James Ohlen Shifts From Archetype Entertainment Head to Creative Consultant for Tabletop RPGs at Wizards

James Ohlen is "shifting his focus" to tabletop RPGs once more after choosing to step down from Archetype Entertainment ahead of the studio's release of its first game Exodus. This week, Wizards of the Coast announced the move, with Ohlen leaving his post as lead of Archetype Entertainment and Blizzard veteran Paul Della Bitta stepping in to lead Wizards' Digital Ventures arm. Ohlen joined Wizards of the Coast back in 2019 to lead up Archetype Entertainment, a new internal games studio tasked with designing AAA games based on new IPs. Their first product, Exodus, is due out for release in 2027. According to a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, Ohlen felt that his work on Exodus was complete and that the final polishing and tuning were in "great hands" with the remaining team.

What's interesting about Ohlen's departure is that he will remain employed at Wizards as a creative consultant and that he is "shifting his creative focus" to TTRPGs. Shortly after departing Bioware, Ohlen launched Arcanum Worlds, a tabletop RPG studio publishing third-party 5E material. Ohlen developed a 5E-version of Exodus for Wizards and also released several DMs Guild supplements while employed with Wizards. Whether this means that Ohlen will have a bigger role on Dungeons & Dragons material in the future or if he'll continue to release his own brand of 5E material with a soft connection to Wizards remains to be seen.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I could be wrong. I was just speculating wildly. But putting on my executive hat, the big opportunity for Hasbro isn't generating new IP, it's exploiting IP which has a built in fan base, like Magic and D&D. Who would you rather have developing BG4, random Game Studio X, or the lead designer of BG1 and BG2?

 

[bedir than]

I could be wrong. I was just speculating wildly. But putting on my executive hat, the big opportunity for Hasbro isn't generating new IP, it's exploiting IP which has a built in fan base, like Magic and D&D. Who would you rather have developing BG4, random Game Studio X, or the lead designer of BG1 and BG2?

a 25 year veteran of industry who wanted to retire to be a ttrpg designer?

I'd want him on a project he's excited about because I know he can do it. Because otherwise he says no.

The number of people who grind for 3 or more decades on that scale of a project are exceptionally small.

 

[bedir than]

More Exodus marketing

'You don't want to handcuff him': Exodus narrative director on designing a world with Peter Hamilton

The Exodus canon is being crafted with sci-fi royalty

www.polygon.com

Beyond the Archetype team, Exodus canon is being crafted by what Karpyshyn called a duo of “sci-fi giants.” Peter F. Hamilton has already published one doorstopper novel set in the universe with another planned for 2026, while Adrian Tchaikovsky wrote a series of short stories for the game’s website. Bringing legit sci-fi royalty into the fold years ahead of release has allowed Archetype to develop a rich fictional universe upon which to build a game. (Hamilton’s first Exodus novel, The Archimedes Engine, is more than 900 pages long; the two tabletop tomes collectively run 600 pages.)

“It was really a joint venture,” Karpyshyn said. “We had set some basics, and working with him, he would have ideas of his and we would work to see how they all fit together. With someone like Peter Hamilton, who's as talented and established as he is and has proven himself, you don't want to handcuff him. You want to give him a lot of freedom. And he was great to work with as far as making sure everything fit with our lore as well. So it was really a collaborative effort.”

Extensive interview with lots of art, plus the announcement of another novel. This is not being done by a company about to shut down a project or studio.

 

[Gozzy]

More Exodus marketing

'You don't want to handcuff him': Exodus narrative director on designing a world with Peter Hamilton

The Exodus canon is being crafted with sci-fi royalty

www.polygon.com

Extensive interview with lots of art, plus the announcement of another novel. This is not being done by a company about to shut down a project or studio.

I agree that the videogame is safe. My concern is the TTRPG. With Ohlen stepping away will Archetype bother? My hope is yes, because I love the setting and think the game has a lot of potential even if it is a little undercooked in its present form. I just can't help feeling nervous...

 

[Parmandur]

More Exodus marketing

'You don't want to handcuff him': Exodus narrative director on designing a world with Peter Hamilton

The Exodus canon is being crafted with sci-fi royalty

www.polygon.com

Extensive interview with lots of art, plus the announcement of another novel. This is not being done by a company about to shut down a project or studio.

Yeah, it doesn’t seem WotC is slowing down their buildup...yet still, this is a weird move and timing. But sometimes that is life.

 

[bedir than]

I agree that the videogame is safe. My concern is the TTRPG. With Ohlen stepping away will Archetype bother? My hope is yes, because I love the setting and think the game has a lot of potential even if it is a little undercooked in its present form. I just can't help feeling nervous...

Your worried they won't move forward on the TTRPG because Ohlen moved to a TTRPG role?

 

[briggart]

More Exodus marketing

'You don't want to handcuff him': Exodus narrative director on designing a world with Peter Hamilton

The Exodus canon is being crafted with sci-fi royalty

www.polygon.com

Extensive interview with lots of art, plus the announcement of another novel. This is not being done by a company about to shut down a project or studio.

Peter Hamilton's contract was for a two-part novel since the beginning, I don't think "The Helium Sea" coming out next year tells us a lot about the future of the game. BTW, I thought that the novels were set 3-400 years before the game, rather than after.

 

[Gozzy]

Your worried they won't move forward on the TTRPG because Ohlen moved to a TTRPG role?

Yup. (Probably unnecessarily!) As studio head Ohlen had the ability to get things done on the Exodus TTRPG. It might be the best possible news - Ohlen will focus on the Exodus TTRPG - but it might be that he works on the big cash cow at Wizards instead.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Peter Hamilton's contract was for a two-part novel since the beginning, I don't think "The Helium Sea" coming out next year tells us a lot about the future of the game. BTW, I thought that the novels were set 3-400 years before the game, rather than after.

Sadly the novel is pretty bad.

I actually gave up on it, which is not normal for me and Hamilton. I think the poor guy got given an absolute metric buttload of worldbuilding info and told to integrate it all, and struggled a bit because it wasn't his creation (despite a brave effort).

The worldbuilding is interesting but it's extremely dense and proper-noun-tastic. Be interesting to see if the videogame makes it a lot more digestible.

It might be the best possible news - Ohlen will focus on the Exodus TTRPG - but it might be that he works on the big cash cow at Wizards instead.

I think it's very unlikely the TTRPG will go anywhere. WotC basically shadow-dropped it, and WotC only does that with things it doesn't think are going anywhere. We might see a short-sihsourcebook when the game comes out, but I strongly imagine that unless the game is an insane careening hit, it'll probably be a fairly low print-run or digital only affair, before a long silence until any sequel to the game comes out (if one does - that'll likely depend entirely on Exodus' sales - if they're great we'll almost certainly see one - if the game is critically well-regarded but with mediocre sales I imagine they may keep the team together but change IPs, but if it's neither a sales success nor a critical one I imagine it'll be curtains for Archetype).

Also being real, I don't think anyone who likes SF TTRPGs is going to be particularly excited by the Exodus TTRPG, which is, at best, a very pedestrian and unimaginative 5E-derived affair (and there are no shortage of 5E-derived RPGs, including SF ones).

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah, it doesn’t seem WotC is slowing down their buildup...yet still, this is a weird move and timing. But sometimes that is life.

It is.

I could mean absolutely nothing beyond "videogames are tough to direct, I've had enough man!" (I think most likely) or it could be pre-emptively moving Ohlen off a ship he expects to sink (less likely I suspect).