Matthew wrote:
I'm 99% sure that this is incorrect.  You can only stake debt from one drive, yes.  However you can stake as much from that drive as you like.  Undifferentiated characters may only stake up to three Debt on a given conflict, though.  (pg. 74)  If
I'm wrong or if this requires further discussion, let's split off a new thread so we can stay on topic.

DOH!  Just cluttering up the boards here.  Sorry.  Read all the POSTS, Hans!  Ignore this.

Thanks for the citation, Hans.  Apparently I need to work on my reading comprehension.  Even worse, this means that everybody I've played with is just as bad at reading the rules as I am.  Lazy buggers.  This is going to make for a significant change at my table.

I've got a obscure rules question:

Let's say that we have Goal: Capt. Hero looks cool. Obviously, as the player of Capt. Hero (who is a notorious showboat) has investment in winning this goal. And the good Cap has a 4 point Pride drive, which currently has 2 debt. If it looks like I'm going to loose the conflict, can I stake 2 points of debt on the goal, and then later, when I have 2 more points of debt on Pride, can I stake those debt on the same conflict, or do I need to wait until all 4 points of debt are on the drive to stake it?

You can do it incrementally, as you said in your first option.

For instance, in a PBP game I'm playing in, I've got a 3 Hope drive, with 3 debt on it.  I've just staked 2 debt off of it (leaving 1 on the drive) because I think that's all it's going to take to win this conflict.  If things get harder, I can go in for another point, but I don't have to.  I can test the waters a bit, first.

I haven't gotten to play since I had this very important rule pointed out to me, so I'm still working on understanding all the repercussions.  On a drive with a strength of 1, you can only stake 1 point of debt on a given conflict, so you can schism but you can't split dice, right?

It seems like if you overdraw a drive with a 1 strength, you're going to have a tough time getting out of debt on that.  The only way to ditch those debt tokens is to stake and win, but you're stuck unable to split, so staking doesn't get you that advantage, so you may very well end up taking back two points, digging your hole deeper.  If I fight you and let you win, I'm only getting one Story Token out of it.  If I win, though, you have to deal with the frustration of taking that double debt, having to go through this deal twice more to get out of your hole. 

Not only that, since you can only rid yourself of one per conflict, for every point you're overdrawn it's another conflict that you have to say "This relates to Love" or Truth or Power, whatever.  Your stronger drives you can un-overdraw way faster.  If I'm staring at the possibility of three STs rather than just one, I may be more inclined to give you the win.

Do I understand this dynamic correctly?

There is one wrinkle that you've overlooked - if someone else has already staked debt on the side you're staking on, you can split to the new piece of debt, even if you can't stake two debt.

Also, nothing stops you from dumping debt onto a conflict that someone else is fighting and winning. So, let's say you are not involved in a conflict, and one side has 3 debt staked, and the other none - you can stake a point of debt and be pretty much sure that the debt will go away. Heck, if you can claim the conflict and show that the person with 3 debt that you'll narrate in a way that they are willing to live with, you might even get some nice insps. out of the deal.