Early game Magic - Tips to make it easier for new players?

[The13Fates]

I've been a Fatemaster for this game for almost a year, in that time I've ran a few one-shots, the Northern aggression Penny dreadful and now onto the final destiny steps of my homebrew campaign; and I run into a roadblock each time new characters are being made: Magic users seem to *really* struggle for the first 3-4 sessions before getting their stats up and getting necessary suits built in.

New players would choose a School they like the sound of, choose a "magic pursuit" then create their grimoires but then get bummed out by repeatedly being incapable of getting a simple spell cast.

My short-term "fix" is to use Oxford School with Reduce AP immuto but when there's so much choice and customization, it feels very limiting. 

What are some good first game choices to make casting magic easier on a new player? Such as good Talents to take, spell choice and early game immuto picks etc. 

[J4bberw0ck]

My solution for my current campaign was to start my players out as convicts in a soulstone mine. When the adventure started, I let them take advantage of the confusion to pocket a couple of low-lade soulstones. They made spells cast-able until suits were able to be built in, at which point they became an easy way to mitigate damage or boost a particularly important spell.

I was worried that they'd just sell them immediately and become crazy rich, but this was mitigated by 2 factors:

   1. These were uncut, low-lade soulstones. They would have had to find a disreputable dealer upon which to offload them, which would have been an adventure in and of itself.

   2. My players were so dependent on their spells (2 of them were primarily spellcasters), that they wouldn't give them up for the world. Soulstones are much more valuable to a spellcaster than the scrip they'd get for selling them.

It ended up working really well, and gave a Malifaux feel to casting spells. Plus it made for a couple of tense situations where the casters resorted to stabbing and/or bashing in heads with a rock to recharge their soulstones.

 

In general, I think this is a good way to go. Give anyone who starts a spellcasting pursuit a soulstone or two. They're a cool resource, both from an RP perspective and a mechanical one. What if a soulstone has the soul of the Fated's friend/spouse/child in it? They would never want to use or sell it, except in the most dire of circumstances. Under 1st edition the Fated could just take a General Talent to add a suit to a particular skill, and this was always taken from the outset. With 2nd edition, this wasn't available until later, which I feel was done to push soulstones as a more valuable resource.

[The13Fates]

10 hours ago, J4bberw0ck said:

Give anyone who starts a spellcasting pursuit a soulstone or two. They're a cool resource, both from an RP perspective and a mechanical one.

I'll give this a go, I was a little apprehensive to just hand out a soul stone for free given that: A./ Lots of money tied up in those rocks; & B./ the legality and consequences of being found with one on one's person.

I'm still a little foggy lorewise about the latter, in some instances it's permanently confiscated, others it leads to arrest and questioning, others it's "legal" so long as you don't use it or have it on show, it's all very confusing.

I do have a couple of concerns regarding handing out a low quality low lade soulstone:

1./ How does one shut down the player who says "If they are getting a free 20scp item, can I also get for free..." ?

2./ What is a good number? Two seems right but I obviously lack table experience and it potentially causes the above question to crop up x2.

[J4bberw0ck]

I would say 2 is fair. As for the first question, I guess I would say to frame it as something you're doing to keep the pursuits useful for the first few games. Most other pursuits get an allotment of scrip for purchasing items, or even a free toolkit (which can be worth a lot), so I don't see it as unreasonable. 

Of course, you can also just let the other players know that if they branch out into a spell caster pursuit, they might acquire some souls tones of their own. 

As for the legality, that's part of why I don't consider it too much of an advantage. Fated still have to be careful about flashing them around or casting spells around Guild agents, but that's true even without the soulstones. If you cast a spell using The Whisper and the Guild sees you, you're going to be in for a bad time. 

[Steamtastic Vagabond]

Also remember that the Guild is likely full of hypocrites. Guards will definitely look the other way if you can bribe them well enough and some could use the players to get stones of their own. The legality of soulstones is questionable because the consequences vary based on how important or useful the Souls tone holders are when caught.

[J4bberw0ck]

1 hour ago, Steamtastic Vagabond said:

Also remember that the Guild is likely full of hypocrites. Guards will definitely look the other way if you can bribe them well enough and some could use the players to get stones of their own. The legality of soulstones is questionable because the consequences vary based on how important or useful the Souls tone holders are when caught.

That's an excellent point! This could even be the hook for an adventure. The Fated get caught with illegal soulstones, and have to do a job for a corrupt Guild official to avoid prosecution. It could even be the start of a Shadowrun-esque campaign, with the Guild official acting as the Fated's handler, or Fixer, as they take on ever-more-dangerous jobs to stay ahead of the hangman's noose.

Ok, now I've got too many fun ideas. I need a new group of Fated to run this campaign with me!

[Ebb]

If you re-check the "Dual triggers for spells (And other skills)" thread that you posted in a while ago, I (and others) listed a wide variety of ways that characters could gain suits for spells in the early game.

In particular: "...Channel Destiny General Talent, which is probably your best bet for spells in the early game (other than the Oxford method) as it has no prerequisites."

Other than that, you could encourage one of your players to try the Mage Pursuit, which when combined with the oxford method amounts to a free Suit added to Manifested Spells (without the increase to AP cost) and once a player gets used to building Manifested Powers, it should be easier for them to use the wonderfully varied magic system that TTB offers in other interesting ways.