The Grey Ranks

Poland, high summer, 1944. You are fifteen. Your country has been occupied by the Nazis for half a decade, a third of your life. If the Nazis hadnt abolished it, youd be a Boy Scout. Instead, you joined the Grey Ranks youre part of a crew of boys and girls specializing in sabotage and harassment.

Its all pranks and capers now, but the general uprising is only days away. Then youll be ammo carriers, couriers, and stretcher bearers. And when the uprising goes terribly wrong, youll be sewer guides, soldiers, executioners, and martyrs. Youll grow up fast. Maybe you wont grow up at all.

Grey Ranks is a role-playing game for three to five players that puts you in the shoes of child soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising. The game is designed to be played over three sessions and includes a scene structure, with each scene corresponding to a specific date in 1944. You’ll choose historical and dramatic elements that pique your interest to include in each scene. The game is collaborative, and together with your friends you’ll work to create challenging, exciting, and poignant scenes for your crew – some mission-oriented, and some strictly personal.

As the game progresses, success becomes increasingly difficult and you’ll be faced with difficult choices. Is achieving a goal worth destroying the thing your character holds dear? How will reputations change over time as youngsters have adulthood thrust upon them? The emotional state of your crew is tied to the Grid, which tracks their individual condition as they are drawn to the opposing extremes of love and hate, enthusiasm and exhaustion. Success or failure will pull them in unexpected directions, and where these strong currents intersect lie death and heartbreak.

“It was emotionally powerful and engaging and we were on the edge of our seats the whole way through.” – Andrew Kenrick

“It was touching and crushing, enlightening and enraging.” – Emily Care Boss

“This game was just stuffed with awesome. Tragedy, coming-of-age stories, violence, teenage sexuality – this is going to be a game we can point at when people think that RPGs are just about dragons and lasers.” – Bret Gillan