Map legend

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v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Dwarf Fortress uses tilesets to draw the game, including maps. This map legend explains what the characters and colors represent in the pre-start embark (or adventure) map.

Tile colors

The colors of a map tile may give information about that region's predominant biome and surroundings; its temperature, alignment, and other handy things. Generally, cyan and blue means the area is "good" aligned. Purple, gray, brown, and red areas have "evil" alignment. Light grey, brown, and yellow areas usually are dry and have sparse vegetation. Green tiles have vegetation and are usually moist. White and cyan tiles indicate snow or ice. The color of trees that change season to season can tell about a tree's current growth.

Biome/Region key

Tiles are listed by alignment, with normal tiles first, then good-aligned tiles, and then evil tiles. Snow and ice-covered tiles are included next to their respective alignments.

Hills and mountains/Plains

Yellow hills or plains indicate dry vegetation.

Biome/Region	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil	Evil snow/ice
Grassland	. ⁿ ⁿ . . ⁿ ⁿ .	. ⁿ ⁿ .	. ⁿ ⁿ .	. ⁿ ⁿ . . ⁿ ⁿ .	. ⁿ ⁿ .
Savanna	" ⁿ ⁿ " " ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ " " ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "
Shrubland	" τ τ " " τ τ "	" τ τ "	" τ τ "	" τ τ " " τ τ "	" τ τ "

Biome/Region	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil	Evil snow/ice
Hills	n ∩ ∩ n n ∩ ∩ n	n ∩ ∩ n	n ∩ ∩ n	n ∩ ∩ n n ∩ ∩ n	n ∩ ∩ n
Low mountains	⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂	⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂	⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂	⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
Medium mountains	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
High mountains	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲	▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

Forests

In normal forests, the color changes with the seasons.

Biome/Region	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil	Evil snow/ice
Temperate broadleaf forest	♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ╞ ╞ ╞ ╞	♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ╞ ╞ ╞ ╞	♠ ♣ ♣ ♠	♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ♠ ┤ ┤ ♠	♠ ♣ ♣ ♠ ♠ ┤ ┤ ♠
Tropical broadleaf forest	Γ ♠ ♠ Γ		Γ ♣ ♣ Γ	Γ ♠ ♠ Γ Γ ┤ ┤ Γ
Coniferous forest	↑ ↨ ↨ ↑	↑ ↨ ↨ ↑	↑ ♣ ♣ ↑	↑ ↨ ↨ ↑ ↑ ┤ ┤ ↑	↑ ↨ ↨ ↑ ↑ ┤ ┤ ↑

Deserts

In normal sand deserts, the color depends on the type of sand.

Biome/Region	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil	Evil snow/ice
Sand desert	~ ≈ ≈ ~ ~ ≈ ≈ ~ ~ ≈ ≈ ~ ~ ≈ ≈ ~	~ ≈ ≈ ~	~ ≈ ≈ ~	~ ≈ ≈ ~	~ ≈ ≈ ~
Rocky wasteland	, ´ ´ , n ∩ ∩ n	, ´ ´ , n ∩ ∩ n	, ´ ´ , n ∩ ∩ n	, ´ ´ , n ∩ ∩ n	, ´ ´ , n ∩ ∩ n
Badlands	V √ √ V	V √ √ V	V √ √ V	V √ √ V	V √ √ V

Wetlands

Biome/Region	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil	Evil snow/ice
Swamp	" ⌠ ⌠ "	" ⌠ ⌠ "	" ⌠ ⌠ "	" ⌠ ⌠ " " ⌠ ⌠ "	" ⌠ ⌠ "
Marsh	" ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ " " ⁿ ⁿ "	" ⁿ ⁿ "

Ice regions

Biome/Region	Normal	Good	Evil
Tundra	∙ · · ∙	∙ · · ∙	∙ · · ∙
Glacier	▓ ▒ ▒ ▓	▓ ▒ ▒ ▓	▓ ▒ ▒ ▓

