Hey everyone, Stephen here. I’m a father of two and a musician living in the Hudson Valley of New York. 

I actually came to Dwarf Fortress through music. I had a weekly meetup going with three former bandmates where we all would write and record something new every week to share with the group. 

One week I was discussing Kerbal Space Program with my friend Inokentiy. We’re both huge fans (I’ve been playing KSP for years). We were talking about KSP2’s release method of “early access”, where you buy the game knowing it’s unfinished, but you get to influence the game’s development. Ino says: “Well you know, the real pioneer of that is Dwarf Fortress - it’s been in alpha for like 20 years.” 

To which I respond, “What is Dwarf Fortress?” 

Ino gets a somewhat dark but inspired look on his face. “I’m not sure you’re going to thank me for introducing you to this, but here’s Dwarf Fortress.” 

I’m a relative newcomer to the game. I started playing in fall 2022, shortly before v50 came out on Steam. After learning the basics of survival, the first thing I immediately latched onto were the stories. I was blown away by how many connections were happening between characters in my fort, the artifacts they made and every notable event that happened in the generated world. 

Much like Scott Manley and Matt Lowne taught me to fully enjoy KSP, I discovered Kruggsmash who, along with Tekkud and Blind, taught me a lot about the game and got me started. More recently I’ve been a fan of Urist McGravel and Hoodie Hair. I keep coming back to Hoodie and Krugg specifically for the stories. Shoutout to the DF Roundtable and A Strange Mood podcasts as well for helping me learn to mine for details. At this point I mostly play the game to try and pull out more stories and fun scenes/scenarios.

Always wishing I could find more Dwarf Fortress stories out there, I decided to start telling my own. Already considering it, I was inspired by The Kruggsmash Call To Action in one of his behind the scenes a few months ago. Thanks for the push Krugg!  

And as a musical dwarf by trade, each series will feature an original musical score.  

May your plump helmets brew strong and your magma forges glow.

-S