Part of this article was originally taken from the DF forums thread "Goal-Based Dwarf Fortress".

Originally "Challenge Builds"

If repeatedly defending a besieged fortress isn't difficult enough for you, here are a few challenges you can set for yourself. You might also want to check out the List of goals for other ways to challenge yourself.

ASPCA

No animals

Don't bring any pets. Furthermore, due to the possibility of animals being caught in them, don't build any traps, either. If immigrants bring pets, get rid of them somehow. (If you're a particularly rabid ASPCA member, you could get rid of the pet-bearing immigrants, too, but that's probably excessive.)

City-States

No skills
7 or multiple of 7 of everything you bring

At the start your dwarves split everything equally and move to 7 different locales that are not interconnected. They have to mine their own rooms, plant their own crops, use their own craft piles. This will probably require a bit of cross-fertilization until you get doors and can lock everyone in, but after that it is every dwarf for him/herself!

Dieting Dwarves

Fishing Village

Give your dwarves only the fishing skill and other fishing related skills (like bonecrafting.) Try to survive off a fish only diet. Flood the river and build houses above it so the dwarves can fish through their floors. There will be an extra challenge if the river freezes in the winter.

Carnivore

No plants or seeds

Only eat strays, pets, and animals you trap and hunt. No farming or plant gathering. Keep all your pets in cages and care for them as little as possible. Eat your dwarves' pets first for an extra challenge. If this upsets your dwarves, ridicule or ignore them. (If you are particularly heartless, you could cage those dwarves as well because anyone that empathizes with animals doesn't deserve any rights either.)

Vegan

Obviously, no meat, fish, or dairy
Also, no leather, silk, or shell
In essence, construct an Elven Forest

A fairly easy challenge. Take no meat and buy no meat. Butcher no animals. Gut no fish. Use no animal products like the elves.

IOGT/AA

No alcohol

Quite possibly, this is the cruelest challenge that your dwarves can be given. Don't ever brew any alcohol. Build wells instead and watch your now teetotaller dwarves work slower and slower by the season.

Diplomacy

Six dwarves with only social skills
One skilled dwarf

Six courtiers of the king's court made some ill-advised remarks within earshot of the king, and as a result have been ordered to go found an outpost. They've hired you to make sure they survive. The six nobles only have social skills and refuse to do any work that is beneath them.

Dwarfsicles

Select a map region in the northern extremities (or another very cold area), where water is frozen for much or all of the year. All construction that can be undertaken with stone must use ice, instead. Be sure to bring plenty of Plump Helmets for brewing drinks!

For an insane challenge, forbid yourself from digging in any material that can yield resources other than ice.

Exiled Warlord

Seven starting dwarves with no military skills
All immigrants immediately activated into the military
No killing them off on purpose!

Fort Geneva

Build only nonlethal (cage) traps
Sentient creatures (Goblins, etc.) are to be considered prisoners of war and treated humanely
Suggested provisions for prisoners: a bed, a personal cell, a commons area, aboveground exercise yard, and the clothes the creature was wearing when captured
Inspiration: Geneva Conventions

Gone to the dogs

One pick
A ton of animals

Replace the starting equipment with an equal value in dogs or cats.

Hermit

No skills
One pick and no other supplies

A well known and popular challenge. Kill off the 6 starting dwarves and any immigrants as they arrive, and try to make a living for the last dwarf.

Humanlike Fortress

Pretend you're a filthy above-ground dwelling humie.

Build a town wall.
- Only hovels and farms outside the town walls.
House your dwarves in small town homes
- 5-10 dwarves per house (they had pretty big families back in the day)
- upstairs bedrooms, small dining room, maybe a single level basement.
House your workshops according to profession, not conveinance.
Build warehouses for stockpiles, and set guards outside them.
Create a keep, with its own wall, barracks, treasury, etc.
Create a market square.
Create a main street from the town wall to the market square and/or keep. Well-paved blocks, statues and decorative shubbery are a must.
No underground interconnections between different areas.
BONUS: Make a fountain at least 3 Z squares high in the center of the keep, with a +statue+(or better) on top of it.
BONUS: The fortress is built around a human town.
BONUS: Town has an awesome inn operating in same building as the brewery. REGULAR parties there, or it isn't good enough!
BONUS: All booze is kept within a town inn.
ÜBERBONUS : Make all of the fortress out of wood. And have a dragon attack it. Send us pictures!

