I think it's incumbent on the players & MC to determine what's happened to cause a change in rank.

Clearly, a change from 2nd to 1st or 3rd to 2nd implies that the old king has died or is otherwise removed from the throne, while a change from 4th to 3rd implies ennoblement while 6th to 5th implies a grand of land.  It's really 5th to 4th that is tough to justify.

Take a look at the Angel skin for MonsterHearts, if you haven't already.  It uses opposed stats in an interesting way.

but why make it an option for everyone?

I mean, I'm not saying characters w/out the move aren't allowed to punch people in the face.  But that can be handled with an "act under fire" type move, MC moves, and the conversation.

Sure if I have zero combat training, I'll be more likely to hold my own against another guy that knows how to fight.  But the move as written isn't about who is able to win.  It's about how someone achieves objectives (taking something, moving them, avoiding harm, etc).  I as an untrained fighter vs. another untrained fighter am less able to accomplish any of those objectives, even if I win the fight.

If it's important enough to say "a guy with out training is bad at this, beyond just the fact that he has -1 body", then say it!  Don't hedge your bets with finnicky compromises.

As far as I know, that's in the current draft.  It's one of the things that maybe made more sense in previous iterations of the rules, but are still in there because hey, why not?  I think there's an infernal move that's still on the playbook under similar conditions.

This is great.  A lot of Fan skins by players new to MH have the "powerful supernatural creature" part but skip the "dysfunctional teenager" part.  Yours, on the other hand, has heaps of both.

I love vermin's boon & the boons.  It's a great idea, wonderfully executed.

I'd ditch the bit where strings go to the vermin and transfer to the vermin lord only when their nature is discovered.  It's finicky. And also, it's high school--the other characters will blame that weirdo kid for the rats, even if they don't know he's an actual Vermin Lord.

Only PCs can roll steady, so stolen needs something for the 7-9 result when an NPC is the target.

Moves should have some kind of fictional trigger (even if it's as simple as "when you try to do this move").  Unseen eyes doesn't have one.  What about:

"When you send your vermin to spy on a person or place for you, roll with dark.  On a hit, they report back the details.  On a 10+, choose 2, on a 7-9 choose 1:
-They identify the people involved
-They also report back details of a second person or place
-They were not seen"

I'm also confused by the gang option.  What do are Meta-corporeal vermin demiurges supposed to be?

Ooh, cool.  I'd love to hear more about any of those games.

In particular, though, I'd like to hear more about the fantasy marketplace.  The book talks about making sure that whatever the setting, that it should have a similar social environment in terms of how the people in it interact with each other.  Can you talk about the social environment in that game, how it was like high school, and how it was different?

You're thinking about it wrong.  The question isn't "should they roll to use their superpowers?"  It's "should they roll to use this move?"

Look at the Monsterhearts skins.  Almost all of those moves represent supernatural powers of some sort.  Sometimes, they're rolled, sometimes they aren't.  It depends on what the game needs to happen when the player uses that move.

If they like to read, give 'em the whole book.  There's a lot of stuff in there that's valuable.

I think things like "keep it feral", and "happiness always comes at a cost" can be as valuable for players as they are for the MC.  The long example is also pretty great.  None of it is something I'd necessarily read aloud, though.