One of the biggest mods Baldur’s Gate 3 has seen yet was recently launched, and it marks a historic moment for the critically-acclaimed RPG. Since its release in 2023, BG3 has been one of the biggest successes in modern gaming, inspiring fans with its memorable characters and refreshing take on classic Dungeons & Dragons gameplay. In turn, those fans have been contributing to the game in their own way with the release of mods for the game since day one (and some even earlier than that, thanks to the game’s early access period).
Baldur’s Gate 3 has a thriving modding community, with over 10 thousand mods available and a cumulative 265 million downloads on Nexus Mods. While the bulk of those mods offer up things like new character classes or improved options for character customization, the newly-released Grand Theater mod breaks down what seemed like an impossible barrier for the BG3 modding scene: the addition of wholly original, bespoke custom campaigns into Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s the culmination of many long efforts by dedicated fans, and it’s worth getting excited about for anyone with even a passing interest in mods.
The Grand Theater Is A Major BG3 Custom Campaign
An Original Story In A Brand-New Area
The Grand Theater – Sell your Lute to the Devil by Moezilla on Nexus Mods was officially released as version 1.0 on February 10, 2025, making it one of the first custom campaign mods in development to reach a full release. The mod follows an original storyline separate from the plot of BG3 that sees the party travel to a mysterious theater in which performers from across the world dazzle audiences on the stage. There’s something much darker at work within the theater, however, though the mod’s description refrains from spoiling too many details:
The flickering lights of lanterns and the alluring sound of music draw in travelers from far and wide, promising an experience of unparalleled entertainment. However, what lies beneath the polished veneer of extravagant performances and mesmerizing illusions is a darker, more sinister story.
The theater is owned and operated by a powerful faction known as the Red Wizards of Thay—arcane masters and manipulative schemers whose true intentions are often cloaked in secrecy. As they push their hidden agendas, they have crafted a show unlike any other: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for performers to showcase their talents… but at a cost.
The story of The Grand Theater focuses heavily on the Red Wizards of Thay, a faction that has a strong presence in the lore of DnD and has factored into many stories. As one can surmise from the Necromancy of Thay tome found in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Red Wizards have a reputation for being masters of the dark arts, and their schemes typically revolve around undead creatures like zombies and liches. Whatever they may be plotting within the Grand Theater, it’s almost certainly something sinister that the heroes of BG3 will need to put a stop to.
Related
Modders Should Take Inspiration From These Cut Areas Of Baldur’s Gate 3
Lots of content has been cut from Baldur’s Gate 3 during development – since Patch 7 and 8, some of these ideas could be revived by modders.
Once the mod is installed, the player simply needs to find one of three magic lutes (one in each of the game’s three acts) hidden in the world to travel to the Grand Theater and begin the campaign. While Moezilla recommends using the third act lute for the best narrative experience, the first lute can be found right in the game’s starting area for players who are eager to see all the new content the mod contains. Moezilla also strongly recommends finishing a full playthrough of the game first before starting the mod campaign, though that’s largely for technical reasons.
Even Unfinished, The Grand Theater Is A Game-Changer
What It Offers Is A Major Modding Accomplishment
The Grand Theater is a tremendous modding accomplishment, a true feat of dedication and hard work on Moezilla’s part. In its current state, the campaign features over two thousand lines of dialog, six quests, brand new NPCs, a new area to explore, and a new high-tier magic item, the Deathsingers Lute of the Astral Plane. Appropriate for a locale steeped in both musical theater and black magic, the lute grants bards an extra use of their Bardic Inspiration plus extra damage and a new fourth-level spell, though it comes with a toll of necrotic damage inflicted on its user each turn.
Given that it’s just reached version 1.0, The Grand Theater is still missing content that will be added in future updates; of the six quests that can be started, only one can be finished, leaving the main storyline incomplete for now. There are also no combat encounters to be found yet, though Moezilla’s update roadmap specifies that multiple encounters will be added in the 1.1 update along with more items, cutscenes, and fast travel. With more updates planned further down the line, things will hopefully be brought up to a similar level of content as found in BG3‘s regular locations.
Related
Baldur’s Gate 3: 10 Best Console Mods On PS5 & Xbox
Baldur’s Gate 3 recently released mods for console users that bring new excitement to the game for both new and returning players.
It may sound like there’s a lot of content still missing, but what’s already on offer in The Grand Theater is massively impressive. The amount of wholly bespoke content created just for this mod is genuinely amazing, and it represents a culmination of what was only hinted at by the most ambitious Baldur’s Gate 3 mods of the past. It’s especially tantalizing to consider the future possibilities that are in reach now when considering how hard it was for the modders to get anywhere near this point in the first place.
Custom Campaigns Are Baldur’s Gate 3’s Holy Grail
Custom Campaigns Once Seemed Impossible
The history of Baldur’s Gate 3 modding goes back five years, with the earliest mods on Nexus being released in 2020 when the game first entered early access. While the community was prolific and talented right from the get-go, things reached a new level with the release of official modding tools in September 2024 that aimed to make things easier and more streamlined than ever. However, one thing that Larian made clear when it released the toolkit was that it would not support the development of custom campaigns.
Related
Baldur’s Gate 3: 15 Character Creation Mods For Making Your Perfect Tav
Baldur’s Gate 3 feels lackluster in terms of character creation options. Luckily, mods can add choices that help you design your perfect Tav.
While this could have been a major setback, it now seems to have been nothing more than a bump in the road for modders. It was discovered that campaign development tools were in fact a part of the toolkit, but they had simply been left disabled for the final release. In what could be considered a case of meta-modding, the toolkit was modded to enable the tools, and custom campaign development was swiftly underway.
While The Grand Theater may have been the first to the finish line with its 1.0 release, the future looks bright for similar mods in development. Forsaken by SquallyDaBeanz (via Nexus Mods) is a campaign that will take players to the setting of the Warcraft series, and while Path to Menzoberranzan by YouTuber Lotrich is still early in development, what they’ve shown off is already looking impressive. Even when the game stops receiving official updates, Baldur’s Gate 3 will continue to be the gift that keeps on giving thanks to fan-made content like these campaigns.
Sources: Nexus Mods (1, 2), Lotrich/YouTube
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
- Platform(s)
-
PC, macOS, PS5, Xbox Series X
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
-
Larian Studios
- Number of Players
-
1-4
- Local Co-Op Support
-
1-2 Players
- Split Screen Orientation
-
Vertical Only
