White Lies - Free Espionage Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds

[damned]

I have just released a brand new Free ruleset for Fantasy Grounds.
This is based on the White Lies RPG by DwD Studios.

The ruleset should handle most of the rules well except if you want to get into combat with Vehicles.

I am uploading the Ruleset and a Players Handbook.
I will later upload an Admin Guide and a free adventure.

Bill Logan from DwD Studios has given me permission to convert the PDF to FG Format and share.

You can download the PDF here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/164226/White-Lies
and the Forge Link is here: https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/441/view

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50813

This product is best described by Director Connor Black, in his address to the newest round of fresh recruits:

Sometimes people tell lies for good reasons. Ask any parent who has lied to his child about the loss of a loved one. Ask any man who was ever asked if everything was going to be okay when he knew it would not. Sometimes the truth is too ugly for people to hear. Sometimes if the truth were known it would change everything. It’s these little white lies that people tell their children, men tell their families, and governments tell their people that keep us safe.

The Constitution lists eighteen specific enumerated powers of congress. One is omitted from public view though. The ones you’ve seen are what are shown to the rest of the world but nothing is as transparent as that. Even the founding fathers had spy networks, without which their revolution would have failed in its earliest days. There is indeed a nineteenth power in Article I Section 8. It’s very specific and highly secretive and involves the security of this nation, outside the scope of its military, navy, militia, or even the highly known FBI or CIA.

To execute this power, a bureau within the government exists, layered in secrecy and discretely funded. Bureau 19. New agents have been recruited and are about to be trained, and they stand beside you today.

I give you one last chance to voluntarily leave, before you learn things that cannot be unlearned. The questions you must now ask yourself: Are you willing to do bad things for good reasons? Are you willing to leave the comfort of ignorance behind, and to take action on the truths you learn? Are you willing to live a life of white lies?

Based on Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox, White Lies brings all the simple elegance of WhiteBox out of the dungeon and into the realm of espionage and paramilitary action and adventure! The digital purchase includes character sheets (both class-specific and blank) and a small Admin toolkit called Echo Team, containing a team of pre-generated level 1 agents for you to use as NPCs or quick players characters.

50813

[damned]

Reserved

[esmdev]

Hi.

It is great to see this added to FG. :)

One thing that I noticed on quick review.

You can drag and drop the skills to the skills window but cannot drag the skills to the areas of training window. Since the skills window is basically just a modifier to the areas of training, it seems like it would be good to be able to drag to both so as to avoid typos.

I was wondering if you plan to continue to add to this ruleset over time, like the advanced hand to hand rules and such?

[damned]

AoT are not the same as Skills. AoT use Advantage instead of +1/+2/+4.
Im not sure why they didnt get picked up in the module but I will reupload later tonight.

Its unlikely i will do advanced hand to hand combat.
I already spent way longer on this project than I initially planned to.
I had intended to do this in about 20-25 hours of coding but there is several times that.

[damned]

i have updated the Players Handbook and included the full Areas of Training from the Rulebook.
I have also converted the remaining rules content into an Admin Guide for the Games Master.
That can be found here: https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/445/view

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50847
50847

[esmdev]

AoT are not the same as Skills. AoT use Advantage instead of +1/+2/+4.

Page 109: Players cannot take the same Area of Training more than once, though they may choose an Area of Training which overlaps with a bonus granted by the agent’s Character Class.

Any chance of releasing this from ruleset to vault for people who want to add things?

[damned]

Page 109: Players cannot take the same Area of Training more than once, though they may choose an Area of Training which overlaps with a bonus granted by the agent’s Character Class.

Im really not sure what you are saying here.

Skills give you a +1/+2/+3 depending on your level. Areas of Training give you Advantage rather than a modifier. They are different. When I asked the author I got back this -

"You got it right. All "action checks" work that way. Roll 1d6 and if you roll 4+ you succeed... though the Admin can assign different target numbers based on the situation, even above 6+ for epic things. You add any attribute bonus and the bonus from any relevant skill the Admin approves, making the 4+ really easy for mundane uses of the task if agents have a few plusses.

The optional but usually used by most players "Supplemental Training" rule, which allows for more diversity among agents of the same class, allows you to use that "advantage" mechanic of rolling two d6's and selecting the best one to use for your roll, before adding any bonuses."


Any chance of releasing this from ruleset to vault for people who want to add things?

At this stage no. Most new things I release will likely be in the Vault.

[esmdev]

Basically what I am saying, and he is saying (before adding any bonuses) is if the skill perception has a +1 from class, and they have an area of training of perception, then it would be (d6 or d6)+1. Since the text of White Lies says these two overlap then both should be used. If not, there would be little reason to level and agents using area of training would actually be at a significant disadvantage in the higher game where target numbers can increase above 6.

[damned]

Im still not following.
The Character Sheet has both Skills AND Areas of Training.

If Jorge has Dex 14, Stealth Skill and Stealth Area of Training you would/could do either of these:

double click the Dex Modifier to +1 to the Modifier box
double click the Stealth +1 skill to add to the Modifier box
double click the Stealth Area of training to roll 2dk and keep the highest and then add any modifiers.

or

double click the +2 on the desktop near the Modifier box
double click the Stealth Area of training to roll 2dk and keep the highest and then add any modifiers.

The rest of the text on page 109 goes on to say:

Overlapping Bonuses
Players cannot take the same Area of Training more than once, though they
may choose an Area of Training which overlaps with a bonus granted by the
agent’s Character Class. Statistically, the benefit of rolling two dice and
choosing one is somewhat similar to just adding +1 but keeps the roll result in
the same range of 1 to 6. Areas of supplemental training are not meant to be
as good as the bonuses granted by a Character Class.

