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[Maloy]

Context
Dwarf fortress has a lot of legendary stories, but one of the ones that locked me into this game many years ago was Archcrystal. The scale, scope and madness of it all compelled me to get this game and sit down and figure out how to play back when it felt a lot like translating another language before you could even play

Here's Archcrystal: https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=156319.0

Also a wild time, because at that point this was the first well known example of a player sitting through one fortress for THAT LONG! Now others have accomplished it and Dfhack has some codes that help you pass time easier to make these projects more doable.

The Project

I intend to make and release a tabletop campaign module set after the events of Archcrystal (But set before the Epilogue which takes place in the far future)

The Story would start adventurers outside the city, but eventually having them navigating the many dangers of Archcrystal to reach its depths, and even though much time has passed the city still has many functioning defenses...as well as the things that have developed since the dwarves have disappeared from it

The Needs
Would be to create a lot of maps (Which I can already do through Inkarnate)

Unique sub-classes that fit into this particular world setting

Unique backgrounds that also fit into the setting

Creature statblocks, because we want the many creatures of dwarf fortress to be prominent versus using generic ones from other settings



I picked DnD 5e because I've run many campaigns and many people play it, but I do personally prefer Pathfinder 2e....

How does this sound? What would you guys like to see in this?

I messaged Sethatos and he said he was okay with this project happening and that he looked forward to seeing the results


I want to use this thread to post updates as it develops

[Maloy]

Dev Log #1

Here's a rough draft map I am playing around with:



So, when Archcrystal ends the dwarves are at war with ALL goblin civilizations in the world, as well as all the civilizations near to them. Even though none of these civs are destroyed they are all very depleted as far as population goes. Even with Archcrystal disappearing they still have a military of hundreds of steel armored dwarves, who are now completely leaderless. So, what I foresee in this time skip is that basically the whole map has been remade by the destruction that ensued.

In this setting the dwarves, goblins and the original civilizations around Archcrystal have all been destroyed over the passing of centuries, and the ruins of which are settled by new peoples.



Why Archcrystal isn't simply reinhabited later?
Well, consider that Archcrystal sits in the middle of a cursed jungle. Clouds come in regularly that turn the living into super powered and berserk undead. It would be fair to argue that even getting to Archcrystal is an ordeal itself.

Conveniently, the only thing next to the fortress is a dark pit on the map, and in my head canon the goblins developed those trench works so they could try and clear a path to Archcrystal to siege it.


Still, with the collapse of everything these paths would be lost and getting to Archcrystal would be near suicide, and the jungles are probably filled with these berserk super undead.



What kind of campaign will it be:
This should be a heist. Heists are fun because they tend to rely on planning and improvisation.

With AC (shorthand for Archcrystal) being lost and in such a dangerous place, AND being near impregnable itself half the fun will be getting there!

So, the campaign starts with the assembling of the team (the players) and the beginning is about players traveling to gather information to access AC, because they need a route and a way into the fort itself. Any other info they learn could also be useful and the campaign should reward players who put a lot of effort into extra research.

For example: Learning about AC's front gate defenses could save the party from having to learn about those traps firsthand.



Sub-Class Talk
Now, the previous post discusses adding sub-classes, but I think rather than that it should have specializations and that these should all be from dwarf fortress

Each player picks a specialization their character has and it will in some way contribute to the heist.

For example:

Miner - Opportunities to dig around obstacles
Siege Engineer - Able to access and use siege weaponry and defenses
Mechanic - Repair, disable and set up machinery and defenses
Ranger - Bonus to sense of direction checks such as traversing AC or the route to it
Animal trainer - Ability to interact with, pacify or even tame certain encountered creatures



We'd make a more full list and the players pick one each, giving a lot of replayability options

[Maloy]

Dev Log #2



Another map, this one intended as art for the adventure start, because every heist needs to start somewhere!

Spoiler: hook (click to show/hide)

You and other exceptional individuals have been secretly recruited and asked to meet at this tavern for a job. Your motivation for taking it is your own, but you can piece together who is recruiting you and why you are meeting here:

The sapphiric kingdoms are made up of mostly humans who settled on the ruins of lands that were once filled with the great works of goblins, dwarves, elves and primeval humans. These civilizations collapsed, although many villages are set up in and around the ruins of such, for that is how prevalent these nations were before collapse.
The sapphiric kingdoms are at war, and more importantly, are losing. A coven of necromancers called the Blue Curses have grown from a small group of evil scholars to a burgeoning empire of mindless zombies, living mercenaries, and super-powered undead lieutenants all serving the absolute will of these would be conquerors.

There's not a lot humans can do against that sort of power, and the sapphiric kingdom is hiring you to help tip the scales, and likely having you meet in a hamlet because the Blue Curses are infamous for having infiltrated even the most secure levels of the kingdom's government.

The dossier is read out to you simply, but the task asked couldn't be any more difficult; You've heard of Archcrystal, we all have. A great tower of glass, a dwarf city that nearly conquered the world with technology, beasts and powers beyond human imagining. Then the city was lost, and since then the world as we knew it unfolded.
But the powerful items Archcrystal possessed are exactly what the sapphiric kingdoms need to turn the tide. That is where you come in.

Like you realized though, it's no simple task. The city's location was lost and you can't simply search for it, because it was in a large jungle filled with clouds that turn all it touches into berserk undead husks, and even if you find the city it's many defenses may still work and massacred thousands upon thousands in its day.

Your mission is the following:

-Find Archcrystal, search the ruins of old goblin civilizations if needed to find the routes they used
-Learn what you can of its defenses to increase your survival chances
-Delve into the city and find the secret to its powers

So, instead of skipping straight into the city I thought it would be part of the fun to even prepare for it. I imagine the goblins and others had to use specific routes to even besiege it, and centuries later the party would need to find these routes

Spoiler:  talking about df necromancers (click to show/hide)

I had a world I generated once where necromancers fully conquered the entire very large planet, but they didn't kill everyone. Actually the living were quite comfortable and had enjoyed two hundred years of peace with their immortal rulers. In legends mode zombies aren't hostile to everyone and its possible for necromancers to have living subjects, but once you hit fortress or adventure the coding for zombies makes them attack anything alive and removes that possibility.

Over in Adelaathira the necromancer had more than half her army made up of living people, but by the time world gen ended they had all died to defeat an invasion from hell, and so there were only undead left.