Trent Oster Interview on BG, NWN, KotOR, Dragon Age & Beamdog

JuliusBorisov

Trent Oster talked to USgamer on a bunch of topics, from the early days of BioWare to Beamdog.

Check it out!

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/reflections-on-the-early-days-of-bioware-co-founder-trent-oster

sarevok57

Those releases are only "step two" in Oster's plan for Beamdog. In addition to the recent release of Axis & Allies 1942 Online, based on the classic board game, Beamdog will likely take its expertise and work on a new RPG.

"We've got that whole team working on the console stuff. When the consoles are done, they are going to build something. What it is, I'm not sure yet. But we've been elbows deep in some of the best western RPGS for the last eight or nine years. That's just been training. It's been building up our skills. Now that we've been that far into the DNA of RPGs, I think we're going to do something RPG," he admits.

so beamdog might actually make their own game? that would be interesting, im curious to see what it is going to be like

Zaxares

Agreed! I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be D&D based due to licensing issues, but still, I'd be interested to see what they come up with!

ThacoBell

Whatever they make, I hope its their own IP. A lot of SoD's weaker areas were due to ip and interquel cosntraints. I need to see Beamdog really flex their crativity without another company holding them back.

kanisatha

Zaxares wrote: »

Agreed! I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be D&D based due to licensing issues, but still, I'd be interested to see what they come up with!

It better not be D&D because if it is then we will never get to see it. The whole cancellation of the Planescape game has left a very bitter taste in me. I love the Forgotten Realms and want so much to see new games set in it. But given how WotC has been behaving in the past few years, even after new leadership took it over and promised very loudly that they had heard the fans and have turned over a new leaf, I just don't have it in me anymore to care for anything WotC-related. I've just ended up betrayed far too often and can never trust them ever again.

megamike15

i;m not the biggest fan of the post 3rd edition lore in general. it pretty much negates alot of the stuff from the games by bringing the dead three back. and it removes alot of the stuff i liked from 2nd and 3rd ed lore.

Kamigoroshi

Who needs D&D anymore (or D20 OGL for that matter) if studios could just as well pick up Pathfinder/Starfinder, Numenera, Trudvang Chronicles or even The Dark Eye? The tabletop ocean is vast and has possibilities granting far more creative freedom than WotC is ever willing to give.

kanisatha

Kamigoroshi wrote: »

Who needs D&D anymore (or D20 OGL for that matter) if studios could just as well pick up Pathfinder/Starfinder, Numenera, Trudvang Chronicles or even The Dark Eye? The tabletop ocean is vast and has possibilities granting far more creative freedom than WotC is ever willing to give.

Yup, and especially since even in its current iteration D&D rules and mechanics and systems are not the best and leave a lot to be desired. One can do better.

kanisatha

It would be really awesome if there were something like the D&D OGL but for the settings rather than the rules, so that a studio could use, say, the Realms (or Darksun or Eberron or whatever) but without using D&D rules.

Kamigoroshi

kanisatha wrote: »

It would be really awesome if there were something like the D&D OGL but for the settings rather than the rules, so that a studio could use, say, the Realms (or Darksun or Eberron or whatever) but without using D&D rules.

That's kinda doable. (Though a "full" license rather than the way cheaper OGL one should be required for this.)

While not WotC related, we saw pretty much the exact same circumstances happening. Twice even: Daedalic Entertainment of Deponia fame received The Dark Eye license from Ulisses Spiele and then proceeded in making both Chains of Satinav and Memoria. But instead of using the appropriate TDE PnP ruleset the folks over at Daedalic made (very successful) Point-and-Click adventure games out of them.

Then again... in contrast to the way more combat-focused D&D, TDE excels in its story telling. Many hardcore fans of tabletop TDE even found Drakensang to be too combat heavy. Which is probably one of the reasons of why Chains of Satinav and Memoria were so well received in the first place.

kanisatha

Kamigoroshi wrote: »

kanisatha wrote: »

It would be really awesome if there were something like the D&D OGL but for the settings rather than the rules, so that a studio could use, say, the Realms (or Darksun or Eberron or whatever) but without using D&D rules.

That's kinda doable. (Though a "full" license rather than the way cheaper OGL one should be required for this.)

While not WotC related, we saw pretty much the exact same circumstances happening. Twice even: Daedalic Entertainment of Deponia fame received The Dark Eye license from Ulisses Spiele and then proceeded in making both Chains of Satinav and Memoria. But instead of using the appropriate TDE PnP ruleset the folks over at Daedalic made (very successful) Point-and-Click adventure games out of them.

Then again... in contrast to the way more combat-focused D&D, TDE excels in its story telling. Many hardcore fans of tabletop TDE even found Drakensang to be too combat heavy. Which is probably one of the reasons of why Chains of Satinav and Memoria were so well received in the first place.

Oh I'm sure it is absolutely doable, from both legal and practical standpoints. It's a question of whether WotC would be open to it, which I strongly feel is a 'no' given that it is precisely their settings that they seem to hold on to the most tightly and possessively.

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