Dwarven knitting

Burning Wheel Modifications, Hacks and Expansions
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Some friends and I are planning a dwarf fortress inspired game, so !!socks!! will be a big deal. This lead to noticing that dwarves don’t have many textile skills, but since they have herding maybe they use a lot of wool?
So knitting as a dwarven art. Maybe as an option to herdsman and tinkerer?

Dwarven knitwear tends towards the warm and durable, perfect for a hardworking clansdwarf in the hills. The speed at which an experienced dwarf can turn yarn into clothes borders on the supernatural, and some pieces show unbelievable mathematical complexity. This art also covers spinning and felting.
Turning wool into yarn ob1, scarves and hats ob2, larger clothes ob3, fancy patterns or lace ob4, non-orientable 4 dimensional objects ob6
Perception/Agility?
Needs tools

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What’s the Ob difference to go from - to ≡ to ☼?

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I think quality levels are something you spend additional successes on? Maybe 1 success per level, so that would be 5 extra successes to hit masterwork.

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I have a whole hack that has ran away from for years because it keeps ballooning but that has a whole section with dwarves lifepaths inspired by DF. I don’t know if they’d be of interest to you but I thought I’d share.

Clansman

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Threader 30 8 1M Guilder, Artificer

Skills: 4 pts Weaving, Sewing, Mending, Clan Rumor-wise

Traits: 1 pts Busybody

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Deep Hunter 15 7 1M,1P Host, Outcast

Skills: 6 pts Hunting, Trapper, Stealthy, Tracking, Underground Beast-wise, Crossbow

Traits: 1 pts Deep Sense

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Fisher Dwarf 20 7 - Guilder, Outcast

Skills: 6 pts Fishing, Rigging, Knots, Mending, Cooking, Boatwright

Traits: 2 pts Quiet

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Lumberer 15 7 1P Host, Outcast

Skills: 4 pts Tree Cutting, Orienteering, Carving, Lumber-wise

Traits: 1 pts -

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Hive Dwarf 20 10 1M Guilder

Skills: 5 pts Insect Husbandry, Carpentry, Firebuilding, Chandler, Soaping

Traits: 1 pts Sticky, Affinity for Bees, Beespeaker

Guildsman

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Rhymist 20 10 1M Noble, Outcast

Skills: 5 pts Sing, Poetry, Musical Instrument, Stentorious Singingˇ, Music Composition

Traits: 1 pts -

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Water Engineer 45 45 1M Artificer

Skills: 5 pts Plumbing, Engineer, Coppersmith, Aquifer-wise, Flooding-wise

Traits: 1 pts Overworked

Requires: Journeyman, Artificer, Artillerist or Engineer

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Cordwainer 30 30 - Guilder, Outcast

Skills: 4 pts Cobbler, Mending, Boots-wise, Leather-wise

Traits: 1 pts -

Requires: Apprentice

Lifepath Time Res Stat Leads
Guilder Threader 45 20 1M Clan

Skills: 5 pts Measurements-wise, Sewing, Mending, Embroidery, Geometric Design-wise

Traits: 1 pts Geometric

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Ooh, cool. We did talk about adding some religious life paths, but felt that our character concepts could all be done with the ones in the book. So we haven’t done any new lifepaths yet
We added some civilisation traits about how dwarfs relate to the past; we are reclaiming an old fortress. Also a berserk rage reaction to failed steel tests from traumatic situations to represent tantrum spirals

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Yeah in my home Dwarf Fortress inspired game we cut greed because we felt it didn’t fit for DF and replaced with Faith and a homebrew thing for Inspiration (which is too rough to be shared). I don’t think the extra lifepaths are necessary most of them work fine as is already.

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By design, they are importers of manufactured products — since they typically have abundant trade commodities with which to pay for imports.

That said, I fully endorse dwarven knitters.

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That’s interesting I always wondered the design reason behind it. Though a culture without it’s own clothes always felt strange to me.

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I think it’s a culture with a very eager supplier base shipping their finest wares up to the gates of the Dwarven Holds. Why make what you can purchase at a fraction of the price, since skilled labor is needed for mining, metallurgical and lapidary occupations.

Same for food. They grow a little but import a lot.

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Now that you’ve laid it out it makes perfect sense. I think my homes games were I’ve used the Dwarven lifepaths have always bumped against it because we’ve played more isolationist dwarves or setting where the was mostly other dwarves around which is why we’ve added a lot of extra lifepaths to the various settings and subsettings over the years. Which now makes sense why we were having friction, since they were never supposed to be isolated rather materially connected to other cultures.

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Yah, dwarvish society imagines an economic connection between the King Under the Mountain, Laketown and Thranduil. But your way is cool too. It’s a different type of dwarvish society.

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