Sorcerous World

My buddies and I decided to start a game of Sorcerer using the Apocalypse World rules, and it looks I've been tasked with the rules-heavy lifting. Below are only some preliminary ideas of how to implement the hack, so any comments or suggestions are very welcome.

Stats

It seems like in a game like Sorcerer, it's assumed that all the characters will be "weird" to some degree. Does it makes sense to keep it as a dedicated stat? I'm thinking about replacing weird with adept, representing sorcerous lore and experience. It might just be an exercise in semantics, but I'm going to try and tie increased adeptness in sorcerer to the humanity mechanics.

Moves

One way to handle moves would be to use the standard ApW moves, with specific sorcerous peripheral moves added. The other would be to, dump the standard ApW moves, have the new basic moves be all about sorcery, with one general "act under fire" move to catch everything else.

Either way, it's easy to see that the necessary moves are:

Contact a Demon: When you reach over to the other side and  contact a demon, roll+sharp. On a 10+, you contact a demon that matches you expectations. On a 7-9, you contact a demon close to what you desire, choose 1:

- the demon has a different desire.
- the demon has a different need.
- has different powers.

The MC will choose the new desire, need or powers as necessary.

Summon a Demon

...

Bind a Demon

...

Punish a Demon

...

Banish a Demon

...

Contain a Demon

...

Oh, and Open Your Brain works great as the demon move Hint.

Playbooks

Since over the course of the story the characters will be summoning and binding various demons, how necessary is it to have dedicated playbooks? I did notice that in the Sorcerer books Ron briefly mentions a few general archetypes (Fugitive, Seeker, Snoop, True Adept, and Warrior). Those do look interesting, specifically in they each might have various moves that give they advantages when dealing with various types of demons in various situations (bonus to summoning/banishing for the true adept, or bonus harm against demons for the warrior).

Humanity

This would probably start at 0 and range from -4 to +4, with the two associated moves:

Humanity Gain: When you reaffirm your humanity, roll+humanity. On a 10+, you regain a piece of what it means to be human, +1humanity. On a 7-9, you gain nothing.

Humanity Loss: When you compromise your humanity, roll+demon's power (if summoning), or otherwise roll+adept. On a 10+, you loose yourself in a gratuitous display of inhumanity; -1humanity. On a 7-9, you lose a piece of yourself but otherwise maintain control, -1humanity. On a miss, you manage to hold to hold on just a little bit longer.

Demons

They only need one stat Power, ranging from -1 to +3. Here are a few of converted abilities/moves:

Armor: your demon gives you 2-armor. If you wear armor, use that instead, they dont add.

Big: your demon may gain or confer an increase of size ranging from a bear to an elephant.

Boost: your demon may confer +1 to any of your stats, except adept. While boosting, your demon is power=-1.

Hint: when you open you mind to your demon, roll+ sharp. On a hit, the MC will tell you something new and interesting about the current situation, and might ask you a question or two; answer them. On a 10+, the MC will give you good detail. On a 7–9, the MC will give you an impression. If you already know all there is to know, the MC will tell you that.

Hold: you can roll+ adept to have your demon restrain a target from moving. On a 10+, the target is completely paralyzed, unable to make even the smallest movements. On a 7-9, the target is immobile but still able to thrash and move it limbs.

Hop: your possesor demon is not bound to it's host until their physical death, and may change hosts at will, leaving behind either a shaken but basically ok host or a corpse, as appropriate. The demon must be able to touch it's new host unless it also has the Ranged move; the hop effect is visible and obvious unless it also has the Cloak move.

Link: you and your demon are aware of each others whereabouts and surroundings at all times. You may command your demon to return to you at any time, but cannot communicate otherwise.

Psychic Force: you can roll+ adept to have your demon unleash a psychic attack on the minds of your enemies (1-harm ap close loud-optional).

Ranged: your demon may attack (or use Special Damage, Hold or Hop) at distance (close).

Shadow: through your demon, you can control the degree of illumination in the immediate area (close), ranging from strong, indirect sunlight to absolute darkness.

Transport: your demon may carry others comfortablely during movement, including Travel; the passengers must not exceed ...

Warp: you may command your demon to alter the shape of unliving material. The effects lasts ... The demon must have Special Damage for there to be any damage done by this act.

I'll post more once I've had a chance to look over the Sorcerer book further.

Here's how I'd handle non-demon-related stuff:

When you solve your problems on your own, like a regular person has to, roll. On a 10+, you do it. On a 7-9, the MC offers you a dark bargain: succeed or fail depending on whether you accept.

Note that it's not "roll +sharp" or "roll +cool" or anything. It's just roll.
So long as you don't turn to the demonic arts, your life is hard, but straightforward.
With demons in the mix, things are easy, but everything's a complicated mess.

Playbooks

Since over the course of the story the characters will be summoning and binding various demons, how necessary is it to have dedicated playbooks? I did notice that in the Sorcerer books Ron briefly mentions a few general archetypes (Fugitive, Seeker, Snoop, True Adept, and Warrior). Those do look interesting, specifically in they each might have various moves that give they advantages when dealing with various types of demons in various situations (bonus to summoning/banishing for the true adept, or bonus harm against demons for the warrior).

What if the Sorcerers don't have playbooks, but the demons do? Maybe take each demon type, and create two playbooks from it... like, Objects could form two different playbooks: Weapon & Relic, say.

Note that it's not "roll +sharp" or "roll +cool" or anything. It's just roll.
So long as you don't turn to the demonic arts, your life is hard, but straightforward.
With demons in the mix, things are easy, but everything's a complicated mess.

That is intriguing. I like how it functions like Act Under Fire, except with 7-9 element of sorcerous temptation. At the moment, I'm coming up short on examples in my mind of how to put a demonic spin on the 7-9 results, but I feel this (or some variation) is probably the best way to go.

Similarly, I was thinking about basing the Command a Demon move on Act Under Fire as well:

Command a Demon

When you command a rebellious demon to do your bidding, roll+need. On a 10+, the demon bends and obeys your will. On 7-9, the demon hesitates, or stalls: the MC can offer you a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice.

This of course emphasizes that the more a demon is in need, the harder it is to control. On the other hand, I could reverse the context and structure of the move and emphasize that powerful demons are hardest to control:

When a rebellious demon resists you command, roll+power. The demon acts directly against you, the MC will make hard move against you. On 7-9, the demon hesitates, or stalls: the MC can offer you a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice. On a miss, the demons bends and obeys to your will.

What if the Sorcerers don't have playbooks, but the demons do? Maybe take each demon type, and create two playbooks from it... like, Objects could form two different playbooks: Weapon & Relic, say.

An excellent idea. In taking the route you suggest, my instinct is to let the demon types be the playbooks themselves. I'll see about playing around with both implementations.

Thanks for your feedback!