Just making sure if this is correct. The initial obligation all players get do not provide any xp or money for the characters.

As far as I can tell from reading, only characters accepting additional obligation beyond this get any experience or credits to add to character creation.

I also wanted to ask about starting obligation for players in game with only a few players. Lets say each player gets 20 starting obligation and someone rolls addiction. As a GM, I would be hesitant to make this as severe as a normal 20 point obligation. Maybe like a normal 10 point addition, but just occurring more frequently. Does that make sense?

Alternatively, players could roll (or choose) an obligation for each 10 points of starting obligation.

Yeah, only additional Obligation boosts add stuff.

You can break Obligations down into aggregate multiples if that seems more to your liking.

Starting obligation that hasn't been added to at character creation receives no additional benefit, either for credits or XP, correct.

As far as rolling on Obligation, ominous events can happen even if no one in the party boosted their Obligation artificially. It's all about risk vs reward, how badly they've gotten in over their heads, and a little bad luck. It's also about making the story interesting, so I wouldn't worry about going easy just because a player didn't artificially boost their Obligation.