So I've done a bunch of digging through old forum posts, and I read through both the CharGen and GM chapters of the Corebook on Obligation, but I'm still having trouble with a few of them.

Some Obligations are straightforward like Debt and Favor: you pay your debt or repay your favor, and it goes down. Addiction, Obsession and the like, where they're "intrapersonal", so to speak, have a flurry of threads about them. But these ones, which I used to think were pretty self-explanatory, seem a bit more confusing now.

What to do when a Bounty is rolled can be pretty obvious: have someone come to collect, by one means or another. And of course you could pay with credits to bribe down a Criminal record, but how would you actually reduce it without using credits ?

For instance, a Bounty Hunter ambushes the party to try to capture the wanted PC. If the party fends them off, does that decrease or increase the Bounty? Wouldn't a more dangerous Criminal start seeing more wanted posters with higher rewards, instead of slipping into obscurity? Wouldn't the kinds of Hunters out to get them only increase in skill as the bounty got larger?

Perhaps you could someone try to address the wrong you've done, but the Empire wouldn't let a Criminal "make amends" except perhaps through jailtime. And if what you've done is worse than dumping spice before you get boarded, the one that posted the Bounty on your head may only be interested in blood, in revenge.

So hopefully you now see my dilema. How would you work it out, if the PC wanted to reduce their Bounty/Criminal Obligation?

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TL;DR: How does a Bounty/Criminal Obligation get reduced without a payoff? Would beating your assailants decrease or increase the Obligation?

I've been in the rather interesting situation of having to get rid of a Criminal Obligation, and I lowered it by faking my character's death.

To elaborate, I had him "tip off" the Imperials that he was going to be on X ship, at Y coordinates, on his way to Z, while at the same time I had our group rig up a ship (old ship we got through a long story) with explosives and had a cheap droid pilot it with pre-programmed instructions. The ship then got where the tip said it would be, and just as the Imperials set up to board it, the droid transmitted a message in my character's voice, pretty much saying "You'll never take me alive, coppers!". With that, the ship exploded. Chalking it up to suicide in the face of being send to a re-education facility, or worse, the Imperials struck him off the list and moved on. Mainly to repair their damaged vessel...

As for the bounty, I assume it can work the same way, work out a means to let the bounty-poster think you're dead. Either that, or sap them of the funds they would use to pay the hunter that got you, thus forcing them to drop the issue....for now.

As for directly beating your assailants....I think that depends on who you're beating. The Empire will probably be happy to throw men at you for eternity if you're worth capturing, and a large Hutt operation may be almost as willing. However, a small-time criminal element/ government may decide to cut their losses if its looking like capturing you is more trouble than its worth.

This can be handled in a number of ways.

1.) As stated above, fake your own death, that should throw them off the trail for a bit.

2.) Silence the witnesses, bribe the judge, or bribe the jury, and then go ahead and have your day in court. You'll be cleared of all wrong doing, and then you can move along.

3.) The first bounty hunter that finds you, secretly put him on your payroll to keep your tail clean of bounties. Of course, he might then initiate a blackmail obligation.

4.) Bribe the bounty hunters guild to "lose" your bounty listing by paying the full amount.

5.) Cut a deal with the government, selling out other criminals in exchange for your freedom. Of course, this might trigger other obligations if those criminals find out what you've done. Witness protection from Far Horizons comes to mind.

Hopefully that is enough to get you started.

What to do when a Bounty is rolled can be pretty obvious: have someone come to collect, by one means or another. And of course you could pay with credits to bribe down a Criminal record, but how would you actually reduce it without using credits ?

Well you've assumed that the bounty will rise, but why should it? The Galaxy doesn't revolve around the PCs. If it's a personally funded bounty, say the PC upset someone enough to offer it, that someone doesn't become richer just because it's required by the PC's obligation. Similarly governments aren't necessarily going to post higher and higher bounties just because someone hasn't been delivered to them. If a court on Naboo decided that bounty would be set at 40,000Cr, doesn't mean there's a judge waiting there by the news ticker each time a bounty hunter fails to kidnap the target. She made her ruling and she went home. Maybe a few years later some bureaucrat will review the case, or the defendents will have got an appeal lodged and move for a higher bounty. Or a new politician will vow "War on Gundark Dealers" and put pressure on to close outstanding cases. But generally? Why should it.

