Maybe I'm just a fan of a lot of concepts from FATE, but does anyone out there use Obligation for general trouble aspects about a character? My typical group of players can't get over picking a specific Obligation type and get into the creative side of things, but they do love the Obligation system in general.

So what about making Obligation a little more general? For instance:

-Can't back down from a dare

-Eye for the ladies

-Can't take no for an answer

-No man hires me; no man fires me

-Browncoat

-Hotheaded and reckless

-Amnesia

-Etc

Every single one can cause trouble for the player, but they can say things about the character's personality or his past, not just his past. Has anybody tried handling Obligation in this way? Sure, regular things like bounties and addictions can be around, but breaking away from the table makes it a lot more interesting, in my mind, and more personal.

They sound more like Motivation ideas than Obligation.

Maybe, but if they come up as per the usual Obligation roll, then they're getting you into a bit more trouble than usual... When your Obligation is rolled, you have to think of it as, "You're getting into trouble," more than "Your past is coming back to haunt you." It may very well have something to do with your past, but it's got a lot more narrative potential.

I could be advocating this because I'm trying to encourage creativity among my players.

Obligations are debts owed, Motivations are what cause a PC to act. They can be similar and even linked but even in the CRB it talks about Motivation being used more as a narrative tool for PCs to flesh out their characters, whereas Obligation is more mechanical and typically to be used more by the GM for plot hooks.

I generally think of Obligation as external, Motivation as internal. Addiction seems the opposite, but could be looked at as external in the sense that without the presence of the drug, the character would be better off. The ones in your list (except Amnesia) definitely seem internal.

Would you be rolling by encounter rather than by session? I'm having a hard time picturing what this would look like in actual play.

sounds to me like some of them could be implemented with the emotional strength/weaknesses from force and destiny.

-Can't back down from a dare: could be smilar to pride/arrogance

-Eye for the ladies: love/jealousy

-No man hires me; no man fires me: something similar to independence/coldness

-Hotheaded and reckless: enthusiasm/recklessness

what i like about the morality system is that it can be applied either way: both stength and weakness might come in handy and define the actions of the character like motivation, but they can also get you in trouble like obligation

I see Obligation as something that further complicates matters. "We need to get out of here, the Empire know we stole that holocron from the archives...oh carabast! it's those bounty hunters who are after me for that crime boss I owe a debt to!"

While they can be hooks, I like to see them as things that can arise to further complicate the events they are in, even if its internal stuff.

Hmm... All good feedback. Every campaign my group has gone through has amounted to all the players taking extra Obligation at the start and accumulating more as they go, til such a time as their past / addiction / whatever catches up with them in a very bad way. Honestly, they run very high on the Obligation and love it that way, so much so that each episodic session (think Firefly) generally just revolves around the Obligation that was rolled.

Tweaks like I'm proposing fit into this style of game, but I do see how they won't work in others' games. They're not big on monochromatic motivations, so I use Obligation as the springboard for the next session (often as if doubles were rolled), so expanding the possibilities means that players not only get into trouble due to external reasons (debts, old enemies, family ties, etc) but also due to internal reasons (can't resist a cute Twi'lek, couldn't resist starting a bar fight on Unification Day, etc).

Also a big FATE fan.

I plan on having my next game center around the PCs being a squad of force sensitives following force visions and other character motivators to protect a rebel capitol ship from internal and external threats.

I'm using morality for the PCs, but giving all the NPCs obligation. If the NPC figures strongly into the plot for the night, they get added to a behind the scenes obligation roll at the begining of game. Adding a little spice to the night even I didnt plan for. (****! The security officers gambling debts have caught up to him at the big diplomatic gala how do you balance the mission w his sick sister financial needs!)

I'm also using the ship itself in the obligation pool. They will be in unknown space for most of the adventure, so abstract things like food, water, fuel, luxury items, parts, and anything else that comes up can be in that same pool. Engines took a bad hit and not enough parts to fix em proper? 10% obligation. Did you let the desperate captain steal foodstuffs from the locals on the last planet? Food obligation goes from 10% to 5%. When it's rolled, you can imagine the results. Immediate food crisis, or water leak causing the party to have to manage these crisis on top of whatever "metaplot" I have going in the foreground.

Doubles means I roll again.. I'm hoping for some serious shenanigans, and the joy of not knowing entirely what's going to happpen in my own game