Baldur's Gate Designer Leaves Bioware To Form D&D Publishing Company

James Ohlen was one of the architects of the 1990s' Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II video games, along with other classic CRPGs. He has been working for BioWare for over 22 years, but now he's leaving to publish D&D adventures with his new company, Arcanum Worlds and their first hardcover sourcebook, the Ancient Greek themed Odyssey of the Dragonlords.

He's not alone, either. He's joined by Jesse Sky (Star Wars: The Old Republic). Their website announced their first project, "... a hardcover sourcebook for the fifth edition of the world's greatest roleplaying game. This epic adventure is set in a fantasy world inspired by Ancient Greek mythology."

Ohlen announced this new venture in a series of tweets.

"After 22 years I have retired from BioWare. I've loved my time with Anthem, Star Wars, Dragon Age and Dungeons and Dragons. But I need to take a break from the industry and work on something a little smaller and more personal.. The most fun I've ever had at BioWare was as the lead designer on Baldur's Gate 1+2 and NWN. I've been a D&D fanatic since I was 10 years old and I want to be a part of it again. Please visit http://www.arcanumworlds.com to see what I'm talking about.

The first book I'm working on is called Odyssey of the Dragonlords. I'm working on it with another former Creative Director from BioWare - Jesse Sky. Plus a mystery writer that I've worked with before."

Game Informer says that BioWare's founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, originally heard of Ohlen when he was running a comic book store and running two legendary D&D campaigns so popular that they had waiting lists.

Ohlen's credits include Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate I & II, Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Jesse Sky worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic, along with threeexpansions.

And who's this mystery writer? They say "We're excited to be working with one of our good friends, a very talented author who lives here in Austin, TX. Stay tuned - we will be announcing his name at a later date!"

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[bedir than]

I actually really want to move.

Not because of the city itself; I love the city. I just can't handle this climate anymore. I would kill to move to the PNW.

Kill a rich person and take their money. It's about the only way to afford to live up here.

 

[CapnZapp]

Wait, he's leaving the video game industry... for the RPG industry?

When money is no longer your main motivator, strange things do happen

 

[CapnZapp]

He must have decided he hates money.

He probably likes moneys well enough; only he decided he had enough of them.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Kill a rich person and take their money. It's about the only way to afford to live up here.

Trust me, if I could figure out how to make it work and get away with it, I have a list...

 

[CapnZapp]

...because?

Why not?

 

[trancejeremy]

I just hope he has a lot of money saved up. Or uses Kickstarter.

 

[Jhaelen]

He may see the writing on the wall regarding Bioware, which as mentioned above REALLY hasn't been the same since EA bought them. If Anthem winds up crashing and burning (and what I've seen of it does NOT look promising), it's pretty much the end for them.

I'm so glad you showed up here to make this post. Otherwise I'd have had to crack a joke about that

As someone working in the software industry myself, I can definitely sympathize with his decision. A couple of years ago I also came up with the idea to turn one of my computer game concepts into a board game instead. Ambitious computer games require large teams of specialists to work for years until their game is ready to be released. It requires much fewer resources to do the same thing in the world of pen & paper.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm so glad you showed up here to make this post. Otherwise I'd have had to crack a joke about that

As someone working in the software industry myself, I can definitely sympathize with his decision. A couple of years ago I also came up with the idea to turn one of my computer game concepts into a board game instead. Ambitious computer games require large teams of specialists to work for years until their game is ready to be released. It requires much fewer resources to do the same thing in the world of pen & paper.

Which basically means only lowest common denominator computer games get made. It's what, 25 years since Baldur's Gate was published? And in all that time no one has managed to make a better translation of D&D to the digital medium.

I think we have reached the point of computer game saturation, and getting out is a good idea.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Which basically means only lowest common denominator computer games get made. It's what, 25 years since Baldur's Gate was published? And in all that time no one has managed to make a better translation of D&D to the digital medium.

I think we have reached the point of computer game saturation, and getting out is a good idea.

That's a really shortsighted way of looking at it. Sure, quality D&D translations have been few and far between since, but in that time there have been more than enough quality computer RPGs that don't adapt D&D directly. A lot of which have developed their own systems that, quite bluntly, work better for their games than adapting D&D ever would.

The Witcher series, Pillars of Eternity series, Divinity: Original Sin series, Dragon Age: Origins ... all quality RPGs that don't directly adapt D&D. I think we're doing just fine.

 

[Ymdar]

Ancient Greek themed Odyssey of the Dragonlords.

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So incest and polymorph induced offsprings then?​