Sadly, the sun has set on his long-running series The Basement Of Curiosity - a weekly diary chronicling his attempts to build an illegal, underground zoo in the management sim. But from the ashes of the basement comes an all new series, The Tarn Commandments, handed down by none-other than Dwarf Fortress dev Tarn Adams himself. But first: Let’s Destroy A Dwarf Fortress. In this thrilling conclusion of the Basement Of Curiosity, Nate does exactly what it says on the tin. “It starts with a fort tour, complete with the Bird Hole (see Episode 13) and loads of sick,” he says. “And then ends with a really weird disaster, and something I can only describe as time travel.”
Dwarf Fortress is a difficult game to describe, but Nate does a lovely job of making it a bit more accessible for new players. Do give the Basement Of Curiosity series a read if you have the time, and learn the tale of Lorbum: a dwarf who’ll travel to the ends of the earth to pursue her wild dream of building an underground zoo. Next up, here’s a lovely Let’s Play of Dwarf Fortress with the game’s co-creator Tarn Adams, and commentary from Tanya X. Short of publisher Kitfox Games. Here, Nate debuts his brand new series, The Tarn Commandments. “The premise of the series is simple,” Nate lies. “Seven commandments (for seven dwarves, innit), were sourced from the Dwarf Fortress channel on Kitfox’s discord, then ratified by Tarn and inscribed on an adamantine tablet in the dwarves’ starting wagon. “The commandments involve venerating Beakdogs (which is also a matter of necessity, as Tarn also hardcoded seven semi-tame beakdogs into the embark loadout, liable to start beasting dwarves if they’re not tended to), refusing to build any doors, and creating a clandestine rabbit cult.” I don’t know, either. The video below clears it up (a bit).
Tarn and Tanya also discuss the latest work on the game’s steam build, and Tarn also gives a handy tutorial on how to customise statues during the video. If you want to know more about Dwarf Fortress, check the new version out on Steam, or try and grapple with the entirely free Dwarf Fortress classic from Bay 12 Games. There’s plenty more stuff to catch up on from last week’s streams, so click on our PAX X EGX tag to catch any coverage you might’ve missed.
