I've found (for my games) when you say it's going to take a long time, its got to be something more like infrastructure, or something that requires a lot of hands involved. This is because a session in my games normally span a few hours, but rarely cover more than a day or two. Sometimes we pass time between sessions, but that's basically the only way to ever hit this particular requirement.

The cost in jingle requirement can be satisfied by just setting enough aside, meaning more time will be spent NOT working on the project, but rather preparing for it by doing other actions and putting more and more barter aside for it. This is fine if the project is something that can show up easily when the barter is ready. For something that makes a lot of sense, for others... well, maybe I want the player to actually do something on the scene.

That's what it takes X number of tries is for in my opinion.

If someone is trying to grow a replacement organ in a dead corpse they're keeping on life support for example. Maybe they have to find someone near death, or just died, hook them up in time and then do the weird gross science to them. This isn't just barter, it isn't just time, the player knows the first few times are doing to mess up. (some of the attempts can happen off the scene of course, but they should be represented at least a few times in player actions). Most importantly, however, NPCs should react to the fact he's stealing corpses, someone should come looking for the dead, someone should react badly to the idea, rumors should start to spread about the savvyhead with a garage full of corpses and people should react appropriately to the knowledge/ rumors. All the while you tease the player with new details as they get closer to their goal. This might not take a long time, it depends on the supply of corpses. If those dry up, what will the player do to get more?

Edit:

Basically, if the Failures can affect the story, maybe this is a good idea. Both of the other options... nothing fails. It's just a matter of time or money. In this case, you're saying they MUST FAIL, and we care because those failures have an impact.

You want to build an airplane, you say? It'll take many tries to do that... So who's going to do the test flights?

You want to try to replace the air-filters, you say? It'll take many tries to do that... So what sections of the ship are you going to test that in?

You want to summon a monster and keep it under your control, you say? It'll take many tries to do that... So where are you going to try these summons, what are you going to try to summon, who's going to protect you when it goes wrong?

You want to create a tasteless odorless poison, you say? Who/what are you testing your poisons on before you get it just right?

... etc

Additionally, if the brainer is a bit more colored in by that point, my players have always requested custom stuff. Seems like a good opportunity to consider it.

You also asked why would someone ever take Direct Brain Whisper projection over Puppet Strings.

To be honest, there's a very different context during play as well. Imagine having your freedom stripped from you, pain or death planted inside of you that commands you obey someone. How would that make you feel? How might you treat the person that did that to you in the future?

Direct Brain whisper projection can be as simple as a hateful fucking glare, warning you not to go further. It doesn't always mean that this is a lasting offense, it's like threatening for real to hurt someone if they do that thing. This is as much an expression of seriousness as violence. Because I mean, instead of just hurting someone you're warning them off first, so it's actually asking them not to make you do it.

Do you see the difference in how these moves might be responded to IG?

Not only do you have contextually Direct Brain Whisper Projection reaps immediate rewards and is easy (therefore more widely applicable) to use, but depending on the circumstances, it also has much lower chance to causing real emotional damage or trauma.

Puppet Strings is seriously dark voodoo. People do not like being turned into puppets. Expect them to react accordingly once they get free.


Just as Important:

when you have time

Note this Line. Puppet strings cannot be done on the fly, it takes time to get into someone's brain. All the glove allows you to do is touch them as the intimate part of the trigger, but it still takes time. Thus the situations where you can use these moves have almost no overlap.

A better solution might be to play AW with no playbooks at all.

I would consider dropping EXP and improvements completely. You actually don't need them. If the goal of the game is to explore solitude, replace these features with very lightweight and simple mechanisms that would compel the game design.

You can replace the emphasis on gaining moves, exp, and people, with stuff. You find a gun and a single box of ammo. You find a motorcycle, but it's barely got anything in the tank–It might get you and friend a bit further along though. You raid a story for some snickers, it could you over for a day or so, mark 1-food. Replace barter expenditure at the start of the session with food expenditure. A blanket won't help you eat, but you might be able to trade it to someone freezing for another day or two worth of food.. if you happen across them... and you convince them.

