As beloved as Astarion, Shadowheart, and Karlach are, it's hard to argue that one of the most important characters in Baldur's Gate 3 is one that we never even see - the Dungeon Master. Just like in Dungeons & Dragons, this unseen figure narrates the events of the game and watches over as your Tav goes on their adventure.
Baldur's Gate 3 only has one narrator, Amelia Tyler, right now, but Larian Studios' head Swen Vincke has revealed at the "Secrets of Baldur's Gate 3" panel at GDC 2024 that wasn't always the case. Early on in the talk, Vincke said that the team wanted to have multiple different dungeon masters in the game, with the player presumably being able to choose between them at their leisure.
That wasn't all that Vincke revealed, however. He also, somewhat jokingly, said that Larian wanted to have Matthew Mercer, a figurehead of the modern resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons thanks to his appearances on Critical Role, as a possible narrator in the game. While talking about the possibility of having multiple DMs, Vincke said, "Matt Mercer was on our minds".
In the end, Larian decided to just go with one narrator for Baldur's Gate 3 and not give the player multiple options. That seems more than fair when you consider just how many lines the dungeon master has for any one adventure, with Amelia Tyler revealing at EGX last year that she had 17 different voice variations depending on what type of character the player was. Now imagine that being spread across multiple narrators, and you can see why Larian opted for just one.
Although it's a bit of a shame for Critical Role fans that Matthew Mercer isn't there to voice and watch over our every move, he did at least end up being in the game in some capacity. As anyone who has played Baldur's Gate 3 will likely know, Mercer voices Minsc, an important and potentially recruitable character in the game.
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Source: https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-devs-wanted-multiple-dungeon-masters-narrators-game-developer-conference-gdc-2024/
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