@NightlyCoffee Sorry, I thought my reply to your comment about your mods posted earlier...but I forgot to post it at all until now : P
It's cool all of the mods and things you have installed. As a fellow story-telling sort I understand the desire to want as much 'control' over certain elements of the game as is possible where necessary, and also story progression. I'm a console player, but one thing you mentioned that does bug me is the random townies dropping in on conversations all of the time. It's a bit annoying when I'm doing screenshots or something and some randomer turns up wanting a chat. (Apparently I make my Sims just as asocial as I am IRL...) I have to keep chasing them off.
Out of all the mods, one of the ones that does interest me a lot other than MCCC is the Untamed Magic is Untamed one where the spells are more destructive. Also I believe there is another dark magic mod of sorts that looks pretty fun.