Bodies of water

Biome/Region	Normal	Good	Evil
River	•┬┴ ┬┴ ┬┴ ╦╩◄	•┬┴ ┬┴ ┬┴ ╦╩◄	•┬┴ ╦╩◄
Ocean	≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ▒ ░ ░ ▒	≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ▒ ░ ░ ▒	≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ▒ ░ ░ ▒
Lake	~ ~ ~ ~	~ ~ ~ ~	~ ~ ~ ~

Terrain feature key

Terrain feature	Normal	Snow/Ice	Good	Evil
Peak	^	^	^	^ ^
Volcano	^

Construction key

Construction	Normal
Road	•┬┴• •┬┴• •┬┴• •┬┴•

Tree key

Forests and swamps will use the map tiles of the trees they contain. The tiles below are used to specify generic forests, even if no trees that use that tile exist in that forest. Whether the game uses the generic tiles or the tile of the actual tree they contain is randomized on a tile-by-tile basis.

Tiles can vary significantly in forests due to the variety of trees that can be generated.

Tile	Terrain
⌠	Swamp
↑	Conifer Forest
♠	Broadleaf Forest
Γ	Tropical Forest

Site key

Site tiles are organized by columns, from left-to-right: normal populated sites, ruined sites, and sites captured by necromancers or their night creature armies.

Dwarven sites

Site	Normal	Ruins	Night creature
Mountain halls	Ω	μ	μ
Hillocks	Ω	μ	μ
Fortress	Ω	μ	μ

Elven sites

Forest retreats marked as (¶) are market towns.

Site	Normal	Ruins	Night creature
Forest retreat	î ¶	μ ₧	μ ₧

Goblin sites

A light magenta dark fortress (Π) indicates the presence of an underworld spire.

Site	Normal	Ruins	Night creature
Dark fortress	Π Π	μ μ	μ
Dark pits	º	ª	ª

Human sites

For towns, the tiles indicate a town's current population (increases from left to right). Hamlet tiles represent the region the hamlet is in (hills, plains, rivers, etc.).

Site	Normal	Ruins	Night creature
Town	+ * # ☼	μ	μ
Hamlet	= ≡ æ Æ = ≡ æ Æ = ≡ æ Æ = ≡ æ Æ	= ≡ æ Æ	= ≡ æ Æ
Castle	○		○

Other sites

Site	Normal	Night creature
Camp	☼
Cave	•	•
Fort	◙	◙
Labyrinth	#
Lair	• •
Monastery	○	○
Shrine	Å
Tomb	0
Tower	I	I
Vault	■
Adventurer camp	☼

Embark assistant added sites

Shown when the DFHack plugin is active, list is from the in game plugin information, see there for details.

Site	Symbol
Camp	C
Cave	c
Lair	m b l
Labyrinth	L
Monument	M
Shrine	S
Vault	V

Fast travel key

Description	Symbol
Adventurer(s)	@
Other traveling individual or group	*

V · T · E Worlds
General	World generation (Advanced · Rejection) · World activities · Calendar
Map	Climate · Map legend · Region · Surroundings Biomes Chasm · Desert · Forest · Glacier · Grassland · Lake · Mountain · Murky pool · Ocean · River · Savanna · Shrubland · Tundra · Wetland Features Aquifer · Brook · Deep pit · Island · Magma pool · Passage · Road · Tunnel · Volcano · Waterfall Underground Cavern · Magma sea · Underworld · Unusual volcanic wall
Civilization	Sites Camp · Castle · Cave · Dark fortress · Dark pits · Forest retreat · Fort · Fortress · Hamlet · Hillocks · Labyrinth · Lair · Monastery · Mountain halls · Ruins · Shrine · Tomb · Tower · Town · Vault Structures Counting house · Catacombs · Dungeon · Guildhall · Keep · Library · Market · Mead hall · Sewers · Tavern · Temple · Tomb · Tower · Treasure room · Underworld spire Other Holding