Picking up where I left off last week on Obligation in Edge of the Empire RPG....

As we started to do on the Order 66 podcast (Episode 3), it is easy to correlate the range of Obligation with the amount of Obligation owed. The higher the Obligation number, the greater the debt, and the more effort it takes to pay it back. As a character can never go below 5 Obligation, special attention should be kept to the low end of the scale. At this point, it the Obligation probably isn't a life-altering, crushing problem, but one that either crops up infrequently, or is reasonably easy to deal with when it does.

At the other end of the spectrum, take care not to assign too powerful an Obligation at too low of a number. Since Obligation can be increased during the game, it might be hard to justify from a game play standpoint when a debt that already seems insurmountable somehow gets worse. Leave room for it to get worse from the get go.

Here are some possible examples for each end of the Obligation scale.

Addiction: 5 - Occasional impulse or craving perhaps triggered by environment; 15 - Daily interference.

Betrayal: 5 - Low level family rift; 15 - Traitor to a cause or individual. People tend to think of the PC as the betrayer, but this could work just as well with the PC being the one betrayed, and how the fallout from that betrayal keeps coming back in unexpected ways when triggered.

Blackmail: 5 - Minor secret that the character finds easy to pay off.; 15 - Major blackmail scheme against the character, to hide a life altering secret that would change the way the PC's friends and family deal with them.

Bounty: 5 - In expensive bounty from a small time source. 15 - major bounty, big enough to attract accomplished bounty hunters regularly.

Criminal: This is usually thought of somewhat like Blackmail, where the PC is trying to keep their criminal past from coming to light. However, it could also be played more like addiction, so that the PC has an impulse to take advantage of a situation for personal gain, and commit a criminal act in the process. It could also be like Bounty - with the law catching up with the PC. 5 - minor crime (shoplifting, etc.); 15 - Major crime ranging from nonviolent confidence games to armed robbery or worse.

Debt: Usually a cash debt, but could be something else. 5 - a few thousand credits; 15 - tens of thousands of credits, or more.

Dutybound: 5 - Dedicated to a cause, but with little responsibly or little opportunity to follow through; 15 - Powerful commitment to a military or royal entity that is part of daily life.

Family: 5 - Minor committment, irregular visits or duties. 15 - Dedicated to family above almost everything else. Could also apply to societies with a tribe or clan structure.

Favor: 5 - PC must repay a large favor with a lot of small favors, or keeps getting into situations where they ask for favors. 15 - The PC is compelled to drop everything as soon as possible when the favor is called in.

Oath: 5 - Minor personal oath, perhaps not even known to others. 15 - Major life-altering commitment that influences the PC's everyday decisions to fulfill the oath.

Obsession: 5 - Intermittent obsession - not an every day occurrence, but when triggered, takes over the PC's attention for awhile; 15 - The PC is always thinking about the obsession if not acting on it every day.

Responsibility: Usually to a specific individual, cause or organization. 5 - part time leader in a small organization. 15 - Captain of a starship.

Of course, there are a lot of interpretations, and many more that are likely specific to the careers and specializations.The point is to use these as another tool in the storytelling kit. They're built into the game to provide extra incentive for roleplaying, and incorporate unexpected elements or twists of fate into the storyline.

What about obligations shifting to new obligations and old obligations being paid off as it were?

Yes it is both acceptable and expected.

I'm really enjoying your articles, thank you for taking the time to write about your thoughts, views and insights.

In the beta rulebook it is stated that players can take on 5 extra obligation in exchange for 5 extra XP and 1000 extra credits, or 10 extra obligation in exchange for 10 extra XP and 2500 extra credits. My questions are:

If a player selects Debt as their extra obligation, does he get the above mentioned extra credits for character generation (which do not carry over into play) as well as whatever monetary value is assigned to the Debt obligation itself?

If so, how would you handle "Debt" credits gained during character generation - completely off-limits (fluff), only available once play starts, or available in part or full during character generation for buying whatever the debt was taken for in the first place? (doesn't apply if the debt is for something that was lost, of course, such as a crashed starship..)

Thanks.

Unless there is a Beta clarification somewhere I"m unaware of, when the character takes on extra obligation, they take on either additional XP OR extra credits, not both for a single amount of Obligation.

There is a clarification in the last Beta update on page 3 under Step 9: Finishing Touches about starting credits and additional Obligation. The character gets the additional credits as starting credits, and any he or she doesn't spend is allowed to carry over into regular play (plus a bit extra).

I can see several scenarios for the Debt obligation:
1. It is a past debt, the character has already blown through the credits by the time play begins, and the extra at character creation represents the last of that cash. This seems to be the most likely scenario. Examples: Gamble away the cash, dumped it all into ship repairs, used the cash to bail themselves out of detention, etc.

2. If the GM has a game where he or she wants the PCs to have more cash on hand at the start than what is normally intended, one or more characters takes the Debt obligation. They still get the starting credits, but don't get access to the rest of the amount (whatever it is) until after play begins. Maybe it is in some form that's harder to spend (Republic credits are no good here), or needs to be turned into credits.

3. If the player has a really great backstory that makes the debt integral to the character and story, they might have access to some of those credits after play begins. However, the GM might find ways to drain the credits quickly, and in ways that the characters can't abuse having the extra cash too much.

My understanding of the Obligation system is now improved, thanks :) Considering that the bit about receiving extra credits OR extra XP for taking on additional Obligation relied on one word in the rulebook - which I somehow glossed over - there's one more point that I think I could use your insight on:

In table 2-1 a result of 97-00 - which I assume is also available if the GM allows for selecting Obligation rather than rolling for it - states that the starting Obligation is split equally into two different origins. In table 2-2 the recommended starting Obligation per player with 3 PCs in the game is 15.

Going by the "split equally" ruling, Is it recommended that 15 Obligation be split into two Obligations of value 5 or of value 10?

Furthermore, if in this situation the player goes with two Obligations of 5, does that mean that his extra Obligation total is limited to 10 ("player characters can not gain more additional Obligation than their original starting value") despite the recommended starting Obligation of 15 shown in table 2-2 for 3 PCs?