I am currently playing it again in a new run; this time it seems to go smoother. For instance, I was able to solve the quest with that female halfling and her missing relative. Next came the dog quest. The interesting (to me) thing is that I never noticed that female halfling before. Is the order of quests random? At any rate, I'll keep a closer eye on what is going to happen next, so that I can give more feedback. I think the thing that confused me the most is the step-wise progression. In other mods we often have more hints along the way; for the quest with the female halfling that was all fine, the only confusing part to me is that I have not seen this quest yet (but it could be new perhaps, so I then may not have missed it when it was not written yet).
Hello! Yes, this quest was added in the latest update, it wasn't there before.
Quests now start sequentially one after another - this is done the same way as in other strongholds (for example, episodes with the majordomo in Nalia's castle also go in turn).
I have kind of had about three quests or subplots happen: the father-daughter one,
the dog and the pirates (I think). And the one in the cellar also did one mission
and is now sleepy after having eaten a lot.
When I talk to the second-in-command, he talks about a nanny having a boy who sees
ghosts. This continues even after many days of waiting and in-game time passed
too. So it seems to have stalled here.
A problem I have is that nothing seems to "progress". Perhaps I need to do something
else but it is not clear to me. Is it possible to add more details to the steps in
between the ~first three subquests or whatever these are, and whatever comes afterwards?
There is a second, smaller problem I see. I can not easily tell which comments can
be investigated by the player. The other detectives talk about things such as graffiti
and what not; I guess these are not player-runnable.
By the way, I also had a small idea. We could perhaps rescue a small boy or find him,
and then recruit him. This could then kind of be a messenger, a bit like Delon or what
was the name (for Umar Hills). The idea could be that this NPC (he may be in the kitchen
next to Mary or Anne or whatever was the name) could find the party and notify them
of news.
Perhaps some of the plot continues past chapter 6 - I have not yet entered chapter 6,
still solving other mods quests right now.
Anyway, TL;DR - I think it may be useful to have a look in particular at the second-in-command
NPC, and see which transition paths could be more clear. (I understand that he can not
have in-game knowledge about quests that are about to happen in the future, as that has
not happened yet, but perhaps he could have more content to say or something like that,
as right now I am not quite sure what can still happen. It is usually easier to know
once one has solved the quests in a mod; right now I guess I am missing some of them. The
idea of a detective guild is, by the way, really good - lots of small things could be
added in the future too! There could even be a raiding party, e. g. "if siding with
evil, have thieves attack" or "if siding with good, have vampires etc... attack" or something
like that.)
I hope this feedback is a bit more useful - I am struggling in the ~middle transition parts,
that is not quite sure what to do next.
Thank you very much for your feedback! Our idea was to create the impression of a real small company - and one that would "live its own life" and would not require constant player participation (the game already has an excessive focus on the protagonist, in my opinion, and I wanted to get away from this), so the manager asks the player to help not in every case, but only in a few. The player's task is to save the guild itself, hire employees for it, after which they will do their job, and the player will be asked for help only in those cases when it is required. If the player, as the head of the guild, completed all the quests on his own, it would be unclear why the guild as an organization is needed and what the employees receive a salary for
I can not easily tell which comments can
be investigated by the player..
As I wrote earlier, this is very easy to determine - all the quests that the player can complete independently or at least track their completion are marked in the journal as active quests. All other phrases from the "news" are an analogue of rumors from taverns, which are not currently active quests.
Judging by what you write, there are no problems, everything is developing exactly as planned. The guild has tasks that hired detectives solve on their own, and there are 3-4 quests where they also ask the player himself as the head of the guild to help. You have completed these quests and episodes, everything is fine. There is still the quest "Honey Gambit" about two gnome merchants - you mentioned that it appeared in your last playthrough. Also in the Maevar's guild, you can help the wounded orc and then invite her to settle in the detective guild, if you want, to then see the "consequences" of this kindness.
In the ToB (in Amketran) there will also be one small humorous episode, where the bugbear will send you a letter and tell you about the guild's affairs.
Thus, you have successfully completed the quests that are currently available. After this, the guild will continue to generate income, like other strongholds. But there will be no new quests. We planned to make more of them, but the mod was not fully implemented, so for now this is all that is there. We'll think about your idea about a boy, thank you!
When I talk to the second-in-command, he talks about a nanny having a boy who sees
ghosts. This continues even after many days of waiting and in-game time passed
too. So it seems to have stalled here.
Does he say this phrase every time you start a dialogue? It should appear randomly, i.e. be replaced by other rumor phrases.
Does install order matter for the cross-mod content? I installed this mod before the BG1NPCs-in-BG2 mod (since I believe that quests are supposed to precede NPC mods). Is this a problem?
Thanks!
I also installed "The Beaurin Legacy" mod before the Detective Guild mod.
If the Detective Guild mod should be installed *after* the BG1NPC and Beaurin Legacy mods, please let me know. I'd like to see the cross-mod content, so I'd likely reinstall everything and start over.
Thanks!
(ETA: I should've written that I installed the "Beaurin Legacy mod after the Detective Guild mod -- i.e., all the NPC mods were installed after the DC mod.)
I also installed "The Beaurin Legacy" mod before the Detective Guild mod.
If the Detective Guild mod should be installed *after* the BG1NPC and Beaurin Legacy mods, please let me know. I'd like to see the cross-mod content, so I'd likely reinstall everything and start over.
Thanks!
If the "Guild" mod is installed after these NPC mods, the game will not display cross-mod interjections from these NPCs upon first entering the guild, and the dialogue with Smiling Imp's Xzar in the guild building will be skipped. This will not affect the gameplay and will not be a problem, but if you want to see as many cross-mod NPC reactions as possible, it's best to install the Guild mod after the NPC mods.
May I suggest that the proper install order for the "Detective Guild" mod -- namely, that it should be installed after all NPC mods -- be included in the "Read Me"?
Hello, I'm just about to start a BG2EE installation, and the last few messages are a bit confusing, about install order. Can anyone clarify, does the Detective Guild mod need to be installed BEFORE or AFTER NPC mods for maximum crossmod content? Usually, we install the quest mods before NPC mods. Thanks for any insights!
Edit: the Readme in my version (1.5.1) says nothing about installation order.
@Thrasymachus thank you so much for the clarification. I knew about BG1NPCS, but good to know about the others. Sort of counter-intuitive. I want to maximize NPC comments and crossmod content.
I also already installed the Expanded Thief Keep, hope it doesn't conflict too much.
Numa mentioned something about two other guilds - Scavengers and Sharpeners - was it just talk or is it a spoiler about other great mods in future? xD
Hi, Gniady.
It’s nothing major - just a small addition to enrich the game’s lore. In my view, guilds like these would feel quite natural in the Slums District. There are no quests related to these guilds, nor are the guilds themselves present on the location area - only mentions of them exist.
