Acifer's Upcoming Mods Discussion Thread
hawkseeker20_04
Member Posts: 36
in BGII:EE Mods
Now that a thread has been created regarding @morpheus562 mods and thanks to a suggestion made by @Acifer himself a while ago, i decided to create a thread to discuss his mods that are still WIP. Here you can find some of his related links:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Acifer/home
The Gibberlings Three: https://www.gibberlings3.net/profile/10998-acifer/content/
Github: https://github.com/AciferBG
DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/aciferbg/gallery
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acifer
Unlike the morpheus thread that is a more general discussion. This thread is mostly focused on his unreleased mods that still don't count with a forum page, so try to keep the conversation relevant if you can help it. I'm saying this because i don't want this thread to overshadow the ones for the released mods, and the second reason is to have a more orderly way to discuss the upcoming mods without doing it other threads that are unaffiliated to them (Skyfire and Silverrealms' discussion pages are some of the examples, you can keep the talk about those mods in their respective discussions).
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Acifer/home
The Gibberlings Three: https://www.gibberlings3.net/profile/10998-acifer/content/
Github: https://github.com/AciferBG
DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/aciferbg/gallery
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acifer
Unlike the morpheus thread that is a more general discussion. This thread is mostly focused on his unreleased mods that still don't count with a forum page, so try to keep the conversation relevant if you can help it. I'm saying this because i don't want this thread to overshadow the ones for the released mods, and the second reason is to have a more orderly way to discuss the upcoming mods without doing it other threads that are unaffiliated to them (Skyfire and Silverrealms' discussion pages are some of the examples, you can keep the talk about those mods in their respective discussions).
0
Comments
- Unannounced Snakewood mod
- Unannounced Moonshae Isles mod
- Possibly a Chult mod
- Loretakers II & III
- Lily druid NPC
Right now I’d say it’s definitely more a matter of months than weeks. I’m still in the process of moving everything to my new Windows 11 PC and getting it all up and running again.
So if you’re planning your next playthrough soon, it might be better not to wait - but I promise I’m working steadily, and I hope the wait will be worth it!
You could tie it to a merchant fleet or something along those lines, that got wrecked during a scuffle of two krakens, later you'll learn that this was far from being the first time that this happened and the kraken who caused it was rather small but compensates it with some impressive intelligence (epic foreshadowing), and in the chest inside the wreckage you find a book, and by reading it you learn that the crew members of the ship were actually members of the Black Skull Clan, a community of sailors, former slaves and pirates hailing from the island of Nemessor. Realizing that this could affect the trading of goods and many passing ships that sail through The Race, you part to the island for more information and you can appeal to the clan's good will by avenging their fallen comrades and getting rid of this conflict once and for all, and even though some of them are pirates, this problem started to get way out hand, so this is everybody's problem.
While you are exploring the island, you discover some caved in dwarvish caves that go back to the golden age of Shanatar and only the gods know for how long they have been collapsed, and also the island seatower (Just like the one in Irphong, but thankfully this one has it's Continual Light spell still active. Maybe this is what encourages a lot ships to still pass through the channel). When you enter the tower, you discover that someone made this lighthouse their home, but they are long gone. In the basement you discover a custom made contraption that was created by the former occupant, and it opens a secret room (something like the Necromancer's lab under the Blighted Village in BG3) in which you find notes that tell of a secret network of trading in the Underdark... This is starting to get interesting. And by analyzing that room you learn that this whole scheme centers into a small yet dank and sinister place, The City of Pools, Sloopdilmonpolop...
At this point, i can't decide how the access to the city could be. Either there's a collapsed wall in the secret room, or you can finish a strange contraption that our unknown occupant was making to get rid of the rubble that is covering the collapsed dwarven tunnels.
And hell, maybe you already included Sloopdilmonpolop in Silverrealms. But you can't deny that this is a pretty decent idea that you could use to fuel your inspiration. Maybe it could be a Dark Tidings II, but who knows.
One connection could be, unsurprisingly ... to the ships! Pirates. Undead pirates. Or anything that may have also benefitted from the ship wrecks, perhaps some kraken-like monster. Or some necromancers who likes to have an undead army that goes ARGGH!.
