Pubblicato il 22/11/2025
There’s a widespread belief in today’s tabletop RPG landscape: simulationist RPGs are in decline. Less hype, fewer releases, less online presence compared to their narrativist counterparts. But this conclusion stems from measuring the phenomenon wrong. It’s not about decline—it’s about different metrics.
When we look at the independent tabletop game market, we tend to use the same indicators: how many new titles get published? How much social media visibility do they have? How many spin offs or follow ups get launched? These metrics work perfectly for narrative games, which shine precisely because of their ability to generate hype, discussion, and rapid innovation.
But simulationist RPGs operate on completely different logic, and applying the same measurement is like judging a tree’s health by counting its fruit in autumn, when it should have harvested them in summer.
The distinction we rarely make is this: not growing doesn’t mean declining. A simulationist RPG like Delta Green has remained relevant for a decade, with stable communities that continue playing it and producing content. Call of Cthulhu is still used after decades. Red Markets, despite being less visible than usual, has maintained a devoted community waiting for the 2nd edition playtest.
Compare this with a typical narrativist game: someone plays Blades in the Dark, completes a three month campaign, wraps up the narrative arcs, and moves on to the next game. This is the natural cycle of these systems, built specifically to burn bright and fast. It’s not a flaw—it’s their nature.
But when we apply the same logic to simulationists, we think we’re seeing decline. In reality, we’re observing two completely different dynamics: the narrative RPG is a consumer product, the simulationist RPG is a long term investment.
If we want to measure the true health of a simulationist RPG, the right question isn’t “how many new titles are being released?” but rather “how many stable communities of 5-10 years exist around these systems?”
Replayability is the metric that matters. A player spending years with the same character, in the same world, facing challenges that change but remain consistent with the setting. A table sustaining 50, 100, 200 sessions in the same system because the rules allow this longevity.
Take Delta Green as an example. It didn’t have the instant boom of some narrative games, yet it built a consistent community, produces official content regularly, has spin offs like Delta Green: Lover in the Icy Deep, and gaming sessions continue to proliferate. Its strength isn’t the initial explosion—it’s persistence.
The same goes for Pendragon, for RuneQuest/Mythras, for R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk games. Systems that don’t make headlines with every update, but remain pillars of the communities that play them.
The independent RPG world is dominated by a simple dynamic: creators innovate rapidly, the market constantly seeks novelty, actual plays (Critical Role, Dimension 20, and similar) look for systems that create immediate, clear drama for spectators.
Narrative games win in this environment because:
They’re quick to learn and equally quick to play to completion
They generate visually interesting stories for viewers, requiring no tedious mechanical explanations
They consume naturally, creating constant demand for new titles
They’re easy to communicate on social media and streaming platforms
Simulationists, by contrast, require higher initial buy in. Anyone wanting to play Delta Green must understand the system, build setting knowledge, coordinate with a stable group. It’s not a casual game night experience—it’s an undertaking.
This doesn’t make it worse, it makes it different. And the fact that today’s indie market rewards fast consumption doesn’t mean simulationists are in crisis—it just means they operate under different market logic.
Here we arrive at an interesting observation: many players who would prefer true world simulation aren’t migrating to other RPGs, they’re migrating to wargaming actual plays or hybrid systems that blend simulation with tactical elements.
Pirate Borg, Mork Borg, various Borg games in general work well precisely because they maintain a simulationist skeleton (the world has rules that matter) while stripping away procedural weight entirely. They’re the compromise between those wanting setting coherence and those without time for 200 pages of rules.
Similarly, creators developing stronghold play in OSR, or those adapting systems like Traveller to simulate entire stellar economies, are pursuing that space: lean simulation, accessible, but rigorous.
If you’re developing a simulationist RPG, this reflection completely changes your priorities. It’s not a hype race with narrativists. Instead, it’s a design challenge asking:
How do I make my system easy to learn without sacrificing coherence?
How do I create hooks for long campaigns, not brief experiments?
How do I communicate that value lies in replayability, not speed?
How do I build a community that understands playing the same system for years is a feature, not a bug?
Broken Empires by Trevor DeVall seems to understand this well: a simulationist system, streamlined and accessible, designed for communities wanting depth without procedural overhead.
If tomorrow we counted not “how many simulationist titles were published this year” but “how many active communities that have been stable for at least 5 years continue playing these systems,” we’d discover the landscape is far less desolate than it seems.
Delta Green has decade old communities. Call of Cthulhu has endured 40 years. Pendragon returned with a new edition. Mythras continues receiving support. Unknown Armies has a loyal player base. Red Markets awaits its renaissance.
This isn’t decline. It’s deep stability.
The problem is we live in an era that glorifies innovation and hype, mistaking persistence for obsolescence. But a community that gathers weekly to play Delta Green, building characters with narrative memory, returning to the table because the world has consequences—that’s a healthy community. It won’t make headlines on Reddit, won’t generate think pieces on the future of RPGs, but it exists and thrives.
Maybe when we discuss the medium’s health, we should start using different metrics. Not how many new games, but how many people still play the same games. Not how many trends start, but how many communities last.
Blog actual plays, Borg games, Call of Cthulhu, community building, Delta Green, game communities, game mechanics, indie RPG market, Mythras, narrativist games, Pendragon, replayability, rpg design, RPG longevity, RuneQuest, simulationist RPGs, tabletop game design
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