A brief dispatch from the digital trenches: after a gruelling campaign of retouching, applying filters, and running the art through AI upscalers (first one neural network, then another), I have emerged victorious with three serviceable portraits of hired detectives. These images align with the character concepts for the NPCs and, I dare hope, the guild’s atmosphere as a whole
You can install them manually with Near Infinity - even in the middle of your current game. If you have Infinity UI installed, I’d recommend using two large portraits (210×330) for the NPC instead of a combination of large and medium - that way the portraits stay sharp and clear (no blurring).
Of those three I like the first one the most, though he looked a bit like a
pirate.
The third one is also quite ok-ish; one could assume a young boy looking
for information or so, aka gathering information from the streets.
The second one looks a bit odd though. At first I thought it was like a
gnome or halfling. It also seems a bit similar to the third one. How long
does it take to generate a portrait? Could the input, for instance, generate
a proper gnome? I assume it must be more than just the portrait if
a smaller image is also used for the dialogue?
Of those three I like the first one the most, though he looked a bit like a
pirate.
The second one looks a bit odd though. At first I thought it was like a gnome or halfling. How long does it take to generate a portrait? Could the input, for instance, generate a proper gnome? I assume it must be more than just the portrait if a smaller image is also used for the dialogue?
Maybe his great‑grandma had a little elfish crush - who knows?
How long does it take to generate a portrait? Could the input, for instance, generate a proper gnome?
It took me about an hour to create one portrait - not bad, considering my Photoshop skills that could politely be described as “still learning”. But the real time‑eaters are retouching (which never seems to end) and filter hunting. Portraits of gnomes I haven’t created, unfortunately.
- Added portraits for hired detectives in the guild
- Additional descriptions for items in the building's basement
- Additional dialogue line for Nordic when first inspecting the guild
- Added a useful potion to the former guild leader's desk (available after solving a riddle)
- Fixed typos in the Chinese translation
Hello, I think I have completed all of the available quests in this mod, except the orc woman I saved in Mae'Var's guild did not come to join me at the Detective Guild. Does that happen much later, like Chapter 6?
Not sure if it makes any difference, but I killed Mae'Var first, and then worked my way upstairs and found her, told her Mae'Var was already dead. She was happy, and left. Should I have rescued her first and then taken on Mae'Var?
Spent a few hours "tinkering" with AI, trying to crunch the numbers on my party and guild logistics. Games usually just gloss over this stuff, but I’ve always thought a detailed budget layout does wonders for immersion and realism. Please note that this is just a part of the expenses - wages and revenue are a project for another day when I feel like diving back in.
The goal was basically to map out a combined budget for my main squad and the detective guild in all its glory Here’s what I came up with - figured I’d share.
*It’s probably best to treat this budget breakdown as apocrypha or bonus lore since barely one percent of it actually made it into the mod in one way or another. That being said, the detective guild stronghold has a fully functioning in-game economy, at least as far as Baldur's Gate 2 allows for it, meaning the protagonist generates passive income from it and gets paid for completing its quests.
So, I actually crunched the numbers and realized I’m babysitting 27 souls under my direct and indirect command, assuming the revenant even has a soul to begin with, of course . Heck, at this point I might as well throw Wilson into the mix since this whole crew is already a total traveling circus 🎪
🧱 SECTION I: Fixed Maintenance & Guild Utilities (Monthly)
The bare essentials to keep the guild building in the Slums from rotting away and to stop Ann-Marie from using her ladle to start a bloody mutiny.
• Guild Land Lease: 55.5 gp (a share of the annual 667 gp).
The Council of Six tax gets paid strictly on time.
• Heating & Hearth (Firewood & Coal): 12.0 gp.
The fireplace in the main hall keeps things cozy, and Ann-Marie’s kitchen stove never cools down. Nordic [🐻] absolutely loathes drafts, while Jimothy [the Raccoon] loves to warm his belly near the dying embers.
• Lighting & Insulation: 8.0 gp.
The Slums are a dark place. Edwin might deign to illuminate his own laboratory with magical light, but he will absolutely look down his nose at the rest of the guild, leaving his guildmates and the dreary rooms where they break their backs entirely in the dark. Lamp oil and wax candles vanish by the crate, especially when detectives Billy, Willy, and Dilly [🔍] are busy drafting reports past midnight. This also covers heavy-duty weatherproofing mastic to seal the window frames, otherwise Amn's winter downpours will flood the place through the cracks.
• Sanitation & Upkeep: 3.0 gp.
Soap and lye for scrubbing cauldrons and heaps of dishes. This also includes gloves to save the cook's hands, stiff brushes, chimney sweep fees, and a steady supply of fresh sawdust for Maddie the Fox [🦊] and Jimothy the raccoon's litter boxes, plus some fresh bedding for the canary. Without this, the headquarters would lose its fantasy vibe and start smelling like a cheap traveling zoo.
🌾 SECTION II: Rations, Water & Subsistence (Monthly)
Numa budgeted for 25 human rations a day to account for Nordic and Jimothy's massive appetites, bringing the total to a whopping 28.7 kg of food daily. The guild’s gold is instantly converted into loyalty, full bellies, and security, making up one-third of its total expenses.
• Groceries & Grains (450 kg per month): 25.0 gp.
Heavy sacks of oats, barley, and rye flour. Ann-Marie bakes dense hearth bread and cooks up morning porridge that keeps everyone full all day long.
• The Meat Locker, Offal & Fish (120 kg per month): 42.0 gp.
Corned beef and cured meats for a hearty meal. The most crucial part is the fresh meat trimmings, organ meats, and fish, shrimp, or roe straight from the Docks district markets. Nordic gets the lion's share, and Grey [🐕] needs his cut too (he's a good boy ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡) who needs his protein), while everyone else receives a fixed portion.
• The Cellar: Root Vegetables & Fruits (250 kg per month): 14.0 gp.
Turnips, cabbage, rutabagas, onions, and garlic, along with imported fruits from Chult and Maztica: bananas, apples, citrus, kiwi, lulo, and avocados to ward off scurvy, vampires, and the common cold. Jan Jansen highly approves
• 🔒 Spoilage, Shrinkage & Rot (5% Deficit): 2.1 gp.
Having Rushdie [👻] in the basement guarantees that no rat will ever get near the guild's sacks. Still, the Slums are the Slums; dampness takes its toll, and 5% of the vegetables and flour consistently rot or spoil. Numa accounts for this loss as a hard rule.
• The Elite Cheese Fund (35 kg per month): 12.0 gp.