Word gets around. Once the PC has fought off a few bounty hunters, they'll start saying the bounty was set too low and this one's not worth it. Probably happens all the time.

Word gets around. Once the PC has fought off a few bounty hunters, they'll start saying the bounty was set too low and this one's not worth it. Probably happens all the time.

It's why our last campaign ended with the Hutts finally deciding our party was "too much trouble, that really wants to be left alone anyway, and besides it was all Teemo's fault, and he's dead" even though it really was our party's* fault and we really did keep escalating things ("Chicago Style").

* Okay, totally being honest, it was all my fault. Also... I totally kept escalating things. The rest of the party was just along for the ride and to be my meatshields and murder hobos friends.

What to do when a Bounty is rolled can be pretty obvious: have someone come to collect, by one means or another. And of course you could pay with credits to bribe down a Criminal record, but how would you actually reduce it without using credits ?

Well you've assumed that the bounty will rise, but why should it? The Galaxy doesn't revolve around the PCs. If it's a personally funded bounty, say the PC upset someone enough to offer it, that someone doesn't become richer just because it's required by the PC's obligation. Similarly governments aren't necessarily going to post higher and higher bounties just because someone hasn't been delivered to them. If a court on Naboo decided that bounty would be set at 40,000Cr, doesn't mean there's a judge waiting there by the news ticker each time a bounty hunter fails to kidnap the target. She made her ruling and she went home. Maybe a few years later some bureaucrat will review the case, or the defendents will have got an appeal lodged and move for a higher bounty. Or a new politician will vow "War on Gundark Dealers" and put pressure on to close outstanding cases. But generally? Why should it.

Word gets around. Once the PC has fought off a few bounty hunters, they'll start saying the bounty was set too low and this one's not worth it. Probably happens all the time.

Fair enough. I suppose that would be the case if the Bounty/Crime was set and no more offense came to the one who was offering it.

I suppose I was more thinking of the main heroes of Star Wars, who definitely had their bounties go up, but largely because they continued to compound their offenses.

What to do when a Bounty is rolled can be pretty obvious: have someone come to collect, by one means or another. And of course you could pay with credits to bribe down a Criminal record, but how would you actually reduce it without using credits ?

Well you've assumed that the bounty will rise, but why should it? The Galaxy doesn't revolve around the PCs. If it's a personally funded bounty, say the PC upset someone enough to offer it, that someone doesn't become richer just because it's required by the PC's obligation. Similarly governments aren't necessarily going to post higher and higher bounties just because someone hasn't been delivered to them. If a court on Naboo decided that bounty would be set at 40,000Cr, doesn't mean there's a judge waiting there by the news ticker each time a bounty hunter fails to kidnap the target. She made her ruling and she went home. Maybe a few years later some bureaucrat will review the case, or the defendents will have got an appeal lodged and move for a higher bounty. Or a new politician will vow "War on Gundark Dealers" and put pressure on to close outstanding cases. But generally? Why should it.

Word gets around. Once the PC has fought off a few bounty hunters, they'll start saying the bounty was set too low and this one's not worth it. Probably happens all the time.

Fair enough. I suppose that would be the case if the Bounty/Crime was set and no more offense came to the one who was offering it.

I suppose I was more thinking of the main heroes of Star Wars, who definitely had their bounties go up, but largely because they continued to compound their offenses.

Oh yes, if you keep doing MORE it will go up. Double ir for ever Death Star blown up and add on 50,000-100,000 everytime they rescue a princess.

Fighting off a Bounty Hunter can definitely reduce your Obligation.

Think of it as you begin to be seen as not worth the trouble. The bounty isn't high enough for the risk associated with claiming it, and/or the person who put the bounty up isn't willing/able to increase it to where it will be seen as worthwhile.

I imagine quite a few of the more notorious characters in Star Wars have bounties on their heads, but they're not big enough to be worth the trouble.

A former bodyguard is on the run after (maybe) accidentally killing his employer. The bounty is set at 5,000 credits, but the bodyguard is quite fearsome and nobody sees 5 Gs as being worth the significant risk to life and limb for bringing the bodyguard in. Especially after he messed up that one fairly well known Rodian bounty hunter.