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Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress: Learn to Play the Most Complex Video Game Ever Made
Dwarf Fortress may be the most complex video game ever made, but all that detail makes for fascinating game play, as various elements collide in interesting and challenging ways. The trick is getting started. In this guide, Fortress geek Peter Tyson takes you through the basics of this menacing realm, and helps you overcome the formidable learning curve. The book’s focus is the game’s simulation mode, in which you’re tasked with building a dwarf city. Once you learn how to establish and maintain your very first fortress, you can consult the more advanced chapters on resource management and training a dwarf military. You’ll soon have stories to share from your interactions with the Dwarf Fortress universe.
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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177 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 23, 2022
I still maintain that anyone who says they understand Dwarf Fortress is lying, but this made it a lot easier for me. I've been playing on and off for ~5 years now, and this book covers so many aspects of the game that I've never felt comfortable trying to learn, like complex mechanisms, power sources, minecarts, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed going through this guide, highlighting information, and adding more tabs to it than I have to any book, even when I was in college. Highly recommend for all skill levels!
June 13, 2012
It's the only one of its kind as far as I know, so if you want a book on Dwarf Fortress you don't really have many options.
Luckily, it's also a good book! I never played before, and this book helped be quite a lot.
There seem to be two main "sections" to the book. The first half (roughly) is a hand-holding, step-by-step tutorial that gets you up and running. The second half is more like a bunch of guides on various topics. The setup works really well.
If you're interested in DF after playing Minecraft or roguelikes, definitely take a look at this book.
(Note: the screenshots are in color in the ebook version but black and white in the paper version. They're not impossible to understand in the paper version, but they definitely look better in color)
Luckily, it's also a good book! I never played before, and this book helped be quite a lot.
There seem to be two main "sections" to the book. The first half (roughly) is a hand-holding, step-by-step tutorial that gets you up and running. The second half is more like a bunch of guides on various topics. The setup works really well.
If you're interested in DF after playing Minecraft or roguelikes, definitely take a look at this book.
(Note: the screenshots are in color in the ebook version but black and white in the paper version. They're not impossible to understand in the paper version, but they definitely look better in color)
December 3, 2014
I don't think I will ever play dwarf fortress - micromanaging is not my idea of fun. But I enjoy roguelikes and I enjoyed reading this book. :)
July 15, 2012
Dwarf Fortress belongs to a class of games that are unapologetically complex in terms of depth and game mechanics. Among these games, it probably has the most steep learning curve of all, so steep it's nearly unimaginable that anyone could learn it without a teacher or a book. It is, however, an incredible fun and rewarding experience, once you've got a grisp of enough of the mechanics.
If you enjoy games like Civilization or Nethack and don't cower from spending a weekend on learning a game that can keep you literally entertained for years, this book does a wonderful job of significantly curving down the learning difficulty.
I highly recommend getting a Kindle version for it, as the search functions of the Kindle for PC are invaluable when looking up concepts as you run into them while learning.
If you enjoy games like Civilization or Nethack and don't cower from spending a weekend on learning a game that can keep you literally entertained for years, this book does a wonderful job of significantly curving down the learning difficulty.
I highly recommend getting a Kindle version for it, as the search functions of the Kindle for PC are invaluable when looking up concepts as you run into them while learning.
October 31, 2013
A fantastic introduction to the world's most complex game/reality simulation engine, Peter (AKA TinyPirate) does something never done before for Dwarf Fortress: he sits down and explains how to set up a functioning fort, going from generating a world and choosing a site clear through to setting up your industries and military, exploring the caverns, and everything else needed to help ensure that you, too, can understand that Losing Is Fun! Seriously, get this book. After becoming competent at DF, no other game has a learning curve that can be considered challenging; the only barriers to learning any other game are bad programming on the developers' part.
February 7, 2018
I think the most relevant thing to discuss in a review about this book is: why would you buy it rather than consulting the game's Wiki? And the answer is organization. While the book contains no new information, it is organized in a logical and coherent way that makes learning the game much easier. That's especially true if you don't know what exactly are you supposed to learn. That was my problem with the Wiki: the concepts were there, but since I'm new to game, I wasn't sure about why things were not happening the way I thought they would, and I was not sure how could I search the Wiki for help.
I think the book delivers very well what it promises, and by the end of it you will certainly know enough about the game to walk by yourself. The only problem is that the book is outdated. The developers have rolled some major updates since the book was written, and there are some important features that are not covered. But that's hardly the author's fault and it dosen't affect your learning at all.
