A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast

By Kristin McFarland, Drew BuschhornLeisure Games Fiction Hobbies

A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast episodes

November 13, 2024Episode 40: Oh God, Not The Kittens!
We’ve got fort updates, strange characters, and artifacts galore! Drew tells us about his monster encounters, and Kristin shares her new favorite weirdo, Shem the Shirtless Fisherdwarf. As a bonus at the end, we talk a little about some other games we’ve tried, including Elin, the game that feels like Adventure Mode!
Extra Info:
Join the Discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Tlatoani: Aztec Cities. If you like Caesar 3, check it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/
Elin: A game about some sort of adventuring and possibly eating kittens? https://store.steampowered.com/app/2135150/Elin/
Mirthwood: Gotta be honest, needs more time to bake. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2272900/Mirthwood/
Fields of Mistria: Worth a look. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2142790/Fields_of_Mistria/
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
50 min
October 29, 2024Episode 39: Stephen From Story Dwarves
“For Gods Sake, Someone Pull The Lever!”
Today we’re visited by a very special guest, who brings along his process, stories and great Dwarfy tips! Stick around in the episode for another great bop? ditty? (idk, I’m old – Drew) from Stephen!
Extra Info:
Join the Discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Check out Stephen’s Story Dwarves channel: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryDwarves
Also, his ‘Were of the Beast’: https://youtu.be/TBs-guUs-mI?t=514
Even more also, if you like the ukulele or want to learn, he and his wife have a channel just for that: https://www.youtube.com/@UkuleleWineTime
And don’t forget to check out his Patreon: patreon.com/StoryDwarves and Bandcamp: https://storydwarves.bandcamp.com/
Finally, we said it before, but we’ll say it again,
“Congrats to Tarn on his marriage!”
Unique physical instruments with MIDI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KybaFjKld6g
Simon Swerwer – Dwarf Translations – https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10xhbsb/simon_swerwers_dwarf_fortress_inspired_soundcloud/
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
49 min
September 24, 2024Episode 38: Dwarf Magic School
This week, we actually played Dwarf Fortress! Drew has a cool new fort with some artifacts, and Kristin has a new fort that will be cool eventually, probably… hopefully? For the start of spooky season, Kristin talks about Mind Over Magic. And finally, Drew tells us all about Amazing Cultivation Simulator and how it doesn’t involve plants.
Extra Info:
Join the discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Mykl’s Dreamfort Tutorial Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4-d7mdiol0
DF Hack Release: https://github.com/DFHack/dfhack/releases/tag/50.13-r5rc1
Mind Over Magic: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1270580/Mind_Over_Magic/
Amazing Cultivation Simulator: https://store.steampowered.com/app/955900/Amazing_Cultivation_Simulator/
“Cultivation Fantasy”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia
“Progression Fantasy” / “LitRPG”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG
Towerborne: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2458830/Towerborne/
Core Keeper: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1621690/Core_Keeper/
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
50 min
September 11, 2024Episode 37.5: Critter Cove
We’ve got a special episode all about Critter Cove! This is 100% a Kristin Game, with cute creatures, exploration, crafting, and much more! We tell you all about the game and then discuss the concept of early access, and our experiences with games in development. Note that Kristin raises some questions about game features and then answers them herself at the very end (via the magic of reading the roadmap in detail).
Extra info:
Join Our Discord: https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Critter Cove! – $20 on Steam sale currently: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1631470/Critter_Cove/
Dead Cells – https://store.steampowered.com/app/588650/Dead_Cells/
Core Keeper – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1621690/Core_Keeper/
Fields of Mistria – https://store.steampowered.com/app/2142790/Fields_of_Mistria/
What is early access: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_access
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
35 min
September 04, 2024Episode 37: Hot Dwarf Summer
We’re back with an update about all the games we’ve been playing. There are dwarves, we promise!
Extra Info:
Join the discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Cult of the Lamb: Sins of the Flesh
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1313140/Cult_of_the_Lamb/
Pretty funny youtube short of Cult of the Lamb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuVAWbg4kns
Core Keeper: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1621690/Core_Keeper/
Rogue Trader: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2186680/Warhammer_40000_Rogue_Trader/
Critter Cove: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1631470/Critter_Cove/
Crab God: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2289390/Crab_God/
Kingdom: https://store.steampowered.com/app/701160/Kingdom_Two_Crowns/
Worshippers of Cthulhu:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2807150/Worshippers_of_Cthulhu/
Return to Moria: Age of Gold –https://store.steampowered.com/app/2933130/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Return_to_Moria/
Sun Haven: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432860/Sun_Haven/
Against the Storm: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
49 min
July 23, 2024Episode 36: Games Other Than Dwarf Fortress
We’re alive! We’ve returned briefly from our summer interlude to discuss what we’ve been up to, and Drew tells us all about his recent Rimworld experience. We’ll be back soon with more dwarfy goodness, we promise!
Extra Info:
Join the discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Get RimWorld on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/
Read “Fire Upon The Deep” by Vernor Vinge, author also of “True Names” (i.e. passwords) the origin of cyberspace (one of many). RimWorld also probably influenced by “Revelation Space” by Alastair Reynolds.
TV Show recommendation: Evil. Fun, weird, very late 90s for being from early 2020s.
Eventually we’ll get to:
Dwarf Fortress: Laboratory and Homestead, Journal Article https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015603192
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
40 min
June 25, 2024Episode 35: This. Is. RimWorld! … Not Really.
We’re back from summer break! Kind of! Indiana is going crazy in the heat, yo, but we’re staying cool with Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld, and all the good settlement games available right now.
Extra Info:
Join the discord! https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Get RimWorld on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/
DFHack 50.13-r3rc1 released, with lots of new features! https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/1dk0a9l/dfhack_5013r3rc1_beta_has_been_released/
Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine (Game Histories) https://www.amazon.com/Building-SimCity-World-Machine-Histories/dp/0262547481
Dwarf Fortress: Laboratory and Homestead, Journal Article https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015603192
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
53 min
May 07, 2024Episode 34: A Squirrely Town of Crabmen (and Lobsterwomen)
Kristin starts settling a volcano start location, and realizes it’s a bit more fun than she thought it’d be. Drew continues with the adventure mode beta, making best friends with a hermit-crab-man and his platonic life partner, a master swordsman squirrel-man. Together with their cuddly pet giant war turtle and giant war bear they attempt to murder the lobster queen of Crab Town!

