I've been playing this game for a couple months now, and while I'm still not exactly awesome at it, I'm more reliably decent than in any other Roguelike I've played (not that the list is terribly long). I was just curious how many other people around here play it/have played it, how well people do, what experiences they've had, how they think it compares to other RL dungeon crawlers, etc.

Here's the obligatory link to the game's site for more info (for the uninitiated, it's free and open-source, and can even be played in-browser, for those so inclined).

I remember the game having a tutorial that took you through some premade areas to learn the game, and I remember that permadeath was active in the tutorial. That tutorial really should not have had permadeath, as it is not fun to have to replay the earlier parts of the tutorial level you were on when you died.

I understand permadeath working for the main mode, but it seems inappropriate here.

I keep hearing about this game but have yet to try it.. might download it and give it a shot later as it gets a lot of good press.

used to play this a lot. but never got far, normally die within the first 8 levels.

Ah, yes. DC:SS is one of the better ones out there. I love it but haven't played it for a while now. I see it got a multiplayer version on Android!

love this game. the steep learning curve and dying frequently on low levels may be a hurdle for beginners but it's worth taking some time to learn game.

Is it like Dwarf Fortress?

Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Nothing is like Dwarf Fortress.

Or is it similar to Hack Slash Loot?

Not that either. HSL is very simple and not deep at all. DC:SS is similar to more traditional roguelikes, like ADOM. Lots of choices, large world, complex character customization. But nowhere near as complex and hard to play as Dwarf Fortress. You should try it. It's a fun game.

It's sort of like a streamlined, (somewhat) user-friendly, noob-friendly NetHack. There is actually an entire section of the manual dedicated to explaining their <i>design philosophy</i>, which is rare for games in general, let alone free, community-developed Roguelikes.

If you don't want to just download and try it (or register an account to try the webtiles version) blind, I'd recommend reading that "About" page that I linked to in the OP, browsing the online manual, or just watching someone else play (either live on the Crawl servers, or on YouTube -- even though they're pretty out-of-date, I'd recommend quill18's let's plays) to get an idea of whether you might want to try it. But if you're worried about it being super complex and hard to get into like DF, worry not -- it's actually got a very good multi-stage tutorial (which even contains some optional 'challenge' objectives!), as well as a hint mode for if you want to play the main game, but still would like a little help with how to play. Permadeath, however, is neither disabled nor optional in any of the modes -- including the tutorial -- so a modicum of caution is always advisable.

Thanks for the info! :)

I find myself gravitating mostly toward melee fighter-types, for whatever reason. It's probably the simplicity. :P I still have a ghoul assassin (randomly chosen) sitting in my saved game list, as well as some other more "oddball" (at least for me) choices like a vampire...skald, I think? or maybe a mage class, I don't remember -- and a deep dwarf warper that's one of the earliest characters I ever played, but that I just can't bring myself to have much fun with, and that I don't want to get killed, so...yeah.
I've been playing a lot of demonspawn abyssal knights lately, but apparently that's not a good race/background combo for unrelenting melee combat, like I would try with a minotaur fighter or the like. Long story short -- I keep getting them killed fairly quickly. XP

I should try some more chaos knight characters, as they're usually good for a laugh, and I made it surprisingly far with one or two.