How to Become an RPG Expert? Baldur's Gate Dev Needed 'Only' 20,000 Hours of Playing D&D
Baldur's Gate developer admitted that he spent about 20,000 hours in D&D sessions. This enabled him to become an RPG expert and had a good effect on his psyche.
Many game developers are truly passionate, and James Ohlen, one of the people responsible for creating the Baldur's Gate brand, is a prime example of this, as evidenced by a recent interview. The former designer and writer at BioWare, whose credits include the first two installments of the series, admitted that he owes his career, and more, to the numerous and long Dungeons & Dragons sessions.
"I owe my friendships, career and mental health to D&D," he said.
In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun James Ohlen told the story that in the past he worked in a comic book store and at the time ran three sessions of D&D, the classic tabletop RPG. The artist was so fascinated by this type of entertainment that, as he admitted, he spent about 20,000 hours in it, which enabled him to become an expert in the field of role-playing games. One of the players taking part in these sessions was another enthusiast - Cam Tofer, a programmer at BioWare at the time, who helped Ohlen get a job at the studio. In an interview, the artist admitted:
"I believe that at the time I was hired at BioWare, I had spend around 20,000 hours in D&D. I owe a lot to that - my friendships, my career and my mental health," said Ohlen
Ohlen worked at BioWare as a designer and writer. He was also the lead designer of KOTOR, but this was his last contact with the Star Wars universe in video games. His collaboration with Tofer resulted in a memorable character named Minsc, who eventually appeared in every installment of Baldur's Gate, including the latest one that Larian Studios worked on. Interestingly, it was Tofer himself who played this character during the D&D sessions, and you can see his character sheet from those days here.
James Ohlen left BioWare in 2018, which he announced via Twitter. As he admitted, he wanted to relax a bit and work on a smaller, more personal project. That work turned out to be the book Oddysey of the Dragonlords, inspired by Dungeons & Dragons.
