For some reason I had a hard time deciphering this from the book but can you be rid of an Obligation assuming you still have another (However you can not ever go under 5 total)? Because the first time I read it through I remember it made it sound like if you got an Obligation it can never be completed and under 5. Which if you successfully played off a Bounty or a Blackmail then...? Or does it mean that if you have two different ones and you pay that bounty off, you can get rid of it assuming that the other Obligation is at least at 5?

My interpretation of this is..

A character may never have less than 5 obligation.

A charcter may pay off/resolve certain obligations. Lets say he has Blackmail at 10 and kills the blackmailer and that this is his only obligation. In this case, the player has 2 choices, take on a new obligation or have 5 'untyped' obligation.

In the case of untyped obligation coming up on the obligation roll, refer to the third paragraph of Managing Minimal Obligation, pg 311.

In Mandrake45's example, if that was my player, I'd say he got a new Obligation at between 5 and 20, depending on how well he covered his tracks when killing the blackmailer. The new Obligation could be Crime (if it was a straight-up murder), or a Bounty (the blackmailer had rich relatives), or maybe he took an Oath to never leave himself in such a vulnerable position again.

Say they have a bounty or a debt, and you pay it off completely. Make a new obligation for that character based on something else they did. Maybe they got someone's help for clearing the bounty. Now they have 5 favor. Maybe they killed someone to clear a favor. Now someone wants revenge. Best part, you don't even have to tell them what their new Obligation is. You could just have it be a surprise when it pops up.

In my games new obligation comes up pretty frequently if the party takes actions that will earn it. "Oh you blew up most of the TIE fighters but one got away? Now I guess you are WANTED" I'm very liberal with opportunities to resolve obligation as well but I like the ebb and flow and the "Two steps forward one step back" feeling this generates.

Say they have a bounty or a debt, and you pay it off completely. Make a new obligation for that character based on something else they did. Maybe they got someone's help for clearing the bounty. Now they have 5 favor. Maybe they killed someone to clear a favor. Now someone wants revenge. Best part, you don't even have to tell them what their new Obligation is. You could just have it be a surprise when it pops up.

Just my opinion, but you should never just give your players obligation. There should be some sort of choice involved. I found it easier to separate my initial obligation into two 5pt obligations, one that can never be truely repaid, to avoid that specific issue.

Not telling your player what their Obligation is makes it hard for them to be "stressed" about it when Obligation comes up to justify the lowered Strain Threshold as well...

Likely, the obligation you would give them would have been generated by their own choices, even if they didn't sign on the dotted line saying "Yes I accept this obligation." Life doesn't work that way, after all.

And you WOULD tell them when their obligation gets rolled and their strain threshold gets lowered. That's when you'd spring it on them.

For some reason I had a hard time deciphering this from the book but can you be rid of an Obligation assuming you still have another (However you can not ever go under 5 total)? Because the first time I read it through I remember it made it sound like if you got an Obligation it can never be completed and under 5. Which if you successfully played off a Bounty or a Blackmail then...? Or does it mean that if you have two different ones and you pay that bounty off, you can get rid of it assuming that the other Obligation is at least at 5?

They describe it fairly well in the book. The 5 minimum obligation will not have a type, but will be general and be related to things that happend during sessions.

Likely, the obligation you would give them would have been generated by their own choices, even if they didn't sign on the dotted line saying "Yes I accept this obligation." Life doesn't work that way, after all.

And you WOULD tell them when their obligation gets rolled and their strain threshold gets lowered. That's when you'd spring it on them.

Yes this is the way I do it. The obligation I "give" them comes from their own choices and is usually the logical answer to, "What did you think would happen when the Hutt realized you double crossed him?"

I also structure the narrative choices so the party is choosing between low risk/reward and high risk/reward and when they get into the kind of situation that could grant them substantial obligation, they are aware of the dangers.

But at the end of the day, if you steal from a Hutt, and the Hutt knows it, you gain wanted/bounty regardless of if you wanted it or not.

I like to think of obligation as they are in the movies.

Han Solo is a perfect example : Han owns a huge debt to Jabba. He betrays him for the Rebel Alliance. Jabba puts a huge bounty on him and now has Bobba Fett on his track.

I think some of you are missing the point. You can put a bounty on someone and not tell them until the Bounty Hunter is right there trying to snipe them, that's 100% fine. That Bounty, however, should not be an Obligation. An Obligation Bounty should be stated beforehand as the result of a choice the character makes to receive some type of bonus or take an easy way out.

