Obligation Gigs: How do people get 'em?

So the Operator starts with an obligation gig and gets more if he has sex with someone.

How else do people get obligation gigs?  Can I, as MC, just tell someone that something is going to be an obligation gig if it seems appropriate, or what?

I wish I knew, because obligation gigs are one of my favourite things in the game, but nobody ever seems to play a damn Operator 'round here!

Well, presumably you can get them right out of the fiction.

Like, if your Operator borrows a huge amount of jingle from some warlord then that's another Obligation:debt gig right there.

And, I suppose, if the MC doesn't just want to say, "Hey, you've got an obligation gig now," he could also have custom moves for threats or some such that could give people obligation gigs.

See, I see Obligation gigs as something kind of unique to the Operator. Unlike the other Playbooks, he gets all his scratch from juggling gigs which necessarily requires him to have to prioritize his paying gigs over having relationships with people. It's just part of how he interacts with other humans.

What Mike and fnord said. You don't even need custom moves to do it, although you certainly could if you wanted.

Offer them an opportunity, with or without a cost.

Tell them the possible consequences, and ask.

"You sure you want to kill Dremmer's son? I mean, he's gonna be after you until the end of the end of days, if you do. And wouldn't that be just what you need, Mr. Operator Sir, yet another thing on your plate, if you catch my not so subtle 'this will be a new obligation gig' drift?"

Tell them the possible consequences, and ask.

"You sure you want to kill Dremmer's son? I mean, he's gonna be after you until the end of the end of days, if you do. And wouldn't that be just what you need, Mr. Operator Sir, yet another thing on your plate, if you catch my not so subtle 'this will be a new obligation gig' drift?"

Can it happen like this even if the PC's not an operator?

I suppose that would be up to you as the MC. If they don't already have Moonlighting it might not make much sense to give them a gig as opposed to it being, y'know, just another aspect of the situation that they find themselves in.

When in doubt, ask yourself, does representing this situation mechanically as an obligation gig make the world seem more real? Does it make the character's life more interesting? If so, go for it.

Sorry to revive such an old topic, but as this was already discussed, I thought I will post it here.

My operator had debt as his obligation gig - to the local boss, who was kind-of hardholder (but NPC). Boss died, there was some fuss afterwards, and now it seems, this debt is off the table.
Does he get new obligation gig instead, or is that just descriptive - I mean, if he gets something like-a-gig in game, I should give him obligation?

Zefir, sounds legit for your operator to erase that obligation gig from his playbook, after all, it follows the fiction. I'm sure it will only take a session for you to see an opportunity to tie a new obligation gig to him that will crop up naturally in the fiction. He makes a powerful enemy or his crew is tired of slumming it.

Gigs are prescriptive and descriptive, like everything else on the character sheet. The obligation gig is gone (so is the +1 juggling in Moonlighting)

Gigs are prescriptive and descriptive, like everything else on the character sheet. The obligation gig is gone (so is the +1 juggling in Moonlighting)

I'm not sure I agree with the last bit... (loss of +1 juggling).
Doesn't sit right, doesn't make much sense.

- Alex

Not sure I'm right, but just to think this through. So, assuming you got a +1 juggling from the obligation gig, say as per your sex move, and your juggling is now 3, that allows you to work the obligation gig without reducing the number of other gigs you're working. After that obligation gig is gone, why does it make sense for you to be able to work 3 random gigs now instead of 2?

Realistically, they have 3 juggling because they've gotten good at doing lots of things at once. If they've managed to settle an obligation gig for good, why should the be less good at that?

Your job is to make apocalypse world seem real and be a fan of the players characters, not deny them things they want or could use.

Realistically, they have 3 juggling because they've gotten good at doing lots of things at once. If they've managed to settle an obligation gig for good, why should the be less good at that?

Your job is to make apocalypse world seem real and be a fan of the players characters, not deny them things they want or could use.

The raptor has the right of it, I think. Getting gigs adds juggling, but I don't think the gaining of a gig and the +juggling are tied together in, say, the way gaining a gun and being able to shoot someone is.

Juggling is, right, "I can handle this many things on my plate at once.". As an operator gains gigs, he also learns to push himself, throwing more things on more burners. Just because he resolves some one particular thing (obligation or plain gig even), I don't think he'd suddenly not be able to handle as much.

OTOH, I'd be totally justified in saying an operator lost a juggling if, say, they started giving 24-hour attention to some other thing, neglecting some or all of their work, sure.

- Alex