I am interested in how this core mechanic gets used in games. I tend to use it as a subtle instrument for Narrative reasons and as a Threshold for dealing with NPCs, but I don't make a big addition to the story in the session unless someone rolls doubles, and maybe not even then depending on the actual obligation. I am interested in hearing at what concentration of strength you use Obligation. For instance, if Obligation is triggered is that basically what the session will be about that night? Do you use it to represent financial loans quite a bit?

How much narrative power do you give it in the session?

I roll it while planning the session, and include the results in my encounter design.

For instance, I have a PC with an obsession with racing. I just rolled his obligation while designing this Friday's session. I had been planning to have the PCs be assailed by local Swoop gangs, so now that will play out in the course of an illegal swoop race the PCs hear about. It gives the players a sense of their Obligation being a component of their misfortune, which is nice.

I tend to eschew the mechanics and use it to fuel my stories and drive characters. It's a wonderful mechanic, for sure, but I tend to only use it to get the juices flowing.

I do it a little differently. I have tied the various published EotE adventures to various character's obligations. At the end of each session, I roll to see if anyone's obligation is triggered for the next session. Then, I roll to see if anyone's Duty is triggered for the next session. Then, I roll to see if the one character's Morality is triggered for the next session. That way, I have time to come up with something to incorporate into the adventure, or not as I deem fit.

If we are between adventures and someone's obligation comes up, I use that as an indicator of which EotE adventure we are going to start next. If we are in the middle of an adventure and someone's obligation comes up, they may receive a message or a visit from someone concerning their obligation, or it just comes up in their thoughts, thus triggering the strain penalty. If it comes up doubles, there is a lot of pressure to do something about their obligation. This works out great.

If Duty triggers and we are in the middle of an EotE adventure, I might incorporate an opportunity for a Duty bound character to exercise their Duty and do some good for the rebellion. If we are between adventures and someone's Duty triggers, our next adventure will be a published AoR adventure. This works out great.

If Morality triggers, I try and come up with situation appropriate to the Morality that triggered that forces them to make either a hard decision. I admit that I am not very good about getting this worked into the game. It is hard with 1 character out of the 6 in the group being a Jedi during the height of the Empire.

If nothing comes up for either Obligation or Duty and we are between adventures, the Duty oriented character usually tries to have them check in with the rebellion to see if there is anything they can do to help out, or they look for a cargo to haul, or a casino to earn some credits. But, for the most part, the group is pretty much free to do what they like for that gaming session.

Of the three Character Building mechanics, I think I like Obligation the best. Morality just straight out sucks, and Duty is okay, but we often just wound up giving out points for doing what we do anyway, stuff that normally would happen in the course of a game. I did try and dangle some Duty Evoked Subplots in the way, but we didnt really use it as-is. Even the Obligation tends to be static, that it's something that gets accepted at creation, colors the character's history and story arc, but really doesn't go up or down.

Honestly, I think - at least with games I'm running - we'd be better off dumping it all together and handing out points for filling out a Character Creation Questionnaire. It gets the job done without kludgy mechanics bolted on.

I like Obligation the best of the FFG systems' mechanics of its ilk. Frankly, everything I put into a story is derived from player Obligations. I may embellish upon that, but if I have a story brewing, it serves me and my players well to try to integrate the ideas together. For us, Obligation is always in flux - maybe not every session - but it seems silly to let such a vital part of a character to sit by the wayside so that I can lay out my own story in a vacuum. Even if we don't roll to trigger an Obligation, they still sit forward in the grand scheme of things. I don't see the point of creating a bunch of extra work for myself when they players have taken the time to make it for me.

Edit: This is important: I don't roll for Obligation at the beginning of a session. I roll for it as part of the last bits of the previous session. Right after I leave them with a cliffhanger, I roll for Obligation and let them know if they "have a bad feeling about this." This way, I get some time to stew over how it's going to show up. Sure, I happily improv all day and night, but having a week to mull it over really benefits my stories.

I do not roll for Obligation/Duty/Morality. I use it as part of the story. I also use it like Aspects from Fate or Distinctions from Cortex plus. If the players are rolling for something related to there Obligation/Duty/Morality I will let give the player a boost die or setback die.

Since I do not use the numbers I give my players +10 xp and 2500 additional credits at character creation.

I personally use the Obligation roll to increase strain threshold as a result of what has been happening. For example, if the bounty Obligation is triggered, that PC is a little on edge, a little extra nervous about some probably false bounty hunter. Debt? Maybe they were up late last night filling out some forms for the IGBC. Family? They’ve been working extra in order to get enough time off to pay a visit. Etc.

From a more active standpoint in the narrative, I typically just plan that in as I feel makes sense, regardless of whatever the roll ends up being.

I don't use it past chargen, its sole purpose for me is to help the players define their character, get that +10XP, some backstory, and possible sub-plot threads I can weave into the larger narrative. But I'm not beholden to the mechanic itself wrt when or where somebody's Obligation might be triggered.