The Grand Illusion
I am a huge fan of the Recluce saga and have been for years. My question is have you ever entertained the idea of the world of Recluse ever becoming an RPG, whether it is a single player game like final fantasy or even more ambitiously, an MMO where players could experience the world of Recluce similar to how the characters do in the books?
I’ve more than entertained the idea. But I’m not a gamer, nor am I a programmer or game designer, and I don’t have the skill set or mindset to create a game. Those who do apparently aren’t interested or believe a Recluce game is either unworkable or would be unprofitable. Years ago, several games companies took options on Recluce to create a game. The options were never exercised. A year ago, I worked with a Canadian gamer to create a prototype, but so far he hasn’t been able to attract anyone able and/or willing to take it further.
An RPG would start with a ship crash landing. The crew/party now has some order or chaos abilities. This could be done any where along the time line. The crew could pick up locals of various abilities and would need to learn the culture and could have different adventures. The market could expand with books containing different time periods. It sounds like fun to me.
It might be worth shopping around again. Series with rich stories and history like Dungeons and Dragons are seeing critical success with games like Baldur’s Gate 3 after years of not putting anything on the market.
Consumers are definitely hungry for a rich fantasy world, and one as grounded and complex as your Recluce would likely do amazing with the right group.
Slightly off topic, but I’ve seen others ask different questions on this forum.
The other day another author’s work came up as being “Anti Irish”. I dredged my mind about the why and the only thing I could come up with is that the Author’s world is very much patterned after England and Ireland.
Which begs to my question. Have folks ever brought that subject to you or taken what seem like more similar parallels vs direct copies and taken umbrage with your work? I think a lot would be a stretch but at the least with Imager I walked away very much feeling like Solidar was a united Europe while Ferran was the US. Yet I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone try to accuse your work of being anti US (which, let’s be clear, it’s not).
Do you see a line where having similarities crosses over into outright copy or political messaging?
In the science fiction novels The Parafaith War and The Ethos Effect, I projected the LDS culture into the far future, and I’m sure some readers weren’t pleased, but if a writer is using our real world as a starting point and trying to be honest, this is going to happen. I did the same thing in the alternate world “ghost” books, where Brigham Young actually succeeded in creating an independent Deseret. I didn’t think it was either copying or political messaging, but an honest attempt to depict how the faith would develop in a world where ghosts were overtly real. Some readers likely interpreted it as political messaging, but that was never my intent.
In my fantasy novels, however, all the systems of belief are my creations.
It’s been hinted at before that the world on which the “Angels” and Rationalists arrived was not either originally or naturally suited for human(oid) life, And instead might have been plano formed, although the definition of this and what it entails has never been given. Was it before either arrived, and if so by who? There are some hints that other crews arrived before the main story timeline began, perhaps deliberately, But this would seem to imply that they had some degree of control on whether or not they actually went there. Can you help clarify?
The world of Recluce is what it is, and I intend to leave its origin unspecified. I will say that no outsiders land there by intent. They all end up there through the unforeseen interplay of forces, usually massive, although there’s one instance of a single individual being the focus of such forces.
LEM, interested in this prototype game you mentioned. Any other details you are able share? Google comes up blank.
Depending on scale and code base, there are many ways to independently publish and/or utilize various existing platforms. There are many examples of small teams and solo developers finding great success for even niche games in recent years.
Like writing, there are certainly many more examples of failed game projects. However, I would agree with other posters that there is a desire in the market for games with well-thought and “realistic” fantasy worlds. Not only in the video game market but with board games as well.