JCServant |
I'm polling players: I would like to know what each of you think of the next three APs coming out. Please rate each on scale of 1-5. Thanks!!!
1. Never would play. Would rather sit out the campaign.
2. Would never vote for it, but would play if everyone else insists.
3. Don't care either way... I would rather do most other APs or a homebrew, though
4. I would vote for it, would like to do it over most other APs.
5. Would LOVE to do it, even to the point of possibly playing with a larger/small group than normal just to experience it. Top 3 on my list to play!
Feel free to elaborate more after doing your score :)
Wrath of the Righteous (Campaign using Mythic Rules)
The Worldwound tore reality apart at the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, murdering the nation of Sarkoris and unleashing a ravenous demonic horde upon the world. Only the quick action of several other nations of knights, barbarians, and heroes stemmed the demon army and contained it within lost Sarkoris, and for the next century, crusade after crusade tried to defeat the demons only to fail time and time again. Their greatest success, the line of magical artifacts known as wardstones that stand sentinel along the Worldwound's border, barely manages to contain the demons. So when one of the wardstones is sabotaged, a city falls and the demons within surge out in a massive assault like none before. Even before the Fifth Crusade has begun a city has fallen and some of the crusaders' greatest defenders and heroes are slain. Can anyone rise up against the demon host to prevent the armies of Deskari, the demon lord of the Locust Host, from swallowing the world?
Mummy's Mask
The ancient lands of Osirion are blanketed by the sands of time, and eldritch secrets and vast riches lay just beneath the sun-blistered surface. As modern Osirion opens its vaults and tombs to outsiders for the first time in centuries, many of these lost treasures and secrets are now emerging—some more troublesome than others. Hakotep I, a now-forgotten pharaoh, was robbed upon his burial. A secret sect took his heart and his funerary mask, both containing a portion of his soul. Betrayed the chance to pass on into the afterlife during his burial, Hakotep has existed in a state between life and death for millennia. The recent rediscovery of one of these lost soul fragments has allowed the trapped pharaoh to once again work in this world to redress the wrongs committed against him, and a cult worshipping him as a god-king grows in the heart of Osirion. Can a group of heroes brave terrible guardians, foul cults, and the burning sands of the desert to stop the rebirth of this ancient tyrant?
Iron Gods
{Paraphrased) This one takes place in Numeria. If you're not familiar with the campaign setting, Numeria is a country ruled by barbarian tribes that had a huge spaceship crash in it. Expect Conan running around with rayguns, vibroblades, and space fighter armor plates trapped to their chest.... similar to Wizardry computer RPGs, Thundarr or He-Man in flavor.
Samy |
Wrath of the Righteous: 2.5
I wouldn't say I'd *never* vote for it, but I do have a mild preference against it, because I'd rather avoid Mythic for now. I'm still getting to grips with PF core and don't want to overcomplicate things yet. Once I feel more ready for Mythic I'll probably bump this to 3-4.
Mummy's Mask: 5
I am bug-nuts crazy about foreign cultures, so I haven't been this excited about an AP since Jade Regent. I am jumping-on-bed excited for MM. It's the first AP that I'm buying as it comes out.
Iron Gods: 3.5
The concept of Numeria is weird, but I'm cautiously interested to see what they will do with it. One strong thing in favor is androids, I really love them as a PC race and I hope that the AP will bring along with it an Androids of Golarion Player Companion (because I think it's crazy that we don't have a +strength android!)
Baffled_King |
Wrath of the Righteous - 4: I'm excited to play or run this path, but want to make sure I do so in a group that will be dedicated to roleplaying the ascent of power that goes with the Mythic ruleset. A lot of groups I have played with would undermine that whole aspect of the AP through apathy.
Mummy's Mask - 3: Without further info, I can't say I'm super excited about this one; Osirion has traditionally been a part of the setting that I feel falls short most of the time it gets used as a basis for adventure stories. The synopsis sounds interesting, but I find myself nevertheless expecting the authors to fall short of truly involving the players in the history and current political significance of events in the sands.
Iron Gods - 4: Numeria is a portion of the setting that I've been interested to see developed for a long while now. It seemed almost unfair that the main setting books have talked about the strange land and how different things were there, with not even enough information to successfully run a game through a major city in the region, even just as a stop-off on a larger journey. We've had no info on how the place is organized or run, just a (very) rough picture of the political setting in place. I'm eager to see the setting material that will come with this AP, although without more information, the adventure itself is less of interest than the side-bars and background info that will come with it.