Several wheels of expensive, hard Amnian and Sembian cheese, plus tubs of rich cottage cheese. This is strictly to spoil Alora and Moddie. Though let's be real, someone is definitely sneaking down to raid it in the middle of the night)
• Pet Rations (6 kg per month): 1.3 gp.
Premium canary millet for Leila (the exotic bird) [🦅], along with fresh juicy cabbage leaves, wild clover, and carrots for Marcel (the rabbit) [🐇]. Sure, they spend most of their time chilling inside a backpack, but if you don't feed them, they’ll starve, and the guild will lose its invaluable scouting and stress-relief bonuses!
• Ale & Wine: 3.0 gp.
A negligible amount, just a couple of bottles of ale.
• Salt, Vinegar & Spices: 8.5 gp.
Rock salt to salt the meat, beer vinegar for Ann-Marie’s marinades, and expensive imported Calimshan pepper. This is absolutely necessary so that 25 daily servings of hearty peasant food don't turn into a bland, tasteless mush.
• Calimshan Honey & Sweet Raisins: 2.5 gp.
• Chicory & Tea (with thyme, bergamot, and dried fruits for compote)[/b]: 2.5 gp.
The daily brew for all 25 rations.
• Butter & Lard: 3.0 gp.
Fats for baking dense hearth bread and seasoning Ann-Marie’s morning barley porridge.
• Water Supply (1,650 liters / 436 gallons of clean water per month): 6.6 gp.
330 skins of water at 5 liters (1.3 gallons) each, calculated at 1/50 gp per skin. This water is bought from the city water bearers because drinking from the Slums' wells is a one-way ticket to the graveyard from dysentery, so Numa never skimps on clean drinking and cooking water.
🐕 SECTION III: Depreciation, Veterinary Care & Maintenance Nightmares (Monthly)
The things adventurers usually forget all about, but the guild's bald treasurer keeps on his radar at all times.
• Furniture Depreciation & Repairs: 12.0 gp.
Unlike the canon straw mattresses, the guildmates sleep on proper couches - well, at least most of them do. However, Nordic weighs nearly two hundred kilograms, and Kri'Brinn [🕷️] constantly scrapes the furniture with his mechanical legs. Springs snap, upholstery rips, and Jimothy and Grey chew on the armrests. Once a month, Numa calls in a furniture maker to reupholster the pieces and fix the frames. Everyone else needs fresh hay for their cots since straw mattresses wear thin over time.
• Veterinary Control & Ointments: 6.0 gp.
Grey the Wolfdog is always on the front line catching arrows with his teeth, Moddie sifts through the garbage piles of the Slums, and Leila [the canary] can easily catch mites - just like any of our other beasts. Buying healing salves, bone meal for Grey’s joints, flea treatments, tar soap, and deworming medicine for the raccoon is an absolute sacred duty (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶).
• Herbalist & Pest Control Fund: 2.2 gp.
Bundles of dried wormwood, lavender, and tar oil to protect the couches, humans, and beasts from bedbugs.
• Armory Grease, Blacksmithing & Upkeep: 17.8 gp.
Shar-Teel's armor rusts from the damp Amnian climate, and nicks and dents are an everyday reality. Hiring blacksmiths, especially for magical weapons and armor, is never cheap, and Kri'Brinn requires regular oiling for her mechanical joints. Numa also includes polishing kits for Lilarcor [🗡️] and Peacemaker [🕊️] to keep them shiny so they don't grumble inside the backpack. Alternatively, buying some fresh calf blood from the butcher to drench Lilarcor should keep him quiet, at least for a while.
• Laundry & Bedding: 5.0 gp.
Ann-Marie physically cannot wash the piles of clothes for everyone after their excursions into the sewers and other mysterious places). The guild hires washerwomen from among the local poor, supplying them with ash and lye.
• Crockery & Office Supplies: 12.0 gp.
Broken plates and cups - which Nordic and Jimothy, OF COURSE, regularly knock off the tables - along with bent forks and anything else not designed for a bugbear's paw. This also covers the purchase of parchment, ink, and quills, including supplies for Edwin's work. Parchment in Amn is a merchant monopoly and costs a pretty penny.
• The Slums Scavengers & Ragpickers Guild: 4.0 gp.
Once a week, a creaking cart pulled by an old donkey pulls up to the building's back door. Two sullen, stocky laborers in leather aprons - tarred to be completely waterproof - shovel and pitchfork everything that has accumulated out of the courtyard and basement. This includes piles of bones gnawed by Grey the Wolfdog that Rushdie didn't bother to finish, plates broken by Nordic and Jimothy, clay shards, bent forks, torn flour sacks, and old rotten straw from mattresses soaked in vinegar after the herbalists' sanitary cleanup. It also covers illiquid pieces of evidence that didn't go into the fireplace: rotted boots, decaying chests, rusty cart fragments, and other confiscated junk that has been sitting in the basement for six months and is officially deemed garbage. The workers haul this load outside the city limits, straight to the Great City Dump of Athkatla.
🕵️ SECTION IV: Operational Funds, Rituals & Insurance (Monthly)
• Operational Expenses: 30.0 gp.
Bribes for minor clerks at the Magistrate, buying rumors from street beggars, and paying for ale at the Copper Coronet to loosen the tongues of witnesses. Without this, Billy, Willy, and Dilly [🔍] would be far less effective.
• Insurance & Resurrection Fund (Emergency Reserve): 60.0 gp.
Furthermore, the guild is obligated to resurrect any of its members should they be killed. Numa sets aside coins for this every month into a heavy iron-bound chest.
• Capital Repairs Fund: 10.0 gp.
The guild building might be sturdy, but it is still old and requires regular inspections and maintenance.
📜 GRAND TOTAL SUMMARY (Excluding Salaries)
Bringing it all together. Numa scratches his quill across the parchment, inks in the final numbers, and double-lines the box:
• SECTION I (Utilities & Land Lease): 78.5 gp → 21.81%
• SECTION II (Rations, Water & Pets): 122.5 gp → 34.03%
• SECTION III (Veterinary, Furniture & Repairs): 59.0 gp → 16.39%
• SECTION IV (Investigation, Capital Repairs & Emergency Reserve): 100.0 gp → 27.77%
💰 TOTAL: 360.0 gold pieces (gp) per month.
* Based on an approximate exchange rate of 1 Amnian Danter = 1,000 RUB (Total: 360,000 RUB).
* Converted at today's market rates (this 26th day of August in the year of our Lord 2026, corresponding to the 13th day of the month of Elul in the year 5786 from Creation) (and I really need to go to sleep, preferably right now): ) ~4,293 USD / ~12,885 ILS.
