Roll Some Dice

  I'm further along than this, I swear, but transferring material from the notebook to the blog is a thing that takes time. So here's another week's worth of Umomkegeth! 1-8 Guard Room Dwarven guards once stood here to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering the Hall of Artifacts (1-9). Bas reliefs of craftsdwarves cover the walls, as does the blood of the dwarves who died here. 1-9 Hall of Artifacts This used to house Umomkegeth's finest artistic achievements on stone pedestals distributed throughout the room. It was a source of pride for the dwarves, and a point of interest for visitors. Now the pedestals are toppled and broken. Behind a tattered tapestry on the west wall is a secret door. 1-10 West Barracks Stone bunk beds for eight dwarves line the walls of this room, surrounding a stone table in the center carved from the living rock itself. There is nothing else of interest here. 1-11 West Drill Hall Rotted remains of wooden swords and axes litter the floor. ...

  Map created using Dungeonscrawl. Okay, a day later than promised, but let's do this! Actually, wait -- first let me briefly talk about what's on the surface, above the entrance. The dwarves established the colony on a plateau and digging down, as opposed to in the side of a hill or mountain. That entrance was within a simple but solid stone structure, just four walls and a set of double-doors. Beside this, they erected their trading depot, to more easily transact business with merchants from distant lands. (Better that than inviting them in.)  Today, the depot is all but gone. Whatever wasn't obliterated by the undead was worn down by time and the elements. The stone edifice still stands, but the formerly impressive double doors are now just two slabs on the ground, half=buried and overgrown with weeds. Without them, nothing prevents any creature so inclined from just waltzing in and descending the stairs within. Despite this, only adventurers are foolish enough to do so....

  Dungeon23 ! Cool idea. One room a day, one level a month, culminating in a 12-level, 365-room megadungeon.  It's also... a lot. Fortunately for me, only a few days before I saw the posts about Dungeon23, I started playing Dwarf Fortress for the first time. Even more fortunately, I am bad at it . Let me explain why that's good. If you're not familiar with the game, it's an extremely complex world-simulator with no real endgame other than having fun. What that means is up to each individual player. You could train your dwarves to be killing machines, raiding their neighbors and conquering the world. Or maybe they're farmers instead of conquerors. (Full disclosure, I still don't really know how to do either of those.) You can tunnel deep into the earth and establish a home surrounded by subterranean wonders, send your dwarves up into the trees to contend with giant squirrels, cut down a forest of trees to build a floating town on a lake, or whatever else you ca...