From DM to FM, couple of questions

[Tielc]

Hello, I'm in the process of considering our next campaign for this fall after we wrap up 2 5e campaigns on Roll20 and Foundry VTT. We're looking at going another direction, and so far we're looking to play either Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder, Warhammer Fantasy RPG or Through the Breach. I have a strong desire to play Through the Breach as myself (who will be DM / FM) and 2 of the players in my group really enjoy the Malifaux Tabletop game. I finished my first pass at the core rulebook, and there's a lot to like, but I have a few questions for running a game that would greatly help influence my decision.

1. Are Penny Dreadful's full campaigns, akin to Tomb of Annihilation for 5e, Rise of the Runelords for Pathfinder, etc.? I understand that game is intended to focus on 5 destiny events for each player in the group. Do these pre-made adventures have enough content to cover this? I didn't get the feeling they did peeking at In Defense of Innocence. We typically play for 3 hours at a time, and this felt glancing over it like something that would only cover 4 sessions (acts) when comparing it to the sample adventure in the core rulebook. Is the idea that I should be stringing these together with one-shots and multiple Penny Dreadful's to build a campaign?
2. Are characters getting a new Pursuit every game sessions, scene or act? This didn't feel overly obvious when this makes sense in terms of what I am used to. In traditional D20 systems I have always used milestone leveling, especially when playing pre-made adventure paths. If we don't finish a scene or act within a single game night, should the players be expected to change Pursuits and gain the benefits of their previous pursuit after each game session or am I waiting until they finish a scene, or after completing a major story act?
3. Is the 5 destiny points per character considered a level cap in the game? Is there any reason to not go past this point? Is there a hard reason to use destiny points as a progression path?
4. Do players become super-hero like within a relatively short period of time like other D20 games? I would like the game to feel grounded, where you're definitely human and can die at a moments notice. A big complaint our players have with 5e is how you basically feel like an Avenger super hero in a fantasy setting at level 3.
5. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around Fatemaster Controlled Characters (NPCs), and determining how to create encounters for the group. Is the system meant to challenge players of any "level" with the same NPCs? Or is it just giving them more fate points? Should I be comparing their rating to the players total "levels" / pursuits? In intense moments of a game, I like to try to balance my players on a knife edge, where they feel the consequences of their actions and working together are important for success. I always want them to succeed, but I do not give them a safety net, and there's a clear chance of a TPK. I don't want to run into a situation where either side is simply steamrolling the other. I want to ensure the players in my group feel challenged and accomplished when they succeed.
6. The process of eliminating a character or enemy felt very complicated. Does anyone have a 20 second abbreviated version of how an NPC and then a Character dies. It felt like some NPCs basically could indefinitely shrug off a fatality (enforcers). Coming from D20 systems, I'm used to mechanics like Death Saves, negative Hp to Con value, just hitting zero HP, etc. Is it incorrect to remove an NPC from the table when they reach 0 hp? Am I misunderstanding the correlation between Health Points and the survivability of a character / npc?
7. Is Tactical game-play not an emphasis of this game? I see little in terms of maps like most are used to seeing with D20 games. I watched the livestream from GenCon with DeadAussieGamer and it was done completely theater of mind. I'm not opposed this, but I feel like a few of the players in my group would have a hard time staying interested in Through the Breach that being the case. Our group uses either Foundry Virtual Tabletop or Roll20. I'm waiting for a customizable card deck module from Foundry before moving forward. Have others used VTTs, and how have you handled movement? Grid style, or click and drag for measurement on Vassal style? Is there an easy conversion to grid style (like 1 yard = 1 square?)? Should I consider converting the units to inches and assume 30mm bases similar to Malifaux? This wasn't clear at all in the rulebook how to handle these tactical movement aspects of the game.

I appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to provide. I'm quite interested in exploring this setting for our next campaign!

[explorator]

1. Penny Dreadfuls are mostly one-shot advemtures, though they (often) stretch over several sessions. The only linked adventures are Northern Aggression/Northern Sedition.

2. Picking Pursuits is normally done at the beginning of each Session of play, BUT in practice it may take more than a single session to play out a scene. FM's determine when players can choose new Pursuits for their characters. For the most part, players tend to stick to each Pursuit for at least a few steps.

Once my group had to perform in a theater as a distraction, so some of us took the Performer Pursuit just to benefit from the Pursuit Talent, and card-draw mechanic.

3. As written, ONE character advances a single Destiny Step at the close of each Session. 4 characters = 20 Sessions. In practice, some steps take multiple Sessions, but in any case, it is not a hard cap; characters can be played after they have 5 steps, often just to wait for others to get to their 5th step. Some FM's run Sessions without resolving any Destiny Steps, which is how I play my opening Session.

4. Characters can become VERY skilled at a few things over time. Some combos of Talents are very powerful. But, like WFRP, TtB uses a Critical System, meaning characters start taking serious injury once their Wound pool hits zero, so combat CAN be deadly. Like most RPG, characters have most advantages, but in Malifaux, Bad Things Happen.

5. NPC's can be hard to balance, unless you know your group very well.  Minions and Peons are not a threat unless there are many of them; Enforcers  are the lowest-level boss, and gain benefits that a savvy FM can use to extend their lives. I have not found balancing encounters to be very difficult once the campaign gets rolling. 

One danger is if you have vastly different characters, say a min/maxed Gunfighter, and an Academic; things that can only scratch the Gunfighter may KO the Academic. There are many Talents avaialable to help extend the lives of characters.

6. When Peons and Minions hit zero wound they fall unconcious. Fated Characters and NPC Enforcers and above revert to the previously-mentioned Critcal Tables. The Crits come in Weak, Moderate, and Severe. All Crits stack, and the Crit Tables are progressive, meaning if you flip high enough on the Weak Chart, it passes on to the Moderate Chart, etc. Weak Crits are mostly debuffs, but they get quite deadly by the time you hit Severe.

TtB and WFRP are VERY similar in this respect, and I Iove the drama Crits create.

7. I am just diving in to being FM online. I am going to start with roll20 for the character sheets, and Vassal for the Card mechanics. There is a way to make all the Decks in roll20, there is a blog on the subject. The Vassal Mod has maps, but they are smallish, and their are not a ton of images available, but you can track models, their wounds, auras etc. I plan on using maps for combat when it is meaningful; a snipers duel across a canyon does not need a map.

Many groups coming from Malifaux use minatures on the tabletop IRL, to add that visual tactical element. I have not actually tin a game online yet, but I have made some maps etc and they work pretty well.

[Dragonfly]

Mostly regarding your #7

I am just starting to FM but it's all online. I'm using Roll20 only (Discord for voice).  I found a cool image of all the cards of a Fate Deck online, cut each card into its own file, and created the deck in Roll20 so it's all there. 

For maps, I have been using a mixture of Scene Pictures and battle maps. Scene Pictures are to set a mood and aid theatre of the mind. Battle Maps are there for when positioning is important, especially with multiple enemies. I have made the grid 1 square = 1 yard since all the weapon ranges are measured in yards. Movement is also measured in yards, based on a character's speed. When it's safe to get back to in person games I plan to use 1" = 1 yard.

I have found that, since I control the cards and they take up a space on the screen for everyone, I am leaning more and more towards scene pictures and theatre of the mind as well as trying to create some sort of "dead space" on the battle maps.