Okay, that is reassuring. Thanks!

I have tended to use variations on the landscape:breeding pit (generate badness). This is limited, though, since the "badness" itself doesn't necessarily have its own moves. Like, maybe the badness is a bunch of bugs all over your stuff (as in the example from the rule book), but the bugs themselves don't really have a move; they're just there to be bad. I've used this threat myself to represent an effect the landscape has on NPCs (as the "black sick" that turns people violent and makes them seep oily muck from their pores); some affected just go nuts and have basically only one move (violently spread the sick), and those who survive with their sanity become a "grotesque:disease vector" – still a character, not a monster.

That said, I get the impression that classic "monsters" were left out pretty intentionally, as so many other games focus on that so much already. This game focuses on people, environments, and harsh circumstances, so I've been trying to take that to heart and resist the urge to throw in evil mutants or whatever.

And here's a slightly modified take, now with 3 stats (Corporeal, Ethereal, Celestial), among a few other tweaks. Still unsure whether stats actually make it better. Will let you know if I get a chance to try playing with anything like this.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7nAXUqkUHp0VXF1QXZzcUkyMEk/edit?usp=sharing

As long as there are still people taking orders from him, he's still the Hardholder as far as I'm concerned. Maybe he wants to rebuild or settle elsewhere? That's all up to him, of course. Ultimately, the player has the choice to stick with the Hardholder or retire him. If there's no townspeople left, I think it's legit to switch playbooks. Make sure it makes sense in the fiction, but I see two obvious choices: If there's still a gang but no townspeople, the Chopper might make sense. If there's townsfolk but no gang, maybe he's a Hocus now.

In the end, you gotta just ask the player if the character's saga is over or if this is just a new chapter.

I figure I'd ask the player between sessions what they want to do and take it from there. If they want to roll with it and move their stuff over to the Chopper/Hocus/whatever, as long as it's not already in play, why not? If they say, "Fuck that, I'm THE Hardholder. Let's get me a holding," then right on, time to find a place to settle or conquer, as the case may be. And if they want to just retire the character and start a new one, sure – but you gotta check off the box for it to be guaranteed as "retired to safety," at least in my book.

Jinx! Us too.

Ours is a cold apocalypse where survivors huddled in underground "cores" which formed the center of many of the current-day settlements. There's "the Yard" (Harvard Yard), inhabited by Yardies, run by someone bearing the inherited title of "Conductor" ever since ex-MBTA employees came on top in a power dispute. Nearby, the PC Chopper Lobster has converted a boathouse in to his own holding, the "Lobster Pot." There's "the Beaverhold" centered around MIT (whose school animal is the Beaver). The neo-neo-classical "Romulus" rules out of Government Center (an actual name of a T-stop). "Lady Belmont" rules feudal-style from the ex-suburb of that name (specifically the McLean hospital). South of the frozen Charles river (just "the river"), the Sox tribes live in "the Fens" (actual modern nickname), brutalizing outsiders and each other with wooden clubs.

Everything in this post is excellent. I'd steal it myself if it weren't for the fact that several of the places you describe are overrun by people who spit black stuff and may or may not be possessed by ghosts.

Now that I've had a chance to take a closer look at the rules, I wanted to chime in to offer a suggestion that I hope is helpful and not obnoxious. Namely, I feel like there's still room for "weird" (instead of will) in Mass Effect, and I've given some thought to how I could hack your hack to shoehorn that in for myself (and anybody else who's interested).

Maybe Ardhanari can comment on the intent behind "will" (I may just be missing it), but I am getting stuck in two places with this stat. First, it's not clear to me what it accomplishes that hard and cool weren't already doing. And second, it reads more like a classic "what you can do" stat (in the D&D vein of STR, DEX, CON, etc.) than a "what you are like" stat (in the vein of Apocalypse World, where the stats are otherwise all adjectives describing personality characteristics). And, as a side effect of that second point, this means that we lose an entire dimension of "what you are like" that is kind of important for describing certain kinds of characters in this universe.

"Weird" in Mass Effect is not exactly the same as "weird" in Apocalypse World. In AW, it's most obviously associated with uncanny powers and the psychic maelstrom. In ME, on the other hand, all the "psychic" stuff is actually fairly mundane (explained through sciences related to biotics, asari physiology, etc.). Nevertheless, weirdness is still really central to the tone of a lot of the ME games.

