With the Obligation mechanics, I know that at the beginning of the sessions I'm rolling to see if the Obligation is going to effect the players. What I'm confused about is how do I pick the order of who's Obligation it belongs to. Do I pick randomly and rotate the list each session or does it have to do with the severity of their Obligation.

Thanks!

I don't have the book in front of me, but it's largest obligation first. Not sure what the tiebreaker is, or if it's just random.

I don't think it matters which order you use if the obligation ranks are tied. I presume it's largest-first so that the big problems are guaranteed to be fully 'on the board' when it comes time to make the roll.

If, for example, your party has managed to accumulate 150 Obligation (yeep!), you don't want a string of 5s and 10s blocking the big 45 point Obligation they got when they pantsed the Emperor in front of his new girlfriend.

If they've got more than 100 points of obligation, just make sure you rotate-in the smaller-valued ties so that everybody at that level has a chance to take it in the pants for the team.

So let's say you have four players: James, Joseph, Sarah, and Sue.

As per the rules (page 40), they all start with 10 Obligation.

James wants more XP so he increased his Obligation by 10 for an Obligation of 20.

Sue has the same idea but isn't so ambitious and goes for 15.

Joseph and Sarah choose to keep their default Obligation.

You would list the Obligation like so:

1-20 ... James [Obligation Magnitude = 20]
21-35 ... Sue [Obligation Magnitude = 15]
36-45 ... Joseph [Obligation Magnitude = 10]

46-55 ... Sarah [Obligation Magnitude = 10]

So then you roll your d10s, choosing one die as the ones digit and the other die as the tens digit (where two zeros = 100).

My understanding is, if it lands on one of the numbers above, the corresponding character suffers extra strain. If it lands on doubles (11, 22, 33, etc.), then that character's obligation is triggered and a particularly ominous event occurs.

There is a group character sheet on the support page which helps you track this: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=232&esem=4

If you are worried about a tie breaker you can always use alphabetical order of the obligation type. That's what I am doing.

As stated above, it really doesn't matter. I have gone highest to lowest. I have toyed with the idea of grabbing one and moving it to the bottom when it gets activated... really for no other reason that keeping track of what has been done... however this could be done with a little dot or something too.

There is a time when the order will matter. If everyone has 10 obligation, then the guy with the first slot (01-10) cannot have his obligation activated by a roll of doubles. Unless I'm wrong and the first slot is 00-09, but I don't think that's correct.

Assuming the doubles thing is still in play from beta, it creates an interesting quirk where it DOES matter what order the numbers go in, from time to time. In Dylan's example:

1-20 ... James [Obligation Magnitude = 20] = 11
21-35 ... Sue [Obligation Magnitude = 15] = 22, 33
36-45 ... Joseph [Obligation Magnitude = 10] = 44

46-55 ... Sarah [Obligation Magnitude = 10] = 55

Poor Sue gets the shaft!

Personally, I would consider starting with 00, but I'm sure there are quirks generated from that, too. Maybe it's just the old Top Secret/SI player in me.

So let's say you have four players: James, Joseph, Sarah, and Sue.

As per the rules (page 40), they all start with 10 Obligation.

James wants more XP so he increased his Obligation by 10 for an Obligation of 20.

Sue has the same idea but isn't so ambitious and goes for 15.

Joseph and Sarah choose to keep their default Obligation.

You would list the Obligation like so:

1-20 ... James [Obligation Magnitude = 20]

21-35 ... Sue [Obligation Magnitude = 15]

36-45 ... Joseph [Obligation Magnitude = 10]

46-55 ... Sarah [Obligation Magnitude = 10]

So then you roll your d10s, choosing one die as the ones digit and the other die as the tens digit (where two zeros = 100).

My understanding is, if it lands on one of the numbers above, the corresponding character suffers extra strain. If it lands on doubles (11, 22, 33, etc.), then that character's obligation is triggered and a particularly ominous event occurs.

There is a group character sheet on the support page which helps you track this: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=232&esem=4

I'm reading it as if the number rolled is less than the groups total obligation then everybody reduces their strain threshold by 1 for the session.

So in this case let's say the roll was 26. Everybody reduces strain threshold by 1. Sue's obligation is the one that is specifically triggered so she reduces her strain by 2 for the session.

If the roll was 22, then everybody would reduce their threshold by 2. Sue would reduce hers by 4.

GM fiat would determine what tangible effects if any the triggered obligation causes for the characters. In the case of doubles, something more ominous would be likely.

DeathStarJanitor, you are absolutely correct. I was oversimplifying it.

Assuming the doubles thing is still in play from beta, it creates an interesting quirk where it DOES matter what order the numbers go in, from time to time. In Dylan's example: 1-20 ... James [Obligation Magnitude = 20] = 1121-35 ... Sue [Obligation Magnitude = 15] = 22, 3336-45 ... Joseph [Obligation Magnitude = 10] = 4446-55 ... Sarah [Obligation Magnitude = 10] = 55 Poor Sue gets the shaft! Personally, I would consider starting with 00, but I'm sure there are quirks generated from that, too. Maybe it's just the old Top Secret/SI player in me.