Baldur's Gate - Origin of the Characters

[Silver]

The Beamdog blog talks to James Ohlen and Cameron Tofer about the origin of several famous characters from Baldur's Gate.

This article was originally published in Issue 2 of the Familiar.

The original Baldur's Gate companions have risen to iconic status among classic CRPG fans over the last nineteen years. The inspiration for many of these beloved companions, including Minsc, Edwin, and Xan, came from a pen-and-paper campaign that began around 1993. James Ohlen of BioWare was the DM, and the roster of players includes current giants in the RPG industry.

"I was looking to start a Forgotten Realms campaign and expand the number of players in my group," Ohlen recalls, "so I advertised at the public library and local gaming stores. The response I got was much bigger than I expected."

Cameron Tofer joined the group a few months after the game began. His character? A fierce ranger named Minsc.

"I was playing a lot of Civilization at the time and I played the Russians, and so Minsc was named after the city," Cameron Tofer, Beamdog co-founder, explains. "He was based off some horrible rolls - his Intelligence, I just fumbled that. And because I joined late I was a couple of levels behind everyone."

It was this level disparity that inspired one of the most adored animal companions of all time. "[Minsc] was knocked out in the first round of pretty much every fight," Tofer says. "When I finally levelled up enough to get a companion, that's how I got Boo."

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[Heckle]

Thanks for posting that. Very interesting read!

 

[Silver]

Thanks for posting that. Very interesting read!

It was a shame that Boo didn't get to take over sometimes in Baldur's Gate. It might have been interesting seeing a Minature Giant Space Hamster in action.

 

[Sumerisle]

A 10 /18 roll's a fumble? Uh?

Wow those guys never played a P&P RPG properly. A 10/18 INT attribute, means the character is considered "normal/average", not dumb. Fumbling is more like 3-6, that means to play a complete idiot, whereas 7-8 it's a little slow.

 

[NewDArt]

Indeed. Looking at that sheet, those are some incredible rolls if they're based on 3D6.

Even with the "roll 4D6 and remove the worst roll" rule.

Not having a single below average roll is pretty rare, in my experience.