My friends and I are starting a campaign for the first time and I'm struggling to understand Obligation...We have 5 players, so the Obligation chart would look like this:

1-10 = Player 1

11-20 = Player 2

21-30 = Player 3

31-40 = Player 4

41-50 = Player 5

And this is assuming that no one takes on additional Obligation. But then we get to the end of Character Creation and it says, "As part of their Obligation, each group starts the game with a starship." How is a ship calculated into Obligation? Does each character get their starting Obligation plus owning a starship - e.g. Addiction + Starship?

There are instances where a player can own their own ship (one of the options in AoR is giving everyone their own starfighter). But in this instance, its one ship for the whole party. Ship and obligation don't tie to each other* - taking additional obligation only gets them more money or more experience points.

* Mind you, if the entire group got additional obligation for more money, I would allow them to sink all that extra cash into some ship upgrades or a better ride right out of the box if they wanted.

It just means include with whatever Obligation they have that they sort of ;owe' someone/something for their ride as well. There doesn't have to be another numerical value applied, just that there should be some kind of debt, history, plot hook, tied to how they got their ship.

There are instances where a player can own their own ship (one of the options in AoR is giving everyone their own starfighter). But in this instance, its one ship for the whole party. Ship and obligation don't tie to each other* - taking additional obligation only gets them more money or more experience points.

* Mind you, if the entire group got additional obligation for more money, I would allow them to sink all that extra cash into some ship upgrades or a better ride right out of the box if they wanted.

One of our players wants to take on additional Obligations, just so they can have extra credits to spend on ship upgrades.

It just means include with whatever Obligation they have that they sort of ;owe' someone/something for their ride as well. There doesn't have to be another numerical value applied, just that there should be some kind of debt, history, plot hook, tied to how they got their ship.

So using the example I had above, if their Obligation was Addiction; their addiction should relate to their ship somehow?

There are instances where a player can own their own ship (one of the options in AoR is giving everyone their own starfighter). But in this instance, its one ship for the whole party. Ship and obligation don't tie to each other* - taking additional obligation only gets them more money or more experience points.

* Mind you, if the entire group got additional obligation for more money, I would allow them to sink all that extra cash into some ship upgrades or a better ride right out of the box if they wanted.

One of our players wants to take on additional Obligations, just so they can have extra credits to spend on ship upgrades.

It just means include with whatever Obligation they have that they sort of ;owe' someone/something for their ride as well. There doesn't have to be another numerical value applied, just that there should be some kind of debt, history, plot hook, tied to how they got their ship.

So using the example I had above, if their Obligation was Addiction; their addiction should relate to their ship somehow?

If you like, sure. Like they took out a title loan to cover their addiction cost.

If a PC takes on additional obligation (either at start or through play) then you simply add that to Player X and adjust their slot accordingly and that of other PCs.

The obligation for the ship is assumed in the PCs starting points. For Example:

Han has an obligation to Jabba for money that he owes Jabba for the profits he lost on the spice shipment. He also has a bounty on his head.

Chewie has an Obligation to Han (Life Debit) and possibly some to Jabba as well

Luke has obligation to his family

Obi-Wan has an obligation of a Bounty on his head

Now, technically Han owns the ship and Chewie works for him but Luke, and Obi-Wan (and later Leia) have the benefit of access to the ship for their purposes.

Which by the time on ESB, they have used a lot for purposes of the Rebellion:

Obi-Wan is dead so his obligation is not applicable.

Luke's family is dead and he has officially joined the Rebellion, and has taken on a Duty. He also has the obligation Hunted by Vader.

Han and Chewie, on the other hand are still wanted by Jabba and their obligations to him are increased as they have caused him more loss of face

So using the example I had above, if their Obligation was Addiction; their addiction should relate to their ship somehow?

No, it doesn't have to, though you could make it relate if you want. The word "should" is not really something you need to apply here. The only thing you should do is make it your own. There are no real rules here, and you can make it as detailed or vague as you like.

I only use Obligation at character generation. It's a useful tool for setting a character's backstory, and possibly identifying themes or events that might be explored later. I have almost zero use for it past that, in fact I think it's kind of a crutch. I'm generally wary of any mechanic that "tokenizes" something that should be story-based...it pushes into board game territory. The story should provide the hooks and dangers and motives, some of which might derive originally from Obligation.

It could be a useful mechanic to explain a new tie to someone or something. It's sometimes easier to put a number on a concept and say "okay, the Hutt agrees to help you fix your ship, and in return you owe him 20 Obligation." But IMHO it's just as easy to put a credit value on it and deal in-story with the nefarious ways the Hutt or the party might try to shift the deal in their favour.

There are instances where a player can own their own ship (one of the options in AoR is giving everyone their own starfighter). But in this instance, its one ship for the whole party. Ship and obligation don't tie to each other* - taking additional obligation only gets them more money or more experience points.

* Mind you, if the entire group got additional obligation for more money, I would allow them to sink all that extra cash into some ship upgrades or a better ride right out of the box if they wanted.

One of our players wants to take on additional Obligations, just so they can have extra credits to spend on ship upgrades.

It just means include with whatever Obligation they have that they sort of ;owe' someone/something for their ride as well. There doesn't have to be another numerical value applied, just that there should be some kind of debt, history, plot hook, tied to how they got their ship.

So using the example I had above, if their Obligation was Addiction; their addiction should relate to their ship somehow?

Remember, addiction doesn't just have to be substance abuse. If you want( you don't have to) tie his addiction obligation in with owning the ship, maybe the player is addicted to space racing and is constantly in need of better, tricked out ships to compete in his dangerous addiction.

Or an addiction to gambling; the Wookie in the campaign in playing in is addicted to gambling. And not very good at it, I might add. Our Toydarian entrepreneur keeps goading him into losing all his money, so the little flapper can give him loans with "reasonable interest rates."

Good times .

But as for the ship and Obligation, I'm actually not a fan of them calling the ship you start with part of your Obligation. I think it's much better to use the term Group Resource to differentiate it. So you have your Obligation chart which determines what past indiscretions will come back to haunt your party, and as a separate Group Resource you have a ship to fly around to help you escape said Obligations.

Of course, nothing is stopping you from incorporating the ship into one or more of the character's Obligations, but the two are separate so you don't have to. I've had a couple of pilot characters who specifically wanted the group's ship to be theirs, so they took the Debt Obligation and said they're indebted to the person who gave them the ship.