A character who's really good at biotics should probably still have high cool or hard scores rather than a high weird score. A character who's got a really high weird score, however, might be...

• a colonist with psychic after-effects following mind control by a hyperintelligent plant;
• a scientist who has started to go mad after studying the artifacts of a race of spaceship elder gods;
• or even a salarian who thinks and speaks so quickly that other species (and some of his own species) simply can't follow him.

If it helps you to think about it, the "weird" stat in ME could probably just as easily be called "alien." It's basically that which is so strange and foreign that the mind reels trying to grasp it.

Weird still deserves a basic move, but "open your mind" doesn't really apply in this setting. I'd be curious what you think would be appropriate, Ardhanari (and what others think here), but I'm thinking I might start with something like, "When you confront something you never could have imagined...."

All of that said, thanks again for producing this hack, and great job translating so many Mass Effect terms and concepts. (I was really pleased to see Paragon, Renegade, and Fitness still find their way in there.) My fiancee has never even played Mass Effect, but she was super excited by your rule book. She's seen me play so much that I think she sees this as a chance to finally get her hands on it without developing shooter skills. I support this!

After months of not posting, it's probably already obvious that I abandoned this hack (for personal reasons I won't bore you with). I took a ton of notes before I had to quit, though, and I still hear occasional murmurs online of people wanting to hack AW for In Nomine, so I figured I'd post some of what I ended up with here in case someone stumbles upon it and feels like using it themselves later.

PLAYBOOKS, CHOIRS/BANDS & SUPERIORS
I never settled on how to handle playbooks, but I fiddled with two approaches. I have a ton of notes on this (including fully written out playbooks for individual Choirs and Superiors), but this post is going to be long enough as it is; message me directly if you actually ever want details.

Approach #1: Separate playbook for Choir/Band and Superior. Players pick two playbooks at character creation to combine them. The advantage is that it allowed for more text, allowing you to translate the resonances more directly from the original setting. The disadvantage was that it was cumbersome to have two playbooks.

Approach #2: Each playbook represented one Superior's Word from In Nomine. Every playbook had every Choir's resonance, dissonance, and Choir attunement listed on it. Rather than trying to translate resonances directly, I basically just made resonances into expansions of the basic moves. (Seraph resonance: "When you read someone and ask whether they're telling the truth," you get extra info, and know The Truth on a 12+. Balseraph resonance: "When you manipulate someone into believing your version of the truth," etc.) It meant more text on your playbook that didn't ever actually apply to you, but fewer playbooks for you to fumble with in total (and it's never bad to have a reminder of what your buddies can do).

STATS, BASIC MOVES & PERIPHERAL MOVES
I went with the standard Apocalypse World stats, albeit slightly renamed (Hard, Cool, Sharp, Smooth, Strange). I was never entirely happy with my altered basic moves, but here are some peripheral moves that might be helpful to anyone trying to hack In Nomine themselves.

Wake from Trauma: When you attempt to wake from trauma, roll+cool. On a 10+, you wake up feeling pretty with it. On a 7-9, you wake up feeling pretty disoriented; take -1 forward. On a miss, you stay in trauma. You can't attempt this move until you've been in trauma for a few days (say, 1 per decade that you've been on Earth duty), and you can only try the move daily. Change those to "weeks" and "weekly" in Limbo.

Listen to the Symphony: When you listen to the music of the Symphony, roll+strange. (Gain an additional +1 for a loud disturbance, +2 for a deafening disturbance.) On a 10+, you can sense echoes of disturbances and get a general idea of what caused them, plus a strong sense of where and when they happened. On a 7-9, you just get a vague sense of where and when. On a miss, you can still vaguely sense if something happened, but you definitely look like the weirdo who walks down the street listening for outer space transmissions.

Identify an Artifact: When you spot something you suspect is an artifact, roll+strange. On a 10+, you recognize it as an artifact, and have an idea of its general function. On a 7-9, you recognize it as an artifact, but damned if you know what it does.

Assume Another Form: When you wish to shed your vessel and to switch to another vessel or assume celestial form, roll+strange. On a 10+, you do it and cause a loud disturbance. On a 7-9, you do it, but must either exhaust your essence or cause a deafening disturbance instead of a loud one. ["Exhausting essence" was kind of like the "reload" tag on AW weapons, but more confusing than it needed to be.]

