Dwarf Fortress Development

(last updated: January 29, 2020)

Overview The long-term goal is to create a fantasy world simulator in which it is possible to take part in a rich history, occupying a variety of roles through the course of several games.  Dwarf Fortress has been in development on-and-off since 2002 and consistently since 2006.  The game is designed by Tarn and Zach Adams.  Fan suggestions are welcome.  The suggestion forum can be found here.  It has also proven too time-consuming to maintain all of the notes in a presentable form, so we're sticking with incomplete lists for the foreseeable future.  This page doesn't represent everything we'd like to do.  It just has some of the things we're thinking about doing sooner rather than later.  We'll be adding to it as specific roadmaps are drawn up and we are closer to using them.  There is a discussion thread on the forum.  Color Key Section Subsection Future Goal Partially Done Done, Next Release Done, Released Upcoming Development Our next major goal is to add creation myth and magic system generation.  There are some things to do first, though!  We need to finish the graphical/usability update for the Steam/itch release.  After that, we're going to finish some delayed features from the first villain release along with doing work on some army/siege features and other matters (listed below.)  The hope is that all of this will sustain us through a necessary map rewrite, a key part of the initial myth/magic release which will unavoidably take a long time, no matter how the rest can be portioned between releases.  Once we're ready, we'll do myth and magic additions until we reach a satisfactory point (some options below, we won't get to everything).  After the magic releases, we'll do a lot of foundational work culminating in starting scenarios for your fortresses.  These changes touch upon law, property, status, diplomacy and so on, which will position us for economic work and thief role development, though we haven't committed to a direction beyond the three sections below.  We'll be fixing bugs and making smaller changes between major releases.  Pre-Magic Improvement Candidates Dwarf army improvements

New missions



Pillaging vs. raids





Razing sites





Demanding tribute





Seizing position-holders as prisoners (see below)





Assassinations of position-holders



Taking over sites and administrators



Getting an off-site holding can jump a fort to barony status





Emphasize holdings on the map



Attracting hill dwarves to become a baron peacefully



Basic hill dwarf / administered site interactions



Request migrants, send fort dwarves out to hills



Shows all your off-site armies, send a squad or messenger to activate them



Defensive off-site armies, ability to stall and report on incoming sieges



Army-army battles, offensive orders for off-site armies (see Army Improvements below)

Portions of Improved Sieges (below) are on the table

Also: prisoners from attacking soldiers surrendering/yielding



Prisoner trades, executions, release

Adventure overview improvements

Prioritize important information



Show personal relationships, latest people met, global reputations



Show site relations and entity positions, map holdings

Improved character creation

Mounts and pets



Equipment selection



Adventurer party support

Adventurer military improvements

Gaining civ-level entity positions (e.g. baron) by reputation or intrigue



Basic command of large armies on travel-scale map



Giving local combat orders to companions (see Your Followers below)



Tactical party controls



Medical improvements

Better quest handling

Better reputation and proximity checks



Can ask about specific opportunities



Changing how reputation titles work



Ability to ask after artifacts

Villainous plots

Work existing mechanics into conspiracy chains



Bandit groups raid and pillage the hill dwarves and extort from the fortress





Steal/demand artifacts





Thieves stealing items





Assassination of position-holding dwarves and meddling adventurers



Prisoner interrogations (both modes)



Receiving tips and rumors (both modes)



Sending out dwarven agents/investigators



Improve fort/adv rumor displays to highlight known plot elements

Hideouts and strongholds

Better alerts and identity checks



Includes bandit forts, return of castles, better necromancer towers Creation Myths and Magic Systems Creation myth generation

Parameters



Magic settings: From none to ubiquitous





Non-magical worlds will still have (possibly multiple) creation myths





Randomness settings: From Earth-like world to standard fantasy to completely random





Hostility settings: No death or violence to regular settings to bleak and horrifying



Detailed chronology of creation



Creative actions taken by gods and ancient races, cosmic eggs and primordial chaos, resulting in humans, dwarves, the land, and every other in-game object





Generated explanations for death, the afterlife and the origins of magic fully integrated into the myth





Magical landforms generalizing and/or replacing good-evil regions and the underworld





Can be closely tied in to new magic systems







Shape/materials related to the creation myth





Deities, angels, demons, forces and spirits further integrated into the world





New generated race categories: primordial giants/titans, fairies





Mythic artifacts and expanded artifact framework





New sources: divine, natural, ancient races







Connections to the world (magical regions, etc.) 







