Recently, I saw Trent Dixon and got super excited. It seemed like such an awesome card. Then I see the following about Trent Dixon in the FAQ:

"When he is committed alone on his controller’s turn, the application of Trent Dixon’s skill and icons to the other stories does not cause those stories to resolve."

Needless to say, I was kind of confused and disappointed. What does he actually do, then? If the uncommitted application of his skill to a story doesn't allow it to resolve, then what does The Captain do? If you use The Captain's ability, does the story you choose resolve? If so, why does it work for him and not (poor) Trent?

Under "Stories and Struggles" in the FAQ, "Stories will only resolve if the active player has characters at that story." This shows why Trent Dixon merely needed his wording adjusted to prevent munchkining (because I would totally cheese a 1st turn Trent Dixon) and also why The Captain's ability works in a similar fashion.

Ino said:

What exactly is meant by 'committed alone'? Is the condition fulfilled if he's alone at his story or does it require that you cannot have any characters at any other story either?

If it was the former, my rating would increase from 'utterly useless' to 'could be useful under rare circumstances'.

When he is committed to a story as the only character you committed to that story his ability kicks in essentially having him commit by proxy to any other story where you have a committed character. Granting ©© and 3 skill at other stories can be enough to swing a struggle or two in your favor and forces your opponent to be willing to overextend. If you are running Syndicate shenanigans they may be unable to do so, which lets you walk away with some struggles you might otherwise not been able to take.

Penfold said:

Okay, I think I misunderstood it, then. I thought what the card meant was that he had to be the only character you controlled that was committed to any story. If that were the case, he'd just be a character that had to attack every turn, and his other abilities would be meaningless.

But you're saying you commit him to a story by himself, and you can commit other character to other stories, and he provides his skill and icons at those other stories, in addition to his own. And only those that have one or more characters actually committed resolve. Is that right?

If that's the case, that's not nearly as bad as I thought.

Yes.