zeeblee

You can hire Hanna as a merc.

I've experimented with delayed progression. Everyone got 1 exp at the end of every session, but the official epilogue portion (destiny steps, pursuit steps, and exp spending) only happened at the end of narrative arcs. Some of the arcs were quick while others lasted awhile, but it seemed to do a decent job of slowing growth to a manageable point for a longer campaign.

I think banning due to slowed play makes sense, but I'm not sure recording results is opposed to the spirit of the rule.

Ulix also has a beard.

Wouldn't soulstones be another way?

I remember a previous Zipp discussion which argued the presence/utilization of Earl had a stronger effect on crew composition than Zipp himself.

That must mean bread is free as well...

I have only one request: please continue to leave water out of the sundries section. I want to continue to force my players to distill it from the 100 booze beverages listed.

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.

I believe it is A. Though it's not "gain new skill" but instead "may spend experience on skill (or get Rank 1 for free if no current ranks)". They may then also spend 1xp on any skill they do not have to obtain Rank 1, regardless of list.

Pneumatic + Animal Handling in a format similar to pneumatic weapons may be appropriate.

As has been said, I think the core of the problem is that your players are used to/want to play Dungeons and Dragons (or Pathfinder or any other game with a well-defined set of challenge ratings and Diablo-style loot progression). But if you're all dead set on playing Through the Breach in-system (instead of applying the setting to another system), then the above suggestions are great. Other things you can do would be to set a sort of monetary investment goal for the group. As Amers&nd mentioned, his group is funneling a lot of their gains into running a business. This expands the reward pool outside of adventuring gear (guns and armor) and adds in things like employees, architecture/property, licenses/permits, tools of the trade (enchanted distillery! Clockwork massage machine!), and other weird random stuff that doesn't give a to fighting. In truth, if you want to hand out items that make your players better at killing, well the combat is going to get really funky. There are many threads already sitting around discussing how the combat balance is currently in an odd goldilocks zone. Enforcers are on par with starting players, but powerups and such will allow them to beat them relatively easily. So you're stuck with either throwing enemies that require your players to flip/cheat only face cards (making combat a slog of failure) or sending large numbers of enemies at them to cause damage by attrition. At this point your best bet is then to get REALLY into environmental setup in order to produce for your players and other hazards. It is a lot of work, but I've found every game system that doesn't come with a Monster Manual filled with challenge ratings runs into the same Fatemaster/Gamemaster/Storyteller workload. The alternative of course is to go combat-light, but it doesn't sound like that's the solution you're looking for.

Advanced Pursuits should actually extend the length of the game since they are supposed to operate similar to Fate Steps.

It's also good for hiding campaign notes and secret snacks.

This is such a great deal! I have physical copies of the books, but PDFs and Penny Dreadfuls make this so worth it. Hurray for charity!