Intelligent and semi-intelligent artifacts







Automatons and magical prostheses



Update world generation screen to display myth information



Editors for fixed worlds



Maps, sites, entities, historical figures, artifacts, myths, etc. 

Recorded history

Bridge myth and recorded history by converting myth output to world generation start map



Wider variety of magical historical figures with new actions and powers, respecting myth



New wizards beyond necromancers: by race, by skill, by object, by corruption, by deal with another power





Wizards that wander





Wizards that live in isolation





Wizards that form groups (councils, covens, etc.),  must have rationale (group magic, mutual protection, research, etc.) 





Wizards that involve themselves with civilization



Further involvement of deity-level beings and their servants in mortal affairs



Basic divine law as a precursor to law framework





Manifestation and even integration with civilizations in high-magic settings





Conflicts between deities or the confused/imperfect agents of a single deity



Magical powers given to civilized creatures and other races in myths must be respected



Respect any magical weather, landforms, reagents, materials etc.  from myths



One-way portals bringing creatures or material into the world (two-way will have to wait)





High-magic worlds can have many minor magical objects, usable in play



Allow permanent changes to occur to myth-level landforms, magic, gods, etc.  during regular world gen



Bringing back lost deities/titans





Removing or reawakening magic in the world





Closing/opening new one-way portals

In-play world changes and new activities

Broad expansion of interaction system to support generated magic



New effect types





Interactions can require costs (reagents, rituals, blood, energy, etc.) 





New situational and other restrictions on interaction use





Integration with the generated myth's deities, forces and planes





Magical objects beyond artifacts, such as wands, potions, ointments, runestones, etc. 





Exposure effects (corruption, etc.) 





Various learning methods from innate powers to difficult research





Generated skills and attributes to support diverse magic systems



Ongoing supernatural involvement with sites



Site afflicted with curse





Might be lifted through player action







Nested conspiracies and disasters might require an investigation or difficult decision





Seeking guidance from the wise





Artifact can cause or cure curses/effects by existence or position or ritual etc. 





Site living in harmony with nature spirits, fairies, ancestral ghosts, angels, etc. 





The player or others might disrupt this situation



Elves more strongly linked to fairies/nature spirits, related conflicts and quests



Bogeyman, night trolls and others generalized, respecting myths



Various ways to get supernatural companions as an adventurer



Magical beings infiltrating and corrupting society, beyond vampires



Countering this with inquisitions etc. 



Stored artifacts with powers can come into use (incl.  heirlooms, holy relics, etc.) 



Incorporate new mythic artifacts into existing artifact quest framework



Continue to respect any magical weather, landforms, reagents, materials etc.  from myths

Wizards

Base, generalizing necromancer towers (if applicable)



Site with appropriate chambers (laboratory, library, ritual, summoning, etc.) 





Apprentices and servants





Conflict or cooperation with locals



Research



Develop powers which can change the world





Discover nested structure of the inner secrets of magic and the universe





Glimpses of the unknown, mysteries which can slowly become more clear



Player or NPC activities as right hand or apprentice



Benefits: magical augmentation, equipment, special companions





Quests and tasks and duties





Defeat opposition







Steal artifacts/books







Collect dangerous reagents for rituals







Treat with rivals







Guard master during long rituals or out-of-body periods







Sacrificed as vessel for demons







Smooth over problems from out-of-control summonings







Remove an artifact from an area so a wizard can act there







Move object from one stronghold to another







Help/hinder bloodlines (especially if bloodline magic is present)

Magic in the fortress

Artifact powers that matter for the fort



Generalize artifact moods, respecting myths



Various magic types available in fort mode in high-magic worlds



Invasions by magical beings beyond necromancers, creating new challenges



Diplomacy with magical beings



Expanded elf/nature spirit diplomacy





Long-term magical residents and other sorts of integration





Send a dwarf off as a wizard's apprentice



Magical research incorporated into library system



Fortresses meaningfully built around magical landforms



Impact of simple divine law and other deity/religion interaction Fortress Starting Scenarios Framework

Expand framework of law, custom, rights, property and status as needed to provide a variety of scenarios



Foundation of laws, both natural and supernatural



Explicit standing of different citizens vs. civilization authorities



Possible expansion of religious and family concepts to provide sufficient scenarios

Starting scenarios

Various possiblities that guide or govern fortress activity: frontier settlement, religious site, prison colony, mining company, military citadel, roadside inn, secondary/future palace of the monarch



