Arete: Gone
Spheres: Not relevant
ballsy decisions, both... but perhaps just what this hack needs for simplicity :)
Avatar: Mentioned in one playbook move, not core to play
Sure enough, the Avatar never really needed any hard 'n fast rules anyways. I kept it around for a "gazing inwards" basic move, which replaces "open your brain" in my hack. Useful for mystical introspection, and seekings mainly. But I see how one could just ditch the idea wholesale, too.
Paradigm: That's one of the systems we overhauled. It works much better now
I'll be interested to see that! :)
Rotes: Pretty much what playbook moves give you anyway.
true, I was thinking the same thing. Plus, you can always come up with new "spellcasting moves" if needed. If they're written in a relatively flexible / open-ended way, they can emulate general Sphere effects, if they are more specific, Rotes.
Traditions: You can easily make any of the traditions with the playbooks we're writing, but there aren't "tradition playbooks." We might include some "Tradition moves" in the hacking section.
That's a neat idea, putting them in the hacking section. They're certainly not required for the core game to work.
(Added merely for comparison of approaches: I ended up modeling the playbooks on various roles in Mage society, e.g. the Node Keeper, the Chantry Leader, the Fury (Battlemage), the Loremaster, the Seer, the Mercy (healer/preserver type), etc. Some of them map more closely to certain Traditions, but none of them are restricted to any of them.
But then, the Traditions were always the most wonky aspect of M:tA, imho added mainly to provide that "character class" feel the other WoD games so neatly had with their Clans and Tribes and all that. Except in Mage, that somehow never made so much sense to begin with... ;) )