Man, I loved the stuff you were doing with Beyond, and am transporting some of your XP ideas into the DW games I run.  I love how you can spend level ups on items.  So I look forward to ideas you have on steampunk as well, as that sounds really interesting!

I love how you have given the option of attaching moves to natural abilities, implants or possessions!  There are several brilliant implications in this that excite me:

• This helps deal with the common concern in DW that characters level really quickly.  If they are spending experience to make good use of their items, then that gives more places to deposit that accumulated xp other than straight level gains.
• This balances out things a bit if someone strives to be "the one with all the cool stuff".  They'll spend xp on it, instead of class gains.
• It also adds wonderful flavor to even class skills, as you get to define specific possessions that may grant that ability, rather than assuming it's just who you are

Really, such a fantastic idea.  But part of it confuses me: what mechanically would be the draw of designating something as an implant?  I understand the flavor appeal, but I feel like mechanically it would be inferior where the other two options offer enticing trade-offs.

• Designating a move as [P]Possession based adds the benefit of temporarily allowing another access to that move ("Here, take this.  It might help you, but I'll need it back!").  The drawback is that you place that move in a more compromised position, as you may lose access to it temporarily if your stuff is taken or that object is lost/damaged.
• Designating a moves as [N]Natural forgoes the benefit above, as only you can ever use that move, even temporarily.  But you can almost always assume access to it.  It's reliably available.
• Designating a move as Implant however, seems like it might be intended as a compromise between the two, but I'm not fully grasping how.  Perhaps it's something that others could have access to later if the original NPC dies or passes it on (providing they pay xp to use it), but also runs a slight chance of getting lost or malfunctioning?  Am I close to the intention here, or is there an obvious aspect that I'm overlooking?

As it is, there seems to be a strong draw to [P]Possession or [N]Natural, but implant seems a weak option.  Which is unfortunate, as the flavor of it is pretty cool.  But you're going to find that if the game mechanics push more powerfully toward certain options, then flavor will often take a back seat.

I know there's a bit of thread necromancy here, but this setting really intrigues me.  Enough so that I've started a PbP group that will try it out.  So if you're still looking for feedback on it, I'll do my best to post some findings and observations here.  Maybe it can help you continue with such a fantastic concept!

Hey there!  Any chance you're still working on this concept?

I've had the same thought about running something like Sagas of the Icelanders, but with the more fantastic elements of their mythology.  So I've been toying with some concepts for a hack as well, but am curious where this is currently going.  Also, I know that Lumpley is working on an Apocalypse World: Dark Ages game, so such a thing may not be necessary.  But I still like the creative exercise even if it comes to naught.