UnknownAtThisTime
First Post
Earlier this week, I ordered MV from amazon and received it the next day. $19.49 all inclusive, shipped 'free' to my door, in quicker time than I could have made to schedule a trip to a store that has the product. There are tons of good "reviews" on line, so what follows are my opinions more than "the facts":
Part of my basis for this is that I lack an extensive mini collection, and I tire of the Ettin playing the role of the Troll so often. For $19, I could get maybe a dozen somewhat random minis from ebay. Or, I could get 400 specific tokens. Naturally, the tokens pale in comparison to a mini, but to me the right token beats the wrong mini any day of the week. And for a nickel a piece, with no hassle of printing, pasting and punching my own, this seems like a 'fair deal' to me for that price.
Throw in the adventure and map, and it gets better. Not everyone is the same, and some may place "no value" on the adventure. As for me, I could easily see myself spending $5 for a straightforward yet competent product that is a well printed short shot adventure with full color map.
Last comes the value of the book itself. I already feel I have gotten fair value for the tokens and adventure/map, so the book itself is icing on the cake. It is very subjective, but I'd say this is a $12-$15 product on it's own. It is well done, and it will get used. I like the selected monsters, as many of my old school favorites are included: Stirge's, Purple Worms, Ghouls, Gnolls, Giants, Golems, Ropers, Rust Monsters and Bulettes.
I recognize that my opinion is likely 180 degrees from the norm. Most would compute the value of the book and note the other items as the "freebies". This is why I wanted to share my impressions on the Vault.
- I like the formatting of the book, with the background text, and then the stat block and token picture.
- I do not mind the size: 6"x9". It works well for the format and content. It is easy to read, but harder to "reference" (ie lay flat).
- I am dubious that the book (binding) would hold up under heavy use
- The included adventure, Cairn of the Winter King is short, straightforward, and relatively well done, if dungeoncrawl-ey.
- The included Map for Cairn of the Winter King is large, well done, and probably re-usable in a few environments.
- The tokens are well made and excellent representations of the MV monsters. I am sure someone else counted them, but there have to be roughly 400 of them on the 10 sheets.
Part of my basis for this is that I lack an extensive mini collection, and I tire of the Ettin playing the role of the Troll so often. For $19, I could get maybe a dozen somewhat random minis from ebay. Or, I could get 400 specific tokens. Naturally, the tokens pale in comparison to a mini, but to me the right token beats the wrong mini any day of the week. And for a nickel a piece, with no hassle of printing, pasting and punching my own, this seems like a 'fair deal' to me for that price.
Throw in the adventure and map, and it gets better. Not everyone is the same, and some may place "no value" on the adventure. As for me, I could easily see myself spending $5 for a straightforward yet competent product that is a well printed short shot adventure with full color map.
Last comes the value of the book itself. I already feel I have gotten fair value for the tokens and adventure/map, so the book itself is icing on the cake. It is very subjective, but I'd say this is a $12-$15 product on it's own. It is well done, and it will get used. I like the selected monsters, as many of my old school favorites are included: Stirge's, Purple Worms, Ghouls, Gnolls, Giants, Golems, Ropers, Rust Monsters and Bulettes.
I recognize that my opinion is likely 180 degrees from the norm. Most would compute the value of the book and note the other items as the "freebies". This is why I wanted to share my impressions on the Vault.
