read the masterfuly engraved walls chronicling Urist McCarpkiller's every deed?

Hmm, very true, I hadn't thought of that! I usually lose interest in my forts and never abandon them because I always think I'll come back to them later, which I never do, so I never really explore them much afterwards

[thegoatgod_pan]

I roleplay pretty often, usually I go for Lovecraftian *science* types-- right now my dwarves are known as the "Construct of Skin" and are breeding jabberers by the dozen, numerous experimental chambers contain various horrors captured in the deeps, I just sacrificed the goblin general on the 25th anniversary of my fort--he's been with us for 15 years, while I pondered what death would be sufficiently horrible.  In the end he died of unclear causes in a pit full of war cave blobs.  So many blisters

[Flying Dice]

Yes, in that every wall and floor chronicles the slaughtering of enemies...

Apart from that, I generally let it expand naturally without preplanning anything. Yeah, I usually end up with a convoluted mess, but it feels better that way. Plus, having an absolute maze of a fortress increases the Fun potential later in the game. Say, about when my main entrance is being overrun by some beasty with acid breath or something equally as pleasant.

[arkhometha]

Now I'm curious, what's it called?

DF Designer, but it seems to only be downloadable as uncompiled source code and I have no idea what to do with it

The Windows port is shipped as compiled binary, very easy to use. I haven't tried the Mac version but I assume it is compiled as well.

If you're on Linux, surely you can compile some C code.

My bad, totally missed the Windows port and only clicked the top link like the assuming retard that I am

What's everyones habits with burial and tombs? I usually have a long, 5 wide corridor with alternate alcoves on either side, like this;

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   _|    |_
  |_      _|
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I put regular stone coffins in each of the alcoves, and that's where most normal dwarves go. I dig out 3x3 tombs for nobles and soldiers who just did their job, 5x5 for leaders and nobles who did something cool or useful (I once had an alligator killing some livestock with a few dwarves pussyfooting around it not knowing what to do, and my book keeper just tutted at them, put down his books and went and punched the alligator to death with no injury to himself. That kind of cool or useful.) and then grander tombs and mausoleums for outstanding soldiers and dwarves who did something incredible like singlehandedly saving the fort somehow. These grand tombs vary in size depending on the deed that earned them it. Once the corridor is full, I wall off the door so that it can never be plunded, and start a new one nearby.

Awesome design! I may use it, if you let.  But I think I'm not walling it off, as Jeoshua said, I want my Adventurer to know his fellow dwarfs past deed. Would be good if you could let your fort live to visit them with, let's say, an adventurer and know what happened to him.

Also, I usually build my communal catacombs

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______
|x sxs x|
|x  x   x|
|x  x   x|
|x  x   x|
|s  s   s|
|__ ___|
Where x is the coffin and s, statues.
Great tombs for awesome warriors, a crafter of a real useful artifact or good nobles I make like big ones, with armor stands, weapon racks, coffins, statues, the metal or obsidian coffin in the middle and with engraved walls. Maybe I can put your tomb design in a hall that leads to these tombs.. anyway, the only problem is the nobles complaining about having a tomb worse or as good of the non noble but more useful warrior.
I also like to do memorial halls, with slabs engraved  of the great enemies slain, like megabeasts, or a goblin general killing during a siege, or a great warrior that died in combat with floor and walls engraved with the history. Maybe when I finally get a king I will build A throne room for him.

[Namfuak]

This turned a bit into a fortress design thread, but I like to imagine my dwarves doing things.  For example, I once had two hunters, one of whom had a son that followed him around, out hunting.  They discovered a goblin ambush, and while the two hunters started firing on them the child ran back to the fortress.  The two hunters died, but they took down 4 goblins and the rest broke rank and ran.  I like to imagine that the father said his last goodbyes to his child and told him to go back to safety when he saw his duty before him and died for the good of the fortress.

As for fortress design, I tend to design my fortresses to have the main barracks in the front, so what I'll do is make the basic opening hallway, trade depot area, and barracks room, and then I'll build workshops and beds and such in the barracks until I dig down a bit and make more permanent areas for them.  Depending on the location, there may also be other things on the top level that I dig out, like a hallway with fortifications on the side, and squeeze a few temporary workshops where the ammo stockpiles will go.

[Chattox]

I like to imagine the original 7 dwarves as being grizzled, grumpy old farts who scoff at "how easy the young'ns have it these days". I like to think that when they sit at one of the several long tables in my great hall, feasting on delicious food and drink, they tell exagurrated stories of how hard they had it when the fort was nothing but a muddy hole in the ground.

"You think a coupl'a goblins knocking at the door is bad? We had to fight off 7 crocodiles with nothing but 2 picks, an axe and a barrel of plump helmets!" rumbles out from behind a crumb-encrusted beard.

[Girlinhat]

I end up thinking a lot of RP, but not actually implementing a lot.  I love the idea that my fort is shaped by time and experience, not a layed out plan.  Putting in a good set of memorial slabs to dead elves, and placing them as a war memorial for our gracious victories, those are fun.  An aquarium with no real purpose, is also fun.  Plenty of non-functional but fun things are just interesting to make, and prevent lame bare-bone forts.

[Vercingetorix]

I think through a lot of it outside of the actual gameplay, so there's usually a lot of unique cultural aspects in my fortresses that can add a new dimension to play (especially since I'm aiming for some true long forts...40-50 years, small population, etc).

