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Out, Brief Candlekeep! (mod)

GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
Have you ever wondered why, for all the urgency of having to leave and the imminent threat of assassins, the main character of Baldur's Gate is at leisure to stroll across the grounds of Candlekeep, chatting, delivering bottles of cow cure, exterminating pests, even resting at the inn for days and weeks at a time if he has a notion to? Of course, the out-of-character reason for this back in the day was that the Prologue was a tutorial and only intended to teach players the controls and basic how-tos of gameplay. Nowadays, however, hardly anyone perceives it that way or needs to be instructed. Most players probably go from task to task for a little starting experience, if they do not find them too boring, before setting out at some time.

This mod brings the Prologue back in-character and makes the urgency very real. You have one hour - sixty game time minutes - to finish your business in Candlekeep and depart with Gorion; and if you do, nothing will happen. One minute longer, however, and very real killers will show up wherever you are and whatever you may be doing - pick-pocketing idle nobles, fighting illusionary monsters, listening to prophesies of Alaundo and so on. All of those activities are very nice, but other people living it out in the monastery are not in the unique situation of being on a kill list. These assassins are much more competent than the pathetic tutorial-type thugs you already know. For a 1st-level character without a party fighting them means almost certain, but not absolutely certain, death.

Most players and their characters will just have to pack it on time. If you dig your heels down and take them on, however - and defeat them - you will be treated to a little loot and some new content. Read the dialogues attentively. The most obvious reward is a new 1st-level spell, Vanishing Act, carried by one of the assassins (you will wish you had it before meeting them). If the battle turns out too difficult for your character and you end up having to run away after all, there are two other places where you can get such a scroll. One is far across a sea and another is in the home of the enemy.

Taking the assassins on single-handedly is probably too much for any character, but Candlekeep is still your home after all. Think about who might help you. In the time that you have give people a reason to intervene. It also helps to be well-liked to begin with. Of course, not everyone will lay down their lives for you even then.

In addition to all this, I took a hammer and pliers to some other things around Candlekeep. The spell Firebead Elvenhair casts on you to "protect you tonight" will really last into the fateful night, and so on.

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Comments

  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    Very interesting mod idea.

    I never thought about sticking around in the tutorial longer than a few in-game hours. This is cool for roleplaying an evil or ne’er-care type of character who doesn’t believe in Gorion’s urgency.
  • ElysianEchoesElysianEchoes Member Posts: 475
    This sounds so cool!
  • RaduzielRaduziel Member Posts: 4,714
    I confess that I want to let hell break loose to see what happens.
  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    As a side note, the best way to play this mod is with a new character starting out. But if you have a saved game in Prologue, you can start from there and the countdown will tick off. You won't be able to win people's special sympathies for helping them out, though, that requires a new game.
    ilduderino
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    edited April 2019
    did you also remove carbos and shank? (i think they should be removed)

    is the mod compatible with "remove tutors from Candlekeep"?
  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    @bob_veng Carbos and Shank are still there. No reason to touch them. I don't know the "Remove tutors" mod, so it isn't affected either way here, but if that mod simply deletes the tutors, it's going to be incompatible with my next mod, which will make them into interesting and useful NPC.
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    except for parda, other characters don't really react to carbos and shank, and by your description it seems that several will will react to the new assassins, so that seems like an inconsistency. also, don't you think that maybe your real assassins should replace the "tutorial assassins"? ...feels like a couple of assassins too many in a such a short span of time

    tutor removal is an scs component (99% sure), so might be worth taking into consideration.
  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    I want to add to the richness of the games, not detract. Let Carbos stay (it's a great name, by the way), and Shank too. They are just early-bird assassins, the first to penetrate Candlekeep. The next wave, so to speak, are my guys. As for reaction, it's not just the new assassins that NPC will react to, if you win them over, but to enemies generally. If you want to lead Carbos and Shank to them, go ahead.

    Who is the author of SCS, by the way? I've been trying to get in touch with those people for a while now.
  • ProzhProzh Member Posts: 118
    Goida wrote: »
    Who is the author of SCS
    @DavidW
  • DavidWDavidW Member Posts: 823
    Goida wrote: »
    Who is the author of SCS, by the way? I've been trying to get in touch with those people for a while now.

    I don’t think you can have been trying very hard...

    Raduzielbob_vengMantis37
  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    All right, since you are here: what do players need to do with your tutor-deleting component when my other mod comes out? Reinstall the Stratagems and choose not to install that component?
  • DavidWDavidW Member Posts: 823
    I should think so: that’s generally what to do with conceptually-incompatible mods.
  • DavidWDavidW Member Posts: 823
    DavidW wrote: »
    Goida wrote: »
    Who is the author of SCS, by the way? I've been trying to get in touch with those people for a while now.

    I don’t think you can have been trying very hard...

    Just following this up for my own curiosity: I come and go from the modding scene but have been around continuously since about August; I check PMs here and at G3 at least every few days; I check the SCS forum at G3 about as frequently; I look on these forums for SCS-related threads every week or so; the contact info in SCS’s read every and TP2 points you to the G3 forums. What were you actually doing to get in touch?

  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    @DavidW You also have too much free time on your hands.
  • DavidWDavidW Member Posts: 823
    Very possibly... though I’m still interested in the answer to the question.
  • GoidaGoida Member Posts: 118
    DavidW wrote: »
    Very possibly... though I’m still interested in the answer to the question.

    I don't doubt it, but how and in what ways I have tried and failed to reach you is not very important for this mod, is it? Please stop spamming in the thread. And notice that it was not even I who called you here. I only asked for the name of the author of SCS. I would have written you a PM and asked you my questions there. I'm going to do it now, in fact, I have another. But this place is for the discussion of my mod.
  • DavidWDavidW Member Posts: 823
    I think that confirms the answer I rather suspected; I’ll leave your thread alone hereafter.
    RaduzielIseweinAmmar
  • HenaniganHenanigan Member Posts: 38
    This mod looks great, but I wasn't able to install it until I removed the DEDCAT_# section from the tp2 file. Not sure why. I've never come across dead cats in the game if it matters.
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    I actually really like this idea, and since SCS allows you to remove the pointless tutoring monks, I feel like it fits nicely - so long as it gets along with SCS.

    I always, even from my very first run way back when the game was new, thought those monks were ridiculous.
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,512
    How EET compatible is this?
  • DjinnDjinn Member Posts: 76
    It's one of Roxanne's mods, so it's probably EET only.
  • HenaniganHenanigan Member Posts: 38
    edited December 2019
    Djinn wrote: »
    It's one of Roxanne's mods, so it's probably EET only.

    Is it?
    In any case, I'm having fun with this mod. Instead of simply leaving Candlekeep, you can do the fetch quests on a timer, aiming to get as many allies as possible before the bad guys turn up. I've been trying out various strategies.
    One thing that I didn't like is that the text is removed from the cutscene when you leave Candlekeep. I can see why you'd want to do that, as the text blob kind of obscures your avatar, but playing without sound (like I did) it looks bugged.
    I have BGEE so it's definitely not EET only. I don't know how EET compatible it is.
    Post edited by Henanigan on
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,512
    How EET compatible is this?

    How does this interact with Check the Bodies and Candlekeep Chores?
  • jasteyjastey Member Posts: 2,669
    edited December 2019
    Djinn wrote: »
    It's one of Roxanne's mods, so it's probably EET only.

    Not Roxanne. The mod is from temnix.
    If you want answers to this mod's compatibility, best you post at G3 since the author is banned here.
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