I think you have the right idea - lead with the fiction.  Apply the rules to the fiction as you'd like, what I mean if you don't want to slow play down and worry about weapon lengths then don't.  If you're in a heated combat and you decide your goblin wants to push his way to the inside then bring weapon lengths into play to change up the tactics.

I think the confusion here is that Apocalypse World weapon lengths make a bit more sense since ranged fighting is easier to abstract (range fighting be 90% of fighting in AW of course).  In DW, with primarily melee, it gets a bit trickier because the range differences are a couple feet. 

I personally would use the ranges sparingly to add drama to the fight as I stated above. 

I prefer quick updates so that we can have the latest and greatest and we aren't playtesting something that's already changed.

I think the solution is to just print certain things you will need in play.  For instance, don't print the GM Fronts section as that's for mostly between sessions.  You also probably don't need the wounds and damage section and character creation or the first few pages either.  Just prin the basic moves, special moves, gear, and whatever monsters you want for the session.

Amazing Judd.  Do you ever have shitty games?  Seems everything you run is golden.

How do you handle Dual Wield with the new class based damage rules?  One die less than the class normally receives?

We have a Fighter with the Dual Wield ability is why I am asking.  So he should be doing 1D10 + 1D8?

It's a blob.  It's awesome because it reduces book keeping and doesn't waste game time on the group prepping so they aren't screwed over by some situation the GM throws at them that they forgot to prepare for.  Plus, it allows them to be creative.

We play it like this:

GM: "There's a large pit in front of you, it spans about 10 feet and you can't see the bottom."
Player 1: "Ok, I'm going to throw my rope across and swing to the other side."
GM: "Cool, roll Defy Danger."
Player 1: "Ok, I'm going to take +1 for adventuring gear because of the rope *marks off 1 use*"

Yeah I agree with Ben, your Carouse rocks.  I'd be tempted to just use that for our game but I think my players want some urban conflict/adventuring evne if its very minor.

-I think Carouse, etc. work as written.  Our town isn't small, but we don't really adventure in it - we stick to exploring.  There's probably a couple thousand people in Castitia - which functions as the party's base.  They bought the tavern where their guild house is and that's where they party and talk up their adventures.  You really only need about 30 people binging to Carouse (IMO).

I have a couple settlements outside the main town for variety.  Ravencamp is a small adventurers camp of 40 or so people in a somewhat dangerous land (vermindown).  I would use oustanding warrants there or Carouse - why not?

-Bardic Lore was weird at first.  Our continent is new and unexplored so how does the Bard know things he shouldn't?  Well - we first said the continent was discovered a couple years ago and the bard has been here since it was first discovered.  That way, when they go to a new area he can say he's been here before if he wishes.  We kind of play this fast and loose.  He could also say he's heard about the area through song. 

We handle Research the same way - a guild in Castitia known as the Librarium has been collecting information on the Frontier (our continent) and hoarding it in a library.  They will allow the Wizard to study for a fee.

-When the PCs travel to the unknown in our game I still have them roll UPJ as normal.  Then I describe the new area they're in and usually give them an encounter or two which leads to a dungeon.  Sometimes they go to areas they hear about through rumors so the area is already on the map before they go there. 


As for the specific question for me - I know the history to a degree - I've left it open generally.  I stat and prep the area where the PCs want to explore.  I send an email to the group saying I can hang out and run DW on say Tuesday and Saturday, who's in and where do you want to go, what do you want to do? 

They'll come back and say, "I'm in, I really want to head back to the grave of words and check out the second level."  Or "I want to follow up on that rumor about the Orb of Power on the Wild Coast before we go back to the Grave."

Then I prep for what they want to do.  I stat honestly and don't pull punches but we've only had 1 PC death so far.  They've taken on monsters twice their level without incident, nearly all of that is due to our Fighter and balance issues which Sage has been correcting.  Our Fighter was doing 50 damage at level 3, now he does about 14.