Read page 309 of the Core Rule-Book "Managing Obligation Resources".

Also, look-up the definition of the word - Obligation.

As an aside, I'm not telling you how to run your game. If your players like the way you do something and you do too, by all means have fun. I'm just explaining what Obligation is and the way Obligation is meant to be handled per the Core Rule-Book.

Obligation is just meant to be a narrative tool for involving players and their backstory directly into the events of a session. It's not meant to be seen as a nagging debt that must be paid eventually. It just makes the players feel as if their characters matter, and the world is alive, reacting to their actions.

From a practical standpoint, it's up to the GM to prevent Obligation from getting to what should be zero. If a PC fulfills their Obligation completely and gets it to "zero", you've already let some of the GM duties slip. To weave a constantly evolving narrative you need to introduce other obligation sources regularly.

Every encounter provides plenty of seeds to further the Obligation mechanic, such as a surviving thug that vows revenge, an innocent bystander that misinterprets (or correctly) the actions of the PCs as evil and starts a misguided campaign to oust them from the city/town/spaceport/etc.

Once the Obligation created in the character creation is balanced out, the GM should already have one or two sources of Obligation standing by to use. I'm not here to tell anyone how to run their games, I just see it as an oversimplification to treat Obligation like a credit card balance you need to pay off ASAP.

Example:

PC: "OK I have 600 credits left over after buying weapons. I'll send that amount to my family back home, this should fulfill my Obligation."

GM: "Your family thanks you for keeping in touch and sending the much-needed funds. They also mention that -

Option A) - harvest season is approaching, and they need your experience back home. You now have an Obligation of 15 to family duty to return to your home planet. [GM discretion: the PC may incur additional Obligation if they do not return within a set timeframe. The PC may also seek out experienced help and send them in their stead.]

Option B) - some Imperial Officers visited your town and read your name in a recruitment draft. Your parents covered for you, saying you were on a space frieght run, to return in 6 days. The Officers have formed a temporary garrison in the town's spaceport, monitoring all space traffic and communications. Several other locals were offworld during the draft, and the Empire is tracking them down via various means. You now have a Military Duty Obligation of 10 to deal with this draft notice. [GM discretion: The PC may attempt to slice an Imperial computer to wipe their name from the draft. PLOT SEED: They may also replace their own name with that of someone else. The difficulty of the hack will be significantly reduced if they return to their home planet, as the records will be readily, and easily available. The PCs will need to find a solution to getting planetside without the authorities picking up on the PC's presence though, as landing in the spaceport without concealing their identity would surely lead to immediate drafting into the Imperial forces! Avoiding this Obligation past the 6 day mark could incur local law enforcement difficulties for the PC's family, or perhaps a bounty being placed on the PC's head for a low-level hunter to arrest and return them to their home planet.]

Easy as that.

For the last 5 pts that cannot ever be cleared, I use this concept:

Those points are "Live up to the standards of Imperial Law/Hutt Law/Black Sun Codex or whoever else rules the place you are at." If this comes into play, your character may had had a ticket for speeding, has to renew his merchant license, there has been a bureaucratical error or something else aggravating and, if not handled, becoming a problem sooner or later.

I find this very realistically represents the issue of living under an oppressive, sometimes obscure set of laws, and I know many people who had these run-ins off and on even when trying to play nice.

For the last 5 pts that cannot ever be cleared, I use this concept:

Those points are "Live up to the standards of Imperial Law/Hutt Law/Black Sun Codex or whoever else rules the place you are at." If this comes into play, your character may had had a ticket for speeding, has to renew his merchant license, there has been a bureaucratical error or something else aggravating and, if not handled, becoming a problem sooner or later.

I find this very realistically represents the issue of living under an oppressive, sometimes obscure set of laws, and I know many people who had these run-ins off and on even when trying to play nice.

Confused: So are you saying you reserve a base 5 points for each PC to account for this generic stuff? Or in addition? What if I'm in a 6 player game and start with 5 Obligation: Dutybound. Are you suggesting I instead have your "Game of Life{TM)" Obligation and am not in fact Dutybound? Or do I now have your 5 and my Dutybound 5 for a total of 10?

The way my initial ten Obligation was split.

5 Oath - Can't be repaid, abstract defiance of the Empire and aiding the Rebel cause.

5 Favor - Can be repaid, owe favors to a specific Rebel Colonel for helping me out of some tough spots when I was smuggling.