Also, it’s vacation time!
Extra info:
Join Our Discord: https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Kaiju No. 8 – Because I guess every badass leader needs war tiger.
Mind over Magic – horizontal base building game
Kenshi – because, idk, it’s a whole thing
Rurik and DFHack Mykl are making videos in the discord
Bobbit worms! Apparently Drew was wrong about what they are! He was thinking of Osesdax or ‘Zombie Worms’
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
36 min
April 23, 2024Episode 33: Onward, To ADVENTURE!
We’re back, this time with more goblin murder! We talk in the first 20ish minutes about adventure mode, some of the reactions we’ve seen to it, and how we’re feeling about the current state of the beta. Then, in the last 40ish minutes, you can hear us create an adventurer and almost immediately become murder hobos! That second segment is a lot different than our usual episodes, and there are some clicks and volume differences, but hopefully you enjoy hearing our adventure.
Extra info:
Join Our Discord: https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
Rurik’s mine carts on discord
Mykl’s video on pumpstacks on DFRoundTable
Stephen’s StoryDwarfs Song Contest
A very naughty Reddit post: https://undelete.pullpush.io/r/dwarffortress/comments/1bsnr67/_/kxguueo/#comment-info
Fallout / Skyrim Monster Factory Videos from the McElroy’s
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
1 hr 4 min
April 09, 2024Episode 32: A Shocking Amount Happened Today
We’ve got so much going on! Drew has a metropolis, Kristin has a city, and we have all the encounters that go along with a larger population! Forgotten beasts, creepy underworld creatures, and artifacts galore. Plus, we talk a little about the Stardew Valley update and probably way too much about what manga and anime we’re consuming!
Extra info:
Join Our Discord: https://discord.gg/ZK7j7dYxsD
DFHack Beta has Legends browser!
The final episode of Story Dwarfs: The Ballad Of Urist and Bembul: Episode 4 – The Hand Of Destiny, by Stephen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnEamJrckiM
Stardew Valley has an update.
What we’re reading:
The Dangers in My Heart
I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!
So I’m a Spider, So What?
A weird bit of history: resonant / sympathetic strings!
Transcript (see README for more details)
A Strange Mood: The Couple's Dwarf Fortress Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://astrangemoodpodcast.com/
51 min