So my players did what I expect is fairly common, they took extra obligation to get more starting money. This has provided me with a group that has very high obligation so I'm trying to think of ways to show them why that is signifigant. The feeling during character create was 2500 credits is a ton of equipment, and "If bounty hunters show up, we just blow them away and take their stuff, high obligation = free stuff!" I want to show them obligation is more than free loot...

So I was looking at the obligations, and it seems there are two groups:

Player Hands Off - things like Criminal, Debt, Bounty, in fact the bulk of obligations, seem to be things that happen to the character. Meaning it falls into my realm to make it matter.

Player Hands On - Addiction, Obsession, Duty, things that it falls at least partially on the player to bring up.

Now on to the questions I have,

1) When I roll before the game, that determines whose obligation comes up and if stress is taken. Lets say no obligation comes up, would it be wrong to make obligation come up anyway but with no stress hit? Or should I let it be and trust the odds of probability that it will all hit the fan soon enough? I do have a regular plot going on, so I'm not relying on obligation to drive the campaign - at least not yet.

2) What are good ways to make sure 'Hands On' obligations, especially high rated ones (20) are relevant? This ties into question 1, but should an addiction be coming up even when that players obligation wasn't triggered? It seems like yes, but I don't want to be too liberal with the GM hammer...

One of my players has Obsession (20) and is obsessed with Good vs. Evil. He's a droid who was created to classify the galaxy into Good and Evil, a walking Bioware Alignment Meter if you will. He has an Obsession with determining who is good and who is evil. When this gets triggered,I plan to include a 'curve ball' in the session, a Grey area that isn't easily classified, and see what that does. When it's not triggered, would it be fair to have him roll Cool from time to time, to see if he drifts off in the middle of a scene contemplating where this falls on the grand scale? Or maybe that would be Discipline? His mental stats are, lacking, so there is a good chance he'd be very easily distracted if I did too many rolls.

3) Assuming obligations should be coming up whether they are triggered or not, what are a few examples of, say, 'Criminal' when it was triggered vs. when it wasn't triggered? I have two players with criminal, so when it gets triggered I plan to have the law catch up to them. When it hasn't been triggered I am thinking they might see The Law looking their way curiously, or there happens to be a Bounty poster for them in a Cantina. Things along those lines. Am I on the right track here?

The way I'm choosing to handle this is to create an entire sub-plot around each character's obligation. For some of them, the plot kicks off when I roll obligation. For others, I'll need to jam a little mini-encounter in there to introduce characters that will come up later when their obligation gets rolled. I see these as a great way to make each character feel unique, and provide more plots other than whatever is going on in the larger story arc to help make the world feel alive.

As for introducing things when they do not roll obligation, I'm thinking of it like this: If they roll obligation, I simply have their sub-plot come up and it is pretty much all bad. If I feel like things will be too dry not rolling obligation, I may have one of their's come up (preferably one that hasn't had as much screen time lately) but I'd sprinkle some potential awards in.

There are a few threads in the GM forum that I made while coming up with these called 'sub plots for X obligation' and I got some fantastic feedback. If you wanted to do the same, maybe we could even start a larger thread covering all obligations to help other GMs come up with interesting narratives around their PC's obligations. Would be a useful tool I think.

Bad news first: it's on you to keep Obligations relevant, no matter what. That's what the GM does. But you're correct in that, with some of them, you can and should expect some regular player input.

1) When I roll before the game, that determines whose obligation comes up and if stress is taken. Lets say no obligation comes up, would it be wrong to make obligation come up anyway but with no stress hit? Or should I let it be and trust the odds of probability that it will all hit the fan soon enough? I do have a regular plot going on, so I'm not relying on obligation to drive the campaign - at least not yet.

As the GM, you're expected to craft a universe and a story that will be interesting for the players to play in. While it may be tempting to simply use the Obligation system as a way for spontaneous trouble -- and sometimes, that's exactly what you should do -- remember those Obligations exist all the time, not just when you're making the roll. Have their Obligations show up when it benefits the story; even if the doctor's Oath comes up in the roll, maybe the current plan to steal from the local Imperial garrison would be made more complicated and interesting by bringing up the pilot's Bounty.

