A hack with no name

So, there have been thoughts in my head about a little hack for a while now, essentially spurred by a single sentence in the original text.

“There are no status quos in Apocalypse World.”

'But,' I thought... 'I like status quos! They give you a big stick to hit things with! Something to scrape against! What's the deal here?'

Later on, that inchoate feeling developed into something I could sink my teeth in. Simply put, my deep gut feeling is that, were the world to really go to hell, people wouldn't all go cowboy (as much as I actually LOVE playing cowboy) and start shootin' and drinkin' and generally being free to do what they damn well please as long as they can put a gun in front of that please. That deep feeling in my gut told me that, instead, in a world gone to hell, people would cluster together so hard they'd start to choke, cling to anything that's still a certainthing, a rock if need be, put on a brave face they know is a lie and stare at the advancing darkness in disbelief. And in this group of people clustered together on a rock, there would damn well be status quos, and you would BE these status quos or else claw against them trying to get a breath.

I've got some vague ideas about the hack - it'll be a fantasy thing about a world shattered into little islands and neverending raging storms of dust between them, and I've also got some equally vague ideas for playbooks and possible moves. What I do already have down are the stat names - they're basically the same thing as in the original, only with some things lost and, one would hope, some things gained through translation:

Spine - willpower, ability to resist and weather pressure. You use this when you see the odds are stacked against you and do it anyway.

Blood - stature, rootedness in the community, pride. You use this when you see something that is yours and take it.

Warmth - understanding and the ability to comfort others. You use this to give others guidance and stop someone before they go too far.

Nose - intuition and the senses. You use this when you act on opportunities, whether you really know about they're there or not.

Dust - that which makes a stranger a stranger... a certain whiff of death. You use this when you act inhumanely... and inhumanly.

Sounds like some interesting potential, though it seems like the very focus of 'status quos' in the setting will make breaking them that much more of a point of attention for gameplay. But that's neat.

Also, I now have "Horse with no Name" by America stuck in my head.

Okay, so. You are on a floating rock of an island, clustered together with oh so many people&gods. This means that the following are true:

* Someone is always watching.
* They know who you are and what you're thinking.
* Your actions are judged.

When the dust rages on your rock, none of the above are true.

A lot of the moves will give character a temporary exception to these.

Oh, and "they know who you are and what you're thinking" basically means that anyone, any time, can ask you a read a person question and then act on them... Unless you don't want those thoughts known and succeed a +spine roll.

Oh, and yeah. Characters no longer have health levels - or rather, they will be reduced to good/wounded/pretty much dead for most characters (some characters might be just plain immortal). Instead, they'll get a Face metric... Which should be a bit different for each character (glory for the blooded ones, fear for the dust ones, fortune for the nosy ones...) somehow, but I'm not yet fully sure on how to best implement this... Face damage mechanics (when your honor is insulted and you don't action, roll +blood... On a miss, you lose face.), Face refreshing mechanics (when you help a person in need, roll +warmth. On a hit, you gain face.), some combination thereof? Playbook moves or basic moves?