The new portrait for Ann-Marie the cook is ready. I’m not sure when or if it'll actually be added to the guild, so I'll just drop it here. If anyone wants to, it shouldn't be too much trouble to add it to the game yourself using Near Infinity. One look at her, and even Nordic would eat his veggies without complaining. Tough lady, no doubt
> Spent a few hours "tinkering" with AI, trying to crunch the numbers on
> my party and guild logistics. Games usually just gloss over this stuff,
> but I’ve always thought a detailed budget layout does wonders for
> immersion and realism.
That's great.
I noticed in a few other quests that the monetary reward sometimes seems
a bit too low, but this is a very subjective opinion. For instance, I
think in the Heroes-mod, when you help Jackal defeat the group in an
alley; I don't remember the reward but I thought it was a bit little in
comparison to other mods. On the other hand one can say that the other
mods dish out too much gold, so it always depends on one's point of view.
scheele wrote:
> Please note that this is just a part of the expenses - wages and
> revenue are a project for another day when I feel like diving back
> in. The goal was basically to map out a combined budget for my main
> squad and the detective guild in all its glory Here’s what I
> came up with - figured I’d share.
> It’s probably best to treat this budget breakdown as apocrypha
> or bonus lore since barely one percent of it actually made it
> into the mod in one way or another.
Well, I think this is still good, because you provide a background
rationale, from which some part of it may go into the mod. This
means you put some thoughts into it, so that is also design work,
even if it is not going 1:1 into a mod. Ideas reshape, change,
get adjusted; they are a useful path for any content. You can
always refine these lateron. And, for instance, money attracts
thieves which in turn attracts detectives - so kind of a
reinforcing loop here!
scheele:
> That being said, the detective guild stronghold has a fully
> functioning in-game economy, at least as far as Baldur's Gate
> 2 allows for it, meaning the protagonist generates passive
> income from it and gets paid for completing its quests.
This is also great. When I do a BG2 run with mods installed,
I usually start with some of Lava's mods first, e. g. Southern
Edge. It is only rather late when I finish Neera's quest, so
having the detective guild as income sort of helps in "alternative
gameplay" paths (I avoid visiting Copper's Coronet for a long
time too; mods changed the way how I play the game).
> So, I actually crunched the numbers and realized I’m babysitting
> 27 souls under my direct and indirect command, assuming the
> revenant even has a soul to begin with, of course . Heck,
> at this point I might as well throw Wilson into the mix
> since this whole crew is already a total traveling circus 🎪
More furries are always good. One day there may be a mod for
Wilson where he just picks up all furries in all mods. Acifer
has those storytelling-bears, Lava added the stocky racoon
and so forth. Furries will one day unite and rule supreme.
I'll skip a bit in that I avoid quoting everything 1:1, so, in
linear order.
Section I:
55.5 gp lease; 12.0 gp heating; insulation 8.0 gp (is that
required though? I would assume most buildings don't have
any of that, perhaps excluding some magical protection against
nature-based or elemental-based damage - edit: misread it,
you also included lighting sources, for some reason I read
lightning ... insulation confuses me though, as word here),
firewood makes in-game sense indeed, also good to see you made
a place for Jimotyh. By the way, I think I need to look at
the kitchen, is there enough place for the cook?
For the area there could be more candle or lantern places
perhaps, near the windows or gate. Cracks I suppose may be
a problem; the whole building seems to be in constant need
for more money.
By the way, while I notice you wrote this mostly as extended
background information, you can look at the Aura NPC mod:
She has quite a lot to say about her main workplace and stuff
there. You could perhaps add some of the things above to
the area, either as in-game info or for the bugbear or the
cook to comment on things when players click or hover over
stuff.
Section II:
Ok so food and water. Do they really eat almost 30kg food daily?
I haven't done any calculations on bugbears and what not but
that seems like a lot. Like half a regular pig. Converted into
loyalty I guess, but after a meal they may sleep, which is an
excellent time for attacks on the guild - all guards are sleepy.
Or food with sleeping poison.
For the groceries and grains: guess there may be more sacks
in the cellar.
Meat - guess it is more expensive than wheat so that makes sense.
Cellar and Spoilage: I guess several chambered rooms might make
sense. Like one room with stone plates and stone gate or so; an
easier room just with wooden floor and wooden door.
Spoilage seems a bit low in cost, even with Rushdie. The whole
BG2 is so full with rats; I guess some percentage will be lost
to rats. Or fungal rot. 2.1 gp seems almost too little. I would
assume more a range here, depending on the rest of the building,
e. g. if building is in super-great condition one may spend less,
or lose less on rotting here. But if not then more could rot,
thus the cost could be higher. So perhaps that should be more a
dependent value to be calculated more dynamically rather than
a flat, fixed set value.
Cheese is expensive, no doubt about it.
Note that this could all be used for some subquests too, e. g.
merchants carrying cheese on carts being raided by thieves hired
by other merchants. Though perhaps that should go more into
the thieves-mod, e. g. cross-mod content.
I don't remember I saw Leila. Need to find out where Leila can be
found ...
By the way, perhaps a guard dog should also be placed insice the
detective guild. Just to keep things in order. Could also be
another small sub quest to get such a dog. Or more than one.
Anyway, the rest there seems to make mostly sense.
Section III:
Guess this is mostly maintenance. Slum Scavenger cost
may probably also depend on some factors. Some mods
could increase the cost, e. g. in Tactics Remix the
ambush parties at night, could mean there are more
criminal elements so perhaps more scavengers too.
Whereas later in the game the cost could sink since
thieves were killed (e. g. Mae'Var after having killed
him).
> bones gnawed by Grey the Wolfdog that Rushdie didn't bother
> to finish
Hah! Lots of cross-mod content indeed. It reminds me a bit of
the old Ultima games, e. g. Ultimate 5 6 and 7, where NPCs
had regular lives and daily activities to do.
Section IV:
Bribes somewhat makes sense, but they should perhaps be a bit
externalized in a way, like an outside front. Otherwise people
would question "why are detectives bribing people". So perhaps
the detective guild could have some outpost or so for dealing
with bribes or some NPC that would be helpful here but not
associated with the detectives guild. Perhaps some merchant
who is always elegantly dressed and operates mostly in
special deals. Could just be a simple NPC or so with a few
dialogue options that may sometimes send an errand boy to
the detectives guild, carrying sealed messages that are
slightly encrypted.
For reserve: guess some chest inside the guild could contain a bit
of money directly here.
By the way, if you want to think about more content: one could
add more content with regards to the deities, e. g. is the
detective guild favouring one deity over the others? And so forth.
I guess the bugbear may not care so much but the prior owners or
that main NPC who handles the money payments.
Also, I think when you look at the payment part, 360 gp per month,
I think this should be slightly more dynamic, depending on some
factors. I don't want to make this too complicated, so perhaps
only a few extra variables can be taken into consideration when
it may make sense; and a bit of randomness, e. g. money for food
may also fluctuate here and there.
