Wulfherr said:

Well, what kind of obsession are we talking about? I guess it could be just about anything from being obsessed with a Bith band, to actually being famous (or semi famous) with an annoying fan who is obsessed with you, or an old sweetheart or similar. Or it could be an obsession over the Queen of Naboo… Or with violence or even justice, or it could be something entirely different such as ticks or some sort of compulsiveness (obsessive compulsive disorder?). Obligations are vague and could have both or either of an internal or external driving force. They're there to create hindrances and additional story elements, so be creative! For example: Who says debt has to mean you're the one in debt? Maybe you were the one lending out money and you're now in need of getting it back? Talk with your GM or players to decide some possibilities on how a certain take on an obligation might see play and under what circumstances it increases or decreases. Although it can be hard to come up with motivations and obligations because it's all so vague, I believe that freedom to be a nice boost in terms of making interesting characters and stories. 

 Yeah, I probably wasn't very clear. I have no problems with coming up with dozens of ideas, even for Obsession. I'm just not sure about using Obligations such as Obsession as a GM tool (e.g. for reputation) or coming up with ways to settle them. Settling a Debt, a Betrayal, a Bounty or even Criminal will be very different from settling Obsession or Addiction through the events of the adventures. I'm not saying it's bad, just that some guidelines might help. 

Wulfherr said:

It is different, but there are ways to go about it.  (My own character has Obsession: his spaceship, btw.) To use the examples from above, if someone wanted to 'pay down' on their obsession with the queen of Naboo, they might spend a ton of credits to go see her jubilee in person.  Or if they had the classic obsessive cleanliness, they might spend a few weeks and a few hundred credits doing a detailed cleaning of their living quarters.  Reputation is harder, but likely to be related to what they've done in the name of their obsession, like killed a guy who got their bed dirty.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but it would be helpful if the book discussed new players coming into a group of existing PCs with an already established Obligation level. New PCs will add obligation. It wouldn't be tough to manage, but I think it would be worth mentioning.

GoblynByte said:

With that observation, and the one about the uneven spread of double-ones coming up, I'm wondering if obligation should use a different mechanic than percentile dice.

Perhaps the player (or GM) rolls a number of boost and setback dice based on the value of their obligation. The net number of advantages and threats would then determine how that players obligation comes into play.

I was thinking one of each for every ten points of obligation, with any remainder being an extra setback die.

5 obligation = 1 setback

10 obligation = 1 setback, 1 boost

15 obligation = 2 setback, 1 boost

20 obligation = 2 of each

25 obligation = 3 setback, 2 boost

and so on…

JediHamlet said:

You mean for every die roll? That would be a bit heavy of a penalty, I think.

GoblynByte said:

Callidon said:

Yes. At the start of the session.

Been thinking more about Obligation as a mechanic.

The more I do, the more I feel the mechanics of Obligation are too far divorced from the rest of the narrative mechanics of the system. It feels contrived and doesn't scale well.

I would suggest making Obligation a secondary characteristic. Starts at 0 and is increased by taking on more obligation, or reduced by "settling" scores and what not. (instead of +5 and +10, I suggest +1 and +2)

It would add boost dice in certain situations (working with the underworld), or add setback dice in situations where having nefarious obligations would hinder actions.

When it comes to influencing the nature of the current adventure, it could work something like this: every player rolls a number of boost dice AND setback dice equal to their Obligation. The total result, across all players is interpreted by the GM as to how things should go in the adventure (counting net threats and advantages per character).

As to how much strain penalty each character suffers it would go something like: for each character that generated more NET threats than advantages they suffer one strain (worrying about their particular obligation) and the character that generated the most NET threats would be at the -2 strain point.

Now, if the threats across all character rolls was greater than the advantages generated by all characters, something is coming to a head. The character that generated the most NET threats would suffer a -4 to their strain, and all other characters a -2.

I think this would simplify the Obligation section of the rules slightly, and allow for a better scaling of the Obligation rules.

I will agree with Hamlet and say that the Obligation system does seem a bit forced in this style of narrative game, HOWEVER, what it does do is get players to be good players and create interesting back-stories for the GM to work with and it gets the GM to be a good GM and utilize his players back-stories in his campaign.

