You don’t only explore dungeons and craft in Dwarf Fortress. Your dwarves can also express themselves through writing and other art forms. However, your dwarves can only write if you have suitable writing materials. While paper and ink are typically everyday items in the real world, learning how to make writing materials in Dwarf Fortress requires a lot of work. The reward for achieving writing materials in Dwarf Fortress is small. However, it is still fun to have your dwarves accomplish something that doesn’t involve digging, fighting, or exploring. It adds variety to the game, making your experience feel more unique.
The primary writing materials in the game are scrolls, and you need a library to write in Dwarf Fortress. You can trade for a scroll as early as the start of a playthrough. Nevertheless, this requires an encounter with a Trader selling the parchments.
To make scrolls in Dwarf Fortress, you need a scroll roller and sheets of paper. To create sheets, you must have collected plant fibers. Plant fibers are common items received when harvesting specific plants throughout. Once you have the fibers, produce a stone quern under the Farming workshop. Add in a stockpile of plant fibers near the quern, have your dwarves gather plants, and then set a work order for your quern to produce a slurry. Afterward, use a screw press to press the plant slurry into a paper sheet. The screw press will require two mechanisms, but neither is necessary for you to produce the sheets.
You can make scroll rollers from several materials, including wood, metal, and even glass. Scroll rollers can be built into the work order menu. Make at least two scroll rollers with whatever material you choose, and when you have both the paper sheets and the scroll rollers, craft scrolls using the crafts workshop.
Once you have the scrolls, your dwarves still need a place to write, and that’s where the library comes in. To start, you first create a new zone under the zone menu. Furnish your new area with tables, chairs, chests, and bookcases. Once you are done decorating the new place, head back to the zone menu and designate the new zone as a meeting area. You then go to the meeting area’s menu and press the Library button to make the area into a Library.
Assign dwarves as scholars in the Library menu. As long as you have tables and chairs for the dwarves to sit in, there’s always a chance a dwarf will use a scroll to write. Your assigned scholars must have the necessary skills to write, including writing or being critical thinkers.