Suffer Dissonance: When you do something against your celestial nature, add 1 to your dissonance countdown and roll+dissonance. On a 7-9, take -1 forward. On a 10+, take -1 forward and choose 1:
• Go Outcast or Fall. (Not an option for Malakim or demons.)
• Gain 1 discord of the GM's choice (if you have any left to gain).

When your dissonance countdown reaches 12:00, if you're an angel, you Fall, then erase all dissonance. If you're a demon, every time you suffer dissonance, you gain 1 discord (even if it means coming up with new ones) and you suffer all the effects of the above list.

Convert Dissonance to Discord: Anytime you're not in the middle of suffering dissonance, you may convert dissonance to discord. If your dissonance countdown is at 9:00 or below, you may erase all dissonance and gain 1 discord. If your dissonance counter is above 9:00, you may exchange dissonance for discord on a 1 for 1 basis until you get down to 9:00.

Invoke a Superior: When you attempt to invoke your Superior, roll+favor. (+1 for highly favored, +0 for favored, -1 for unfavored, and -4 for a Superior you don't serve.) On a 10+, your Superior arrives and you lose favor. On a 7-9, your superior knows you tried to get in touch, but has better things to do. On a miss, either your Superior doesn't bother to show up, or your Superior shows up and decides servitors who need too much handholding must be taught a lesson.

Accept Redemption: If you are a demon being granted redemption from an Archangel, roll+dissonance. On a 10+, you become an angel of the opposing Choir, losing all your old dissonance, attunements, and rites. On a 7-9, you also lose some memories, or lose -2 to your old resonance stat but gain +1 to your new resonance stat. On a failure, you don't make it.

IN NOMINE ATTUNEMENTS
I went through and turned every Choir and Servitor attunement into the game into a move. Some make the transition more easily than others. Here are a few examples, but feel free to message me if you feel like seeing more.

Dominic's "Vassal of Judgment" distinction: When you stare down a mundane NPC or a PC with cool 0 or less, they immediately confess their crimes.

Kyriotate of Trade: When you resonate to possess a host, treat a 6- roll as a 7-9 roll.

Ofanite of War: At the start of a fight, you may choose to make a move before any opponent gets to act.

IN NOMINE SKILLS AS MOVES
Rather than porting over the entire In Nomine skill list (which is sort of a strangely slapdash collection of skills of varying levels of utility), I made some extremely general "skill moves" that PCs could elect to take at character creation or when they take an advancement. You could technically pick any skill when you advance, but I meant for them to be matched up with particular superiors (e.g., technical skills listed on the Lightning playbook). Here are a few examples.

Technical skills: When you fiddle with one kind of mundane technology (pick one, like cars, personal computers, security systems, or _____________), roll+sharp. On a 10+, you do as much as you can with whatever tools and time you've got. On a 7-9, the GM also picks one:
• Your sloppy work causes a ruckus or leaves it noticeably fiddled with.
• It takes way longer than expected.
• You need to get or do something else before you can finish.
On a miss, the GM could pick all three, but you probably broke the damn thing beyond repair.

Fighting: When you use your preferred weapon or fighting technique (pick one, like firearms, swords, wrestling, or _____________), you can choose to do +1 or -1 harm on a successful hit.

Driving: When you pull off stunts behind the wheel, roll+cool. On a 10+, choose 3; on a 7-9, choose 2:
• You cause little damage.
• You (or your passengers, or your ride) suffer little damage.
• You make good time and/or outrun any pursuers.

SO, YEAH
That's enough of that. Feel free to message me if you're working on an AW/IN hack and want to talk shop. I had fun working on this and would be happy to help out someone looking to do it their own way.

EDIT to add: Oh yeah, the reason these moves are all using 2d6 numerical ranges rather than 3d6 (as my original post suggested) is that I changed my mind on that part way through. Someone on a forum suggested that if you want to keep In Nomine's "111" and "666" rolls, just have a custom move: "When you roll a 1-1 or a 6-6, roll another d6. On a 1-1-1, it's a divine intervention; on a 6-6-6, it's a demonic intervention." Never got to playtest it, but I like the idea, at least.