I think the other thing the Obligation system does is present players with choices. Are they going to use the money they just got to pay down their debt or to pump some upgrades into that starship they are obsessing over? Will they attend that family wedding or go after the bounty that will gain them additional fame? (the wedding idea is brilliant by the way Northman, I will for sure utilize that in a campaign. Perhaps the wedding gets crashed by the boys in white and all hell breaks loose)

When they are in the middle of an adventure and suddenly faced with a legitimate decision (more than just, do we talk our way or fight our way out of this situation) that will have a large impact on the direction the story takes then suddenly the involvement level of the players has spiked. Now they are more invested in the story since they are having a direct influence on it.

However I think the single greatest thing about the system is the ebb and flow that will naturally come with it. Did your character just pay down some of that Favor obligation by diverting a shipment to his friend in need? Now perhaps he has gained some Debt Obligation owed to whoever the original recipient of the shipment was supposed to be.

I do agree that some of the Obligations are certainly harder than others to determine how one could pay them off, perhaps the final book could have this section enlarged slightly with a table of options on how to do that (similar to the one that gives some options for spending advantages).

It could include things like:

Addiction: Obligation is payed off when the player severs ties with his drinking or spice buddies. Obligation is payed off by eliminating members of the drug ring she was formerly involved with. Obligation is payed off by offering advice or financial aid to others struggling with addiction.

Betrayal: Obligation is payed off when the character eliminates people who participated in his betrayal. Obligation is payed off when the character puts trust in the people around him (sort of vague but this could be other party members looking after his equipment or something of that nature). Obligation is payed off when the character lets go of his betrayal and passes up opportunities for vengeance.

Obsession: Obligation is payed off when the player chooses an activity other than his obsession. (Conversely you could also focus Obsession in the opposite direction and the more you give in to your Obsession the less of a problem it becomes) Obligation is payed off after significant time is invested by the player in the object of his Obsession. Obligation is payed off when the character performs a service for the subject of his Obsession.

That is just a couple ideas for a few of the ones I have found harder to integrate into the game (2 of my players have Obsession and Addiction)

I totally agree with Obligation being a great way to create interesting back stories and get the players creative juices flowing.

I just think the dice mechanic could use an overhaul. The percentile system is a little disjointed from the other resolution system, and, as it has been pointed out, does not scale with the addition or subtraction of players.

If it shifts to a narrative dice resolution mechanic, I think it would actually enhance the use of Obligation in the game.

Well despite agreeing with you on your earlier point I don't think the system warrants any addition of a dice mechanic. It is part of the narrative and should stay that way, if you are making obligation rolls throughout an encounter your are simply going to slow the action down. One of the selling points of this game is that the pacing is done very well, combat moves quickly and is action packed and you can then slow down during the more analytical and social parts of the game.

I like the simple roll at the start of each session to determine what players obligation is triggered. In fact to be perfectly honest I don't even think you need that. In my groups I will probably simply rotate through the different PC's obligation using whatever one fits best with the session that week. Of course I will make it seem random so they don't know who's obligation is happening each week but I think it is more of a GM tool than anything else and something to get the players more invested I don't think you need to add any more rolling into it.

More than new players, new characters can have more impact on obligation. Both non-player characters and player characters can bring package with them along with their skill set. For example, a second hand droid may be more problem than it's worth. A PC turned NPC stayed on as part of the crew still has obligation.

More than anything, the ship should have its own obligation. The ship has a name after all. It is part of the crew. Sometimes it needs some attention. I think setting some of the starting obligation for the ship makes a lot of sense.

[QUOTE]

I like the simple roll at the start of each session to determine what players obligation is triggered. In fact to be perfectly honest I don't even think you need that. In my groups I will probably simply rotate through the different PC's obligation using whatever one fits best with the session that week. Of course I will make it seem random so they don't know who's obligation is happening each week but I think it is more of a GM tool than anything else and something to get the players more invested I don't think you need to add any more rolling into it.

[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying to add more dice per roll -- just that first Obligation roll shouldn't be based on a percentile dice roll --  use the narrative dice to determine how Obligation is going to play a part in the current session/adventure.

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