Werezebras are just one of the many ways that your castle can be destroyed.
Failure is what makes Dwarf Fortress fun, and since there are so many ways to fail, there are always funny stories to tell. A fight that went wrong in a bar has brought down strong forts. The effects of hunting in a haunted setting hurt a lot of small towns. You might even get bored with the elves and decide that making peace with them was never a choice.
Because there are so many things to mimic in Dwarf Fortress, there is always something funny or surprising that happens. It’s best to keep an open mind when you go to a new fortress. Sure, it’s important to have the best and most efficient base, but if you use disasters as story chances, you’ll be laughing for a long time after you’re done playing. Remember that the theme of Dwarf Story is “Losing is Fun.”
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Catsplosion
A catsplosion happens when there are too many furry cats in your castle. If cats are left alone, they will have babies whenever they want to. This may seem like nothing to worry about, but you really can’t let them get away with it. After a few years of cats breeding without being stopped, there will be so many of them that they will fill the walls of your castle.
A catsplosion is so powerful that it could slow down your computer to the point where it moves at a crawl. This could, of course, mean the end of your run. You also can’t take the easy way out with the cats, since they will quickly “adopt” a dwarf as their owner. If the cats die, their owners will have temper tantrums that could turn out to be very bad. Overpopulation of cats is definitely a memorable way to lose.
Visiting Megabeasts
No matter what your dwarfs are up to, nature will keep going on. Megabeasts are some of the most dangerous animals that will wander through your lands. Of course, you could be wrong and think that your new dwarf army is up to the task. Most likely, you would be wrong. When the dragon’s flames burn through your land, your cooked dwarves will definitely agree.
Megabeast strikes that come out of nowhere can be the most important part of your game. Both a brave last fight and a hilariously desperate panic spiral are good ways to end your life.
Unregulated Magma
Magma is like water, except it is very hot and can kill even in the most safe fortresses. Magma, on the other hand, is much hotter than water and will quickly give anyone who touches it fourth-degree burns. This is likely to kill. As if that wasn’t enough fun, when you drop big things into magma, they release “magma mist,” which is a burning hot smoke that can set people on fire. Don’t get me wrong, though. Magma can be very useful.
It’s a great way to get power, protect yourself, and get rid of trash. If you lose control of your magma, your whole castle will melt very quickly. Magma is also home to some nasty creatures whose only goal is to cause trouble in your base. If you don’t build your infrastructure to hold magma carefully, one dwarf’s temper tantrum could open a floodgate of magma where you don’t want it.
Undead Body Parts
Starting your castle in an evil biome might sound like a fun way to bring The Walking Dead into your own fantasy world. It could, however, be too “fun.” When you deal with zombies, funny things can go wrong. The zombies are the most obvious danger, but now there are also evil virus clouds, bad weather, and animals that have died and come back to life. Things will go bad very quickly.
Trying to start a meat business for your hungry mountain people is a funny example of this risk. Undead animals will try to kill you, but you might not know that all of its body parts will do the same after you kill it. It’s both funny and scary to see animated hands, heads, and bones rolling across the ground to get back at your village.
Alcohol Prohibition
Dwarves have to drink booze in order to do anything. A big part of what makes them happy is actually drinking something that makes them drunk. If you don’t give them this happiness potion, it will be the end of Basket Random game. Sober dwarves will become less happy and less useful over time. After a while, it becomes hard to do even the simplest things.
This becomes a problem when you add any other thing that could be dangerous. Your logger is being chased by a werezebra? Well, he hasn’t had anything to drink in a year, so he can barely crawl away. It’s rare, but funny, to lose by watching your dwarves lose interest in their work until your fortress falls down.
Catastrophic Strange Moods
Dwarves sometimes act in strange ways that make them want your attention. They will have certain needs that must be met for the mood to go away, and if those needs aren’t met, they will have a mental breakdown. In the worst case, they will go crazy. It can be very bad if your famous axedwarf goes on a killing spree and starts a civil war. But what if the axedwarf decides all of a sudden to open the lava gate to your fortress? Now, that is terrible.
You will laugh out loud as you see your base fall apart because a dwarf couldn’t cut a bone off their neighbor’s perfectly healthy body.