Drastic changes to migrants based on starting scenario



Caravans/diplomatic relationships based on starting scenario



Reclaim mechanics should be folded into this



Generalize starting scenario relationships to every site foundation

Hill/deep dwarves

Ability to bring extra dwarves appropriate to the starting scenario



Further formalize populations surrounding your fortress, in appropriate environments both above and below ground



Relationship with surrounding dwarves



Ability to trade/demand food in depot or similar place with surrounding dwarves Development Lists Below are the things we'll be working on after the ordered list has been handled.  The idea for the much-neglected adventure mode is to focus on facilitating some specific roles that should be fun by themselves but especially when taken together.  The named roles are for planning purposes only, not for use in the game explicitly.  Dwarf mode will see a round of fan-suggested improvements as well as interaction with the upcoming adventure mode villains, raiders, etc.  The lists below are unordered.  Adventurer Role: Hero Your followers List of followers and ability to look at their information Being able to take along aggrieved people for a time if you are seeking justice for them Reputation with entity (see below) allowing for easier followers Being able to issue orders to attack targets It should depend, but orders to kill civilians, especially people they know, should result in various negative reactions, possibly including hostility and violence -- your behavior should cause these reactions as well Being able to issue orders to distract and lead off targets Being able to issue orders to stay at a site for general purposes (defense, caring for livestock, etc.)  Depending on loyalty, they should not follow unreasonable orders for long (like guarding a random wilderness location) Expansion of personality system to support more value-judgment-based properties such as bravery vs. cowardice/apathy/recklessness Better morale failures Having your own entity name for your group if you have a high enough profile (or before that, but nobody will care)

Capturing people alive and interrogations Non-lethal fights, AI understanding the difference and the possible escalation to actual combat Ability to disarm opponents Ability to hold somebody and immobilize them Ability to attempt to knock somebody out without killing them Surrendering in the face of impossible odds, death or death threat coupled with inability to escape or win Being able to ask people for the specific location of another person or place Allowing people to lie Ability to offer quick deaths to mortally wounded people to get them to talk Being able to force a prisoner to guide you somewhere Other interrogation stuff Making sure tracking works to the point that you could follow a released prisoner or other group back to a hideout

Breaking into fortified locations Having locations alerted, being able to yell for help Disguises and impersonation through use of entity uniforms Closed doors and passwords Sneaking mechanics Making hiding impossible in wide open areas (at least in adv mode) Vision arcs for patrolling guards Gagging people and tying them up Allowing constructions to burn, use of kindling/hay/etc.  where reasonable Responding properly to personal fire issues (all modes) Fleeing burning buildings Fighting fire (all modes) Designation to set item or tile on fire in dwarf mode

Reputation Reputation with entity populations, site governments, families and individuals Increases with heroic acts but can rise out of stranger status just by going to markets etc.  Townspeople fractured among various overlapping allegiances to lords/villains/etc.  People offering free goods to heroes Being called out by others if you are famous or a stranger in town Revenge from villains/relatives/superiors of people you have killed or troubled (likely through tracking you down, see Thief role)

Combat flow Aimed attacks Random "opportunities" that increase/decrease the efficacy of all aimed/specific moves as combat progresses Reaction moments and controllable counter-strikes/movement chances Notion of stance/guard, with varying bonuses/penalties Ability to jump up on and ride opponents if they are large enough (can happen to you too of course) Not being able to hit a giant in the head, hitting a dragon in the head as a reaction when it attempts to bite Notion of overall wrestling position (who is on top of or controlling whom, etc.) 

Combat styles Combat styles involving weapons or natural attacks with associated stances and moves Ability to learn moves, etc.  from others with whom you have a high enough reputation Certain moves may only be available as specific counters, while others might just be regular attacks Ability to create new moves/styles when highly skilled

Better megabeasts Variety and randomization within constraints (e.g. various dragons) Reproduction Share any intelligent/diplomacy behavior that other hist figs have when appropriate

Adventurer Role: Thief Valuables and mansions Towns with large entity populations should have sections/quarters with varying residence quality etc.  Mansions/villas out of the way as well Many high quality dwarf mode style items in these places Guards, servants and watch animals/pets associated to the owner wandering the premises Inns associated to roads and entity pop sprawl where you can stay and get information about the surroundings Overhearing conversations as you move about town

Selling stolen property Unscrupulous people in markets and others willing to take stolen goods