It's effectively the same Obligation but allows an option to pay down half of it but not go below the minimum of 5.

I like having more control over my Obligation if I get to the minimum and don't obtain more. The other option leaves your last 5 Obligation as an open Obligation where the GM decides what to do with it if it triggers and should usually be based on past sessions.

I was thinking about all this last night.

Getting obligation in character creation makes sense. Obtain additional obligation points (presumably under the same obligation "type", just more intensified) for monetary or XP gain.

But lets say a character has resolved his obligation down to 5, which is "untyped" and always present. Say, you offer the player a new obligation, what's the benefit? I guess whatever you come up with? is it money only? Can you give XP, or would you advise against it?

I'd like some ideas on mechanical benefits, not just "the bounty hunter agrees to leave your family alone" or something. All that would affect is future story arcs.

There's really two over-arching classes of Obligation that effects the PCs.

1) Obligation they take on in exchange for something.

2) Obligation they bring on themselves through their actions.

For example, you might take on some Debt to a crime lord in order to buy that shield upgrade for your ship, or a shiny new prosthetic limb for your brawler. On the other hand, you might pick up a Bounty when you embarrass a minor Imperial official by helping his daughter escape an arranged marriage. You don't necessarily get anything more than whatever that job paid in advance in exchange for that chunk of obligation.

So, what you can get *mechanically* for Obligation depends on a whole lot of factors. How much Obligation did you pick up? Who is it with, or what does it involve? What can the person/group you're newly Obligated to *do* for you.

Your example of "the bounty hunter agrees to leave your family alone" is more likely to be the result of either reducing your own Obligation in some manner, or in said bounty hunter accumulating some Obligation to you. (GMs shouldn't forget about that aspect of Obligation where it makes sense.) Either the urgency of the bounty is decreased, so the hunter is less willing to put innocents in the cross fire, or he owes *you* something, so he'll do you the favor of keeping your family out of it, even as he still tries to collect the price on your head.

I'm a bit concerned about the "All that would affect is future story arcs." statement though. That's all the effect that even the most amazing brand new gear or skills effects, too. Going from that base, 5 'untyped' Obligation to 5 *typed* Obligation means that now your character has someone/thing *specific* that he owes something. It could be a bigger *or* lesser deal than just picking up another 5 points of Debt.

I look at the last 5 points of obligation as your character's obligation to live his lifestyle in the edge of the galaxy, unless he retires from the fringe, the life choice of living in the fringe always has an obligation on some level. A Nobel like leia will still have duty 5pts for her people, a scoundrel like Han will always have a debt to the milenium falcon to keep her running, Chewie will always have a debt to han solo for saving his life, Obi-wan always had a responsibility to protect luke, and so forth.

this is why it is marked as an universal un-typed 5 obligations, no one lives without obligation unless they go off grid and basically resign from the world.

I look at the last 5 points of obligation as your character's obligation to live his lifestyle in the edge of the galaxy, unless he retires from the fringe, the life choice of living in the fringe always has an obligation on some level. A Nobel like leia will still have duty 5pts for her people, a scoundrel like Han will always have a debt to the milenium falcon to keep her running, Chewie will always have a debt to han solo for saving his life, Obi-wan always had a responsibility to protect luke, and so forth.

this is why it is marked as an universal un-typed 5 obligations, no one lives without obligation unless they go off grid and basically resign from the world.

So in a 6 player game, where each PC only has 5 Obligation to start with (and assuming chooses not to take on additional), you prefer they not indicate anything at all for their character's starting obligation? Other than living their life?

And as for Obligation to other PCs, I tend to frown on such things. I consider Obligations to be external forces at work on the PCs lives. Not inter-party agreements.

JIM: “Hey Bob, our Obligation totals are starting to get pretty high. We need to get that number down or we may risk exceeding 100 and losing the ability to spend XP.”

BOB: “Yikes, you’re right, Jim. Hmm… Well, my PC does owe yours a favor. How about you just ask me to shine your shoes and we call it even?”

JIM: “Good idea, Bob. Easy peasy.”

BOB: “OK, GM. Knock off that 10 point Favor I owe Jim. It’s all taken care of it.”

Additional thought on the matter:

Han Solo has obligation to repay his debt to Jabba the Hutt. Every Bounty Hunter in the galaxy is after this reward.