It's important to know what benefits the story doesn't necessarily benefit the players, but if done right, they won't mind one bit because it keeps the story interesting and the tension constant. The point of the game isn't "the players save the day all the time always," it's "the players struggling to survive on the edge of the galaxy." There won't always be a happy ending.

2) What are good ways to make sure 'Hands On' obligations, especially high rated ones (20) are relevant? This ties into question 1, but should an addiction be coming up even when that players obligation wasn't triggered? It seems like yes, but I don't want to be too liberal with the GM hammer...

This is a place where player input should happen, but again, it's on you to make sure it does. The best way to approach this is watch your players when they enter a situation you know their Obligation should come up. If the addict walks into a spice den and her player doesn't start rolling Discipline checks, call her out on it. Let her know that, if she wants to use Addiction, she has to play the part of an addicted soul.

Obsession is much the same way, in that if the player fails to resist the object of his Obsession he will leave the party in mortal peril in order to satisfy himself. In the situation you provided, your player should make that check, and if he fails he becomes bogged down in thinking about the contradiction and cannot act. (If that seems too harsh, then have it so he can act but with maximum penalty: two Setback dice, upgrade all difficulty checks for the encounter, something like that.)

Don't think of your GM tools as a hammer or other blunt, bludgeoning object. They're more precision, like a chisel, a scalpel, or a lever. You're not forcing anything upon the players that they didn't already agree to at the beginning of the game. Having a higher Obligation, they should have understood that it meant it would be more pressing, more dangerous. You're taking their choices and giving them a direct influence on the game itself. By allowing that, by allowing the players to give to the setting as well as take from it, this system is more engaging from the word "go" than something like D&D.

Take advantage of that.

3) Assuming obligations should be coming up whether they are triggered or not, what are a few examples of, say, 'Criminal' when it was triggered vs. when it wasn't triggered? I have two players with criminal, so when it gets triggered I plan to have the law catch up to them. When it hasn't been triggered I am thinking they might see The Law looking their way curiously, or there happens to be a Bounty poster for them in a Cantina. Things along those lines. Am I on the right track here?

First of all, Bounty and Criminal are two different Obligations, and for good reason. Criminals don't always have bounties, which means they wouldn't have to deal with bounty hunters coming after them; likewise, bounties don't always have a criminal record, as a Hutt could put a bounty on a guy for not paying his gambling debts.

Second, that's not a bad idea. If you want the roll to mean something for the session, then yes, rolling the criminal's Obligation means the law has caught up with them. But that shouldn't make them safe if their number didn't come up -- they shouldn't be able to just walk into a police station and not expect to be recognized. It's true that, depending on the Obligation level, they might not be notorious enough to be recognized outside of the city/planet/system in which they're wanted, but you already said these guys have high Obligation. That means if they go to pay their parking ticket, there should be a very real risk of recognition, especially if they don't take steps to avoid it.

In conclusion, it's a good idea to listen to Ian, read that link, and co-develop some subplots for your players. If you have a large number of players (more than four, I would think) then see if any of their stories could tie together into one subplot to save yourself a hassle. Just remember that these need to be B-plots, with the combined story they're telling as a group to be considered the permanent A-plot. It's all right for a B-plot to occasionally tie into the A-plot, especially to be established or resolved (or at least brought to a turning point), but it's supposed to be about the group, not the individual.

The problem here is that some 'Obligations' like Obsession and Oath are not actually obligations, but motivations.

We don't use them much anyway, but I feel strongly that actual in-game 'Obligations' should be things that put external pressure on a PC. If they don't, then I don't feel they should be obligations.

Ask yourself this question: if a PC decided to stop his involvement in an Obligation, would anything happen to him?

In the case of Debt, then the answer is 'yes' - his debtors report him or send bounty hunters after him.

In the case of 'obsession' or something similar, the answer is 'no'. Nobody else cares if the character suddenly stops collecting action figures or whatever. There's nothing driving this beyond the PC, so rightfully it should be considered a Motivation.

