Exactly, but without having to manage an entire fortress. I would sit and read the civilization and artifact backgrounds, the histories, the forgotten beasts, but it's just not built for that.

It would also be nice if it didn't feel so random, like masterwork obsidian battleaxes that menace with spikes of orthoclase. Or 6 armed bat winged llamas that spit bile.

Rimworld tries to tackle the story part, but ends up being too dramatic instead.

There was a game called Firan MUX, which did an excellent job of generating families and backgrounds for each character and I would spend hours on that.