I want to use Dwarf Fortress as a sort of dungeon/world generator. Essentially I would take my previous fortresses, export them, use the tile graphics as the map itself and use the tile data (Engravings, loot, furniture, etc.) as the content of the map. That would basically allow my players to ask any question they want and I will have an answer that doesn't have to be A) made up on the spot because I wasn't expecting it and B) remembered afterward.
As anyone who has DM'd a game will know, players have a tendancy to do the unexpected, which is all part of the fun of the game, but if your not quick on your toes (I'm not) then it can really de-rail a game in a hurry. Having a player ruin your painstakingly laid out adventure because they found a simple loop hole that bypasses all your hard work can be incredibly frustrating. Using Dwarf fortress embarks as towns, castles, dungeons and the like would allow me to much more easily create a living world that has it's own history and organic locales.
I know that I can export images of the zlevels which would allow me to import them into my DM program and use them as maps, but that's only half of what I want. I don't know of any way to get at the cell data aside from leaving DF running and looking at that cell to see what the contents are. Has anyone developed an app that will allow you to look through an embark and interrogate the cells, preferably with a mouse?
If nothing like this exists I'm considering trying to develop it myself but I'm not much of a coder