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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[Mouseferatu]

all quality RPGs that don't directly adapt D&D. I think we're doing just fine.

And many are basically D&D with just enough tweaks to 1) make sure there's something new for everyone, and 2) avoid legal issues.

I mean, I love the Dragon Age series, but let's be real. That's a D&D setting with some setting-specific rules tweaks.

(And there are some D&D-specific in-jokes/Easter eggs if you know where to look.)

 

[BookBarbarian]

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.

Indeed.

Not only is a smaller isometric Kickstarter RPG like Pillars of Eternity doing great, but a turn based multiplayer RPGs like Divinity: Original Sin is also a great game and doing very well.

The Witcher 3 blew away my expectations of what could be done in a modern single player RPG. It is both a passion project and a AAA game. Any new RPG has a high standard to live up to. Perhaps even a new high lowest common denominator.

If anything it's that kind of standard that made us look at Mass Effect: Andromeda and say "This is the game you want to put out in 2017?" Which has lead to a big rethink at Bioware/EA. And maybe lead to a designer deciding to move one (but that is pure speculation on my part).

 

[Morrus]

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.

Baldur’s Gate 2 and Planeacape: Torment were both as good, if not better.

Tastes vary of course, and there have been dozens of D&D video games since then. I loved NWN1, probably more than the BG games.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Baldur’s Gate 2 and Planeacape: Torment were both as good, if not better.

Tastes vary of course, and there have been dozens of D&D video games since then. I loved NWN1, probably more than the BG games.

I also loved NWN 1. NWN 2 fell a little flat for me, but the Mask of the Betrayer Expansion was really good.

Hard to beat that NWN 1 toolset though.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Wait, he's leaving the video game industry... for the RPG industry? That seems like a backwards move, but I'm hopefull this signals a surge in awareness and popularity for paper & pencil tabletop gaming. And not just D&D, but niche RPGs from smaller companies.

Bioware has been... messy recently and they've lost people.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

If anything it's that kind of standard that made us look at Mass Effect: Andromeda and say "This is the game you want to put out in 2017?" Which has lead to a big rethink at Bioware/EA. And maybe lead to a designer deciding to move one (but that is pure speculation on my part).

They've been losing people for a while. Of course some of that might be the usual "I've been in the industry for 22 years" turnover, but both DA:I and ME:A were (edit due to hitting return to early) grindy and showing the signs of the heavy hand of EA.

I might be one of the few people who really liked ME:A. Yes it was glitchy on release but they fixed that, the combat was really quite good, and I felt that the story and general tone were fun. I was definitely disappointed I couldn't play the DLCs they were hinting at.

Story-wise, the best game that Bioware ever did was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I replayed that recently... wow. It's still good.

 

[Mouseferatu]

They've been losing people for a while. Of course some of that might be the usual "I've been in the industry for 22 years" turnover, but both DA:I and ME:A were

Were what? You've got me curious about the missing word(s).

DA:I is an amazing game, and I've honestly never run across anyone who disliked it.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

I mean, I love the Dragon Age series, but let's be real. That's a D&D setting with some setting-specific rules tweaks.

DA:O was definitely very D&D-influenced, especially, as was DAII. It had useful adaptations to the computer environment, like out of combat healing and spell point recovery not requiring explicit rests.

A lot of video game developers seem to avoid licensed products. They're often nice about saying why, but my guess is that dealing with the license holder is often just a pain in donkey.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Were what? You've got me curious about the missing word(s).

DA:I is an amazing game, and I've honestly never run across anyone who disliked it.

Oops, I meant to say that both were a bit grindy and had the heavy hand of EA. I played the Xbox 360 version of DA:I, though, which was clearly nowhere near as good as the more up to date versions.

I really liked the combat in ME:A, but I am a very good third person shooter player. I usually need to play them on maximum difficulty to feel much challenge and I felt that ME:A's combat was really quite visceral and smooth, though I would have liked some additional adversaries. By contrast, DA:I wasn't really a 3rd person shooter. I'm not saying it should have been, but I really like feeling like I'm the one doing the attacking.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Oops, I meant to say that both were a bit grindy and had the heavy hand of EA. I played the Xbox 360 version of DA:I, though, which was clearly nowhere near as good as the more up to date versions.

Ah. Yeah, as much as I absolutely adore DA:I, I can't argue that it--that all the DA games, to some extent--can get grindy in parts.

I can't actually say what style of play I prefer, because I get 99% of my video game experience by watching Let's Plays on Youtube. For a variety of reasons, I actually can't play much myself, and often don't enjoy it when I do, but (assuming the streamer is halfway interesting) I enjoy vicariously experiencing the stories, the worlds, and especially the characters.