The world
Adventure mode: playing a single hero
Fortress mode lets you shape a small corner of the world. Adventure mode lets you walk out into it, one character, on foot, with everything the world has become waiting for you.
Dwarf Fortress has more than one way to play. Alongside the management game most people know, there is adventure mode, in which you create a single character, or a small party, and explore the world directly. It uses the same world, the same history and the same simulation, but from the point of view of one person walking through it. For many players it is a fascinating companion to fortress play; for some, it is the main attraction.
What adventure mode is
The official wiki's adventurer mode page describes it as an open-world roguelike adventure through the worlds you have made. You create a character from any people playable in that world, travel wherever you like, learn what troubles the inhabitants and, if you choose, set out to put those troubles right, or die trying. It lists caves, caverns, shrines, lairs, towers and towns among the places to discover.
Where fortress mode is about indirect control, adventure mode is direct. You move your character step by step, talk to people, fight, trade and explore. The world does not wait for you; it carries on around you, with its own wars, travellers and wildlife.
The roguelike tradition
Adventure mode belongs to a long tradition. Wikipedia's article on roguelikes describes the genre as traditionally built around exploring procedurally made levels, turn-based play, grid-based movement and permanent death of the player character. Adventure mode fits that description closely. Your character moves on a grid, the world is built by the game rather than by hand, and death is final. Unlike most roguelikes, though, the world is not a dungeon made for the hero; it is a whole simulated place with a history that existed long before you arrived. The tilesets and colours page covers the text-mode heritage the genre shares.
Making a character
You choose your character's people, background and abilities when you start. Some choices make the early game easier, others harder. A character with modest abilities and no reputation will find the world dangerous, which is exactly the point. The official wiki has detailed guidance for each release.
Exploring a made world
The world you explore is the one the game built during world generation, with everything that has happened since. That means the towns have histories, the ruins were once somewhere, and the people you meet have families, allegiances and memories. You can ask about local troubles, hear rumours, follow leads across the map and gradually build a reputation of your own.
It also means the world can surprise you. Travel through dangerous country and you may meet things far more powerful than you. Wander into the wrong place at night and you may not wander out. As in fortress mode, losing is part of the fun, and every adventurer's death is a story.
Visiting your own fortresses
One of the most appealing features of adventure mode is the chance to visit places you built. The same official page suggests returning to fortresses you abandoned or retired, whether to take back treasures your dwarves once made or simply to see how they are getting on. Walking the halls you designed, seeing the engravings your masons carved and finding the artifacts your moody craftsdwarves made is a strange and moving experience, especially if the fortress fell and something now lives in its ruins.
This connection runs both ways. The world's history records what your fortress did, and adventure mode lets you go and see it. The world and legends page explains how that history is kept.
What adventure mode is not
It is not a building game. The official page is clear that the current adventure mode offers no construction, and that crafting stays fairly limited unless you add mods. If you want to build, return to fortress mode. If you want to see what your fortresses meant to the world around them, adventure mode is the way.
Getting started
- Use a world you have already played in, so there is something of yours to find.
- Start cautiously; talk before you fight.
- Follow rumours toward places that sound interesting rather than places that sound deadly.
- Expect to die, and enjoy the story when you do.
For modifying what adventurers and creatures can do, the modding page explains how the game's definitions work.