Doctor Necrotic |
Wrath of the Righteous - 3.5
I have still yet to get used to Mythic rules. From what I've seen, the adventure looks really cool though. I've always found demons to be cool and the whole crusade thing reminds me of the several war games I've come to enjoy.
Mummy's Mask - 3
I should be more thrilled about this. I love Ancient Egypt themed adventures! Pharaoh and the Desolation series is a true favorite of mine... But, I dunno, it's not really catching me that much ATM. Once I find out more, I'll probably change my mind. I might subscribe for this.
Iron Gods - 5
Oh YES YES YES! I love anything gonzo fantasy. Beyond some of the D&D settings, Middle Earth, and some other settings; standard fantasy bores me. This is a flavor of fantasy I enjoy! Back in some AD&D games, I loved mixing Gamma World and D&D (including the 2e update thanks to Dragon magazine.) Once my job's in order, this one's getting a subscription. I'm certainly excited for some Savagery, Super-Science, and Sorcery to say the least.
Ridge |
Wrath of the Righteous- 4 stars, maybe 5. I LOVE The concept of this one, and am actually playing it PBP. I DO worry I'm going to mess up on the mythic rules since I'm still a bit behind compared to many to the core but that's the only flaw. I know folks love their shades of gray, but sometimes the streaks of bright color plunging against the darkness is a beautiful thing to take part in. And no one can say the stakes aren't high.
Mummy's Mask- 3 stars. Maybe 3.5. I'm not really that big on ancient Egypt, though I did enjoy the Mummy movies and I'm going to try to keep an element of that in my mind. Still, I'll try being a player in almost any AP once. This one sounds like it might be too dungeon heavy, but I'm wrong on that I think I'll be happy to be proven wrong. Learning about Paizo's take on the culture might mean a lot more fun than I'm expecting.
Iron Gods- 3 stars. I'm not big on the mix of alien tech with barbarian splendor, but then again, I LOVED Thundar the Barbarian, and now that someone else has made that connection, I find myself warming to it. I think if I can just get past that mental hurdle I've put in my own way, this may surprise me. Maybe I'll play a druid just to show those techno savages that nature still rules supreme!
;)
Lavore |
Wrath of the righteous - 3- Im mostly interested in the mythic rules.
Mummy's Mask- 2- It'd be nice to see something that wasn't based in european or asian fantasy.
Iron Gods-6- Heck yeah! Finally something that is truly unique. I've always been interested in the cosmology of golarion and what effects its visitor's could have. The cover for Numeria in the Inner Sea world Guide shows me a giant scorpion robot with machine gun claws. I wanna kill 5 of those.
Mikaze |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Wrath of the Righteous : Solid 5. This is the campaign I have been yearning for since I started playing the game. It feels REALLY nice to be able to go into a campaign with an idealistic, redemptive character and feel assured that you'll fit in without having to deal with any of the murderhoboisms. Got a character that was practically made for this AP already. Eager to start ASAP.
Mummy's Mask : Solid 5. I've wanted an ancient Egypt/Osirion AP for a LONG time. I am extremely excited by this one, and the hardest part is narrowing down what I want to play. Some may complain about the theme the same way some bizarrely complain about Jade Regent being "Asian" and "not fantasy"(wat), but for me the setting is something that has appealed to me for a long time. So glad to see Osirion getting love. Looking forward to the fancy hats.
Iron Gods : Solid 5. While Osirion is closer to my heart than Numeria, the latter is still awesome and I've been excited about the "new machine gods" concept since the announcement. Again, some might hate on the sci-fi elements for "not being fantasy", but it works for me, certainly in this context. And I've been looking for the right campaign to use my alien-descended sorcerer/oracle. This sounds like a match.
All in all, the AP line is making me really happy right now. So many wishes coming true over 18 months. :)
(if the Spring 2015 AP is Lastwall/Belkzen with redeemable/allied orc tribes it'll be 24)
Jenner2057 |
Wrath of the Righteous: 4 - I'm still undecided on the mythic rules but the story looks fantastic so far. It's won me over from my initial hesitation.
