One-to-One 18: Dragon Age creator David Gaider

(Apologies for this episode's recording quality.)

I don't think David Gaider needs much of an introduction. He, affectionately, is mister Dragon Age. He was the one tasked with dreaming up the entire world and everything in it. We talk about it in this episode of One-to-one. BioWare's James Ohlen apparently gave Gaider a historic atlas and an "off you go".

But how did he go about creating it - where do you even start with something like that? And what did the original vision for Dragon Age look like? Well, I can tell you it didn't have any Darkspawn in it, which is wild, considering Darkspawn were the main threat in the game and featured heavily in the series thereafter. And get this: originally, you weren't going to be able to cast any offensive magic spells in the game either - imagine that!

Gaider was also a key figure in the rise of LGBTQ+ representation and same-sex relationships in BioWare games, and is the creator of arguably the studio's most famous characters in this regard, Dorian. Curiously, though, it wasn't Gaider who started the same-sex relationships push but someone else, in Jade Empire - he doesn't remember who. 'Whaaat we can do that?' He remembers thinking when he saw it, and the rest was history.

But being gay was a side of himself he kept pretty quiet at BioWare, feeling it wouldn't gel with the "frat boy" atmosphere he felt around him. It wasn't until Canada legalised same-sex marriage and a wedding email thread went around, garndering many enthusiastic replies, that he realised he'd maybe worried for no reason, and relaxed.

Gaider has had a remarkable effect on BioWare and its games. And to think that he initially turned down a job offer there because it seemed like a scruffy company with an uncertain future, compared to his managerial post at a hotel nearby. I know: he wasn't even working in games! But he did live in games, having played Dungeons & Dragons since it began and in writing parlour LARPS of his own.

BioWare and Dragon Age were quite a long time ago for Gaider now, though. He talks me through his reasons for leaving and how he felt the company was changing. Fast-forward to today and he lives on the other side of the world in Australia, where he helped co-found a studio making a brilliant-sounding role-playing musical called Stray Gods: An Adventure Musical. But how does a musical RPG work? David Gaider tells me a lot more about it.

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