No Step 0 for core pursuits?

[Ergonomic Cat]

So, I'm curious (I read back several pages and didn't see this discussed).

The Pursuits in Into the Steam and Under Quarantine all have a Step 0, which ranges from good to great.  If I select one of those pursuits during the Prologue, I get a benefit for swapping immediately (Right?).  

But the Pursuits in the core book start with a Step 1.  So someone that switches over to a core Pursuit gets no benefit for the first session (right?), other than the method of drawing cards.

So expansion Pursuits seem much more front loaded.  And the Step 1's both seem about equal in ability most of the time, so it seems like the expansion Pursuits are just giving you more?

Am I missing something?  Has this been addressed?  Does anyone house rule Step 0's?

[Mason]

There was a change in design team members (Hello!) between the publication of the Fated Almanac and Into the Steam and the supplemental books. That's why the Pursuits in the supplemental books are arranged a bit differently than the ones in the Fated Almanac.

[zeeblee]

It would be nice if the core pursuits got updated with 0-step talents, but at least they are still overall powerful if you dedicate some time to them (I think they may still be the only source of Flurry-style talents as an example).  They are also still decent at representing unspecialized versions of pursuits which show up in other books.

[EnternalVoid]

Like said it was a design change but overall we found it did not really matter much with our group.  A Gunfighter may not start with a extra talent but is pretty well established by the fancy weapon they can start with.  And the original pursuits have some pretty useful talents.  Even with access to newer pursuits that start with a 0 Talent people still take the original pursuits about a third of the time as their starting pursuit *Often for concept and starting gear I think*.  For some of the original pursuits the first talent is pretty great and worth starting in just to get it as soon as possible.

[Ergonomic Cat]

21 hours ago, EnternalVoid said:

Like said it was a design change but overall we found it did not really matter much with our group.  A Gunfighter may not start with a extra talent but is pretty well established by the fancy weapon they can start with.  And the original pursuits have some pretty useful talents.  Even with access to newer pursuits that start with a 0 Talent people still take the original pursuits about a third of the time as their starting pursuit *Often for concept and starting gear I think*.  For some of the original pursuits the first talent is pretty great and worth starting in just to get it as soon as possible.

I'm more looking at changing Pursuits.  The core book definitely seems to balance the step 0 against the starting stuff for new players in a very nice way.  But after that, it seems like the most min-max to do things is to pick a core book Pursuit for your first game, get the really nice gear boost, then after game 1, you get step 1, and then swap to an expansion Pursuit.  Unless you're planning to play a very long game, in which case you're probably still better off going with an expansion book Pursuit, as the 25-35 scrip benefit you get from the core Pursuits is eventually going to be fall away, and the free talent/ability is going to be more valuable.  And to be clear, I love that series of choices.

But as a Min-Max'er at heart, it's really hard for me to swap over to a core book Pursuit after the first session, given that I get literally nothing new that session except a new way to draw cards and possibly a choice of skills, whereas I get a nice boost immediately if I pick an expansion book.  Both of them do a good job of representing the deep vs wide philosophy for me, though.  I feel like I can get a really good breadth of abilities by jumping in to different Pursuits each session, but I'm never going to get the really high level stuff without just biting the bullet and progressing like a normal person.   

23 hours ago, Mason said:

There was a change in design team members (Hello!) between the publication of the Fated Almanac and Into the Steam and the supplemental books. That's why the Pursuits in the supplemental books are arranged a bit differently than the ones in the Fated Almanac.

I really like the new stuff, so thanks and good job.   That also explains why at least parts of Into the Steam seemed to update parts of the core book.  I'm new to TTB (hell, new to Malifaux overall in a lot of ways), but I'm enjoying it a lot so far!  The only thing I'd like more was if *someone* wrote up semi-official Step 0's for all the core book Pursuits.  

 

[Mason]

37 minutes ago, Ergonomic Cat said:

 The only thing I'd like more was if *someone* wrote up semi-official Step 0's for all the core book Pursuits. 

 

Want to see a magic trick? 

[koronuslight]

30 minutes ago, Mason said:

 

Want to see a magic trick? 

Hah! Well played. 

[Ergonomic Cat]

1 hour ago, Mason said:

 

Want to see a magic trick? 

Man.  I feel flush with power now!

I'd also like the Neverborn book on Friday!

[RotatingPanda]

On 23/01/2017 at 8:43 AM, Mason said:

 

Want to see a magic trick? 

Is this a reference to 2nd edition or a joke I'm too dense to get?

[Mason]

5 minutes ago, RotatingPanda said:

Is this a reference to 2nd edition or a joke I'm too dense to get?

Posted the same day we announced 2nd edition.

[RotatingPanda]

Ahhh. Brilliant. Very excited for it.