Trying again:

Squadron Commander: When your squad fights for you, roll +hard. On a hit, hold 2. On a 10+, that’s all, they are following orders. On a 7-9, they buck your command, push themselves too far, or get careless. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to:

• Draw fire.
• Concentrate fire on a target.
• Sacrifice themselves to buy time for the fleet.
• Lay in wait to ambush.

On a miss the squad is scattered, outflanked or unprepared, leaving you exposed to your enemy.

I'm not parsing "second of the book" but I want to point out that no matter what you do to motivate your gang, it always boils down to convincing them it's in their best interest.

Sorry, that was a typo. "second of the book" should have been "section of the book".

As to BSG and your CAG move, it occurs to me that something pretty important in the show is how one of the pilots (usually Starbuck) will disobey Lee, but through amazing skill, luck, pluck, etc. get the job done -- maybe even better than anticipated.  Is that an interesting failure or partial success condition?

Starbuck doing the job wants but giving him grief seems like a good thing to fit in the 7-9 space. They do it, but there is hell to pay afterwards. Other things that could fall into that category would be pushing themselves too far (Kat on Stims), getting lax after the mission (Flat Top does his 1,000th land in Act of Contrition and in partying, the get blown up by a lose missile), etc.

Imagine what Leadership and Pack Alpha imply about the scenario where someone leading a gang has neither move (the scenario Blind Blue and Hatchet city has this, where the Violent character has some dudes but isn't always the Chopper). You're their leader fictionally, but they're not your gang. If you find yourself needing to make a hard advance, what, do you roll +Hot, with the promise of spoils (or maybe that you won't shoot them for insubordination?). Good luck with that one, Funlugger.

Okay, so you're saying that having a gang, without having a move to control them, just means you have violent people around you, who are going to act in their own self interest.

Thus it sounds like if you have a gang, but not a Leadership move, you are really part of the gang, rather than the leader. Heck, someone else might even vie for leadership without particularly thinking they are pushing you out.

I see MCs shy away from Gunluggers. It's a crazy powerful playbook that yes, turns every problem into a nail they can hammer. Conversely, playing the reluctant warrior is also filled with it's own pitfalls, namely you're forsaking most of the moves that make your character so awesome.

What I want to see in every Gunlugger (or other walking heaps of awesome) is a terrible responsibility they carry on their shoulders (that only they can carry) that weighs heavily on every action they take (violent or no). I guess I want every Gunlugger to be Dog! (from Dogs in the Vineyard)

I’ve been working on a CAG (for my BSG hack) move analogous to Leadership, used to control the squadrons, and something is coming into focus. I don’t understand what the Leadership move does.

I get pack alpha. Getting your gang to behave is tough, they’re going to fight you, this how you put them down.

But, if your gang is under control, why isn’t the character in charge of them, any character just making basic moves?

Need your gang to stay sentry and watch out for intruders trying to sneak in? Read a sitch.

Need them to put the hurt on someone and get them to pay their debts? Go aggro.

Need them to stay the fuck out of site while you lure your enemies into an ambush? Act under fire.

It just seems to me that Leadership is superfluous unless you need it to control your gang, and that’s not exactly what leadership does. Sure, on a miss, you lose control, but on a hit you get things like “make a hard advance”. What is that? Is it going aggro? Is it seizing by force? If so why not just roll those? If not, what does it do.

In the book Vincent suggests spending hold along with using moves (his example is making hard advance and seizing by force to take a wall). But again I ask what does the Leadership part of this doing? Why couldn’t the Hardholder just roll seize be force to take the wall?

He also mentions using the gang as weapons (p.253) but that also just looks like you do basic moves with them.

What am I missing?

Also, if I’m not missing anything, what about a move like this. Strong Hands on the Rein*: You can use your Military Unit (my name for gang) to perform all the basic moves. Add these to all moves. On a 7-9, you’ve got to discipline one of your soldiers after the encounter for something they did or didn’t do. On a miss, your MU has broken formation, been routed, or otherwise leaves you exposed to your enemy.

*Move name courtesy of SoylentWhite

I'm going to start with just a single book, number Six and then I'll play with these options:

1. Advanced move to change your playbook to a Cylon. Only available after you've ressurected.

2. Like the Opportunist or Partisan, Six starts with an "how to you fit in" option that explains why she is needed. She's got information, she's changed sides, she'll help them, etc.

3. You start in the brig. Relations are tense. You're an other to them, with them being the other players.

This is one of those things that I'm not 100% sure how I want to introduce until I try it.

I agree COMPLETELY that human interaction is a must. Playing the split game (some of the players humans, some cylons, with little interaction) would drive me insane. That's why I haven't even tried it yet. That said the relationship between Caprica Six and Baltar, between Galen and Boomer/Eight and Helo and Athena/Eight, was some amazing stuff. I really want that in my game.

Now just gotta work on the how.

Varying stats for moves. Sounds cool. I think I'll switch up the stat block so that for every move there is an option that works well with it, but that means others moves will be tougher. Contemplating two +2s. What do you think:

Moderate option:

Cool+1 Hard=0 Hot+1 Sharp+2 Faith-1
Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Faith=0
Cool-1 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Faith+1
Cool=0 Hard-1 Hot+1 Sharp +2 Faith+1

+2 Options:

Cool +2, Hard -1, Hot 0, Sharp +2, Faith -1
Cool -1, Hard +2, Hot -1, Sharp +2, Faith 0
Cool 0, Hard +1, Hot +2, Sharp +2, Faith -1
Cool +1, Hard 0, Hot -1, Sharp +2, Faith +2

Plan a Mission: This looks too much like Brief the Squad. I mean, I think for most purposes it is the same. I'm gong to look at what I can steal from that though for briefing.

Strong hand on the reins: This is the leadership move I need for the CAG. It overlaps some with brief the squad though in what it does. (+1 Harm). I might shuffle things around between this, your ideas for Plan the Mission, and Brief.

Dearly Departed: YES. I love this move. It's in.

Heart as a stat. Yeah, Jason's suggestion was I use faith. But "failth" has too much meaning in the context of the setting. My response to him, which I'm still thinking about is, what about rename faith to "Belief" and have the CAG operate out of that?

Once again thanks for all your thoughtful insights.