Hi everyone,
Before starting a story which, I hope, will be a long one, I wanted to give a bit of background for those who might find the idea a bit unusual or want to know what to expect beforehand. That said, I think it works best if you read it without knowing what to expect, so if you are curious, don’t hesitate to jump straight to the next post and read the beginning of the story before coming back here – or not, the following rambling is absolutely not needed to understand the story.
So, where does the Granite Gazette come from?
(You still have a chance to read the story before continuing if I peaked your interest.)
Like a lot of you, I often keep some kind of notes when I am playing. Some of the events turns out to be more interesting or funny than others, and I have started writing small stories to share them with friends who have either never played DF, or have tried it once and abandoned it afterward. In both cases, they don’t really care about the in-game details, they just want the story. I started experimenting with different ways to gather stories for people who have to idea of the context and, long story short, my latest try struck a chord with them.
After much convincing, I was persuaded that more people might enjoy it. As I was not comfortable with making public the ones I had already sent them, the quality being bit shaky in places and the stories being full of insider jokes, I created a new world where I could start a brand new story – and here we are.
Because of this background, the story is inspired by a world I’m playing in at the moment, but it is no AAR. My goal is to tell a story which remains interesting for people who are not playing actively DF at the moment, and story comes before playing fair. Expect me to cheat or lie unapologetically to get the story on the right foot and to avoid poking the bear if I deem the amount of FUN unmanageable (that is, unless I need a bit of drama, who knows).
Feedback or questions, either about the story itself or about the format/language, are more than welcome. English is not my native language and I will use the wrong word or expression sooner or later, don’t hesitate to point it out: part of the reason why I am spreading it to a wider audience is to improve.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but here are some details about the world itself for those who are interested:
![](https://i.ibb.co/6DLjQ0h/Realm-of-Abundance-small.jpg)
It is a new world made in Perfectworld with a 50-years story. It is quite peaceful, I’m not even at war with the goblins for the moment.
I have added some mods, mostly QOLs, small tweaks and visual changes. I have thrown in some light mods like simple animal people, redux dark elves, Gadget's Kobold, mythical beasts and advanced agriculture.
The town itself will be mostly above-ground and is located in as easy a location as I could get: not wild, not evil, with lots of metals, clay, sand and rivers.
I’m mostly playing without migrants. I recruit visitors for the bulk of my population and sandbox in peasants with dfhack when I want more diversity than what visitors are offering me (yes, clothing management is a nightmare).
I’m on the itch version at the moment, so I don’t have the beta branch. Don’t expect any adventurer shenanigans.
Lastly, I’m new to the forum so I might need a few tries or pointers before I find the best way to present the format I have chosen. I hope you'll bear with me while I re-learn how the Internet works.