I have three players and each of them maxed out their obligation to get and additional 15xp. This brings the group obligation threshold to 90. On pg 308 in the GM section, it talks about how this affects their access to reputable and disreputable deals.

At 90 they are unable to buy licensed and military equipment from legitimate sources. Too infamous for legitimate deals. They may however locate black market and informants with ease. The PCs are well known to some underworld groups.

The 3 players obligations are:

Obligation: Bounty

He's an old Trade Federation trading droid that was decommissioned and scrapped when the Trade Federation fell 19 BBY. As a trade droid, his memory banks were filled with lucrative hyperspace routes that were kept secret by the Trade Federation. Some other agency has learnt of A4-A's existence and is now hunting him for the starmaps. Problem is A4-A deleted that data years ago.

ARKULL (Given name)

Arkanian Bounty Hunter Gadgeteer

Obligation: Duty Bound

Arkull has been a slave all his life. At 4 his owners were assassinated by a Trandoshan Bounty Hunter named Trask. Trask chose not to kill the Arkanian boy and at first used him as his own slave, he later saw the potential to increase his profits by training him to be a bounty hunter and collecting on his young apprentice's bounties.

HUUNDAR TYVOKK

Wookiee Technician Outlaw Tech

Obligation: Debt

The wookiee escaped during the Battle of Kashyyyk, but landed in even more trouble. He was about to be executed by a Hutt when a mysterious figure paid an exorbitant fee for his life. The Hutt accepted the large fee, and released the wookiee into his custody. The "man" said very little, and has yet to call upon the wookiee to repay any of the debt.

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As the first session starts (which we play next week WOOHOO!) the PCs are out-of-luck, out-of-money, no starship and have just arrived on Socorro to take part in a highstakes Sabacc tournament. It's literally their last chance to make some credits and try get themselves a ship. It's a "humble origins" beginning.

What I've been trying to get my head around is how the group obligation threshold makes these three renegades, who have admittedly been "working" together for a little over a year, have a recognisable reputation among both spectrums of society.

To try and explain it to my players I have said the following to them:

At the Arkanian:

* The droid player has decided his knowledge skills (he has 4) all come from the "brains" of various droid he hangs on thongs around his neck. He needs to "plug" in the brain into an open port to access the memories. Sometimes a little personality leakage occurs while he is plugged in.

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The players will be surrounded by smugglers and criminals at the Sabacc game, but I don't want everyone in the gambling den to recognise them... yet with a 90 obligation threshold, they're supposed to be "known" even though they haven't yet done anything "infamous" yet.

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How would you interpret the situation?

Edited August 15, 2013 by torquemadaza

I like the Droid's use of flavor text in his memory chips.

I would suggest that you keep it cool in regards to the party infamy. The galaxy is a big place, and while strictly by the rules you would have to have every den of thieves hooked up to the holonet 24/7 to recognize every other thief, keep in mind that some of this comes off as attitude and familiarity. Those with higher obligations would feel more at home around others with high obligations. They have similar mannerisms, goals, and viewpoints. It is possible to recognize that in others.

I would suggest maybe a few in the sabbac game having seen the pcs before and nod to them, but not really know them or their exploits. If it fits the story, have a few people know them and their rep. Most of the others just get a "we belong" vibe from them. As their infamy gains traction with story arcs or dumb/good decisions, then have them be more recognizable.

At some level, I'm going to keep my groups obligations sorted into three piles: legitimate, illegitimate, and neutral.

If you get too much 'illegitimate' Obligation, your ties to the underworld become known enough that the legitimate folks don't want to deal with you unless they think they can take advantage of that tie.

If you get to much 'legitimate' Obligation, your ties to the 'law' become known enough that the illegitimate folks don't want to deal with you. Again, unless they think they can take advantage of that tie.

The neutral category is for stuff that doesn't directly impact someone's willingness to be associated with you.

If, across the party, they have 30 Obligation (Duty to the Empire), and 40 Obligation (Debt to Jabba the Hutt), they're probably not going to get contacted by Bail Organa to do a discrete shipment of blasters to a Rebel cell. Jabba will be a bit cautious about dealing with them as well, but might be willing to cut some of that debt if the party can get some classified Imperial data to him, dealing with the Imperial Customs Bureau's fleet movements and authentication codes. Etc.