Or, it could be more of a storyline connection (or, across several mods). For instance, one connection to the lost goddess could be indirect - a merchant rich with treasures sadly got sunk before it could reach the lighthouse tower or so. But how do dive down? This may require some magic, potions or perhaps also a godly task, given by a representative. (I don't recall offhand which deity would be related to mischief, deceit, treachery in Faerun ... perhaps Leira: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Leira - it has been literally several decades since I last read e. g. Drizzt novels or something like that).
Or a connection to the mad dog I mean mad god. Also some supply to the dwarves (could have been treasure but THEN THE PLOT TWIST IS THAT IT WAS JUST ... a lot of exotic beer). Or more "volunteers" for the dark activities related to the mad dog (don't want to reveal too much here). It could be some conditional mod ... "if player solved dark tidings I, SUDDENLY NEW PROBLEMS EMERGE AT THAT DAMN LIGHTHOUSE AGAIN". Well these are just fragments of ideas, evidently that needs some more and better ideas to link it together.
Also, a random idea I had - Acifer creates mostly fairly large mods, give or take. One thing I like about Lava's mods is that, most of them being fairly small, meaning they can be quite easily integrated into a regular gameplaythrough run. Perhaps that may also "fit" in, if any new mods, should they happen, could also be smaller in scope. Nothing against epicness, of course, but small also can be beautiful. It (small mods) give(s) a lot of flexibility for playing the game.
And thank you for opening this thread @hawkseeker20_04 !
Incidentally, the next mod will be a smaller one, too, like Dark Tidings or Loretakers 1. After I have finished the two largest projects Silverrealms and Skyfire, I’ll finally be able to turn some of the smaller ideas into reality - hopefully without too much delay.
Thank you!
Thinking about it, it would be fun to do some really small mods that don't take years to finish...
Yes, I currently have three NPCs in development that I work on whenever I get the chance.
Firstly, the halfling druid named Lilly, whom I already mentioned.
In addition, two more:
Bella Mirrorshade
Female gnome, Illusionist / Thief
Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, Dart
Bella is the daughter of Bentley and Gellana Mirrorshade, former adventurers who hung up their swords when Gellana became pregnant, choosing instead to devote their lives to raising their child. They purchased an old, crumbling fortress, restored it into a welcoming roadside inn, and settled down shortly before Bella was born in 1347 DR. The Friendly Arm Inn became a popular stop for merchants traveling from Baldur’s Gate toward the south or heading north to the great cities of the Sword Coast.
Bella spent her entire life at the Friendly Arm Inn, listening to the stories told by visitors from faraway lands in the common room. She served drinks to her parents’ guests, won more than a few coins from warriors at the dartboard, and watched closely as her father identified magical items for passing adventurers or exposed the occasional illusion of a would-be trickster.
Secretly, ever since childhood, she has dreamed of going out on adventures herself one day.
Bentley and Gellana love their only daughter more than anything and try to keep her life on a safe, steady course under Gellana’s watchful eye.
Bella, however, is simply waiting for the right moment to pack her things and set out along the same paths her family once walked, even though she knows that telling her parents of her decision will break their loving hearts.
For Bella, I’ve already completed the introductory quest in which she defeats a few mercenaries at the dartboard in the tavern.
Rollo, the luckless cleric of Tymora
Everything Rollo touches goes awry. He sees this as a trial from his goddess and endures it with iron calm. You find him in Nashkel, stuck in a well and soaked to the bone, after he fell in while trying to fish out a coin. As thanks for rescuing him, he joins your party.
He first found his way to Tymora when he once caught a fish that had a beautiful ring inside it, bearing the visage of the goddess of luck. He is on his way to the temple of Tymora in Baldur’s Gate, planning to make a stop at the Belching Dragon in Nashkel - and that is where, well, he fell into the well. He often borrows money from the player in taverns, as he enjoys gambling but unfortunately tends to lose.
I’ve already finished the quest for rescuing him from the well; everything else is still in progress. This NPC is based on a pen-and-paper character I once created, but sadly I couldn’t join the D&D session at the time due to scheduling issues - so now I’m turning him into an NPC.
I work on these NPCs from time to time and already enjoy having them along in my own playthroughs, but my priority for now is finishing my next quest mods. If only I had more time for modding...
