Game Studio / Mod Guides / Gameplay
Ransom My Clan
Lets players arrange ransom for captured companions and family members through any town tavern keeper.
Player guide
Install, configure, and troubleshoot Ransom My Clan.
Use the sections below for setup, requirements, settings, compatibility, removal, and troubleshooting.
Overview
Pay ransom for captured companions and family through the tavern keeper — no need to approach a hostile lord
Description
In vanilla Bannerlord the player has no way to ransom back clan members or companions held captive by enemy lords. You either have to fight the lord, wait for a peace deal, or hope they get rescued in battle. Meanwhile, AI lords can freely ransom their own people — a glaring asymmetry that leaves the player helpless when family or companions are captured mid-war.
Ransom My Clan fixes this by giving the player the same capability the AI already has. Visit any town's tavern, speak to the tavern keeper, and arrange the ransom through an underground broker — no need to walk up to a lord who is actively at war with you.
How it works
Tavern Broker — A new dialog option appears when talking to any tavern keeper, provided at least one clan member or companion is currently captive.
Captive Selection — A scrollable list shows every eligible captive with their portrait, role, captor, and ransom cost. Pick one at a time.
Confirm & Pay — A confirmation dialog shows the total cost, the destination town, and who is being freed.
1-Day Delay — After payment the freed hero is released and teleported to the nearest friendly town the following in-game day — reflecting real travel time through enemy territory.
Features
- Dialog on all tavern keepers across the campaign map
- Captive list shows portrait, role (Companion / Clan Member / Clan Leader), captor, and cost
- Already-paid captives shown greyed-out so you cannot double-pay
- Accurate ransom pricing using the game's own RansomValueCalculationModel
- War premium (×1.5) when you are at war with the captor's faction — they have leverage
- Broker fee (×1.25) — you are not negotiating in person
- Freed hero teleports to the nearest friendly (non-hostile) town after 1 in-game day
- Pending ransoms saved and restored across save/load
- Enemy Prisoner Purchase (optional MCM toggle) — purchase enemy lords held by allied parties and transfer them directly to your custody
- Existing-save support — designed to be added mid-campaign; complete pending ransoms before removal
- No Harmony patches — pure dialog and campaign behavior additions
Pricing
- Base cost — RansomValueCalculationModel.PrisonerRansomValue (same formula the AI uses)
- War premium — ×1.5 when your faction is at war with the captor's faction
- Broker fee — ×1.25 always (you are paying through an intermediary)
Requirements
- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord v1.3.0 or higher
- Native, SandBoxCore, Sandbox modules (included with the base game)
- Bannerlord.MBOptionScreen (MCM) v5.9.1 or higher is optional for the core ransom workflow and required only to expose the Enemy Prisoner Purchase toggle.
Installation
- Manual:
- Extract the downloaded archive
- Copy the WPS_RansomMyClan folder to: Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules\
- Enable [WPS] Ransom My Clan in the Singleplayer → Mods section of the launcher
- No specific load position required beyond being after Sandbox
Vortex
Click Mod Manager Download on the Files tab
Let Vortex install and enable the mod
Launch the game and enable in the launcher
Load Order
- Bannerlord.Harmony (BUTR stack — loads before Native automatically)
- Bannerlord.MBOptionScreen
- Native
- SandBoxCore
- SandBox
- StoryMode (Optional)
- CustomBattle (Optional)
- [Your other mods]
- WPS_RansomMyClan
Compatibility
- Designed to work with mods that do not directly replace TavernkeeperTalkDialogs or the tavernkeeper_talk dialog token.
- Diplomacy and overhaul mods can still interact if they rebuild tavern dialogue, settlement scenes, captivity, or prisoner transfer systems.
- Potential conflicts:
- Mods that completely remove or replace the tavernkeeper_talk dialog token
- Total conversion mods that rebuild the tavern or settlement scene systems
Technical details
This mod uses zero Harmony patches. It registers four dialog lines on tavernkeeper_talk via CampaignGameStarter (two for clan ransoms at priority 110, two for enemy purchase at priority 109) and adds a single CampaignBehaviorBase that listens to DailyTickEvent. It does not modify or replace any existing game method. Settings are managed via AttributeGlobalSettings (MCM v5).
Save Game Compatibility
- Adding to an existing save — Designed to initialize with empty pending-ransom lists without modifying unrelated save data.
- Removing with no pending ransoms — The removal path leaves any orphaned mod keys unused.
- Removing with a pending ransom — The captive remains imprisoned and the broker payment is lost. Complete pending ransoms and back up the save before removal.
Uninstallation
- Ensure no ransoms are pending (wait for captives to arrive, or do not use the feature before removing)
- Save your game
- Disable the mod in the launcher
- Delete the WPS_RansomMyClan folder from Modules (optional)
FAQ
Q: Where do I find the tavern keeper?
A: Enter any town → go to the Tavern location → talk to the Tavern Keeper NPC.
Q: The dialog option doesn't appear.
A: It is only shown when at least one of your clan members or companions is currently a prisoner. If nobody is captive, the option is hidden.
Q: Can I ransom multiple captives at once?
A: One at a time per conversation. Speak to the tavern keeper again to ransom a second captive.
Q: Where does the freed hero end up?
A: They are teleported to the nearest friendly town (not at war with your faction) the next in-game day. In most situations this is the town you paid the ransom in.
Q: Does the gold go to the lord holding my companion?
A: No — it goes to the broker intermediary and is simply deducted from your character. This reflects the underground nature of the transaction.
Q: My companion just died in captivity. What happens to the pending ransom?
A: The daily tick checks whether the hero is still alive before releasing them. If they died, the pending entry is silently discarded. The gold is unfortunately lost.
Q: Will this work on existing saves?
A: It is designed for existing saves. Complete pending ransoms and back up important saves before removing it.
Q: What is the "Enemy Prisoner Purchase" feature?
A: An optional feature (off by default) that lets you purchase enemy lords currently held captive by allied parties. Enable it in MCM under [WPS] Ransom My Clan. The lord is transferred directly to your party as a prisoner after 1 in-game day.
Q: The enemy prisoner purchase option doesn't appear.
A: Three conditions must all be true: (1) the feature is enabled in MCM, (2) you are talking to a Tavern Keeper, and (3) at least one eligible enemy lord is currently held by an allied party or friendly settlement.
Q: What happens if peace is declared before the 1-day transfer completes?
A: If the enemy lord is freed before the transfer executes you will receive a notification that the transfer could not be completed. The gold paid is considered lost.
Q: Can I ransom or execute the enemy lord I purchased?
A: Yes. Once they are in your party as a prisoner you can interact with them through all normal game mechanics — ransom, execute, or keep them indefinitely.
Credits
- Created by Wasted Potential Studios
- Thanks to TaleWorlds for the modding support
Request support or a new idea
Having trouble with this release? Visit its Nexus page for downloads, bug reports, and player discussions. Have an idea for a new mod, feature, port, or compatibility update? Send WPS a gamer request.