Has anyone played Sierra's Pharaoh? It's an old ancient egypt SimCity kind of game that is similar is premise to Dwarf Fortress but very different in execution. One of the features of Pharaoh was its religion system. Each city had a Patron deity, plus other local deities. In the early levels, you might have only your patron god, then 1 or 2 local deities, then eventually you'd have to balance all 5. You had Osiris, god of farming (specifically the inundation), Ra, god of trade and social standing, Ptah, god of industry and craftmandwarfship, Set, god of war, and Bast, god of the home and health. You had the ability to appease gods by building small shrines, large temples or by building a festival square and holding a festival to honor a specific god by spending money and beer. (Fun fact, ancient egypt also ran on booze) An appeased god would give you some sort of blessing, for example, Osiris would increase the inundation and thus crop yields, Bast would fill your homes with pottery and beer that the bitches keep complaining about, Ptah would materialize raw materials in your workshops, Set would smite enemies the second they set foot on your soil and Ra would increase the kingdom rating, which was how you won the game. A neglected or jealous god on the other hand would damage your city according to their theme.
I enjoyed that aspect of Pharaoh and I think it would translate to the worlds of Dwarf Fortress easily enough. Since money doesn't mean anything to a dwarf and the consumption of alcohol is a given, I would suggest sacrificing some kind of item that is meaningful to the deity's realm of influence. Here are some Fun ideas:
God of Metal
Sacrifice: Metal bars, metal objects or metal ores
Boon: Randomly changes existing stone on the map to metal ores; Drops metal bars from the sky; Metal bars in stockpiles come to life and befriend dwarves; type of ore/metal based on what ores are sacrificed.
Smite: Changes existing metal ores to stone; Drops metal bars from the sky; Metal bars in stockpile come to life and attack dwarves; Metal bars in stockpile turn into charcoal.
God of Fire
Sacrifice: Charcoal, coke
Boon: Creates lava tubes; Delivers coke/charcoal; Rains magma from the sky; Protects dwarves & buildings from fire;
Smite: Starts fires; Turns magma under magma workshops into obsidian; Rains magma from the sky;
God of the Wild
Sacrifice: Meat, living animals,
Boon: Sends tame animals to join your fortress; Protects your animals from harm; Animals have more babies; Wild animals attack invaders; Dwarves can control themselves as werebeasts; Change domesticated animals into wilder versions, i.e, dogs into wolves, cows into buffalo, cats into lions, etc.
Smite: Sends unfriendly savage animals to attack your fortress; Protects unfriendly animals from harm; Untrains animals (even domesticated ones); Turns dwarves into werebeasts; Wild animals besiege the fortress; Change domesticated animals into wilder versions and make them unfriendly
God of Farming
Sacrifice: Food, Booze,
Boon: Increase crop yield; Increase yield from milking/shearing/butchering;
Smite: Destroy crops; Kill livestock; Destroy food in stockpiles;
God of Battle
Sacrifice: Prisoners, weapons, armor, blood
Boon: Dwarves perform well in battle; Invaders drop dead, go blind, can't move, etc; Dwarves gain fighting skills more easily;
Smite: Dwarves fight poorly; Powerful enemies, ie ogres, dragons, attack the fortress;
God of Crafts
Sacrifice: Crafts, raw materials i.e. wood, stone, glass, clay, bones, cloth
Boon: Stockpiles fill with materials; craftdwarves' skills improved; Strange moods more common and more successful;
Smite: Raw materials vanish from stockpiles; craftdwarves lose skill levels; Strange moods less successful;
God of Health
Sacrifice: Splints, crutches, thread, traction benches
Boon: Dwarves heal faster; Dwarves resist illness, infection; Dwarves' physical attributes increase, ie, tougher, faster, stronger, etc;
Smite: Syndrome plagues;
God of Undeath
Sacrifice: Dwarves, prisoners, coffins, slabs
Boon: Creates friendly undead; Turns dwarves into vampires; Ghosts less likely to damage dwarves; Ghosts attack invaders/wild animals;
Smite: Zombies; Destroys burial sites, resulting in Ghosts; Turns dwarves into vampires;
God of Destruction
Sacrifice: Dwarves, prisoners, animals
Boon: Turns dwarves into vampires; Turns dwarves into werebeasts; Dwarves gain mutations like claws, stingers, fangs, web spitters, fire breath, etc; Dwarves gain happiness and nourishment from destruction; Dwarves resist destruction themselves;
Smite: Dwarves go berzerk; Syndromes;
God of Wealth
Sacrifice: Coins
Boon: Coins rain from the sky; Masterwork crafts more likely; Materials in stockpiles become better versions, ie, clay becomes fireclay, glass becomes crystal glass, stone becomes obsidian, metals become gold or steel, etc; God Merchants appear; Brokers gain skills faster;
Smite: Lead coins rain from the sky; Brokers lose skills; Merchants get zapped or don't show up; Materials in stockpiles downgrade;
God of Justice
Sacrifice: Chains, Cages,
Boon: Thieves become caged; Invaders become caged; Dwarves that go Berzerk or turn into werebeasts or whatever become caged; More happy thoughts from settling disputes, complaining to leaders, etc;
Smite: Random Dwarves become caged; Creatures escape from cages and chains; Thieves appear;
God of Love
Sacrifice: Clothing, booze
Boon: Dwarves become "good looking"; Dwarves get happy thought from seeing "good looking" dwarves; Dwarves more likely to get married or pursue relationships; Less unhappiness in general;
Smite: Dwarves become depressed or insane; Dwarves become "ugly", causing bad thoughts;
I'm thinking that gods are actually generated with more than one of these fields of influence. So if a given world has 3 gods, I reach for my d12 and generate: Goddess of Destruction and Metal, Goddess of Health and Battle, and God of Undeath and Wealth. That's going to be a Fun planet.