You might consider implementing a more potent Hx system. Something that goes up and down all the time. -1Hx if you have a fight. -1 Hx if you leave someone in a pinch. +1 Hx when you got their back when it counts, whatever. If your games are numerous and short, this probably doesn't need to happen. If your games are long and spread out--it might help.

I would also at the very least halve at least gang sizes because there just aren't that many people.

To focus on solitude it does have a psychological element that becomes important. Maybe you want to support that. Additionally, you'll want to zoom really close up to the characters. So any abstraction that focused on groups needs to be relooked at.

If you want some form of advancement, make a list of 10 improvements that work generally. Maybe 2 are pick a move from any playbook that makes sense. And give exp, not for rolling stats, but in DW style, at the end of the session if EVERYONE went to a place they've never been before, found/witnessed/did something truly remarkable, or /enter in some motivation you want to drive the story/.

Haven't got around to putting the app back together yet. Partly because my AW game which was the driving motivation has shifted into a DW type of thing for awhile. I'm planning to put it together, though don't expect it to be done soon, unfortunately.

Munin, now we're saying exactly the same things.

P.S. Going Aggro with 0-harm is LOL

This was me MOCKING a 0harm Hard move, not condoning it.

I think you're looking at this wrong.

I don't understand how cool would even work here. You've not described anything that would have the stakes for a cool move. You're not acting under fire. You're the FIRE. Do you want to grab a person? YOU GRAB THEM, this is AW we don't roll to hit. You think a grapple ends after you get a grip? No, that's where it STARTS.

EXAMPLE

NPC wants to break someone's face.
Player wants to stop them.

Player tries to grab ahold of the NPC, okay cool it happens. Player begs against the NPC fighting them off to listen, if NPC cares about the player's opinion, you've got leverage. Roll Hot. On miss, we've got the cross hairs, the NPC wants to the break the face more then they give a fuck about the player. Also, we've got a miss to snowball with.


OR

Player tries to grab ahold of the NPC, okay cool it happens. The Player doesn't want to beg, they want to FORCE them violently to the earth. NPCs and Characters in the apocalypse world don't s-harm for free, they get the harm they threaten to deal as a motivation. So this is not a 0-harm or s-harm, this is 1-harm fighting. 1-harm fighting probably isn't going to kill them. If the NPC isn't interested in killing the player, fine, but bashing you in the face with your own pipe to get you off and then into the door--maybe that's still fine. Is the player just going to let it happen or fight back too, how much does each side actually want what they want?

If you are willing to hurt but not kill the NPC to stop this. Seize by force, where the goal to prevent to the NPC from getting inside, this can be summed up nicely as defending a place.

I gotta say, if the PC doesn't want to hurt the NPC, and the NPC doesn't want to hurt the PC. Maybe grapple doesn't mean shit, maybe it happens, no one rolls, and you keep role-playing the scene right through.


OR

Player tries to grab ahold of the NPC, okay cool it happens. The Player puts the gun against the NPC's head and threatens to blow it off if they don't settle down. Hot is the player won't follow through, hard if they will.


OR

If I wanted to do cool, it would look more like this: You grab the tackle the NPC as they try to break into the home. While holding on them you scream for the guy to RUN AWAY. Let us assume he does and starts to flee. NPC now likes you a lot less, and they're going to fight you off and go kill that fucker. Roll cool to hold him down long enough.

10 + You do it.
7-9 You manage to give the NPC a head start but you got elbowed in the face when the NPC finally gets you off. 0-harm, roll harm move. Or any other halfway you did it! But you're not holding him anymore and the sitch is still rolling downhill.
Miss, You fail, you got gut /groin punched, then decked in the nose, through blurry vision and a shit load of pain you see the NPC catch his target, and then shoot him, stab him, or kick the ever-loving shit out of him, as per the fiction.

P.S. Going Aggro with 0-harm is LOL, and should be treated as such. It's a bad bluff, at best. So hard. Player clearly doesnt want whatever they're doing enough. That said, I've had go aggro rolled on blackmail, do this OR I"LL TELL! And thats works out fine.