Hunter Gatherers

No skills
No pets
No items.

Yes - no items. No anvil, no seeds, no food, no booze - nothing. Just the three tower-cap logs from the wagon.

Hunting Party

One marksman/ambusher
Two camp servants (e.g. one cook/brewer/herbalist, one butcher/tanner/leatherworker/woodcutter)
Four clients, all dabbling in marksman/ambusher but with primarily civilian skills.

No anvil, lots of hunting dogs ... and a haunted wood. (In a terrifying wood, you may find all the trees & plants are dead, severely reducing long-term prospects.)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

One miner/mason/architect
One woodcutter/carpenter/architect
Five military dwarves

No anvil, lots of food, in a canyon - spend the first year building fortifications to interdict traffic. Immigrants can build a town around you, but your original dwarves remain dedicated to their mission.

<insert material> Fort

Wooden

Start on any treeless map and make everything that you can out of wood. That means no underground forts, though you may destroy hills and such. You lose points for bringing wood at the start.

Glass

Construct an above-ground fortress made entirely out of glass. Bonus points for not using magma, constructing your fortress under water, or using clear glass exclusively. No stone may be used. Metal may only be used for creating stuff that cannot be made out of glass.

Soap

Cleanliness is next to godliness! Soap is in the form of "bars", and so can be used as a building material just like any other type of bar. Show those elven traders just how much you despise their philosophies by building your trading outpost out of stuff derived from dead trees and dead animals. Too many cats? Build with cat tallow soap.

Jack Of All Trades

No starting skills for any dwarfs
All starting dwarfs and all immigrants immediately have all possible jobs activated
All workshops must be available at all times for all dwarfs of all skill levels

Pray for strange moods!

Luddite

No mechanics or mechanisms
No machines

Traps and moving bridges are forbidden, farming must be accomplished by hand.

Master Of One

All starting dwarfs can have one skill and one skill only
No changes are allowed on any dwarfs labour screen
All immigrants must stay with the profession/professions they arrive with
All peasants must be activated into the military

Note: Since all dwarfs start with all hauling activated then that's fine- alternatively you could limit the peasants to hauling duties and only allow dwarfs with military skills into the military...

No Traders

Whenever someone tries to trade with you, destroy them in the most unhumane way possible.

Ideas;

Drop them into a chasm/pit via a retracting bridge.
Cause a cave-in.
Attack them with seige weapons.

Try to come up with imaginative ways of destroying the traders! --AlexFili 10:47, 10 June 2008 (EDT)

Outcast

No skills
One pick and no other supplies

Same as the hermit challenge, only with multiple hermits. Turn off immigrants or kill them.

Roughing it

No picks

Don't dig or build at all. Bring no picks, and don't ask for them in trade. Watch as the more "weather-averse" dwarves slowly go mad.

Siege Master

No traps
No drawbridges
No locked doors
No magma/water based defences

The Mad Butcher

_{(this requires a tiny amount of editing to the raws)}

Edit Dwarf Fortress\Raw\object\Creature_Domestic.txt. Remove the tag [BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD] from cats and dogs.
Start with a normal build except:
- One dwarf should be a dedicated butcher/leather worker
- buy minimal food
- bring as many puppies or kittens as possible
Drop all your puppies or kittens into cages or into animal pits as soon as possible.
Dig a shaft 10 or more Z-levels deep, mark the top an animal pit.
At the bottom of the shaft set up a butcher shop, a tanner shop, a bedroom, and some food and leather stockpiles.
Set it all up so that the mad butcher cannot escape.
As you need food, begin selecting animals to be dropped into your deep pit, next to the butcher.
See how long a single butcher, butchering splattered kittens, can keep your fortress fed! Cooking and farming are cheating... raw meat for everyone!

This. Is. SPARTAAAA

At least 50% of your dwarves should be military 100% of the time, and train in spears, shield use and wrestling. All other dwarves are "helots" and shouldn't be given any skills – they can be pressed into the military during times of war, but given no equipment or at most a bare minimum of inferior weapons.

You should refuse trade with caravans, instead attacking them if possible. Whenever a messenger appears, promptly enter aggressive negotiations and throw them down the well screaming; "THIS IS SPAARRTAAAAA...". You should forbid the use of gold and silver, the making of crafts, and the smoothing of walls or any other task that makes your fortress "beautiful."

