Midway through September, modder SquallyDaBeanz released a solo-developed custom campaign for Baldur’s Gate 3 in beta, adding an extra chapter to the RPG’s main story. Neatly nestled between the game’s second and third acts, the mod sends players and their party on a journey through The Chionthar Wilds while the Absolute’s Army marches toward the city the series is named after. SquallyDaBeanz has now offered a deeper explanation as to why they believe this detour strengthens the established narrative before the serious business of the final act begins.
In an interview with Nexus Mods, the modder broke down the creative reasoning behind inserting a new chapter into Larian Studios’ acclaimed role-playing game, framing it as a deliberate structural choice rather than a mere addition of content.
Building Toward the Final Act
“I wanted to keep the narrative structure more or less the same as the base game,” SquallyDaBeanz explained. “Moonrise is definitely a narrative high point, and it was never the goal of the mod to compete with it in that regard. Entering Rivington in Act 3 can already feel a bit like a detour (like visiting the circus) despite the looming threats, but it serves as a needed release of tension and a change in pace after the climax of Act 2, in my opinion.”
The mod aims to accomplish something similar, but in a manner more reminiscent of Baldur’s Gate 3’s opening act. It centers on letting players explore a large area where not everything is necessarily critical to the main quest but still ties into it. As the modder put it, players know the army is on the march, yet getting sidetracked doesn’t feel too unnatural. SquallyDaBeanz made sure that things pick up again in terms of urgency for the finale of the mod, so that by the time players emerge into the third act, they are back in the right mindset to fight some brains once they’ve had their fill of Rivington’s clowns.
“There were many toolkit bugs that made development difficult, but it’s hard to complain since many of the features were also made by the community and modders for free. There are many bugs that are out of my control, unfortunately. A huge hurdle for the project is that much had to be learned by trial and error or by seeing how Larian did it in the base game. There was little documentation and still is, but there are more resources being created thanks to community members like Lizardphunk!”
SquallyDaBeanz, modder
Learning the Ropes of Advanced Modding
As for the practical side of putting a custom campaign together, SquallyDaBeanz suggested that the Baldur’s Gate 3 modding community is still far from being masters of all the RPG’s technical nuances, even a couple of years on from Larian first releasing official modding tools. The modder noted that development was fraught with obstacles, though they remained grateful for the free tools and features built by fellow community members.
Despite having some previous modding experience to lean on in terms of new lands and dungeons, having spent time as part of the team making the Skyrim Morrowind remake project Skywind, SquallyDaBeanz also had to learn a lot of new skills as part of making their second act expansion. “Before this, I had largely only done level design and set dressing, so it’s been quite a learning experience,” they noted. “Things like scripts, enemy behaviours, new items, cutscenes, and more are all new to me, and I recognise they could still use some work.”
Looking Ahead
For now, the modder is busy preparing for an eventual 1.0 version and said they have already got tons of fixes and balance changes coming in the next patch thanks to the community reporting bugs and sharing their gameplay of the mod.
If you fancy giving the Act Two Expansion a go, you’ll need to head to Nexus Mods and install either its main download or quickstart version. The former lets you reach it as part of a full new playthrough, while the latter warps you straight to The Chionthar Wilds so you can dive straight into the mod. If you choose to replay the game, the mod’s description includes instructions on how to reach the new region after handling your business at Moonrise.
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