Mummy's Mask: 3.5 - This one still seems kind of meh to me. But I have confidence that Paizo will put out a great AP so I wouldn't hesitate to play it. But it's not at the top of my list.
Iron Gods: 5 - one I've been waiting on for quite some time.
Aotrscommander RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32 |
Mummy's Mask: 5. It will, in fact, probably be the first advanture path I will be buying as it comes out, as opposed to when there's a sale on! (I hgave, in fact, held off buying the Osirion sourcebook, wnating to get the newer, lareger version!)
When I started roleplaying twenty-three years ago, my Dad borrowed some quest-books from an oppo at work, so I could read and get some ideas. Pharoah was among them and it struck a chord. I later bought the module myself one day when I saw it randomly in my at the time local gaming shop. And I bought the Deserts of Desolation updated pdf several years back, but have yet to adapt it to 3.x/PF (or the hidious mutant hybrid that is 3.Aotrs). I have acquired in the golem sale hard copies of both Entombed with the Pharaohs and Pact-Stone Pyramid, and while cataloguing what bits and pieces I'd got (I also bought Age of Worms in the pior pdf sale), I realised I'd bought the Third Riddle as well. It occurred to me now I could with some work, nearly scrape an adventure path out of all that. (Or weave it into the aforementioned...)
(By-the-by, does anybody know if there are any other Osirion or Osirion-ish modules/adventures (PF or otherwise) floating around?)
[Iron Gods 4 to 4.5 Colour me interested. Especially if the flavour is a bit He-Man (I once ran an adnature that was basically a He-Man/She-Ra expy - the twist being the PCs woke up with no memory, incomplete character sheets and pictures of who they were and that on;ly became cdlear as time went on!) Given that I am only just coming up to the second half of the first book o my first advanture path (RotRL) and have four mor adventure paths (two of them Schackled City and Age of Worms which are longer), it's not a priority at the moment.
Wrath of the Righteuous 3. Eeeeeh. The World Wound is a novel idea, but it strikes me as a bit too shades of Warhammer/40K (and while I find Warhammer to be okay, (and the original WHFRP's quest books are excellent, the gold standard until Paizo, and I mean that with completel seriousness) 40K I really dislike.) I'd really want to see a mythic arc that would actually end with closing the World-Wound, as mythic/Epic should sort of be in that area. (Though that said, the only campaign I ran that actually reached into Epic was the 3.Aotrs conversion of Dragon Mountain...!) (I dunno, maybe it does for all I know.) *shrug* Mythic also doesn't really appeal to me (Epic was plenty and we didn't use Epic spellcasting). I've skimmed the rules and read some of the optimisation guides, and I have to say I'm not too keen on the idea of the PCs being able to shrug off all the status effects. (I have enough trouble with firepower concentration when dealing eight characters in a mid-to-high optimisation environment at the best of times! Using mythic would likely mean that all the serious boss fights would have to be mythic-ised as well, on top of all the bending I already do!)
But that's the beauty of Golarion, there's something for everyone.
I'd really like to see an AP set not on Golarion, but on one of the other planets - I'd snap that one up as fast as Mummy's Mask. (Let's not split hairs - it was exactly the moment I found Golarion was in an actual solar system that I decided it was Best Published Campaign World and started buying source books in anger!)
Vaellen |
Wrath of the Righteous: 3 This AP looks great so far but I'm not sure my group wants to learn the Mythic rules.
Mummy's Mask: 4 I love the themes of this AP. I have high hopes but we'll have to see how it plays out.
Iron Gods: 5 This one is either going to be awesome or awful. I have high hopes for this one as well and seeing as how cool "Rasputin Must Die" turned out I think Paizo can deliver.
Orthos |
Wrath: 4 or 5. Good ol' fashioned demon smiting, and Mythic is fun. Playing in a PbP now. Won't run this one myself because it's a tad too close to Savage Tide.
MM: 4. Got a GM already lining up to run this one, if she finds the time. Not quite as interested in this one as the other two.
IG: 4, maybe 5. Not sure how it'll work out but greatly looking forward to it. I love mixing up the stereotypical traditions and coming out of left field with unexpected stuff like Numeria's tech. I'm hoping for something that will give me a stepping-stone toward Pathfinder Magitek.