You shouldn't create chainmail or plate armour. <-- Alright, fair point, 300 was based from a graphic novel, but many similarities between Spartans in 300 and in real history are present. --AlexFili 10:39, 9 June 2008 (EDT) -->You should only brew wine.

Originally "Game goals"

The general goal of Fortress Mode is to survive, acquire wealth, defend your wealth, and become the capital of your civilization. However, many players eventually experiment with challenge builds or other goals. These are some goals to attempt or use as inspiration.

Human "alliance"

Start a game centered on a human town. Build a wall around the town in stone, using a mine under the town. Do not take anything from the town, though the human guards will probably help with any sieges. For an extra challenge after finishing the wall, dig down to the aquifer and flood the town.

Stealth

Create a hidden outpost close to a goblin lair. Impact the outside as minimally as possible - dig down right away, and deconstruct the wagon ASAP. No building outside or even going outside. Once your army is ready, launch a surprise attack.

Temple

Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and keep the fountains and rivers red with blood.

The great brewery

Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing ‼peasant‼ visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven caravan each year.

Castle

Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. Note that this is highly time consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floor indoors, and no underground constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

Wealth

The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

Assassination

Your group of seven has been chosen to assault a goblin fortress – and you're not getting any backup. Turn off immigration, and try to slay the goblin leader and escape without casualties. For extra challenge, bring no picks.

Biodome

All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

Retirement resort

Build a dwarven paradise, free from labor. All peasant immigrants should be removed from every job, including hauling, and given a great place to live. Make sure to include fun activities and plenty of parties.

Sparta

Maintain a military of at least 50% of your dwarves; only use bronze melee weapons (no crossbows). Use no traps, and kill any maimed dwarf. Seek out military conflict with all non-Greek...er, non-dwarves.

Commune

All your dwarves have all labors enabled. Dwarves sleep only in barracks, and no dwarf, including administrators, can be assigned any personal rooms. If the nobles find this upsetting, don't hesitate to make the corridors run red with the blood of the bourgeoisie. Obviously, don't mint any coins either. (Dwarves can take turns with wood cutting and mining, since they can't have both at once.)

No rocks!

The new king has decided rocks and metals can no longer be used in construction. He'll be overthrown shortly, but in the meantime construct your fortress using only wood.

Anything that can be made out of wood, will be made only from wood. Doors, tables, chairs, floodgates, bridges, stairs, workshops, you name it. For even greater challenge, build it entirely above ground with wooden walls and floors.

Underwater fortress

Encase your entire fortress in water! Your fortress should be watersealed, and surrounded by water against all walls. Water should be covering the top of your fortress as well.
You can achieve this by diverting a lots of water, or digging into a frozen lake.
Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
Alternative: Use magma instead of water!
Alternative: Build it in the Ocean

Mountain audit/core sample

Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

Hippy challenge

Peace, man. Don't harm any plants except those you plant yourself. Don't cut down any trees, and don't trade for logs with the filthy humans or dwarves who do. You can trade for plants with the elves, they understand your environmental code. Don't burn any coal, do you know what that does to the environment, man? Never cause any creature's death, so no military, and no lethal traps. You can use cage traps, and either tame the creatures you catch, or release them back into the wild, far from your fort.

For an extra challenge try this in an area with a goblin fort or cave.

Segregation

Make two separate, working, independent fortresses. All the men go in one, all the women in the other.

No singles

As soon as you get a married couple with an immigration wave, kill all single dwarves. Continue to do so with all immigration waves. Try to lose no children.

Santa Claus

Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

How high can you go?

Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a pinnacle of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

Computing

Can your dwarves build the Antikythera mechanism? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at computing.

Live up to your name

Go with the random name chosen by the game for your fortress and group. Make a handicap/play style based on your group's name, and a personal goal based on your fortress name. For example, if your group is The Iron Fist, your military must consist only of wrestlers in iron armor. If your fortress is Prisonportals, you must capture and jail as many goblins/creatures as possible.

Equaland

Equaland - Where we are all Equal, besides the Almighty Leader. Each dwarf must have their own bedroom, dining room, etc. Make a large tower in the center of your perfect land and put "The Leader" in it. Then make some kind of mechanism to kill the dwarves inside their dwelling, complete with levers so that The Leader can choose who dies next. If dwarves have one to many friends kill them, if they eat too much food kill them, etc.

40d:Challenges