> The new portrait for Ann-Marie the cook is ready. I’m not sure
> when or if it'll actually be added to the guild, so I'll just
> drop it here. If anyone wants to, it shouldn't be too much
> trouble to add it to the game yourself using Near Infinity.
> One look at her, and even Nordic would eat his veggies
> without complaining. Tough lady, no doubt
If you ever extend the mod and add the cook, a portrait may be
nice to have. Even Acifer does not always add or has added portraits
for all NPCs; I assume it is a bit of a hassle to do so, but I
find it looks nicer when there are at the least portraits or
small portraits (don't need to be huge either).
What a lovely realm will be created one day when that fluffy revolt happens! Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" instantly started playing in my head. 🌍😍🐾
Ok so food and water. Do they really eat almost 30kg food daily?
Oh, indeed, my dear sir! If I may be so bold as to say - in reality, those gluttons would be devouring food by the actual long metric ton. I was actually inspired by the Franklin Expedition's ration calculations, though they consumed more per man because, well... the Arctic. So yeah, I’m afraid they’ll easily pack away even more than that. 😭
📋 Active Party: Reuven - CEO , Shar-Teel, Imoen, Edwin, Alora, Jan Jansen, Solaufein, Grey (7th), Moddie (vixen) (7th). Summon: Jimothy, Leila (bird ), Marcel (rabbit). Guards, Base Personnel & Reserve: Jaheira, Nalia, Garrick, Nordic, Numa, Billy, Willy, Dilly, Ann-Marie.
I don't remember I saw Leila. Need to find out where Leila can be found ...
Both Leila the eastern bird and Marcel the rabbit can be bought in the Water Gardens, from the exotic animal merchant.
If you ever extend the mod and add the cook, a portrait may be nice to have.
Ann-Marie is actually already in the mod, she just doesn't have a portrait. But yeah, adding portraits for every minor NPC is too much work.
Comments
Quests now start sequentially one after another - this is done the same way as in other strongholds (for example, episodes with the majordomo in Nalia's castle also go in turn).
I have kind of had about three quests or subplots happen: the father-daughter one,
the dog and the pirates (I think). And the one in the cellar also did one mission
and is now sleepy after having eaten a lot.
When I talk to the second-in-command, he talks about a nanny having a boy who sees
ghosts. This continues even after many days of waiting and in-game time passed
too. So it seems to have stalled here.
A problem I have is that nothing seems to "progress". Perhaps I need to do something
else but it is not clear to me. Is it possible to add more details to the steps in
between the ~first three subquests or whatever these are, and whatever comes afterwards?
There is a second, smaller problem I see. I can not easily tell which comments can
be investigated by the player. The other detectives talk about things such as graffiti
and what not; I guess these are not player-runnable.
By the way, I also had a small idea. We could perhaps rescue a small boy or find him,
and then recruit him. This could then kind of be a messenger, a bit like Delon or what
was the name (for Umar Hills). The idea could be that this NPC (he may be in the kitchen
next to Mary or Anne or whatever was the name) could find the party and notify them
of news.
Perhaps some of the plot continues past chapter 6 - I have not yet entered chapter 6,
still solving other mods quests right now.
Anyway, TL;DR - I think it may be useful to have a look in particular at the second-in-command
NPC, and see which transition paths could be more clear. (I understand that he can not
have in-game knowledge about quests that are about to happen in the future, as that has
not happened yet, but perhaps he could have more content to say or something like that,
as right now I am not quite sure what can still happen. It is usually easier to know
once one has solved the quests in a mod; right now I guess I am missing some of them. The
idea of a detective guild is, by the way, really good - lots of small things could be
added in the future too! There could even be a raiding party, e. g. "if siding with
evil, have thieves attack" or "if siding with good, have vampires etc... attack" or something
like that.)
I hope this feedback is a bit more useful - I am struggling in the ~middle transition parts,
that is not quite sure what to do next.
As I wrote earlier, this is very easy to determine - all the quests that the player can complete independently or at least track their completion are marked in the journal as active quests. All other phrases from the "news" are an analogue of rumors from taverns, which are not currently active quests.
Judging by what you write, there are no problems, everything is developing exactly as planned. The guild has tasks that hired detectives solve on their own, and there are 3-4 quests where they also ask the player himself as the head of the guild to help. You have completed these quests and episodes, everything is fine. There is still the quest "Honey Gambit" about two gnome merchants - you mentioned that it appeared in your last playthrough. Also in the Maevar's guild, you can help the wounded orc and then invite her to settle in the detective guild, if you want, to then see the "consequences" of this kindness.
In the ToB (in Amketran) there will also be one small humorous episode, where the bugbear will send you a letter and tell you about the guild's affairs.
Thus, you have successfully completed the quests that are currently available. After this, the guild will continue to generate income, like other strongholds. But there will be no new quests. We planned to make more of them, but the mod was not fully implemented, so for now this is all that is there. We'll think about your idea about a boy, thank you!
Does he say this phrase every time you start a dialogue? It should appear randomly, i.e. be replaced by other rumor phrases.
Thanks!
If the Detective Guild mod should be installed *after* the BG1NPC and Beaurin Legacy mods, please let me know. I'd like to see the cross-mod content, so I'd likely reinstall everything and start over.
Thanks!
(ETA: I should've written that I installed the "Beaurin Legacy mod after the Detective Guild mod -- i.e., all the NPC mods were installed after the DC mod.)
If the "Guild" mod is installed after these NPC mods, the game will not display cross-mod interjections from these NPCs upon first entering the guild, and the dialogue with Smiling Imp's Xzar in the guild building will be skipped. This will not affect the gameplay and will not be a problem, but if you want to see as many cross-mod NPC reactions as possible, it's best to install the Guild mod after the NPC mods.
May I suggest that the proper install order for the "Detective Guild" mod -- namely, that it should be installed after all NPC mods -- be included in the "Read Me"?
Looking forward to playing the mod.
Edit: the Readme in my version (1.5.1) says nothing about installation order.
After (likewise for the other mods from the Arcane Coast: "Heroes, Thieves, and Money" and "BG1NPCs in BG2").
I also already installed the Expanded Thief Keep, hope it doesn't conflict too much.
Hi, Gniady.
It’s nothing major - just a small addition to enrich the game’s lore. In my view, guilds like these would feel quite natural in the Slums District. There are no quests related to these guilds, nor are the guilds themselves present on the location area - only mentions of them exist.
A brief dispatch from the digital trenches: after a gruelling campaign of retouching, applying filters, and running the art through AI upscalers (first one neural network, then another), I have emerged victorious with three serviceable portraits of hired detectives. These images align with the character concepts for the NPCs and, I dare hope, the guild’s atmosphere as a whole
You can install them manually with Near Infinity - even in the middle of your current game. If you have Infinity UI installed, I’d recommend using two large portraits (210×330) for the NPC instead of a combination of large and medium - that way the portraits stay sharp and clear (no blurring).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xqmzcy6onEMm3ON97LJ05reLaGcORtYN/view?usp=sharing
pirate.
