Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II lead designer James Ohlen has opened up about the sheer amount of time he dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons in his youth.
In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Ohlen recalled DMing no fewer than three concurrent D&D campaigns at one point. “I didn’t really have much of a life outside of Dungeons & Dragons,” he said. “…Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell on the 10,000 hour rule? I think by the time I got hired by BioWare, I had done 20,000 hours of dungeon mastering,” the designer added. “It was ridiculous. I owe a lot to D&D. My friendships, my career, my mental stability.” This ultimately served Ohlen well as he began work on Baldur’s Gate, which uses D&D mechanics.
How D&D inspired Baldur’s Gate
Playing Dungeons & Dragons didn’t only give Ohlen the expertise to craft a bonafide D&D video game. When building the world, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka suggested Ohlen use his home games for inspiration. So, Ohlen did just that, utilizing his groups’ player characters and NPCs to flesh out the world. Some fan favorites from Baldur’s Gate originated from these D&D games, including Minsc and Boo.
Cam Tofer, a BioWare programmer, originally played Minsc in Ohlen’s home games when the two were teenagers. According to Ohlen, Tofer played Minsc as “as a guy who’s basically been knocked on the head too many times in fights.” These games also introduced Minsc to Boo. In one session, an NPC sold Boo to Minsc as part of a scam. Boo quickly became prominent, with Tofer playing him as Minsc’s animal companion and regularly holding private conversations with him. However, though Minsc insisted Boo was a miniature giant space hamster, Ohlen said he always saw him as “just a hamster.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.
