I think Dwarf Fortress's Steam release, for all its issues, has made it a lot more accessible to a casual audience, especially in the wake of the great success of games like Rimworld. That said, it's still quite an undertaking to pick up and learn. Cataclysm has definitely always been a hard sell to others, though. Usually, their interest wanes as soon as they look up a screenshot. On the rare occasions that I've convinced someone to boot it up, they've just walked into the sight range of a mi-go or something and immediately died and lost interest. There's so much to talk about when it comes to both of them, but no one to talk about them with :(

dominions is great. I've been tempted to write a MA Asphodel AAR about a carrion dragon making the world into its grave, and what a lively grave!