I really like what you've done with Bonds. Hx was easily the trickiest part of AW for us, and while it served to generate excellent starting positions, the details of the relationships wasn't front-and-centre on your sheet the way Bonds are.
Having said that, I think it's underutilized.
Case in point, the
End of Session move. I never liked it in AW and you've ported it right over. The reason I didn't like it was simply because the details of the relationship change wasn't spelled out, and it always seemed like an afterthought for the group in play. It didn't make the most of the Hx system, in my opinion.
A simple enough tweak in AW would be to say:
Session End
Once during a session, anytime, choose a character who now knows you better or worse than they used to. You must use this move once per session, if not during play then at the very end. Tell that player to add or subtract 1 to their Hx with you on their sheet. If this brings them to Hx+4 or Hx-4, they reset to Hx+1 or Hx-1 respectively, and therefore mark experience. Write down the nature of the relationship change on both your sheets.
Since you already have Bonds on your sheet and Hx is calculated based on that, this would work great - instead of just adding or subtracting 1, specify the nature of the change as a Bond, and use the Bond to propel the fiction rather than just change a stat.
The benefit of making the change as it happens, rather than at the end of the session, is that it gives the move more teeth and makes player interactions more loaded. One issue is that if you use the move once and then change your mind later in the session, you've already used it up.
Secondly, the Experience when you get to +4 or -4. This has always been weird to me, and I've listened and tried to swallow Vincent's explanation of "taking the relationship to the next level" and all that. I just don't get it - it appears to be a design decision guided by wanting to tie experience awards to relationship changes, but not wanting the game balance to suffer from people having Hx+5s on their sheet. Maybe Vincent will correct and enlighten me, if he pops in. :)
So, not sure if y'all are loving that concept, but if I were you, I'd take the opportunity to redesign it in the context of Bonds. One way that's floated around in my mind would be to say that no matter how many Bonds you have, your max +bond score with someone can never exceed +3 or -3, but:
Resolve a Bond
When you finally resolve a Bond with another character, cross the Bond off, adjust your Bond score with that character, and mark experience. The other players, especially the person you have the Bond with, must agree that the Bond is finally resolved for you to do this.
For example, as a Paladin I have a Bond of:
I have worries about the soul of Ishmail, my Bardic companion (+1).It's not enough for me to state "I no longer worry about Ishmail", but if Ishmail can prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt - or if I can make Ishmail prove to me, through my own tests - that Ishmail's soul is safe (i.e. he has shown that he adheres to my Order's tenets), then I cross it off, reduce my +bond with him by 1, and mark experience. As per the
End of Session move above, though, I could perhaps acquire another Bond with him this session:
Ishmail has proven to me that he is a trustworthy and pious companion (+1).If Ishmail later betrays me or otherwise proves that his piousness was but a ruse, I again mark experience. However, the experience gains are still limited to 1/session on average, though there is an initial "buffer" caused by the Bonds taken at character creation.
My 2gp! :) Sorry for the sudden rush of feedback, it just proves how excited I am about this game. ;)