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1) When I roll before the game, that determines whose obligation comes up and if stress is taken. Lets say no obligation comes up, would it be wrong to make obligation come up anyway but with no stress hit? Or should I let it be and trust the odds of probability that it will all hit the fan soon enough? I do have a regular plot going on, so I'm not relying on obligation to drive the campaign - at least not yet.

Stories is stories. Your players are almost certainly showing up expecting to get into some scrapes - a guy with a shotgun-blaster is still a guy with a shotgun-blaster whether he's after you for the bounty or after you because of his sister's broken heart.

In fact, building some of your stories around the PCs Obligometer unifies your background - the PCs know and understand why shotgun-blaster guy is there!

2) What are good ways to make sure 'Hands On' obligations, especially high rated ones (20) are relevant? This ties into question 1, but should an addiction be coming up even when that players obligation wasn't triggered? It seems like yes, but I don't want to be too liberal with the GM hammer...

They should be referenced (in your narration) whenever you feel it's appropriate to do so, but they shouldn't penalise the character (mechanically) until they're rolled. If a player voluntarily triggers their Obligations, I'd probably exclude theirs from the next session's roll.

3) Assuming obligations should be coming up whether they are triggered or not, what are a few examples of, say, 'Criminal' when it was triggered vs. when it wasn't triggered? I have two players with criminal, so when it gets triggered I plan to have the law catch up to them. When it hasn't been triggered I am thinking they might see The Law looking their way curiously, or there happens to be a Bounty poster for them in a Cantina. Things along those lines. Am I on the right track here?

Yeah, sounds good. If they're not stressing you can add "but it's a really grainy picture" or "but you recognise the enforcer and know he's a cheap bribe."

All the yeller is opinions only, of course, and highly situational.

Oh, and I hate the Obligation mechanic (I hate being told what my character feels - a good GM will make me feel when they're stressed). Not sure if this colours my opinions at all.

Great points. I like your approach, lan2400, of having a sub-plot that kicks off when the roll comes up. That way I'm free to use the obligations whenever I see fit but I've saved the bulk of the story surrounding them for when the roll comes up. Keep them going on appetizers then hit them with the main course.

You hit the nail on the head Maelora, I just called them 'Player Hands On' instead of Motivations. Motivation rolls off the tongue better. I think in this case, the Morality Obsessed Droid, I could argue if he ditches the idea it's still relevant. Not because of the obsession itself, but because of the effects it's had. He's bound to have upset someone in his years, someone who didn't like being classified as 'Evil', or better - someone who was labeled 'Good' and lost all his street cred.

Maelora, I feel that playing Obligations like Obsession and Addiction just require a bit more roleplay than "Bounty" or "Debt".

Someone who suffers from an Obsession or an Addiction often feels like there's an external force pressuring them. It may technically be an internal pressure, but it's not one the person wants or feels they can control.

So it's up to the player to roleplay the way they'd behave if they're addicted to spice and unable to score a hit. The PC needs to take the initiative to seek out a dealer or even take actions that hurt their party, like selling a weapon in exchange for drugs.

In our game we have an interesting Obession:

A 3000-year-old HK assassin droid was stranded on a remote world in pursuit of a target. It got stuck there and was discovered and brought back to life by our PCs.

Now HK-6 is obsessed with tracking down and eliminating all the descendants of its original target. When the party reaches a new planet, it does some investigation work and tries to see if anyone with the same last name lives there. If they do, it pays them a visit.

These are actions the player takes voluntarily, because she came up with this Obligation and is interested in roleplaying it.

Last session, the droid found somebody with the last name of its target, but couldn't determine conclusively if the target was actually related to the individual.

If the PC's Obligation had come up that session, I might have ruled that the droid didn't care, he felt compelled to carry out his mission anyway.

In this case the PC's Obligation hadn't come up, so the PC was able to restrain itself.

It's the difference between passing by the bar and going into the bar. And it's mostly up to the player to roleplay it, but the GM can put the bar in their path.

Our Obligations get tied into every session. We also have a high enough collective score that it pings nearly every session as well for a Strain hit of some magnitude.