Looking for some feedback on how you guys handle triggered obligation.

When I first started GMing I would do it very mechanically. I'd just roll the dice and whichever character got lucky suffered strain and we'd get on with the adventure. Lately though I've forgone rolling and have been trying to incorporate the group's obligations as part of the narrative of the playsession. I try not to pick on any one character nor do one every session but I've had a lot of immersive success when I've focused an entire adventure around the obligation of one character without explicitly saying thats what I'm doing. I try to incorporate one if the characters obligations based on their actions over the previous couple of sessions and only really ever roll to see if I get doubles if I'm unsure on how strong of a reaction is needed.

For example. We have an ex imperial scientist who has an obsession with creating an "ultimate device". Over the last couple of playsessions he's been helping his crewmates piracy attempts and not bothering with his obsession. At the last playsession i decided that he would suffer strain because he hadn't been obsessing and it became the focus of his character throughout the data retrieval mission they were on. I rewarded him near the end of the adventure with information to help him move forward with his character's goals.

It seems to have worked out well overall as the players haven't complained and are more immersed and engaged with the story.

Does anyone have any other ways that they handle triggered obligation?

I roll it either while I'm working it up between sessions, or at the end of the previous session.

This helps me work in pre-designed encounters but still gives the element of chance. I also generally don't tell them right at the beginning of the session, instead they get the strain penalty when it is thematically appropriate for it to happen.

If nothing is triggered (my group is at 52 right now, so this is fairly regular), they still might have in-game complications from their obligation, but nothing that carries a rules penalty.

I prefer to roll it ahead of time too. That way we can figure out how to incorporate it into the next session. I try to work a series of connected encounters out for each obligation ahead of time so that it is more a secondary storyline than just a single encounter.

I like their Obligation to have something to do with the general setting and story thrust that I tell them of to begin with. Then I incorporate whatever they have come up with as it unfolds. I don't need the roll to trigger it as we will get to it all eventually, but the roll does determine whose is causing the Strain issue, if at all.

I like to prepare a modular encounter for each player. If I can, I tie it into something that will progress the plot. If an encounter does progress the plot (say, a bounty hunter showing hired by both the empire and a gangster in one of the player's pasts showing up) then the encounter will be more involved - a rival or even a nemesis making an appearance. If the encounter doesn't really progress (the recovered addict witnessing a drug deal) then the result may just end up being increased strain (or a relapse, depending on what they do).

I do fudge sometimes, mostly if one of my players has more than a single obligation.

I also try to roll obligation at the end of the previous session. That way if obligation is triggered, player can prepare himself for it, and has something to look forward. And I have some time to design a meaningful encounter for the obligation. Narrative element of the obligation is the most important for me.

Our problem is that we mostly have 1,5-2 hour sessions, so I have to sometimes skip the obligation for the game to progress. Luckily I can foresee these events, and I just don't roll it.

In our group, every PC has his personal obligation(s), and group has few common obligations.

I preplan the narrative affects, but I do roll for the strain threshold at the beginning of the session.

Great suggestions. They help to reinforce that concept of Obligation being that lingering trouble that players will do really stupid things in order to be rid of. Here's a couple other fun things you can do:

-Plan in advance ways that Obligation could come into play in upcoming encounters, even if it doesn't roll. Then put it into play anyway. Give them a tantalizing opportunity to reduce this or that obligation while they're in the middle of something else that they already find important.

-Along those lines, think of ways you could use a player's individual Obligation to drive a wedge between other players' Obligations and Motivations. There is no easier way to create narrative tension, because the tension comes from the players when they try to decide what's more important. (As an example, say your group has infiltrated the lair of a Nemesis with the goal of destroying them once and for all, and they're on a tight schedule. BUT the Nemesis has been working on a project to create something and it looks like they've run into a creative block. When Mr. Ultimate Device takes an interest in the schematics, have him roll an associated knowledge check. The difficulty is one. That could be fun.)