Sneaking and disguise portions of the Hero role above are required

Bounties and being hunted No automatic recognition that you have stolen an item People should notice when items are missing and raise an alert Strangers found around town when crime is suspected should be stopped and searched Your identity/appearance should be remembered for a time if you are seen in an area If your identity/appearance is associated to an alert over a crime, somebody responsible in the entity should put a bounty on you if appropriate for the entity You should leave tracking information and it should keep track of the last many people you have talked to Entity warriors and other adventurers should follow your tracking information Villains/raiders/etc.  from the Hero role should also receive bounties that you can fulfill

Justice Surrender to those seeking you You have to follow orders to remain in surrendered state (generally to go to a location or drop your weapon) When you make a command that follows an order, there should be an option to skip ahead to stages of the journey (such as to a dungeon or halfway through the journey back if you want to attempt to escape from your captor) If you leave the surrendered state, you should be attacked until you surrender again, though force should not necessarily be lethal immediately Punishment Initial beatings Cutting off some small body part Branding (requires wounds to support art image from crafts) Stocks, buried to neck, tied to post Caned, whipped, hammered Executions Imprisonment (until there are ways to escape, might as well retire the character, at which point rescue might be possible by a subsequent character)

Concealing your identity Being able to assume a different name Changing your clothes should affect the appearance tracking Covering your face/hair with hoods, masks, etc.  should affect appearance tracking Skills for changing voice and mannerisms convincingly If you screw up, you can be regarded as a suspicious stranger, which is worse than being a regular stranger

Adventurer Role: Treasure Hunter Adventure sites Non-town sites need to created and used for various purposes in world generation (prisons, tombs, temples, mines, castles, etc.)  These places should often fall into disuse (or not be active entity pop locations, as with a tomb) Old abandoned structures can be partially buried in available soil layers Sites should contain any appropriate items to their (possibly former) purpose World gen should utilize defunct sites and get them new inhabitants Underground monsters Villains/bandits/etc.  hideouts Outdoor creatures Megabeasts Night creatures (see below) Regular entity sprawl/migrants near surface Existing town-style sites should be updated as possible (dwarf fortresses, etc.) 

Movement Improved swimming (holding breath, currents, etc.) 

Ability to climb in adv mode

Ability to jump in adv mode Lighting Proper environmental lighting

Construction and use of torches

Candles/lamps/lanterns Traps Whatever comes out of mechanics (below) should occur in the sites you explore to the extent that the traps can be detected and surpassed Writing Phrase storage and grammar updates

Have books around that can contain maps/locations/names/traps/purpose/artifacts of older sites Sometimes you might just have a name and know an artifact is there, and then be able to cross-reference that in the next source you find until you feel you are prepared

Some sites might contain additional tomes/tablets/inscriptions that lead to more information Adventurer Role: Slayer of Night Creatures Night creatures and the undead Replace skeletons and zombies with generalized generated types of creature corruption/undeath etc.  Causes -- existing from the beginning, death circumstances, being cursed, focusing on specific historical figures at first Goals, if any, as individuals, even if it is murdering or mutilating wayfarers in the woods Weaknesses, restrictions on movement, other limitations Nicknames for them that are used by the villagers

Torment the living Night creatures must act out their goals during play Villagers should react using the same systems as with villains or player thieves, so that you can overhear conversations or use bounty-type systems Some victims can end up drained as subvillains or slaves in the same way a bandit leader has subordinates Stranger/thief tracking systems could be used to generate some paranoia surrounding night creatures with a human/etc.  appearance or that utilize human/etc.  slaves Diseases/plagues could be included as indirect torments, as well as famine once site resources can be assailed

Hunting them down Sometimes they are trackable through methods above, sometimes there are special signs Killing them might ultimately require burying or burning a body, etc.  Religious or other groups might be able to tell you how to defeat or protect yourself from a night creature and support you with supplies if you can provide reports of its activity/victims etc. 