The Painted Oryx |
WotR: 5
This AP is awesome so far and I can't wait to see what comes next, even if it is taking me a lttle while to wrap my head around these mythic rules I think the story itself is great and that's the major factor for me.
MM: 3.5
Not sure about this one. Sandwiched between two EPIC APs, it seems a little bland. However, I do love Egyptian mythology and am looking forward to seeing Pathfinders take on all that.
IG: 4.5
Very excited about this! Just the name Iron Gods is so evocative, Numeria is a very mysterious place to all of us right now and I'm really looking forward to that being explored more.
Feros |
I usually run my campaigns, but as a player:
Wrath of the Righteous: 4. Love the idea, but the power level in such a confined space makes the pacing seem a bit rushed. I agree that it should get to the power levels that it does, just longer. That of course would make it longer than 6 issues, so that is off the menu. It is brilliantly written and well thought out, so definitely a 4.
Mummy's Mask: 5. I LOVE Ancient Egypt and Pharaoh was the second module I ever purchased. An entire campaign based on Egyptian themes? Sign me up!
Iron Gods: 5. Numeria is such a cool concept and as a fan of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks from my childhood, how could I ever pass up lasers and power armor? :D
roysier |
Wrath of the Righteous – 2, I don’t like the idea of mythic rules, but I will play it if my home group really wants too.
Mummy's Mask – 4, I like ancient Egyptian type themes, but I will probably wait 12+ months until after it comes out before I run this. I will wait and see if there is are Wizkids mini’s coming out for it. For both Skulls and Shackles and Reign of Winter my group was well into the AP when a mini set was (or will for Row) released and it will be much cooler if we had good mini’s up front.
Iron Gods – 3, I can go either way with this one. I’ll wait for the reviews and see how it looks. Also, I will wait 12+ months to see if a mini set is released before even considering starting it.
Narango |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wrath- 3
Mask- 4
Iron Gods- 4
I also just have to say that reading these posts really reaffirms why Paizo is so great. They REALLY do offer something for everyone. And sure not every AP concept is going to fly with every customer, but there's almost guaranteed to be one around the corner that's going get SOMEONE excited.
Keep it up Paizo!!!! :D
Level 1 Commoner |
Wrath of the Righteous - 5 That's the kind of epic fantasy I love. It's next on my to do list after finishing Carrion Crown.
Mummy's Mask 2 - I don't like Serpent Skull and I suspect that the writers might stumble into the same traps that made that AP rather weak in comparison with others. On the other hand (and after playing The Secret World) I like such scenarios.
Iron Gods - 5 Screw genre conventions! I want something really new and refreshing and this may be it.
Mark_Twain007 |
Wrath - 4: It looks and sounds like so much fun. Charging demon's and killing all sorts of stuff while being super awesome with mythic powers. I want to play it sometime.
Mummy - 3: To me based on the description, it sounds like a sandy version of Rise of the Runelords. While I do love that AP, I don't really want to do that again, it seems kinda boring. There will have to be some cool stuff going on in the AP to get me excited about it.
Iron Gods - 5: Barbarians with lasers fighting metal monsters from space. Enough said.
MMCJawa |
Wrath: 5; Really been enjoying the themes, use of mythic rules, and bad guys, and support articles for this AP. Good enough that I am finishing my AP subscription even though money has been really tight for me.
Mummy: 2; I like Osirion and AP's that deal with nontraditional themes/settings, but this AP's plotline just isn't grabbing me. Feels a bit too much like Shattered Star in the amount of dungeon delving, which I wasn't a huge fan of. Interested in the Egyptian God article, but the rest of the support articles seem to be a bit to narrowly focused
Iron Gods: 4; I love Numeria and this seems like it will be another great AP, with plenty of cool themes and good support article. Waiting for more detailed AP volume descriptions before giving it a 5.
Will probably cancel my AP subscription (because...no money), but hope to be able resubscribe to Iron Gods.
Shiftybob |
Wrath: 3. I love the story so far, but I have a feeling that a lot of my players will be scared off by the epic high level stuff.
Mummy: 4. Looks very promising.
Iron Gods: 5. This is the AP I have been begging for since I first read the description of Numeria in the Inner Sea World Guide years ago. I will likely drop everything to play it the day it arrives in the mail.
rknop |
Every single adventure path that Paizo has published, plus most of the ones other people have published, are at least 3.5 for me....