I think the book delivers very well what it promises, and by the end of it you will certainly know enough about the game to walk by yourself. The only problem is that the book is outdated. The developers have rolled some major updates since the book was written, and there are some important features that are not covered. But that's hardly the author's fault and it dosen't affect your learning at all.
November 19, 2022
This book is exactly what you think it is. If you have a passing interest in the most complicated game ever made, this guidebook can help you as you stumble through it. Even after playing many hours of DF, I still keep this nearby to help myself keep in mind the mechanics of building different machines and setting up a proper military. Great guide with fun stories and goofy anecdotes weaved in. Is it the best book ever, no. Is it the best and only option for anyone looking to read a book on Dwarf Fortress? Hell yes. And it's great at what it does.
November 18, 2018
Everything you need to know to get into dwarf fortress! The book is eight years old but as far as I can tell is still relevant.
September 21, 2020
My books would be starving and dying of thirst surrounded by the side of their Yak's rotting corpse without this book.
October 26, 2021
This book opened the doors of Dwarf Fortress. It held my hand past the beginning screens. And now I'm able to appreciate this MoMA-worthy game.
June 12, 2012
Peter Tyson has authored the definitive Dwarf Fortress tutorials and has been an avid player and contributor to the community for years. His instruction manual breaks Dwarf Fortress into easy-to-understand sections and explains each one with just the right mix of depth and simplicity. The illustrations are hilarious and perfectly convey the grim humor inherent in Dwarf Fortress. If you've been waiting to play Dwarf Fortress, this guide is a must-have.
August 20, 2012
This book does what it says and does it very very well. For me Dwarf Fortress was impenetrable but I really wanted to see what it was all about. In around 10-20 hours with this book and the game side by side I was ready to go and do most of the stuff myself. It's well written and humorous to boot.
August 12, 2012
Interesting guide to playing Dwarf Fortress, interspersed with nice little comics telling DF tales. Could do with a little less how-to guide and a little more exploring the generated stories - Boatmurdered et al get mentioned, but not discussed. Also, 30% of the book is just appendices, mostly tables repeated from the main text. Captures the oddity that is this game pretty well though.
February 19, 2015
Dwarf Fortress... Seriously one of the most complex games ever coded. This book is a bit outdated now as far as functionality but it does still have some good insight on the basics. Prepare for all of the death umm... vampires umm... Fun you could ever want in a game. I give it four beards.
June 4, 2012
Great book to get new players up and running with Dwarf Fortress, as well as some tips and tricks for more experienced players. It is a legendary quality tutorial. It menaces with spikes of plump helmet.
July 19, 2012
Got me started playing in no time, and the writing is engaging, funny, and very helpful. If you want to play Dwarf Fortress (and you should) I definitely recommend picking this up.
April 4, 2016
Probably the best way to learn about Dwarf Fortress. A very good guide. Funny and well written. I can recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone interested in the game.
February 9, 2015
Pleasantly written introduction to Dwarf fortress.
September 1, 2015
Helped me get a small fortress going along with a vast supply of booze & plump helmets for the winter months.
March 30, 2017
I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to get into Dwarf Fortress. It's informative, funny, and will provide you with enough direction to get your first fort off the ground (or INTO the ground I mean...sorry). I don't know if I'll continue playing the game now that I'm done reading, as the game's fantasy setting and focus on dwarfs isn't really my thing (nor the brain-hurt), but working through this book has definitely been rewarding.
It will improve your perception of how societies function, giving you a birds eye view of humanity (well, dwarfity, technically). Which is invaluable to anyone seeking to better understand the world around them. (On closer inspection, you'll be getting an understanding of how the industries of yesteryear worked, but this can still be applied to the present.)
So this is useful not only for gamers but also for anyone who wants to learn about the world and gain a higher awareness about their place in it. Occasionally I felt like I was reading a history/geology/physics/etc. book.
I'd like to give a tour of the fort that this book helped me build:
This is the main floor. The stockpile/workshop room is really messy because one of my dwarfs, a weapon smith, got struck by a strange mood. Basically what this does is, the dwarf will go insane and start killing people if he is unable to build an object that he has been inspired to make. I did not have the stuff in place that the strange mood dwarf was demanding, so I had to quickly throw together a bunch of industries while the strange mood dwarf stood watching and screaming in his stupor. I even considered killing the dwarf, because I was having difficulty, but then I read his bio: "he detests snails, and was recently annoyed at having been accosted by snails." So hilarious! He needed to live. Luckily I was able to get everything together finally and the dwarf produced a legendary weapon! And he became a legendary weapon smith which undoubtably will be very useful. But as a result of that little scramble, the workshop room did become a victim of urban sprawl.