One neat feature I've liked is modeling my military after the ancient Roman policy; dwarves can enlist at age 18, serve until 45, and then be rewarded with "land", i.e. luxurious housing in the fortress' best regions.  Of course, they also have maxage 60:120 now so they live as long as humans.

[Girlinhat]

I've got a soldier in masterwork addy with an axe and shield.  He's the only soldier, and he's fighting off elves (no goblins in this world).  Every spring, I call my population inside, put him out, and close the gates.  Then wait, and he slaughters, and then we go make some new ☼Elf Leather Cloaks☼.  Since my tower is now in full construction mode, with earthenware blocks produced constantly, I'm going to build some commoner bedrooms, and then his personal suite.  So, in stark contrast to the army ideal, I have a single "guardian" who is exalted above all.  To boost this, he's not exposed to people often, so I imagine him walking to the front gate every year, and the commoners whispering and gawking at his stained red, pure blue armor.  He was the first child born to the fort, the first to reach maturity, and by age 12 he'd gotten a dozen kills and become a legendary fighter after being thrown alone into an elven ambush.  He's 18 now with minor wounds.

[Musashi]

The most constant roleplaying quirk I have is to make some sort of monument to gods in-game.
- 1st fort: each occupied z-level had an image of a god dug out and colourized with careful tile placing (still the most aesthetic project I've directed yet, and the one I'm the most proud of)
- 2nd fort: giant statue. Well, botchered attempt at a giant statue.
- 3rd fort: a garden full of statues of gods and fancy critters (demons, hydras, etc...)

Currently: much like the first project, might make a big image of one god with gem/glass windows. Probably will take advantage of the "blinking" feature for this.
Future fort: 2 huge mothe-effin' statues of both gods worshiped by the expedition leader (being the goddess of thunder and the god of, well, fortresses) at each side of the entrance. I MUST learn how to make proper statues.

The rest highly depends of my mood and the culture I attribute my dorfs. My previous fort ended up with an ice fort, part because I just discovered freezing maps and was having way too much fun digging out streams, and part because I thought a reclaimed fort covered in ice and snow from the blizzard shrouding the actual ruins of the old fort, would be cool. Imagined the current colony simply scraped off unwanted parts to form a functional outward fort, instead of building everything back with rock salt.

[khearn]

"You think a coupl'a goblins knocking at the door is bad? We had to fight off 7 crocodiles with nothing but 2 picks, an axe and a barrel of plump helmets!" rumbles out from behind a crumb-encrusted beard.

Aye! I remember that! And them plump helmets wuz all withered and limp! You young'ens don't see 'em like that now days, they all get brewed into this excellent wine before they get withered. <gulp> <BEEEEEELCH!> Now, where was I? Oh yeah, them tired old plump helmets we had. Now yer fresh plump helms be good 'n firm, fine for beatin' on ye beasties. But when they get a bit long in the tooth (and all of ours wuz at that point, after travellin' for months, uphill through blizzards, mind ye) they get all limp. Why, I musta hit that first croc halfa dozen times before she even noticed I was there! Mind you, that was a tough ol' croc, we called her Ima Gunabeshooz, and she was tough as nails! 'Course, if they'd a let me have an axe, things woulda been different. But Noooooo! Ya slip up once and cut off a few of tha the expedition leader's toes and it's "No more axes for you, Urist McButterfingers!" Well I showed everyone! I gave that ol' croc a nasty black eye before Urist McWoodcutter showed up and finished her off. He had an axe!

[Icee77]

Roleplaying is awesome!
The few things i do is graves. I first designate an ENTIRE level for a graveyard and then make a room filled with coffins. Everybody gets a 1 spaced tomb. Why? because dwarves rot the same and die the same.

[Jelle]

I do like to get in a roleplay mood when playing dwarf fortress. I tried to play it 'the most effecient way' first, but that got boring real fast as everything was so structerized and preplanned....and always symmetrical.
Then I realized damn this is a sandbox, I should just let the story unfold itself and make my dwarves act as I think they would act to their situation. Why not have a mess of an architecture, why not make a fortress look lifelike for a dwarf.
I've been truly enjoying it so far, the only thing I miss is a little bit more outside influence to shape the fort.
I quite like my current scenario, I'm trying to create a wealthy looking town that thrives off the nearby blue metal deposits, so extreme luxury for all dwarves is a must. Looks like a little subteranean resort. 

[obeliab]

After I pick a decent-sounding random fort name and group name, I like to "roleplay" design elements in whatever way makes sense to me.  E.g. my current fort name is "Soundwalls," so I'm going with big, open central chambers and short, fat hallways with lots of "rounded" edges around... I imagine that the echoing and acoustics throughout the fort are very dynamic and full.  I had one named Metalfingers recently, so I went with a few medium-sized central rooms with slender, winding passages leading from place to place.

I also like to emphasize production of the types of things/materials my nobles like, but that's pretty boring.

[Hellmoob]

It depends, for me. Sometimes I'll try and take things from a 'dwarven' perspective: imagine their societal quirks, and build things from an immersive rather than detached omniscient perspective; but sometimes I really couldn't care less whether Urist McHauler likes moss opals and fluffy wamblers - all I know is that I'm out of migrant slots, I still don't have a decent metalcrafter, and he and his slacker buddies have an appointment with the cleansing chamber.