[damned]

I need to create a Video or User Guide also.
Just need more time and less things eating my time.

[esmdev]

I think that the level-up using drag for the class info box on the character sheet is nice, but it is a little sensitive. If you click it to bring up the class info, but accidentally drag it even a little, it will level you. Is there a way to change that so that you have to drag it into the XP box or something?

[damned]

Ive made the link non draggable.
Update again and see if that stops that from happening for you.

[esmdev]

Ive made the link non draggable.
Update again and see if that stops that from happening for you.

The link cannot be dragged. Is too bad, was a cool feature, but this seems a solid solution. :)

[damned]

If you open the Link you can drag it back in from the Link on the displayed window.
When you drag a Class in it will tell you what happens for that level.
Some of the items will have (done) next to them which means that the change is already written to the Character Sheet - ll others will need to be applied by the player.

[damned]

Ive been looking at the Martial Techniques and just about every one requires something quite different.
If I do this - its most likely going to be something like this -

Double Click the Fist to "Use" an action which just writes it to chat and decrements your uses.
Double click the Chat icon to output all the details to Chat for the GM and others to view.
A dice throw builder where you can input the number of dice to throw, any modifiers, whether it is w/ Advantage or not and whether it is a damage roll or not and then on Double Clicking it will make that roll.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50887

50887

[esmdev]

Looks most like a most excellent option! It seems like it will also work for similar advanced features that behave like spells. :)

[damned]

It basically limits the automation/promise but gives you a way in game to handle it pretty easily. There are way too many variable moves to code them.

[esmdev]

It basically limits the automation/promise but gives you a way in game to handle it pretty easily. There are way too many variable moves to code them.

Is good enough to have a place to put our stuff. :)

[esmdev]

Ive been looking at the Martial Techniques and just about every one requires something quite different.
If I do this - its most likely going to be something like this -

I was looking at the advanced option - leader this morning and it uses a similar system as the martial artist. I noticed that they both use the term Techniques to represent the abilities. So instead of a header of Martial Techniques, just Techniques would make it more universal.

Also, I decided to enter the Recon Scout class into the campaign just to see how it works, I really like how you set up the level advancement. It was quick and painless. :)

[esmdev]

During character generation this morning, one of the players had an interesting event.

He added his equipment to the inventory tab.
He wanted to add a custom weapon so he clicked the edit button on the weapon window.
He clicked the create item.
All of his equipment, weapon or not, was copied into the weapon window.

It was odd, and I told him he should have me add weapons on the GM side that he can drag, but it is something that anyone might do, so I figured I'd report it.

[esmdev]

Another thing we noticed is that the HD per level seem to be off.

According to the book a level 1 Investigator should have 1d6+Con, in the Investigator class it says 1d6+4, and as the class ascends in level the modifiers change +1 every two levels. I looked around and didn't see any reason for these in the rules but maybe I missed something?

[damned]

During character generation this morning, one of the players had an interesting event.

He added his equipment to the inventory tab.
He wanted to add a custom weapon so he clicked the edit button on the weapon window.
He clicked the create item.
All of his equipment, weapon or not, was copied into the weapon window.

It was odd, and I told him he should have me add weapons on the GM side that he can drag, but it is something that anyone might do, so I figured I'd report it.

The Edit button should only Edit items already in the list.
This Inventory system works a bit differently to 5E.

Weapons is a filtered list that only shows Weapons from the Inventory List

There is only an Edit button rather than an Add and Edit button. You should add from Inventory - but I cant replicate the steps above.

[damned]

Another thing we noticed is that the HD per level seem to be off.

According to the book a level 1 Investigator should have 1d6+Con, in the Investigator class it says 1d6+4, and as the class ascends in level the modifiers change +1 every two levels. I looked around and didn't see any reason for these in the rules but maybe I missed something?

Hmmm this was actually me.
Being 1st level party will likely die if anyone looks at them sideways I was homebrewing a +3 and +4 HP bonus I think on the classes.
Later on I saw that they say something about assuming a 6 for the first HD so I meant to go back and change evrything...

[damned]

I have added a new build that includes:

Techniques support - tracking of usage and of techniques available by level is done but the actual techniques have no automation.
Some small bug fixes
Updated HP in the classes
Added support for Techniques in Classes/Levelling up

I have also added a short Ruleset Guide - activate it in Modules.

To add Techniques to a class (I will provide updated Martial classes soon) add the data in the Martial section in the following format
Level1# Level2# Level3# Save#
example
2 1 0 -1
This will be parsed and applied to characters.

[esmdev]

Hi, the new changes look great.

We were getting Script execution error: [string "reload"]:5: attempt to index a nil value.

This would only happen with one of the two characters that are currently on the server, so I spent some time figuring out what was different between them and trying stuff out. Eventually I found that if I added a knife to the working character and restarted the server then both characters would generate the error.

To take the experiment further I deleted the knife off one character and reloaded, and that character would load fine. So, I added an axe to the character and reloaded and it generated the same error. It seems like something in the other weapons category isn't playing well with the character sheet.

[damned]

The issue is being cause because the database doesnt keep empty fields on reload and Usesammo is empty on an Axe... Ill need to refactor some code there...

[damned]

Ive updated Bow, Crossbow, Taser and Stungun to all "Use Ammo" and I think the Melee weapon bug should be cleared up.
New build in the Forge.

[esmdev]

Ive updated Bow, Crossbow, Taser and Stungun to all "Use Ammo" and I think the Melee weapon bug should be cleared up.
New build in the Forge.

We used the ruleset in play this morning, worked really well.

[damned]

We used the ruleset in play this morning, worked really well.

Huzzah! Thanks for the feedback.

[LordEntrails]

This looks like a lot of fun. Will have to find when I can fit in running a couple of adventures/scenarios of this :)