My problem isn't that I'd vote for others first, it's that there's just not enough time in the world to do all the gaming I wish I had time to do. (One must work, eat, sleep, watch football games, hang out with the wife, read novels, play music, engage in other hobbies, etc.)
The adventure paths that would not be my first choice to play are Kingmaker and Shattered Star... and not because I don't like them. Rather, because I'm GMing both of them, and one thing I do prefer as a player is the mystery, not knowing what's coming. I can deal with spoilers, but like it better when there aren't any.
More details on the question at hand:
Wrath of the Righteous - 5. In "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering" terms, I am probably the "Specialist", and the type of character I usually seem to want to play is the "goody-goody". (I've been accused of this by other players who play with me.) That's not 100% true (I might actually be a Specialist "knowledge seeker"). However, I read through Mythic Adventure and realize that I want to play an Archamge. Saving the world and kicking demon butt while doing so only adds to the joy. (However, I give you high odds I end up running this AP before playing it.)
Mummy's Mask - 3.5 to 4. I don't know a lot about this, but getting to be Indiana Jones and/or Rick O'Connell sounds like fun. And, digging into ancient secrets appeals to my "knowledge seeker" specialist tendencies.
Iron Gods - 4 to 4.5. Genre mixing can potentially lead to disaster. However, one can create disaster while staying firmly within the lines of genre. Star Wars was awesome even though it put a whole bunch of fantasy and mythological tropes into space opera. Firefly was awesome mixing Old West and Sci Fi. I should probably go back and watch Brisoe County Jr., as I enjoyed the one or two episodes I managed to catch. I'm eager to dig more into Numeria.
Rakshaka |
Wrath of the Righteous: 4 I've played in Savage Tide camapigns all the way to the end twice, and when I first heard the premise of this I was worried about overlap. I love the Mythic rules, and so picked up the first module out of curiosity, and really love the way it reads. That said, having picked up the second and read the outline for the rest, I'm excited to run this one. My players have already played STAP as well, but I feel that the AP has a different enough feel and look that it would work.
Mummy's Mask: 3 Honestly, I'm going to need more info than, "Its in the desert and there will be tombs/ dungeons". I feel that there's enough APs that capture the 'travel to a sight with traps and treasure' style of play (like Serpent Skull and Shattered Star), that unless there's something that sets this apart, I'm having a hard time getting too excited. I really hope they play up the environmental rules for hot environments like they did for cold ones in Reign of Winter and am hoping encounter design gets taken into account for the environment. Ranged combat was way too powerful in the desert environment of Legacy of Fire/.
Iron Kingdoms: 5 And now for something different... I for one am excited by the number of possibilities this entails, from the integration of technology to roaming barbarian hordes and their politics, all among rampaging spider/scorpion robots with chainguns and lasers. Aliens, artifacts, ancient cultures, and all the other possiblities leaves me wanting more.
Squeakmaan |
Wrath: 5 - Definitely. Demons, Mythic, Abyss hopping, nothing I don't love.
Mummy's Mask: 3.5 - Looks interesting, would enjoy playing a Taldan treasure hunter with muttonchops that make men weep with envy.
Iron Gods: 6 - Been waiting for this AP since the very moment I learned about Numeria. I simply cannot wait to get my hands on it, be it playing or running.
Sarcasmancer |
Every single adventure path that Paizo has published, plus most of the ones other people have published, are at least 3.5 for me....
Well said rknop. Every AP that I have read, even the ones I thought sounded boring, has impressed me with all the little bits. Specifically: I thought Jade Regent sounded like the most boring slog ever. But there's some awesome dungeon crawls in there. So I'm inclined to give Paizo the benefit of the doubt.
feytharn |
Wrath 3 - I am not even sure why. I like the Idea, I like the execution, the books are a great read, it just didn't tick in a way I would call it the next AP to play...
Mummy 5 - I am a big fan of Egyptian themes and I am really looking forward for Golarions version of it.
Iron Gods 5 - I have been looking forward to more Numeria (and Barrier Peaks) ever since the gazetteer - so has most of my group.
archmagi1 |
Wrath 3: After running a Mythic home game, I know how challenging providing worthwhile fights can be to a Mythic party. It's on my list, but not something I plan on rushing out to buy, unlike...