The third one is also quite ok-ish; one could assume a young boy looking
for information or so, aka gathering information from the streets.
The second one looks a bit odd though. At first I thought it was like a
gnome or halfling. It also seems a bit similar to the third one. How long
does it take to generate a portrait? Could the input, for instance, generate
a proper gnome? I assume it must be more than just the portrait if
a smaller image is also used for the dialogue?
Maybe his great‑grandma had a little elfish crush - who knows?
It took me about an hour to create one portrait - not bad, considering my Photoshop skills that could politely be described as “still learning”. But the real time‑eaters are retouching (which never seems to end) and filter hunting. Portraits of gnomes I haven’t created, unfortunately.
You’ll find a link to portraits for manual in‑game installation below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xqmzcy6onEMm3ON97LJ05reLaGcORtYN/view?usp=sharing
New version - 1.5.3!
- Added portraits for hired detectives in the guild
- Additional descriptions for items in the building's basement
- Additional dialogue line for Nordic when first inspecting the guild
- Added a useful potion to the former guild leader's desk (available after solving a riddle)
- Fixed typos in the Chinese translation
https://github.com/Austin-BG/SearchGuild/releases
Not sure if it makes any difference, but I killed Mae'Var first, and then worked my way upstairs and found her, told her Mae'Var was already dead. She was happy, and left. Should I have rescued her first and then taken on Mae'Var?
Spent a few hours "tinkering" with AI, trying to crunch the numbers on my party and guild logistics. Games usually just gloss over this stuff, but I’ve always thought a detailed budget layout does wonders for immersion and realism. Please note that this is just a part of the expenses - wages and revenue are a project for another day when I feel like diving back in.
The goal was basically to map out a combined budget for my main squad and the detective guild in all its glory
*It’s probably best to treat this budget breakdown as apocrypha or bonus lore since barely one percent of it actually made it into the mod in one way or another. That being said, the detective guild stronghold has a fully functioning in-game economy, at least as far as Baldur's Gate 2 allows for it, meaning the protagonist generates passive income from it and gets paid for completing its quests.
So, I actually crunched the numbers and realized I’m babysitting 27 souls under my direct and indirect command, assuming the revenant even has a soul to begin with, of course
🧱 SECTION I: Fixed Maintenance & Guild Utilities (Monthly)
The bare essentials to keep the guild building in the Slums from rotting away and to stop Ann-Marie from using her ladle to start a bloody mutiny.
• Guild Land Lease: 55.5 gp (a share of the annual 667 gp).
The Council of Six tax gets paid strictly on time.
• Heating & Hearth (Firewood & Coal): 12.0 gp.
The fireplace in the main hall keeps things cozy, and Ann-Marie’s kitchen stove never cools down. Nordic [🐻] absolutely loathes drafts, while Jimothy [the Raccoon] loves to warm his belly near the dying embers.
• Lighting & Insulation: 8.0 gp.
The Slums are a dark place. Edwin might deign to illuminate his own laboratory with magical light, but he will absolutely look down his nose at the rest of the guild, leaving his guildmates and the dreary rooms where they break their backs entirely in the dark. Lamp oil and wax candles vanish by the crate, especially when detectives Billy, Willy, and Dilly [🔍] are busy drafting reports past midnight. This also covers heavy-duty weatherproofing mastic to seal the window frames, otherwise Amn's winter downpours will flood the place through the cracks.
• Sanitation & Upkeep: 3.0 gp.
Soap and lye for scrubbing cauldrons and heaps of dishes. This also includes gloves to save the cook's hands, stiff brushes, chimney sweep fees, and a steady supply of fresh sawdust for Maddie the Fox [🦊] and Jimothy the raccoon's litter boxes, plus some fresh bedding for the canary. Without this, the headquarters would lose its fantasy vibe and start smelling like a cheap traveling zoo.
🌾 SECTION II: Rations, Water & Subsistence (Monthly)
Numa budgeted for 25 human rations a day to account for Nordic and Jimothy's massive appetites, bringing the total to a whopping 28.7 kg of food daily. The guild’s gold is instantly converted into loyalty, full bellies, and security, making up one-third of its total expenses.
• Groceries & Grains (450 kg per month): 25.0 gp.
Heavy sacks of oats, barley, and rye flour. Ann-Marie bakes dense hearth bread and cooks up morning porridge that keeps everyone full all day long.
• The Meat Locker, Offal & Fish (120 kg per month): 42.0 gp.
Corned beef and cured meats for a hearty meal. The most crucial part is the fresh meat trimmings, organ meats, and fish, shrimp, or roe straight from the Docks district markets. Nordic gets the lion's share, and Grey [🐕] needs his cut too (he's a good boy ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡) who needs his protein), while everyone else receives a fixed portion.
• The Cellar: Root Vegetables & Fruits (250 kg per month): 14.0 gp.
Turnips, cabbage, rutabagas, onions, and garlic, along with imported fruits from Chult and Maztica: bananas, apples, citrus, kiwi, lulo, and avocados to ward off scurvy, vampires, and the common cold. Jan Jansen highly approves
• 🔒 Spoilage, Shrinkage & Rot (5% Deficit): 2.1 gp.
Having Rushdie [👻] in the basement guarantees that no rat will ever get near the guild's sacks. Still, the Slums are the Slums; dampness takes its toll, and 5% of the vegetables and flour consistently rot or spoil. Numa accounts for this loss as a hard rule.
• The Elite Cheese Fund (35 kg per month): 12.0 gp.
Several wheels of expensive, hard Amnian and Sembian cheese, plus tubs of rich cottage cheese. This is strictly to spoil Alora and Moddie. Though let's be real, someone is definitely sneaking down to raid it in the middle of the night)
• Pet Rations (6 kg per month): 1.3 gp.
Premium canary millet for Leila (the exotic bird) [🦅], along with fresh juicy cabbage leaves, wild clover, and carrots for Marcel (the rabbit) [🐇]. Sure, they spend most of their time chilling inside a backpack, but if you don't feed them, they’ll starve, and the guild will lose its invaluable scouting and stress-relief bonuses!
• Ale & Wine: 3.0 gp.
A negligible amount, just a couple of bottles of ale.
• Salt, Vinegar & Spices: 8.5 gp.
Rock salt to salt the meat, beer vinegar for Ann-Marie’s marinades, and expensive imported Calimshan pepper. This is absolutely necessary so that 25 daily servings of hearty peasant food don't turn into a bland, tasteless mush.
