“Disaster games are having a moment in emergency management. Tabletop kits, card decks, digital simulations, and scenario-in-a-box products are increasingly marketed as innovative alternatives to traditional exercises.”
“a growing category of disaster games that feel engaging, look innovative, and still struggle to translate into operational value for the agencies using them.”
“Most disaster games are built around fixed scenarios.”
“Participants are asked to mentally translate the scenario into their own environment. Plans are referenced abstractly rather than applied directly. Local authorities, governance structures, mutual aid realities, and institutional constraints are treated as interchangeable details rather than defining features.”
“Emergency management does not operate in interchangeable systems. Plans are not generic artifacts. Authorities are not universal.”
“Instead of discussing what could happen, participants confront how their system actually behaves under pressure. Plans are not referenced—they are used. Assumptions are not debated—they are tested.”
“A setting-agnostic design provides a hazard and decision framework without dictating geography, governance, or outcomes. It creates pressure without prescribing authority. It allows consequences to emerge from the organization’s own choices rather than from a fixed script.”
“This design philosophy is exactly what led me to build tools like Rolling for Resilience and Crisis Command.”
“setting-agnostic, role-flexible RPGs”
“The goal was to create decision environments where agencies bring their own plans, authorities, and constraints into the game.”