Mummy 5: Yes. So yes. Paizo returns to the parts of their setting I love (North-east Garund and/or Qadira/Casmaron), for a very classic sounding series of adventures. I just wish it didn't get pushed back to Mar-Aug instead of Feb-Jul (and I'm sure the AP sub folks are too since they're likely to get a double dose in Aug with Iron Gods #1 in time for convention season).
Iron Gods 2.5: Unlike all the "sci-fi, eww" folks above, I love sci-fi and magitech, and all the crazy genre busting that comes along with it. The problem for me, though, is that I find Numeria to be quite uninteresting, and the way it has been described, it will be heavily integrated into the theme of Numeria, much like Carrion Crown, Council of Theives, and Mummies Mask. That much push of a place I don't find very interesting is why I won't run it. I'd probably play in it, if I had a GM for it tho.
Anguish |
Variety is the spice of life, and my opinion is useless except to know what I think about things, which isn't very valuable.
That said, I'm planning on playing Wrath and I don't have any plans to either run or play the other two. Too topically specialized.
But I won't be stopping my subscription because you never know. I deeply support Paizo's experimentation. Just sort of wish it wasn't a whole year of stuff I don't care about, but that's my fault not theirs.
Macona |
Wrath of the Righteous: 3.5
I really love the sound of this one, but it’s on the backburner as I’ve been in a lot of evil-outsider themed games recently.
Mummy’s Mask: 3
I’m rather apathetic to the theme, but I’d happily run/play it sometime in the future.
Iron Gods: 5+
I want this one so much that it hurts. I want to play rather than GM, so I can experience all the new lore from my character’s perspective. Even reading the word ‘Numeria’ makes me want to touch myself.
Majuba |
Wrath of the Righteous: 2 - No real interest, but I don't think I'd spurn it if I was in a group deciding what to play and this was picked. Elegant design or not, I'm just not interested in Mythic really.
Mummy's Mask: 4.5 - Very excited - J1-Entombed with the Pharaohs proved Osirion can be *damn* fun. Would easily be a 5, but I haven't actually started running a Paizo AP since Kingmaker, which is before all the APG/UC/UM splat hit. I'm a little wary of how bloated the rules content will be, but still very eager. Might be going to some lengths to play/run this.
Iron Gods: 1.5 - A one-shot in Numeria? Cool. A campaign? I just can't get into it. Debating losing my "Charter" tag over it.
Jeven |
I'm on the fence about Mummy's Mask. I would normally like an Egyptian themed AP, but don't like the premise of adventurer-tourism where hordes of adventurers buy tickets from the local authorities to enter and plunder the ruins.
I've ordered the guide to Osirion book, so will read that first and see if it sells me on the AP.
Hopefully 2015's AP's will sell me again on Pathfinder. The 2013 ones had me really enthused, but the two for 2014 are a maybe and a no.
Tengu Verymuch |
Wrath of the Righteous : 1.5
Not interested by Mythic. Worldwound and armies of demons goes way over my usual preference for lower fantasy niche.
Mummy's Mask : 3.5
Maybe. Have not yet read a lot about this AP, concentrating on ROTRL right now. But, if there's a lot of old ruins exploring could be a good classic dungeoneering romp.
Iron Gods : -1
No. Just no. In "my" Golarion, we completely ignore that part of the world. Mixing SciFi and Fantasy is a big turn off to me and it was what kept me from playing hardcore Pathfinder for the first few years.
magnuskn |
Wrath of the Righteous: 4
I am running this campaign right now. The general theme is awesome, but I think mythic gameplay breaks the tenuous high-level game balance like a dry twig.
Mummy's Mask: 1
I am not interested at all in an Egyptian setting, I fear. I was seriously thinking about terminating my suscription for the next six months, but I guess I'll survive having some 95% useless modules more. I didn't stop suscribing for Serpent's Skull and Skull & Shackles after all, either.
Iron Gods: 5
Hey, it's Yor, Hunter from the Future! I hope we get to hang-glide on a dead giant bat, too. :p
Seriously, final ratings will of course depend on how the AP's are written. Wrath is pretty awesome for 5 of 6 books in that department, and even the one book I found lacking had good parts in it. Maybe MM will have awesome NPC's and story, although for the latter I am not really liking what I've seen from the story descriptions.