In games such as SimCity, there are default, packaged scenarios, instructing one to (for instance) fix up the reunited East and West Berlin, or get a city to a certain size within a certain time/cash limit. I see no reason why DF players could not create similar such scenarios, in a bit more of the DF spirit.
Examples of the scenarios I'm thinking of:
EMERGENCIES
Fire! Half the fort is aflame! Save what you can, while you can!
Water! The fort is flooding! Carp are everywhere! Halt the flood and/or evacuate survivors!
Attack! Goblins are massing on the borders, half the military is asleep, and the rest are in the Fortress Guard! Save a fort with an untrained mob of cheesemakers and soapers! (carnage is very likely to result)
HFS! aaaa
(Suggested by Istrian)
The Mad Mechanic : The mechanists' guild left a fort with lots of levers around, without telling anyone what they all do. Now you've got a horde of goblins waiting outside, demons trying to enter from within and a magma flood on the way. Find the right levers to stop this madness... or accidentally pull the wrong one and send half your population to hell. [This might need some clues to make it more "an interesting puzzle" than "random and unfair"... colour-coding levers, doors, etc., might do the trick.]
(Suggested by xpCynic)
Foul Mood: Your mightiest swordsdwarf has entered a fey mood, but you don't have any of the materials he demands! Fulfill all his requests before he throws a tantrum, or it could be lights out for your fortress...
LONG-TERM
Doldrums. You start with a medium-sized, decent fort - except that all the inhabitants are desperately unhappy. Cheer them up a bit before the tantrum spiral begins! If you manage to leave the fort in a better shape than you found it, you win.
Merchantilism. The Mountainhomes demand tribute! Start with a decent-sized fort with plenty of workshops and resources, and try to export 500,000 within the next two years. If you can't, there's plenty of amusement to be found from following the examples of the nobles and horribly punishing your dwarves for your failure. (Death is the answer!)
(Suggested by Haven)
Islanders: Seven dwarves on a tropical island. The resources there aren't enough to sustain you, but there are hordes of undead outside. Oh, and the stone under the 'moat' is aquifier. Survive to reach 100 dwarves.
(Suggested by Haven)
Boarding School: A small group of dwarves look after a horde of Dwarven infants, feeding them and keeping them safe inside the school walls, outside of which are (what else) undead hordes. Keep the children alive until adulthood, then hitch a ride out with the caravan!
(Suggested by Istrian)
Lemmings : Guide a small warband through a narrow valley filled with danger. No fortress building but requires good managment of limited food, drink and dwarves.
These would be fortresses that players got to a specific point, for the purpose of the scenario, then hosted on the internet. DF Companion would probably be quite useful in creating some of them - for instance, "Fire!" and "Doldrums". I'm sure there are plenty of scenario ideas I haven't thought of, and combining some of the ones I suggested could be interesting as well.
If there's interest, I could try to cook up one of these as an example.
[ May 10, 2008: Message edited by: Cavalcadeofcats ]
