I don't know if this helps, but here's an alternate point of view.

Apocalypse D&D doesn't have Hx, sex moves, or helping rules. I've never missed them, because they aren't really required to do what ApocD&D sets out to do.

That said, Hx, sex moves, and helping/hindering are some of the best parts of Apocalypse World, so if they port over to your hack, so much the better for you! I'd love to see what the sex moves are like in a game about Greek gods, for example, or mafia families.

I'm so glad you're using Unearthed Arcana stuff. I'm a fan of UA, but I haven't converted any stuff from it for Apoc D&D.

On the fast levelling, I would suggest requiring more boxes to level. I used 8 at Go Play NW, and people went up VERY fast. Even 10 is pretty fast. For an ongoing game, I'd suggest 15 or even 20.

About those parlays... was there any attempt on the part of the players to make the parlay meaningful? Or did they just trying to get the monsters to talk before slaughtering them so they could gain an XP check?

I want to talk about the Open your Mind move, because this is some serious, serious Apocalyptic mojo. I considered bringing this up in "the basis for all the moves" thread, but I think it's further ranging than that.

Elsewhere, Vincent says:

The basis for all of the moves in Apocalypse World, every single one, is an active conflict of interests between named, human characters.

So what's the deal with Open your Mind, then? Is it because I usually have a specific question in mind, and that question is related to the conflicts-of-interest in the story? What if I open my mind with no particular question in mind? That's become a fairly common practice in our AW games. Where's the basis then?

And a related thing: I'd like to talk about how the maelstrom functions or does not function in a way that's analogous to a character in the fiction. The maelstrom doesn't act like a disinterested force or entity. It acts like it's involved in what's going on. Do other people find that in their game? Is this an intentional characteristic, and what are the implications of including or not including Open your Mind in your hack?

Edits: accidentally published before I was done asking.

Hi Jeff,

A month and a half ago is probably about the time I posted the latest version, but you might want to check that you have the latest. I can't vouch for anything earlier than the 3.0 version.

Apoc D&D Was played a lot at Go Play NW, and I have a lot of good feedback to incorporate into the newest version. How spells and spell memorization work is going to change.

This forum is going to be my design journal, in so far as I have one. I apologize if it's kind of sporadic. Sometimes I need to ruminate on stuff before I start talking about it in public.

If you're interested in the older thought behind ApocD&D, it's in these blog posts:
http://blog.microdungeons.com/search/label/dungeon%20mastering

There's also some AP here:
http://blog.microdungeons.com/search/label/AP

Thanks Gregor! Yeah, I'm definitely going to get active here with Apocalypse D&D. More, much more, to come!