Yesterday I found a new Dwarf Fortress tutorial linked to by Penny Arcade.  I checked it out and it looks pretty solid, so I’m going to link to it here, since I have some friends that are trying to get into the game.

I do have a couple complaints about the guide, though.  It suggests downloading a pre-rolled DF install that comes with a generated world and save games.  This is pretty essential in order to follow along with the tutorial, which is fine, but they never do get around to teaching about finding a suitable location or using the embark screen, so you’re pretty much on your own once you start your own fortress and/or world.

My other complaint is that they start you off using a graphics set– and a crappy one in my opinion– immediately.  I feel like using the original ASCII set, at least for a bit, is somewhat important, but that’s not the real problem I have.  The graphics set they have you using is one, like many others, that replaces important letters, such as ‘O’, with a graphic.  This means anytime the letter ‘O’ is used– in text on menus, for example– it’s replaced with whatever image they used instead.  I really hate that and much prefer less obtrusive behavior from any set I use.  Also, I didn’t see them explain this phenomenon anywhere.

Anyway, for those of you who prefer videos over text and screenshots, there’s an excellent video tutorial series on YouTube by captnduck.  It’s a very long series, but it covers everything from the ground up, including world generation and the embark menus.

And last, but certainly not least, the absolute best place for Dwarf Fortress info is their wiki.  The only downside to the wiki is that it’s most beneficial if you know what you’re looking for, which can be difficult at first.  Follow one of the tutorials above, though, and you should have an idea of where you’re going.