General:Kurt Kuhlmann

Kurt Kuhlmann

Birth date	11 September
Role(s)	Designer, writer, programmer
Years active	1996–present
Alias(es)	Hasphat Antabolis Maturin
Game credits	The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Elder Scrolls: Blades

Kurt Kuhlmann is a video game designer, writer, and programmer with credits in various roles on Daggerfall, Redguard, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and Blades.

The Elder Scrolls[edit]

Kuhlmann joined Bethesda Softworks in 1996 near the end of Daggerfall's development as "the most junior designer possible", and his work on the game included exclusive quests for the CompUSA Special Edition of the game. He bonded with artist and writer Michael Kirkbride, who was hired on the same day that he was, over a shared interest in weird fiction. Kuhlmann and Kirkbride made a pitch to Todd Howard for a "pirates-on-Mars" game on which Kuhlmann had already written "scores of notes", eventually becoming Redguard with the trio as writers, while a separate team developed Battlespire. According to Kuhlmann, Kirkbride, Howard, and himself had devised the story and the game's puzzles over a few weeks. During Redguard's production, Kuhlmann and Kirkbride wrote the Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition to be shipped as a physical pamphlet with Redguard, and in doing so largely redesigned the basis of The Elder Scrolls lore. In 2010, Kuhlmann reflected that Redguard was his favorite of the games he had worked on.

"Pound for pound, [Kurt is] the best world builder I know currently working in videogames. Kurt Kuhlmann is a magician in the Victorian sense, a hybrid of scripting fool, grim Germanic game designer, and kindhearted alchemist of systems-as-settings (or is that vice versa?), with the uncanny ability to explain anything in digital entertainment by way of the Peloponnesian War."
—Michael Kirkbride

Preproduction for the next main series Elder Scrolls title, Morrowind, occurred alongside Redguard's development, and for a time Kuhlmann was the only designer officially assigned to the project. He was heavily involved in its early writing and design, working on the game's story and its "essential game systems". Morrowind's Lead Designer Ken Rolston stated that he inherited the ideas behind the game from Kuhlmann and Kirkbride—while Rolston was originally working from the notes left by Ted Peterson and Julian Lefay for a Daggerfall sequel set in Summerset Isle, Kuhlmann and Kirkbride presented him with their ideas for what would become Morrowind. Kuhlmann left Bethesda Softworks in January 1998 during Morrowind's preproduction, but in 2001 contributed 10 in-game books for the game, and he received a "Special Thanks" credit on the title for his contributions.

In 2003, Kuhlmann was convinced by Todd Howard to return for the development of Oblivion, for which Kuhlmann was chiefly responsible for the game's main questline. He then took a more prominent role as the Lead Designer of the Knights of the Nine expansion before doing quest design for Shivering Isles. For the following game, Skyrim, Kuhlmann was again in a a prominent role as the title's Co-Lead Designer. After Skyrim's release, Kuhlmann uploaded a plugin for the game, Real Carriages, presenting his work on making in-game carriages travel in real-time which was not complete in time to ship. In 2013, Kuhlmann collaborated on Michael Kirkbride's project Captain Tobias' Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless in celebration of Redguard's 15th anniversary, but while voiceover work has been recorded, the project remains unreleased.

Since joining Bethesda Softworks, Kuhlmann has occasionally posted in online Elder Scrolls forums, including in-character as Hasphat Antabolis, and he participated as that character in the forum roleplay The Trial of Vivec. With other prominent lore writers Ted Peterson and Michael Kirkbride not being permanent employees of Bethesda Softworks, Kurt Kuhlmann remains an authority on lore within the company, with Skyrim writer Shane Liesegang stating that the "bible" of The Elder Scrolls is "Kurt's brain". Kuhlmann was also a lore consultant for Greg Keyes during the writing of The Infernal City.

Outside of The Elder Scrolls[edit]

Kuhlmann studied history at Michigan State University and Duke University, originally intending to earn a Ph.D before deciding to change career paths. Interested in designing games, he applied for designer jobs until he was hired at Bethesda Softworks, relocating from North Carolina to Maryland. He had a small role on SkyNET for which he received a "Special Thanks" credit.

After leaving Bethesda Softworks in 1998, Kuhlmann was a software engineer for various companies. Just one of these was another game development company, VR1 Entertainment, with Kuhlmann reflecting that "nothing we did ever saw the light of day". During his time there, Kuhlmann contributed voiceovers to NightCaster: Defeat the Darkness, but the projects he directly worked on—a Jules Verne-inspired MMO titled Lost Continents and web-based board games Axis & Allies and Maximum Risk—did not see releases. Since returning to Bethesda Softworks, Kuhlmann has worked as a designer on Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76.

Kuhlmann is an avid fan of board wargames and Eurogames, and designed the wargames Empire, which he published in 2000 under his company Warhorse Simulations, and Epic of the Peloponnesian War in 2006. He supposed that he was originally hired as a designer for Bethesda Softworks due to his skill at designing wargames. Kuhlmann also operates ACTS, a system for playing card-based wargames by email.

In 1999, Kuhlmann and Michael Kirkbride wrote a 13-episode fanmade Star Wars television series titled Star Wars: Rebellion (also the origin of the name "Titus Mede", later reused for a character in The Elder Scrolls).

Video game credits[edit]

	Indicates The Elder Scrolls titles

Year	Title	Studio	Credit(s)
1996	SkyNET	Bethesda Softworks	Special Thanks
1996	The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall		Additional Design
1998	The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard		World Art, Design & Writing Manual Writing
2001	NightCaster: Defeat the Darkness	VR1 Entertainment	Voice Talent
2002	The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind	Bethesda Softworks	Special Thanks
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	EA Redwood Shores	Special Thanks
2006	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	Bethesda Softworks	Quest Design Additional Programming
2006	The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine		Lead Designer
2007	The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles		Quest Design
2008	Fallout 3		Quest Design & Editing
2011	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim		Co-Lead Designer
2014	The Elder Scrolls Online	ZeniMax Online Studios	Special Thanks
2015	Fallout 4	Bethesda Softworks	Quest Design & Writing
2018	Fallout 76		Systems Design
2020	The Elder Scrolls: Blades		Additional Writing