So I am a running a two-player game. Force and Destiny. TFA era, deep within First Order space. The planet they are on is a recruiting ground for Stormtrooper Acolytes. Both characters are light side leaning.

The first player character is a relatively young (16), good at mechanics, likes speeder racing and is against using guns. Her Morality is "Curiosity" and "Obsession". Maybe I am just being narrow-minded and cynical, but this seems like an incredibly easy choice for a player - and one that is hard to actually represent as a weakness for a GM. I am trying to lead them into the 'five Jedi trials', led by a long lost offshoot of the Jedi Order on the planet they are starting on - but I have no idea how to represent obsession as any sort of challenge for things such as the Trial of Spirit. Or really in the game as a whole.

The second player character is a slightly older sword-and-board militia-come-hunter for the village, he is very martial and is a bit easier to plan for. His Morality is "Love" and "Recklessness". Much like Obsession, Recklessness seems like a very hard thing to consider for a GM just due to the fact that players are naturally reckless. Seldom do I see player characters run from an encounter, even if it seems the odds are against them.

Should I ask them to try to actually make their weaknesses.. well, weaknesses? Because as it stands I can't really come up with anything.

EDIT: To expand, the first player hadn't filled in the Strengths and Weaknesses with any information besides "Curiosity and Obsession", the other player has Love defined as 'love for his family' (he was adopted by the biological father of the first player's character). His weakness is Recklessness defined as 'he neglects to protect himself in lieu of his family' which just doesn't really seem like a tangible weakness to me. You could label it as "Bravery" and not change how it works (at least in my eyes).

Hrm. I don't actually have the books in front of me at the moment, so I don't have advice for Obsession.

But for Recklessness, I would say that might be beyond Bravery. Taking as an example the only movie we have in your timeline... Poe is Brave. Rey is Brave. Han Solo is Brave. Finn is Reckless. Finn leaps into action against incredible odds with almost zero planning. Finn rescued Poe with no more 'plan' than 'get into a TIE fighter'. Finn sees Rey being carried aboard Kylo's ship and takes off full sprint towards it, with seemingly all intention of taking them all on. What if he got there before they were ready to take off? He's going to face down 6-7 Stormtroopers and, oh yeah, Kylo Ren by himself? Finn tells the Entire Resistance that he can disable the shields on Starkiller without actually knowing how to do it, endangering all lives on the Rebel base for his chance to rescue Rey, something else he doesn't know how he's going to do. That's reckless. Try to think of it less as Bravery, and more impulsive and without Planning at all. Heedless of consequences.

Unfortunately, this will be difficult to show in your game without a TPK, for if the character is always diving headfirst into situations without considering the odds or planning for it, eventually his luck is going to run out or you'll stop coming up with reasons for saving him.

Regarding the obsession question, I would ask the player what things would the character be willing to sacrifice, in order to obtain. What, specifically do they obsess over? Lost information? Money? etc. Give a tangible thing for them to obsess over, and then present that in game in conflict with something else. Think of movies with characters who end up making bad choices because of their obession. Beloch from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Johnny Depp's character in the 9th Gate, etc. Something they desire more than being a good person, and making good choices. Maybe they are willing to let that slaver go, without trying to save the slaves, because he had information they desperately needed to find X Thing of Importance. They could forgoe the knowledge, and save the slaves, or just let it go and make progress on their own agenda.

I'm playing a Sage in an F&D game, and he has Obsession as his, and it's based around lost Force tradition knowledge. He's determined to try and preserve the various traditions that were wiped out by the Empire, and if that means making some bad choices, he might do so. I've yet to come across a situation where it was needed, but that's how I've set him up. He might let a friend fend for themselves against an enemy, so he can delve into an ancient database for lore. He might let an innocent come to harm so he can follow a lead, etc. The job at that point, is for the GM to present the dilemma for the player to choose between.

As to Reckless, that's more on the player I think, but use Anakin from Attack of the Clones as a decent example. Casually hurl yourself from a floating speeder 10,000ft above the ground, on the chance you might grab a passing speeder so you can attack the assassin? Yep, pretty Reckless. Hurling yourself out the window to grab an assassin probe droid, now finding yourself hanging from a droid several thousand feet above the surface, while an assassin shoots at you? Yep, pretty Reckless. Again, the key is to provide an alternate choice for the player. Don't just have a badguy there for them to hurl themselves at recklessly. Have a group of innocents that might be in danger if they're not dealt with, and if he then hurls himself at the enemy, ignoring the civilians, he's now triggered it as a Weakness. He's let his own impulsive nature get the better of him, to the detriment of others.

Bottom line though, you need to have a talk with the players about their choices, and flat out ask them to be proactive in triggering them from time to time.

To be honest, I've found that it's easier to simply use the Emotional Strength/Weakness as more of a role-playing hook for the character vs. something to be actively triggered in the same way that Obligation or Duty are.

But yeah, KungFuFerret's got a very good point in that it's a good idea to speak with your players about what the Strength/Weakness combination means for the character. If nothing else, it can help give you as the GM insight in how to tailor adventures to play to the characters' strengths and weaknesses.

2 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

To be honest, I've found that it's easier to simply use the Emotional Strength/Weakness as more of a role-playing hook for the character vs. something to be actively triggered in the same way that Obligation or Duty are.

But yeah, KungFuFerret's got a very good point in that it's a good idea to speak with your players about what the Strength/Weakness combination means for the character. If nothing else, it can help give you as the GM insight in how to tailor adventures to play to the characters' strengths and weaknesses.

Sorry, let me clarify. When I used the word "triggered" I didn't mean like Obligation or Duty, I simply meant having the players utilize it of their own volition, based on opportunities in the game. Giving them opportunities to make it take control of a scene, in a way that is potentially negative for the player/party, but could enrich the roleplaying session.

Of course, some players hate that kind of stuff, and just want to stab and shoot things, and consider any negative outcomes to be a failure on their part. So it really depends on the 2 players. If they are the Munchkin kind of roleplayer, in that they like to play the game like it's a session of Munchkin, then the strength/weakness is probably going to be totally unused in the campaign, and you should probably just not even bother with it. If they are the kind of players that do enjoy the narrative aspect, and enjoy drama and conflict, and ups and downs in their stories, then you should talk to them and make sure you're all on the same page about how their weaknesses might come into play in the narrative.

Re: Curiosity/Obsession - in addition to the ideas above, this combination can also be expressed with any situation where the wise choice is to let a matter rest rather than continuing to pursue it. Sometimes getting to the truth does more harm than good.

Might be a bit late here.

But for obsession? How about putting something she really likes into a jeopardy? Like if she has a lightsaber she relies on, how about giving her a choice ´between failing the mission and keeping the saber or completing the mission but losing the saber. That is just an example. See what the character really likes and put that in the line.

About recklessness? Well ofcourse, making sittuations where character has to behave in rash manner in order to complete the goals. Well, or make it so that it seems like that at first! Maybe they need to escort someone and they get ambushed (or so it SEEMS), the escorted person gets surrounded by some really powerful foes, maybe him acting reckless can cause the mission to fail there. Like if he would attack them right away, the fight would be very difficult and taxing. But if he would just speak to them calmly he can solve it with talking?

I don't know, but those are just from top of my head.

I think you're looking at it wrong. It only has to be a Weakness in the regard that it's what gets them emotional/to act outside the mores of the Force, and therefore is likely to cause them Conflict, it doesn't have to actually make them weak.