I'm sure a few of you have played this before and I just started and ran into a couple of problems, I killed everything in castle harmondale (no upgrades) and can't return the quest to the buttler. the other problem is finding this goblin chieftain, I light the signal fires and killed everything on the map but the dude doesn't seem to exist.

am I missing something here or is this mod just really bugged and if so is there a way to fix it?

I don't know about the mod, but since you're new I have to ask if you:

a)
Checked all rooms in the castle to make sure no rats are hiding in any corner. Make sure that the light next to your characters is always green inside the entire castle (if it's yellow/red it means monsters are nearby)

b)
Know that the butler is in the tavern? He only greets you at the castle 1 time and then goes to the tavern

yeah I'm new to the mod not the game, those ain't the issues.

About the castle, I've found an FAQ webpage for Maestro mod. It hints there is a secret part of the castle you must find how to get into. Maybe a new area, maybe earlier access to one of the upgrade areas, I don't know. (I'm playing MM7 now but haven't reached the second upgrade yet.)

As for the goblin invasion, the goblin's letter says the army will show up after a few days. What this means in practice (without the mod) is next time the map reloads. Save-and-reload is one way of doing this. It fits the story to do so after a session in the training hall. The other way is to return from another map; this includes coming out of either Castle Harmondale or the White Cliff Cave.

[EDIT:] And if you already knew THAT, the webpage I found gives no hint, but maybe they cannot arrive until after the castle quest is signed off by the butler.

thanks man, don't think I would've ever noticed the 10m high up differently colored torch myself.

as for the goblin trouble I have left harmondale multiple times and trained after lighting the fires and no goblins have showed up, now I kinda feel like there's something I'm just missing here since the torch thing.

Have you tried standing at the cannon site in the middle of the map? This should spawn goblins at least. And have you searched the goblin camp in the wilderness south west of the houses where the monk promotion quest giver lives? And I assume you have lit all 3 signal fires? I'd sleep for a week in the tavern then try these steps. If it still doesn't work then i don't know how to help you.