Curses and exposure Can be cursed by night creatures when you put them down The slaves of night creatures could have extreme effects from proximity that also affect you if you make a business of hunting them

Adventurer Role: Explorer Mapping and obstacles It should be possible to optionally hide sections of the map during world generation Store region names by entity, not all places would have names, ability to give names to the regions/rivers/peaks etc.  that you discover Should not be able to cross every river square from travel map unless there's a bridge Fording rivers Ferries Ports and boats (even if they are just used to teleport to other ports at first)

Lands and beastiary More overland map features and local variations Scrap good/evil lands for lands with more variety Randomized critters in other categories (vermin, roaming creatures, soil critters, plants, etc.),  naming them Being able to look at a list of all known creatures you've seen and where

First contact If you are exotic enough, leader might be interested in speaking to you even if you are a stranger Might be able to exchange gifts between civ leaders and accept and give gifts yourself

Animal people and other protectors Being tracked and hunted if you kill creatures in places you shouldn't

Scouting and rewards Tracking information about new locations and being able to share it with civ leaders

Adventurer Role: Trader Site resources Track resources in quantity instead of just by type Should depend on trade/tribute relationships as well as available professions and sprawl sites Villager/farmer schedules/activities Work with 3D mineral veins, mine maps and other industrial sites

World economy Supply/demand based on current available entity resources etc.  Expand on trade/tribute relationships formed in world generation Realize trade/tribute relationships with actual caravans moving on the map Ability to get some supply/demand information about nearby locations from travelers and others Ability to get that information yourself and trade it to merchants, especially as explorer Replace dwarf mode generated caravans with actual caravans Improved dwarf mode trade agreements incorporating all the world gen/supply/demand/merchant info etc.  Fairs

Ability to lead a trade caravan Ability to load stuff onto pack mules Ability to hire bodyguards Wagon/wagon teams (might do some teleportation travel with them to avoid annoyances for now) Being able to trade from wagons, large markets might have people to move objects more quickly

Mansions for sale Renting/buying cottages and other properties Might have to get information about struggling nobles

Court Attaining a certain level of wealth and property should help with access to powerful people, though we have yet to decide what if anything this will grant you in the short term

Basic Adventure Mode Skills Some survival skills Ability to butcher corpses with an appropriate tool Ability to make clothing and some other objects from hides Ability to obtain a sharp (or at least non-smooth) edge on a rock Extend adv mode starvation/dehydration times to appropriate number of days

Wood use Ground debris/sticks/underbrush Ability to chop down tree using appropriate tool Ability to make simple wooden weapons and ammunition Ability to use logs to make constructions Site recognition for saving adventurer-made sites Ability to name site

Digging and stone constructions Ability to dig out soil tiles Buried boulders in some soils Ability to pull up surface boulders Ability to make rough stone constructions

Hunting/tracking animals Everybody leaving trails of information that can be tracked with the appropriate skill Trails generated for offscreen animals Ability for animals to flee into offloaded areas and have some information maintained briefly Ability to track blood from wounded partially offloaded animals Ability to find bodies of wounded partially offloaded animals, which could also be slowed by wounds Ability to search for trail information from travel mode Having it point out animals you happen upon and perhaps some auto-sneak settings for those events Make sneak status clear to player Better overall wilderness population tracking and regeneration

Entity populations Track larger entity populations during world generation Update site storage to account for a variety of sprawl

Growing crops Ability to till tile (faster with tool) Ability to plant seeds Ability to pass time quickly (unlike current sleep command) Ability to harvest plants Ability to make a quern from a boulder Ability to grind grindable plants (designating any proper container for products) Ability to cook and appropriate tools for this

Raising livestock Farms associated to entity population sprawl Ability to buy a livestock animal and lead it around Keep track of your animals as with hunted animals so they are not easily and permanently lost Ability to build fences (more than one fence tile per tree used, as opposed to wall) Ability to perform decisive attacks on unsuspecting or heavily injured opponent (a cow being slaughtered, for instance) Tracking livestock breeding/pregnancy information Grazing and drinking for livestock Eggs, chickens and associated objects

Markets Small markets associated to entity population villages Markets need to replenish goods and manage ownership changes

Hauling Improvements Being able to haul multiple objects

Having multiple dwarves involved with item hauling for a job

Wheelbarrows

Minecarts Wooden, stone-carved and metal tracks Can be filled like stockpiles and moved between destinations

Work animals to tow carts and haul objects Improved Mechanics Better traps Stone traps should require the stone be placed above the tile that is targeted Stones should be able to roll (perhaps if they are started from or land on a ramp tile) Weapon traps should be multi-tile and require a spring or other potential energy source -- automatic resetting should require some explicit establishment of a feasible mechanism

Large pipe sections -- walk on them or crawl inside them, allow passage for fluids

Moving fortress sections (lifts, crushing traps, etc.) 