With Jabba's death, the Obligation is no more, effectively reduced to zero. However, you could say that with Jabba dead, that has lead to a family member of his to send out a hit on Han Solo, or perhaps the Hutt was about to pay someone a large sum of money for their services, which never took place with Jabba dying before it could happen. Therefore you could then have someone going after Han for losing him lots of money.

Easy way to think about Obligation.

I look at the last 5 points of obligation as your character's obligation to live his lifestyle in the edge of the galaxy, unless he retires from the fringe, the life choice of living in the fringe always has an obligation on some level. A Nobel like leia will still have duty 5pts for her people, a scoundrel like Han will always have a debt to the milenium falcon to keep her running, Chewie will always have a debt to han solo for saving his life, Obi-wan always had a responsibility to protect luke, and so forth.

this is why it is marked as an universal un-typed 5 obligations, no one lives without obligation unless they go off grid and basically resign from the world.

So in a 6 player game, where each PC only has 5 Obligation to start with (and assuming chooses not to take on additional), you prefer they not indicate anything at all for their character's starting obligation? Other than living their life?

And as for Obligation to other PCs, I tend to frown on such things. I consider Obligations to be external forces at work on the PCs lives. Not inter-party agreements.

JIM: “Hey Bob, our Obligation totals are starting to get pretty high. We need to get that number down or we may risk exceeding 100 and losing the ability to spend XP.”

BOB: “Yikes, you’re right, Jim. Hmm… Well, my PC does owe yours a favor. How about you just ask me to shine your shoes and we call it even?”

JIM: “Good idea, Bob. Easy peasy.”

BOB: “OK, GM. Knock off that 10 point Favor I owe Jim. It’s all taken care of it.”

yes and no, if my player wants a obligation already declared than he can have it, but when players reach or have 5pts they are allowed to have it left untitled because life itself is full of obligations that can creep up and get you. at 5pts you can leave an obligation UNDECLARED, which translates roughly as the GM can use it to issue anything that they feel your character would be obligated towards in his life.

Again, regardless if Han Solo pays off his obligation, his 5 undeclared obligation is towards his way of life, such as noticing his best friend has to get home for LIFE DAY, and han therefore obligates himself towards his friend even though it wouldn't be directly listed.

Declared Obligations are things the Player has chosen, and expects will crop up during play. Undeclared Obligations are things that either the player left open, or is the result of either the player paying off his declared or GM has left for future plot hooks.

yes and no, if my player wants a obligation already declared than he can have it, but when players reach or have 5pts they are allowed to have it left untitled because life itself is full of obligations that can creep up and get you. at 5pts you can leave an obligation UNDECLARED, which translates roughly as the GM can use it to issue anything that they feel your character would be obligated towards in his life.

Again, regardless if Han Solo pays off his obligation, his 5 undeclared obligation is towards his way of life, such as noticing his best friend has to get home for LIFE DAY, and han therefore obligates himself towards his friend even though it wouldn't be directly listed.

Declared Obligations are things the Player has chosen, and expects will crop up during play. Undeclared Obligations are things that either the player left open, or is the result of either the player paying off his declared or GM has left for future plot hooks.

I suppose if this suits your group, go for it. I'm just not seeing the benefits of such a house rule from my perspective. If a PC manages to somehow close in on eliminating their last 5 Obligation, and I as a GM have not been figuring out ways to weave more into the story, I feel I'm not doing my job to keep the game "interesting" enough. Shrug. But to each their own, as they say...

RAW: characters are stuck with at least 5 Obligation.

In our game, the PC's have managed to pay off some here and there, but i've offered them opportunities to replace them.

Most of the starting "high dollar" obligations are the type that won't ever go away, such as Family or some that are so tied into the story that they won't resolve until after the campagin is over (a favor to a Jedi and a Favor to a mysterious benefactor)

The PC's are working towards paying them off a little bit at a time, but i generally only allow them to knock a point or 2 off when appropriate.

RAW: characters are stuck with at least 5 Obligation.

Not quite.

RAW: Characters can never have less than 5 Obligation. There is a subtle - but important - difference in that.

Saying that there is some nebulous 5 point Obligation that lurks at the base of every character's existence is not RAW. No, telling your players that they have " Life Sucks: 5-point Obligation " is indeed a house rule.

Rather, it is the GM's job to make sure a character never manages to wipe his slate clean. That the process of working out that last 5 points of Obligation inveriably results in something else popping up to take its place.