Damn it you guys, I tried Dungeon Crawl and now I'm addicted.
I have a hard enough time getting outside already, and you guys keep introducing me to more fun stuff on the interwebs.

I'm playing through Dungeons of Dreadmor now, I am pleased with this game.

As am I. Going all defensive is a good choice. Regret taking Golemancy over Burglary, and Werediggle over Assassination though.
Otherwise, I have Armour, Shield, Unarmed, Dodge, Shield, Berserk. Dual wielding shields.

You talking about graphics and aesthetics there. I too prefer good aesthetics over good graphics.

Also, DoD is kind of way too easy and...♥♥♥♥ up I guess. Sure it does make the game more difficult if you change the common terms like "Strength" or "Dodge" to something incredibly obscure, but not in a good way.

I like DoD, it's a roguelike I can actually play proficiently.
I do enjoy how they actually put an amount of EFFORT into their graphical department. I realize that ASCII is 1337 U83RR H4X way to do a roguelike, but really? You give a creature a letter for it's symbol and you're done. No work whatsoever.
But the problem isn't the effort, it's how easy to understand it is. Oh, ok, a little 'c' is a Centaur, and a big one is a box of crackers.

DoD is also that level of overboard insane that it makes it cool.

Just playing devil's advocate here (although I like Dungeons of Dredmor as well):
Roguelikes usually shine in their complexity. Having a graphical representation of everything in-game ranges from extremely demanding to unfeasible, especially when a lot of roguelikes are developed by a single person. ASCII graphics let the creators focus on the game's mechanics rather than its graphics. I don't know if it's so much of a lack of effort as a design choice - when you're only one person, some aspect of the game is going to have to suffer if you ever want to finish it.
With Dungeons of Dredmor, it's a somewhat more simplified roguelike. There's certainly some complexity in the crafting system, for instance, but overall it's much simpler than, for instance, Nethack or IVAN. It also has a much larger team working on it (at least 10 people have contributed by now, probably more). It kind of deviates from the roguelike standard of "nearly impossible" and instead gives you difficulty levels, the hardest of which is still beatable. That's probably why you're capable of playing it better than most roguelikes, aside from the simpler interface - it's overall an easier game. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but keep in mind that what you're seeing isn't necessarily a case of games which are objectively better or worse, but games which were designed with different goals in mind.

You hardcore nethackers make me sad panda, I can't even get past level 3 on easy in DoD

DoD is fun, funny, and it's easy enough to get into, but it lacks that sort of learn something new each time/die frequently enough to not be too concerned/satisfaction when you make it decently far. I always get bored halfway through the fourth floor or so.

Back in the day there was a PSX/DC game called Baroque. It was a really good roguelike, third person 3d, bad camera angles like most PSX games, and it was really creepy. A remake was made for PS2 and Wii some time back. I should find an iso for it and play it again.

The general scheme of the game was every time you complete the Neuro Tower, the world gets a little bit better, the people change, and the next time you enter the Neuro Tower, it takes longer to get to the end. You doomed the world and turned it into a grotesque baroque styled world, hence the name. You slowly find out what happened. Monsters and characters are allegories, like in Silent Hill.

I guess people who liked some designs of Demon Souls would like this

I see DoD as more of a dungeon crawler (Torchlight, Diablo) than a roguelike, personally.