• Calimshan Honey & Sweet Raisins: 2.5 gp.
• Chicory & Tea (with thyme, bergamot, and dried fruits for compote)[/b]: 2.5 gp.
The daily brew for all 25 rations.
• Butter & Lard: 3.0 gp.
Fats for baking dense hearth bread and seasoning Ann-Marie’s morning barley porridge.
• Water Supply (1,650 liters / 436 gallons of clean water per month): 6.6 gp.
330 skins of water at 5 liters (1.3 gallons) each, calculated at 1/50 gp per skin. This water is bought from the city water bearers because drinking from the Slums' wells is a one-way ticket to the graveyard from dysentery, so Numa never skimps on clean drinking and cooking water.
🐕 SECTION III: Depreciation, Veterinary Care & Maintenance Nightmares (Monthly)
The things adventurers usually forget all about, but the guild's bald treasurer keeps on his radar at all times.
• Furniture Depreciation & Repairs: 12.0 gp.
Unlike the canon straw mattresses, the guildmates sleep on proper couches - well, at least most of them do. However, Nordic weighs nearly two hundred kilograms, and Kri'Brinn [🕷️] constantly scrapes the furniture with his mechanical legs. Springs snap, upholstery rips, and Jimothy and Grey chew on the armrests. Once a month, Numa calls in a furniture maker to reupholster the pieces and fix the frames. Everyone else needs fresh hay for their cots since straw mattresses wear thin over time.
• Veterinary Control & Ointments: 6.0 gp.
Grey the Wolfdog is always on the front line catching arrows with his teeth, Moddie sifts through the garbage piles of the Slums, and Leila [the canary] can easily catch mites - just like any of our other beasts. Buying healing salves, bone meal for Grey’s joints, flea treatments, tar soap, and deworming medicine for the raccoon is an absolute sacred duty (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶).
• Herbalist & Pest Control Fund: 2.2 gp.
Bundles of dried wormwood, lavender, and tar oil to protect the couches, humans, and beasts from bedbugs.
• Armory Grease, Blacksmithing & Upkeep: 17.8 gp.
Shar-Teel's armor rusts from the damp Amnian climate, and nicks and dents are an everyday reality. Hiring blacksmiths, especially for magical weapons and armor, is never cheap, and Kri'Brinn requires regular oiling for her mechanical joints. Numa also includes polishing kits for Lilarcor [🗡️] and Peacemaker [🕊️] to keep them shiny so they don't grumble inside the backpack. Alternatively, buying some fresh calf blood from the butcher to drench Lilarcor should keep him quiet, at least for a while.
• Laundry & Bedding: 5.0 gp.
Ann-Marie physically cannot wash the piles of clothes for everyone after their excursions into the sewers and other mysterious places). The guild hires washerwomen from among the local poor, supplying them with ash and lye.
• Crockery & Office Supplies: 12.0 gp.
Broken plates and cups - which Nordic and Jimothy, OF COURSE, regularly knock off the tables - along with bent forks and anything else not designed for a bugbear's paw. This also covers the purchase of parchment, ink, and quills, including supplies for Edwin's work. Parchment in Amn is a merchant monopoly and costs a pretty penny.
• The Slums Scavengers & Ragpickers Guild: 4.0 gp.
Once a week, a creaking cart pulled by an old donkey pulls up to the building's back door. Two sullen, stocky laborers in leather aprons - tarred to be completely waterproof - shovel and pitchfork everything that has accumulated out of the courtyard and basement. This includes piles of bones gnawed by Grey the Wolfdog that Rushdie didn't bother to finish, plates broken by Nordic and Jimothy, clay shards, bent forks, torn flour sacks, and old rotten straw from mattresses soaked in vinegar after the herbalists' sanitary cleanup. It also covers illiquid pieces of evidence that didn't go into the fireplace: rotted boots, decaying chests, rusty cart fragments, and other confiscated junk that has been sitting in the basement for six months and is officially deemed garbage. The workers haul this load outside the city limits, straight to the Great City Dump of Athkatla.
🕵️ SECTION IV: Operational Funds, Rituals & Insurance (Monthly)
• Operational Expenses: 30.0 gp.
Bribes for minor clerks at the Magistrate, buying rumors from street beggars, and paying for ale at the Copper Coronet to loosen the tongues of witnesses. Without this, Billy, Willy, and Dilly [🔍] would be far less effective.
• Insurance & Resurrection Fund (Emergency Reserve): 60.0 gp.
Furthermore, the guild is obligated to resurrect any of its members should they be killed. Numa sets aside coins for this every month into a heavy iron-bound chest.
• Capital Repairs Fund: 10.0 gp.
The guild building might be sturdy, but it is still old and requires regular inspections and maintenance.
📜 GRAND TOTAL SUMMARY (Excluding Salaries)
Bringing it all together. Numa scratches his quill across the parchment, inks in the final numbers, and double-lines the box:
• SECTION I (Utilities & Land Lease): 78.5 gp → 21.81%
• SECTION II (Rations, Water & Pets): 122.5 gp → 34.03%
• SECTION III (Veterinary, Furniture & Repairs): 59.0 gp → 16.39%
• SECTION IV (Investigation, Capital Repairs & Emergency Reserve): 100.0 gp → 27.77%
💰 TOTAL: 360.0 gold pieces (gp) per month.
* Based on an approximate exchange rate of 1 Amnian Danter = 1,000 RUB (Total: 360,000 RUB).
* Converted at today's market rates (this 26th day of August in the year of our Lord 2026, corresponding to the 13th day of the month of Elul in the year 5786 from Creation) (and I really need to go to sleep, preferably right now): ) ~4,293 USD / ~12,885 ILS.
The new portrait for Ann-Marie the cook is ready. I’m not sure when or if it'll actually be added to the guild, so I'll just drop it here. If anyone wants to, it shouldn't be too much trouble to add it to the game yourself using Near Infinity. One look at her, and even Nordic would eat his veggies without complaining. Tough lady, no doubt
> Spent a few hours "tinkering" with AI, trying to crunch the numbers on
> my party and guild logistics. Games usually just gloss over this stuff,
> but I’ve always thought a detailed budget layout does wonders for
> immersion and realism.
That's great.
I noticed in a few other quests that the monetary reward sometimes seems
a bit too low, but this is a very subjective opinion. For instance, I
think in the Heroes-mod, when you help Jackal defeat the group in an
alley; I don't remember the reward but I thought it was a bit little in
comparison to other mods. On the other hand one can say that the other
mods dish out too much gold, so it always depends on one's point of view.
scheele wrote:
> Please note that this is just a part of the expenses - wages and
> revenue are a project for another day when I feel like diving back
> in. The goal was basically to map out a combined budget for my main
> squad and the detective guild in all its glory
> came up with - figured I’d share.
