More than 800 days of pure time as a Dungeon Master had one of the developers of Baldur’s Gate. He has basically lived for Dungeons & Dragons.
All games in the “Baldur’s Gate” series are extremely popular – especially now with the release of Baldur’s Gate 3. This is not only due to the great quest design, but especially also to the numerous characters that you quickly grow fond of – or in the case of villains, deeply hate. The fact that many of these characters are so well thought out is the result of a lot of work. Over 20,000 hours, to be precise.
Because one of the leading authors of Baldur’s Gate had basically lived solely for Dungeons & Dragons back then.
Who is it about? We’re talking about James Ohlen, who worked for BioWare for a full 22 years before leaving the studio. In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, he spoke about his past – and it makes it clear how much love and passion he had for good stories and storytelling.
There is significantly more about Baldur’s Gate 3 in this video from GameStar:
What did Ohlen do? Before he found his way to BioWare, he had already had quite a career – namely as a Dungeon Master for Pen&Paper adventures in Dungeons & Dragons. He had already logged a whopping 20,000 hours as a Dungeon Master – which corresponds to 833 days, or more than two years.
“I had virtually no life outside of Dungeons & Dragons,” Ohlen says about it.
He even goes further and states: “I owe D&D so much. My friendships, my career, and my mental stability.”
Which characters are we talking about? One example is Minsc. You can even encounter him again in Baldur’s Gate 3, in the third act. He is there because, not being the brightest, he has become a pawn of forces that have exploited him. However, by his side is Boo, the “miniature giant space hamster,” with whom Minsc frequently has conversations. He also seems to be the only one who understands the hamster – even “talking to animals” gets no meaningful responses here.
Minsc and Boo are both characters originally from a Pen&Paper adventure that was run by Ohlen. In the Pen&Paper, a merchant had sold Minsc the little Boo – even though it was actually a scam, since the hamster had none of the traits attributed to him. In Baldur’s Gate, however, it is not so clear what the deal with the hamster is.
How many hours have you logged as a Dungeon Master? Or have you only been a player so far?
More about the space hamster Boo, whom you can even throw into battle: Each companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 has a unique line for when they have to throw a space hamster