Waterproof axles through some mechanism

Rock grinders?  Fans?  We'll do some other machines around this time -- whichever feasible ones are the most entertaining for dwarves and treasure hunters Farming Improvements Soil moisture tracking and ability to moisten soil (buckets or other irrigation)

Soil nutrient requirements for plants and nutrient tracking to the extent the farming interface can provide decent feedback for you, fertilizers can reflect this

Harvestable flowers and fruit growing on plants, ability to plant trees

Weeds

More pests Fortress Subgroups Skilled dwarves should form guilds

Dwarves with similar religious views should formally associate at times

Guilds and sects should be able to make demands for meeting halls, temples, specific furniture or the resources and time to prepare their own furniture, statues of specific gods throughout the fortress, etc. 

Dwarves that have grudges or personal altercations should be able to drag their groups into it

Removal of guild dwarves from their professions should result in trouble between the guild and the currently appointed manager/leader

Various benefits to having a well developed guild or sect are under consideration Military Army improvements Make armies/beasts that attack fortress come from actual groups moving on world map Ability to fight other armies with your dwarven armies Larger armies should spread over multiple mid-level map squares Ability to create fortifications/lines/etc.  instead of spreading haphazardly There are complications to be worked out if you can zoom in to battles and control them at the local level, concerning what happens to your fortress If you can zoom in, situations like being surrounded need to be respected and have the desired results regardless of what area is zoomed in on Allow villains to attempt to demand tribute from you

Improved sieges Eliminate remaining edge-of-map exploits More highly trained attacking soldiers when appropriate Many trap exploits are handled above by requiring more to produce a trap, things like cage traps should make more sense vs. large creatures etc. ( respect strength/ability vs. material, large cages might be separate object) Coming up with a plan to overcome pathing obstacles to reach fortress innards Ability to dig (optionally, default on) Ability to build bridges/ramps Ability to use grappling hooks/ladders/climb Learning from mistakes if first attempted assault plan fails badly For instance, if many siegers are killed, caged, etc.  in a given hallway, they shouldn't generally go that way again, even if that means building/climbing/digging Siege engine improvements depend on state of boats, lifts/moving fortress sections, since these should all use the same framework

Inns, taverns, temples and libraries In the Fortress

Lay out the basic rooms/furniture in several associated zones



Fortress guests include merchants, diplomats, adventurers, mercenaries, bandits, travelers, etc. 



Your dwarves can also visit





Extra interactions with certain guests, including the ability to hire them



Musical instrument use, dancing, storytelling, etc. 



Dwarves perform related jobs, serving and otherwise entertaining guests



Set prices/activities



Recipes/drink quality



Games



Dwarves can gamble with outsiders





Ability to play games directly if a dwarf is involved



Rooms rentable to outsiders



Fortress's reputation as inn/tavern tracked



Tie-ins with fortress justice if things go badly



Detailed art forms (poetry, music, dancing)



Randomly generated musical instruments



Innovation system for discoveries



Books and scrolls



Temple locations with prayer activities

Adventure mode

Update town taverns to the new layout



Inns in some towns and on roads, with rooms available for the player



Food and drink service for the player and others



New fort activities like songs and dancing in adv mode taverns



Games to play and player gambling Improvements to Artifacts World generation preliminaries

Worldgen fortress artifacts



Worldgen named weapons/armor for heroes



Worldgen holy relics



Various claims and ownership types for artifacts (heirloom, entity symbol, etc.) 



Conflict over competing artifact claims





Conflict can be resolved/ties deepened with artifact gifts





Worldgen invaders loot artifacts





Worldgen thieves directed toward new artifacts





Some worldgen megabeasts seize new artifacts

Background changes

Site maps vs. artifacts



All sites should understand how artifacts can be stored





Based on entity, balance desire to display with guards/traps/etc. 





Handle kobold site maps





Some buildings/items used to display artifacts (all modes)



Knowledge/rumors for artifact locations/possessors

Artifact quests and agents

Quest to retrieve, steal or otherwise obtain artifact for somebody



Quests can be taken by player adventurer or other characters



Support for the journey





Ability to present artifact (quest or not)





Recognition of where artifact is placed by player and others



Artifacts as rewards for quests

Fortress artifact interactions

Player's fort mode artifacts can be the target of artifact quests



Invaders can demand artifacts and leave with them



Ability to send a squad off the map to fetch a stolen artifact



Handle the squad's tale upon return or rumors if the squad is delayed or doesn't survive