> It’s probably best to treat this budget breakdown as apocrypha
> or bonus lore since barely one percent of it actually made it
> into the mod in one way or another.
Well, I think this is still good, because you provide a background
rationale, from which some part of it may go into the mod. This
means you put some thoughts into it, so that is also design work,
even if it is not going 1:1 into a mod. Ideas reshape, change,
get adjusted; they are a useful path for any content. You can
always refine these lateron. And, for instance, money attracts
thieves which in turn attracts detectives - so kind of a
reinforcing loop here!
scheele:
> That being said, the detective guild stronghold has a fully
> functioning in-game economy, at least as far as Baldur's Gate
> 2 allows for it, meaning the protagonist generates passive
> income from it and gets paid for completing its quests.
This is also great. When I do a BG2 run with mods installed,
I usually start with some of Lava's mods first, e. g. Southern
Edge. It is only rather late when I finish Neera's quest, so
having the detective guild as income sort of helps in "alternative
gameplay" paths (I avoid visiting Copper's Coronet for a long
time too; mods changed the way how I play the game).
> So, I actually crunched the numbers and realized I’m babysitting
> 27 souls under my direct and indirect command, assuming the
> revenant even has a soul to begin with, of course
> at this point I might as well throw Wilson into the mix
> since this whole crew is already a total traveling circus 🎪
More furries are always good. One day there may be a mod for
Wilson where he just picks up all furries in all mods. Acifer
has those storytelling-bears, Lava added the stocky racoon
and so forth. Furries will one day unite and rule supreme.
I'll skip a bit in that I avoid quoting everything 1:1, so, in
linear order.
Section I:
55.5 gp lease; 12.0 gp heating; insulation 8.0 gp (is that
required though? I would assume most buildings don't have
any of that, perhaps excluding some magical protection against
nature-based or elemental-based damage - edit: misread it,
you also included lighting sources, for some reason I read
lightning ... insulation confuses me though, as word here),
firewood makes in-game sense indeed, also good to see you made
a place for Jimotyh. By the way, I think I need to look at
the kitchen, is there enough place for the cook?
For the area there could be more candle or lantern places
perhaps, near the windows or gate. Cracks I suppose may be
a problem; the whole building seems to be in constant need
for more money.
By the way, while I notice you wrote this mostly as extended
background information, you can look at the Aura NPC mod:
https://github.com/TheArtisanBG/Aura_BG1_BG2_EET
She has quite a lot to say about her main workplace and stuff
there. You could perhaps add some of the things above to
the area, either as in-game info or for the bugbear or the
cook to comment on things when players click or hover over
stuff.
Section II:
Ok so food and water. Do they really eat almost 30kg food daily?
I haven't done any calculations on bugbears and what not but
that seems like a lot. Like half a regular pig. Converted into
loyalty I guess, but after a meal they may sleep, which is an
excellent time for attacks on the guild - all guards are sleepy.
Or food with sleeping poison.
For the groceries and grains: guess there may be more sacks
in the cellar.
Meat - guess it is more expensive than wheat so that makes sense.
Cellar and Spoilage: I guess several chambered rooms might make
sense. Like one room with stone plates and stone gate or so; an
easier room just with wooden floor and wooden door.
Spoilage seems a bit low in cost, even with Rushdie. The whole
BG2 is so full with rats; I guess some percentage will be lost
to rats. Or fungal rot. 2.1 gp seems almost too little. I would
assume more a range here, depending on the rest of the building,
e. g. if building is in super-great condition one may spend less,
or lose less on rotting here. But if not then more could rot,
thus the cost could be higher. So perhaps that should be more a
dependent value to be calculated more dynamically rather than
a flat, fixed set value.
Cheese is expensive, no doubt about it.
Note that this could all be used for some subquests too, e. g.
merchants carrying cheese on carts being raided by thieves hired
by other merchants. Though perhaps that should go more into
the thieves-mod, e. g. cross-mod content.
I don't remember I saw Leila. Need to find out where Leila can be
found ...
By the way, perhaps a guard dog should also be placed insice the
detective guild. Just to keep things in order. Could also be
another small sub quest to get such a dog. Or more than one.
Anyway, the rest there seems to make mostly sense.
Section III:
Guess this is mostly maintenance. Slum Scavenger cost
may probably also depend on some factors. Some mods
could increase the cost, e. g. in Tactics Remix the
ambush parties at night, could mean there are more
criminal elements so perhaps more scavengers too.
Whereas later in the game the cost could sink since
thieves were killed (e. g. Mae'Var after having killed
him).
> bones gnawed by Grey the Wolfdog that Rushdie didn't bother
> to finish
Hah! Lots of cross-mod content indeed. It reminds me a bit of
the old Ultima games, e. g. Ultimate 5 6 and 7, where NPCs
had regular lives and daily activities to do.
Section IV:
Bribes somewhat makes sense, but they should perhaps be a bit
externalized in a way, like an outside front. Otherwise people
would question "why are detectives bribing people". So perhaps
the detective guild could have some outpost or so for dealing
with bribes or some NPC that would be helpful here but not
associated with the detectives guild. Perhaps some merchant
who is always elegantly dressed and operates mostly in
special deals. Could just be a simple NPC or so with a few
dialogue options that may sometimes send an errand boy to
the detectives guild, carrying sealed messages that are
slightly encrypted.
For reserve: guess some chest inside the guild could contain a bit
of money directly here.
By the way, if you want to think about more content: one could
add more content with regards to the deities, e. g. is the
detective guild favouring one deity over the others? And so forth.
I guess the bugbear may not care so much but the prior owners or
that main NPC who handles the money payments.
Also, I think when you look at the payment part, 360 gp per month,
I think this should be slightly more dynamic, depending on some
factors. I don't want to make this too complicated, so perhaps
only a few extra variables can be taken into consideration when
it may make sense; and a bit of randomness, e. g. money for food
may also fluctuate here and there.
> The new portrait for Ann-Marie the cook is ready. I’m not sure
> when or if it'll actually be added to the guild, so I'll just
> drop it here. If anyone wants to, it shouldn't be too much
> trouble to add it to the game yourself using Near Infinity.
> One look at her, and even Nordic would eat his veggies
> without complaining. Tough lady, no doubt
If you ever extend the mod and add the cook, a portrait may be
nice to have. Even Acifer does not always add or has added portraits
for all NPCs; I assume it is a bit of a hassle to do so, but I
find it looks nicer when there are at the least portraits or
small portraits (don't need to be huge either).
Both Leila the eastern bird and Marcel the rabbit can be bought in the Water Gardens, from the exotic animal merchant.
Ann-Marie is actually already in the mod, she just doesn't have a portrait. But yeah, adding portraits for every minor NPC is too much work.