Also, there is vomit (the green) all over the drawbridge. The game warned me that a thief was lurking about, so I quickly raised the drawbridge. Unfortunately, one of my dwarves was on the bridge, and he got flung a couple yards and twisted his ankle badly.
(This is one level below the main floor.) Luckily, I had a hospital, so the injured dwarf got carried there where he is resting, along with my stone detailer. I don't know what happened to the stone detailer, as he spends all his time carving beautiful murals all over the nobles' quarters.
My soldiers' quarters are positioned right below the entrance of my fort, so they can spring out if there are any invaders.
Not shown in the above images: tree fell area, as well as two big rooms dug out below the above floor (the guide told me to dig them out so that eventually I could move my whole fort deeper underground. I didn't do that, but I did dig the holes 'cause digging holes is fun, and it got me the ore that eventually my strange mood dwarf used).
Anyway, this book is awesome. It's well-written, funny, and the comics and anecdotes gives you a sense of what the Dwarf Fortress community is like as well. If you follow its instructions, you will be able to set up a fort like mine and learn a lot along the way. In fact, there were sections in the book that I just glimpsed over - stuff about traps, engineering, minecarts, water-pumping - that I didn't incorporate into my fort, so you can make a better one.
Despite being published in 2012, the book is not significantly out of date; you will learn enough from this book that you will then be able to learn newly added things on your own. I definitely recommend the digital edition, as this guide would probably be harder to follow in grey-scale.
It will improve your perception of how societies function, giving you a birds eye view of humanity (well, dwarfity, technically). Which is invaluable to anyone seeking to better understand the world around them. (On closer inspection, you'll be getting an understanding of how the industries of yesteryear worked, but this can still be applied to the present.)
So this is useful not only for gamers but also for anyone who wants to learn about the world and gain a higher awareness about their place in it. Occasionally I felt like I was reading a history/geology/physics/etc. book.
I'd like to give a tour of the fort that this book helped me build:
This is the main floor. The stockpile/workshop room is really messy because one of my dwarfs, a weapon smith, got struck by a strange mood. Basically what this does is, the dwarf will go insane and start killing people if he is unable to build an object that he has been inspired to make. I did not have the stuff in place that the strange mood dwarf was demanding, so I had to quickly throw together a bunch of industries while the strange mood dwarf stood watching and screaming in his stupor. I even considered killing the dwarf, because I was having difficulty, but then I read his bio: "he detests snails, and was recently annoyed at having been accosted by snails." So hilarious! He needed to live. Luckily I was able to get everything together finally and the dwarf produced a legendary weapon! And he became a legendary weapon smith which undoubtably will be very useful. But as a result of that little scramble, the workshop room did become a victim of urban sprawl.
Also, there is vomit (the green) all over the drawbridge. The game warned me that a thief was lurking about, so I quickly raised the drawbridge. Unfortunately, one of my dwarves was on the bridge, and he got flung a couple yards and twisted his ankle badly.
(This is one level below the main floor.) Luckily, I had a hospital, so the injured dwarf got carried there where he is resting, along with my stone detailer. I don't know what happened to the stone detailer, as he spends all his time carving beautiful murals all over the nobles' quarters.
My soldiers' quarters are positioned right below the entrance of my fort, so they can spring out if there are any invaders.
Not shown in the above images: tree fell area, as well as two big rooms dug out below the above floor (the guide told me to dig them out so that eventually I could move my whole fort deeper underground. I didn't do that, but I did dig the holes 'cause digging holes is fun, and it got me the ore that eventually my strange mood dwarf used).
Anyway, this book is awesome. It's well-written, funny, and the comics and anecdotes gives you a sense of what the Dwarf Fortress community is like as well. If you follow its instructions, you will be able to set up a fort like mine and learn a lot along the way. In fact, there were sections in the book that I just glimpsed over - stuff about traps, engineering, minecarts, water-pumping - that I didn't incorporate into my fort, so you can make a better one.
Despite being published in 2012, the book is not significantly out of date; you will learn enough from this book that you will then be able to learn newly added things on your own. I definitely recommend the digital edition, as this guide would probably be harder to follow in grey-scale.
April 26, 2017
A little bit out of date, but a really good intro.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews