Gaining Gangs, Followers and Holdings

So, today I was re-reading Improvement chapter in preparation for running a new game next weekend and I pondered something that you all might help clarify for me. My current understanding is that a gangs, followers and holdings are 'things' in the sense that bikes, cars, guns are 'crap'/gear: they are not intrinsic parts of a character.

For that reason it would seem that you could gain a gang, followers or a holding through the fiction without marking experience and buying it with an advance - you just wouldn't get the Pack Alpha, Fortune or Wealth move go along with it.

Is this a correct understanding of the proscriptive and descriptive nature of the game, or am I completely off base here?

Yeah, that's pretty much the consensus over like 8 threads.

It's very much a case-by-case thing. I know some guys advocate them getting Pack Alpha as soon as they get a gang, but personally, I enjoy a PC "leading" a gang simply through the basic moves like go aggro, manipulate, etc and exploring that whole "I'm not a great leader (yet), but I'm doing the best I can here" thing until they get the move through improvement or by taking it off another character playbook.

Some things make more sense if they get them, like a hold and wealth.

I think it helps to look at the moves as assurances. I'm not sure if Vincent would agree with that, but I see the moves as fictional triggers the players can trip, a part of player control. So you can always give advice or tell a group of people what to do, but when you have "Oftner Right" or "Leadership", it gives you an assurance, as a player, that the game world will work like "this" every time, as long as you make your roll.

Without this, the situation and NPC reaction is up to the MC, according to his agenda and principles.

Thanks for the response. I totally get what you're saying about moves as 'insurance' as to how they are able to affect the fiction. This was my thinking as well.

The primary reason I'm not to concerned about a PC gaining say, a gang and not having Pack Alpha is because of how Improvements work in the game. If a player really wants to be able to keep a tight lid on that gang and establish themselves as the leader, they can easily gain enough experience marks to advance in a single session (or two).