2024 Character Creation Challenge Day 17: White Lies 2nd Edition

Day 17 of the 2024 #CharacterCreationChallenge is here. And today we are using the White Lies 2nd Edition roleplaying game. Now if this sounds familiar, I used the White Lies 1st edition back in 2022 to create a character. It was based off of the D20 based White Box RPG that used the Open Gaming License (hence the name White Lies). After Wizards of the Coast had their disastrous OGL fiasco last January, the author wisely decided to remove all OGL items from this game and release a second edition. DwD Studios wasn’t the only publisher that decided to pull up stakes and head out to the land of Creative Commons licensees. This is also the reason we got a 4th edition of Basic Fantasy RPG.

The White Lies 2nd Edition PDF is 188 pages long. The character creation process starts on page 10. The character sheet is one page in length.

The ability assessment is the first step in creating an agent. In the 1st edition, the abilities were the familiar batch as seen in most D20 fantasy games. However with this 2nd edition the abilities have been re-tooled to resemble an espionage game with Toughness, Dexterity, Intellect, Discipline (self control) and Influence (physical appeal and charisma). I rolled a D20 five times and compare it to a chart. This gives a score from -2 to +5 and you assign one per ability. Since all of the scores rolled were nigher than a +2 added together (from the chart) I didn’t need to re-roll the abilities and I assigned them to the character sheet.

The next step is your Division Training. This is basically your class. After reading them over, I elected to go with the Elimination Division. I’m instructed to note all of the division qualification (aka skills) and details.

Step three is the outfitting. There are some items that each agent has automatically, pistol, operative kit with some stuff, etc. Then the division training also provides some additional items and another equipment kit of my choice. I then roll 3d6x100 for starting money to buy additional gear. In the Elimination Division I get two ammo upgrades for my weapons, but is that just clips of ammo or picking two of the improvements listed in the outfitting chapter? The pistol already had one ammo upgrade? I did a search in the PDF and I think it’s just spare clips.

The last step is the final assessment. Rank and merit is 1 and 0. Filled in stamina, defense, movement and initiative. Selected a second language. As for a name, we are going to pull up the handy dandy name generator and this guy is named: Jack Sterling. Here is the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

With the speed that was needed to get the product out, I can understand why the author went with AI generated graphics. The product was free to those who had purchased the 1st edition and it is PWYW afterwards. But some of the AI art still freaks me out for a second. I think its the eyes and some of the skin in the images. The guy in the center looks like he is losing his right eye. The eyes on the tiger on page 142 is like a cross-eyed lion. Some of the images looks like the skin is peeling off. But I did laugh at the “Typical Person” image that was used.

There are lots of good add-ons to this game both in the book and from the publisher’s social media (Me-We or Discord). I like the enemy organization charts to make up some opponents and master villains. I also liked the references to a possible campaign ideas using references like GI Joe, The A Team, RED, and more. There are quick write ups for everything from a mall cop (I also laughed at “some of them even have real guns”) to James Bond type superagents. Also included are details on aliens and supernatural creatures (needs zombies please) if the GM is so inclined to throw them at the agents.

The system was pretty straight forward and I could see the logical changes after dropping the OGL items. I liked how the new attribute names and how they were generated. It still seemed OSR with a new coat of paint. I really want to see how this plays at the table and I could easily see myself homebrewing for this system. I might even want to borrow the system (or some elements) for a core rulebook that I’ve got in mind to write up.

Additional Notes:

It has been a very cold and snowy day. I was wondering if I was going to get this character completed in time. Because of this, I haven’t had a chance to look for other sites/message boards that have been participating in the challenge. If I’m missing any from the link list, please let me know. Did I mention that I hate snow?

Coming Up Next:

Vintage Space

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