I would be eager to try them out if you‘re in search of beta testers sometime.
Well, not everyone can be lucky. Some may be unlucky! And attract lots of unwanted attention.
Just the reverse of gnomes, right? They are very lucky usually. Like Jan just finding a treasure
the other day in a pirate cave ... not that anyone would ever do something unlucky to him,
such a turn him into a lich to scare his family! Or, unlucky as in ... getting captured by pirates
to then end up at a certain lighthouse tower ...
(Also if anyone ever wants to do some pirate-mod, there really has to be a colourful parrot
as the main character - green, red, perhaps a bit of blue or yellow in colours.)
Dude if we were to lose you to the modding scene with all this in the pipeline it would be a genuine tragedy.
The upper one (Gem District) has a lot of potential for content, there is the Dome of the Rose temple, the surprisingly cheap but trusty Adamantine Mug inn, the merchant houses, and it's sewers that are guarded by the "Ghost Patrol" (Not making it up, that's how they're called). And it can serve as a good place to sell the treasures you encounter on your adventures. And the area of the south (A part of the Central District) which i know that there's already the Waukeen's Promenade and there's not a lot of information about the Central District apart from the promenade, there's still can be a little addition with the Silverale Hall, with it's owner being a priest of the lesser deity of Milil and disgraced bard Hansil Ynnilross. And one of the employees was a spymaster from the Shadow Thieves called Oryal Forestal, which she could serve as a quest-giver for more morally flexible adventurers. I know that this might be a very hard undertaking after being burned out of making these gargantuan mods, but you can't deny the potential of it, we just hope you are doing physically and psychologically well.
Coincidentally, I worked on an area for Athkatla, the Wave district, quite some time ago. I tried to create the Temple of Selune, but I haven't gotten very far yet. The idea is still there, though, so it's good that you brought it up. At the time, I thought this could ease the problem of Athkatla being totally overcrowded with NPCs. I had also started working on an area to represent the tavern “The Battlescarred Bard” in the floodplains, just as a waypoint. But, like I said, it’s all still very vague.
Athkatla is kind of a mess with it being the location that diverges the most from canon (together with Suldanessalar which should have been a wild/wood elf town not a sun/moon elf one); e.g. the Temple district is a misnomer in the actual lore. (with the Cowled Wizards being so different and the game so much more popular than statblooks about Amn that by the end they soft retconed to BG2's status quo). I think cities are just a mess to make; too many NPCs required and you need to give them something to do instead of just standing around for the mod to feel alive. Plus good urban questing depends heavily on very high quality writing that is really hard to manage while lacking the spectacle of fancy monsters. That said, I'd love to see Acifer's area art for something like the Gem District.
Well, most of the whole game is away from "canon", e. g. default lore in many ways. I don't
think 1:1 mapped accuracy is achievable or necessarily wanted. The content of the game
largely served to tell the main storyline of the Bhaalspawn. A lot of it is rather contrived.
Many quests also don't align well with the background world either, but I always felt that
having fun while playing the game is more important than adhering to the fullest.
Even cities change over time; see Dragonlance, various cities were controlled by different
factions, some cities were sieged down successfully and then had new owners, in some
cases dragons disguised as a human.
For game lore and Athkatla:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Athkatla
This one I liked.
Anyone who has energy and motivation could always add a bit of the main lore. For
instance, Merchant Families: Chainstone Crimmor Hardsharn - one could be picked
and integrated better into the city. Or more city gates: "The city had six outer gates".
I think we see only one or two or so (southern edge has one right; the only "official"
one in regards to the game I recall offhand is the one in the middle-right).
Or: "Julkoon Gate (D6)" Located a few blocks south from Waukeen's Promenade in
the Center District. - guess the main map there could be changed a bit to make it
more clear that there is a gate; or a small extra-area, similar to the main gate to
the middle-right place.
Or small inns:
"Silverale Hall (D6): This inn, tavern, and festhall was one of the oldest in the
whole city."
Some areas I think are missing such as Gem District? Guards District? River
District? But by and large I don't think it is that bad. Although it would be
quite nice if any future modders could think about also expanding Athkatla
when designing a new mod. It is probably a lot of work though.