First of all, I apologise is these questions are posted - and answered - elsewhere.

My questions:

Given that each player cannot have less than 5 Obligation, what happens when a certain Obligation is lowered to that threshold? Is it considered "eliminated" at the next opportunity given to decrease it's number, being replaced by a nameless Obligation with the same value? Does the "5 Obligation minimum" mean that a character could have Criminal 2, Bounty 3, as they, together, total the limit? If so, what would then happen if either was lowered?

My other question is this: I believe someone it's stated that you can have a Group Obligation - one which is shared by the entire party. What happens when said Obligation is triggered? Do all characters suffer a penalty to their Strain Threshold? If so, how much by?

Thanks!

Firstly, I wouldn't break individual obligations down any further than by increments of 5 just for simplicity's sake. But that's just me.

Second off, you could conceivably remove an entire debt obligation or favor obligation, or a betrayal one by forgiving/killing/whatevering the person you betrayed or were betrayed by. That WOULD bring that down to 0... but as the GM, you would then get together with the player (or decide in secret) and come up with a new obligation that might have been gained because of their previous actions. Perhaps the guy they killed to remove the obligation had a son or daughter. Perhaps the bounty they had lifted bummed out the hunter that was on your trail, and he confronts you and demands you give him another job because he wasted so much time hunting you. The possibilities are endless!

And finally, Group obligation should still be kept desperately between the characters, even if it is the same thing. If two players are playing brothers, and both have obligation to their sick mother, you would keep the totals separate, and roll as normal. If one of them got rolled up, they would get the -2 Strain like normal, and the other brother would get a -1 like normal. Narratively, it would probably be the one being especially troubled thinking about their mom, and the other one was worried about his mom and his brother's well-being.

Feel free to offer the players more obligation. That way their old obligations can fade away. Obligations can also shift in definition and duration. (One player has family obligations for his sick and ailing parents. That will morph into looking after his younger brothers and sisters.)

Shifting obligation around makes more sense if you keep the players hungry. If they are desperate for something, they may take on more obligation.

Sounds good guys. Thanks.

As the previous posters mentioned you can morph obligations or use the results of resolving an obligation to add a new obligation. However, don't forget that player actions totally unrelated to their current obligations can generate new ones as well.

For example, if the PCs were hired for a heist and then one of them later emoves their obligation you can secretly note a new blackmail obligation for that PC and the next time their obligation comes up inform them they have just recieved a package containing information linking them to the heist with a message that the blackmailer will be in touch.