actually even in the beta, order hirelings was based purely on Loyalty.

combat: whatever suits your group is just fine. Actually, as has been previously said, DW has a more cinematic approach, for which whoever has a cool idea is the one to go.

druid: actually the druid CAN take God Amidst the Wastes, via the Hunter's Brother move, while the Bard can cast spells taking Multiclass Dabbler (see the same move on the fighter's sheet to know how it actually works with spellcasting).

shadow walk: that's cool dude!

So, from my experience and from how I read the rules:

Fronts are just collections of (sometimes not so, but usually well) linked dangers; every danger has a general category (ambicious organizations, horde, etc) which determines its moves and a specific type (thief's guild, wandering barbarians, etc.) which determines its Impulse; every danger also has an Impending Doom (destruction, rampant chaos, etc.) and some Grim Portents that lead to it. A front has also some Stakes, which are questions about cornerstones of the front whose answer you are interested in knowing, but that you can discover only during the game, following the choices and the effort of the characters.

An adventure front has usually a few dangers with few grim portents, and is all about what matters here and now in a session-by-session basis.

A campaign front has more dangers and more grim portents and it reaches a broader story arc, encompassing many sessions and various adventure fronts.

A front is "resolved" when its dangers are either a) dealt with, b) no longer relevant, or c) kept growing for future evil (in which case, you move them to the campaign front).

With that in mind, as I discussed earlier, when I have to build a front I start from the character bonds. For every cool bond that spawned a lot of interesting elements like places, enemies, magic items and so on, I create a related danger with an Impending Doom that "threats" the bond itself (or the implied characters' goals); this usually makes every danger interesting to the players and the front well glued as a whole. The stakes of the front usually come up spontaneously at this point. Then I start writing monsters like if there's no tomorrow because I have a monster fetish, and then I add in a cast which I would like to roleplay, trying to make the bad guys the more sympathetic I can get to. Sketch some maps and maybe even a custom move or magic item and usually I feel ready to go.

One of my current fronts is something like this:

THE ELVEN KINGDOM

Stakes
- will the centaurs invade the forest?
- will the necromancer remain unpunished?
- what's the destiny of the elven kingdom?

Cast
- Stratos, proud elvenking
- Charnabon, vampire head of the elven necromancers
- Greymane, centaurs' shamanic leader

Dangers
The Elven Council (misguided good)
- the grief grows too heavy
- the elven council is summoned
Doom: all the elves leave the material plane to rest in the faerie realm (impoverishment) -> two elven characters evolved their bonds in: our marriage will save the elven kingdom

Necromancers (cult)
- one elf is missing
- various people misteriously disappeared (dominated)
Doom: the necromancers seize control of the forest's heart without striking a single blow (tyranny) -> basically half of the characters sworn revenge against the necromancers cult (which infests every major location)

Centaurs (wandering barbarians)
- war begins
- northern defenses fall
- the golden tree falls
Doom: the forest becomes a cursed place (rampant chaos) -> actually, Greymane was controlled by the Empire, which is the actual main antagonist faction

Monsters: elves, centaurs, necromancers, various undeads and forest creatures

Hope this helps.

Yeah, I would totally make him Defy AND Discern to see the illusory wall that is actually a trap... Fail it and take that trap damage as well !

wait, if there is an illusory wall, Discern Realities is just enough, because on a miss you can activate the trap.

it's not that you have to shatter the playbook in pieces. You can keep it around but you and the players know that the cleric doesn't make sense in your setting so no pc can be the cleric. The wizard, the paladin and the ranger however still get access to the cleri'c spellcasting.

I mean, last night the wizard complained that in 4 sessions, we never found a place of power for him to use; we argued a bit, some other players joined us, then we concluded that, since they were in a forgotten underground metropolis, it would have made sense that, searching well enough, they could find a suitable place of power. However, I felt like that in this way, the players just had an easy way to prevent a couple impending dooms doing that ritual. Also they didn't seem too much worried when I said that they risked to permanently taint their own souls doing a ritual in such a fiendish place of power. I'm too much of a long time planner when comes about antagonising the heroes :P

So, to recap my question: how often do you find places of power in your games? Of what kind are your average places of power? Like, can you rent one in every major town, or are they incredibly rare places found only in the most forgotten corners of the world?

blade of eyes: merge it with the fighter's signature weapon! Also, if you want to add extra success on a move, the best way to do it is to follow the already existent pattern, making the "critical hit" a roll that produces a 12+ (including the attribute modifier); in the same logic, there's no need to limitate the risk of losing one's soul just on a snake eys... Remember that on a 6- the GM can do a move as hard as he likes, and this includes saying that the sword is trying to trap your own soul (with the character reacting with a Defying Danger to prevent it!). Obviously, it's something you want to do only in the most critical, painful moment of the adventure! :D

cone of cold: why not all the three? :D also, you may want the damage to ignore armor like a fireball.

chain lightning: do your players like friendly-fire? This could be the chance to get rid of it! Maybe reducing the damage to 3d6 ignores armor to every enemy on sight.

ninja: this could be a compendium class with lots of supernatural powers for dexterous characters! Like a Ghost has a cool concept and the choices are awesome to me, but, how does it work in the original system? I mean, has the thief always to roll? Or has the ability a per-day limit? (in which case you could add a third option on a 7-9: you can't do it again until you make camp) I didn't see there was a link :|

Hey, why exclude the ki pool right away?! It sounds A LOT like the Focus. Maybe you could find some inspiration: http://www.latorra.org/2012/07/10/the-battlemind/

Like, the Ninja has 3 focus, and on a 7-9, as a third option when using a ninja-focused move, he can choose to lose 1 focus.