# Character Creation Challenge 2025: Day 08 - Grey Ranks - Andrzej Wiśniewski, Braggart Kid tags: #articles/CharacterCreationChallenge/2025 #game/rpg/grey-ranks > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2025]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] ## Game of Choice Because I tend to acquire games of similar nature around the same time, even if it's picking up a digital copy of a book I've had on my shelf for over a decade, we have a block of games here which have similar themes. In this case we had squad-level gung-ho Marines in a fantasy setting, Army soldiers dealing with the emotional transfiguration of Vietnam, and now we're going even further into the darkness of suffering during war with **[[Grey Ranks]]** — a game entirely focused on the experience of child soldiers in the Polish Home Guard during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw during World War II. Have I mentioned that I love games about emotional damage? This one goes right for the jugular out of the gate, and there is no turning back. ![[Grey Ranks (cover).jpg|400]] Some people will tell you that games must be soft, gentle, and non-threatening, and that your emotional health is more important than any experience you might have while playing a game. They might even say that every corner must be padded to keep everyone at the table from experiencing anything like distress. If you are one of those people, just leave now. You may decide never to come back because, firstly, I don't believe that, and secondly, you are going to really hate this game. It embraces almost entirely the opposite thought, going into great detail in the first couple of chapters of the book about what's going on, what the Home Guard is, what the Nazis are up to in Warsaw, and exactly how horrific the conditions are. Then, and only then, does it even begin to talk about character creation or mechanics in any way. Only once the stakes are set in the consciousness of every player does it start to tell you how you're going to engage with it. There are ten chapters in every story of **Grey Ranks**, and they do go quite quickly, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because there really isn't enough time to dwell too deeply on the terrible things that are about to happen. It's a curse because *everything* is going to come at you with the sheer brutality of a rain of fists and boots being dropped on you lying on a dirty concrete curb. This is one of the few games in the world that I will accept opens early on with a frank discussion of lines and veils and how they might be used. Almost uniquely, this is also one of the very few games I've ever read that tells you outright that these issues that it's going to deal with are not going away. They can't be erased, and while they may or may not be treated particularly obliquely, they will appear. When I tell you these issues, well, let's just quote the relevant section directly. > [!quote] **Grey Ranks**, p8 > Grey Ranks is a game that addresses mature > themes. It is essential that you and your > friends have an open discussion before play to > establish comfort levels and ways of handling > difficult subject matter, should it arise. > Discuss your group’s comfort with topics such > as racism, anti-Semitism, and totalitarianism. > Specifically bring up Nazism and the > Holocaust, and how the fate of Poland’s Jews > will (or will not) factor into play. > > Love and the portrayal of teenage sexuality are > central to the game. Violence by and toward > children, including death, is also central. While > neither of these aspects can be removed from > play entirely in a game about child soldiers, > they can be addressed more or less obliquely. > > It’s possible that everyone will be open to any > situation that arises in play, but it is equally > possible that someone will have limits about > what they wish to explore and experience. > As a group, you may want to draw a hard > line concerning particular sorts of content, > expressly forbidding their appearance in play. > Alternately, you may have topics that you > prefer to draw a veil over—allowing them to > occur, but keeping them strictly off-camera. > Common “lines and veils” material includes > sexual violence, torture, and casual racism, all > of which could easily appear in a game of Grey > Ranks. The thing I appreciate most about this discussion is unlike 99% of the sections in games which occurred after this (keeping in mind that this was published in 2007), **Grey Ranks** treats you as a potential player like an adult. It treats you as someone who is capable of dealing with these issues and talking about these issues, leaves it to you to decide whether or not to be an adult. This strikes me as sensible though looking back on it, it was part of a wave of design decisions that started around that time which has led us to where we are now. So, trade-offs must occur, I suppose. ## Acts of Creation Right, so how about that character creation? The process is really split across the entirety of chapter one. ### Pre-Chapter 1 Before chapter one proper, there's a list of things that you need to do. In praise of this book again, the process is extremely clearly explained and presented far better than many other games before or since. You have a numbered sequence which gives you a short bit and then after that it gives you a longer breakdown of each of those steps extremely descriptively, not just what to do but why doing so is important and necessary. We've had the discussion about lines and veils. As we all know, I don't have any lines and I will draw no veils all sorts of horrible things will occur if you are spending time with me, and that's even before we get to any games. *Choose our character's sex.* We'll go with **male** because it's reasonable. The Home Guard really doesn't care what sex its child soldiers are as long as they can carry a gun, but there are certain trade goods only girls can offer up. *We have to choose an age.* That choice is limited to being 15, 16, or 17. When you were warned that we would be talking about child soldiers, we weren't kidding. I want you to look at that list of ages and then flip back to the discussion of potentially disturbing topics and think about that for a minute. Give it some serious contemplation. **16** sounds about right. *Next up, a name.* Given that every character that you can play in this game is Polish, expect there to be some absolute butchery of pronunciation. Why not **Andrzej Wiśniewski**? (He's called "The Crier" within the Grey Ranks not because he cries a lot but because he likes to shout at the Nazis before he shoots at them.) > [!note]- Editor's Note > > Look, I know as well as you do that you have nearly no chance of pronouncing that without help. That's why we have shackled AIs: > > Here's how you pronounce Andrzej Wiśniewski: > - **Andrzej:** AHN-dzhey > - **AHN** - Similar to the "on" in "onward," but with a more nasal "ah" sound. > - **dzhey** - Like the "jay" in "blue jay." > - The 'rz' in polish is pronounced as a 'zh' sound. > - The 'j' in polish is pronounced as a 'y' sound. > - **Wiśniewski:** veesh-NYEHV-skee > - **veesh** - The "v" is soft, almost a cross between a v and a w. Like the "Vi" in "Vishnu". > - **NYEHV** - Like "nev" in "never" but with a "yeh" sound before the "v". > - **skee** - Just like "ski" as in the sport. > - The 'ś' in polish sounds like the English 'sh'. > - The 'w' in polish is pronounced as a 'v'. > > **Putting it together:** > > AHN-dzhey veesh-NYEHV-skee > > You're welcome. *We need to pick a neighborhood for our character to call home.* I'm going to choose **Wola** in northwest Warsaw mainly because it's the scene of a surprising number of particularly awful massacres and that seems like a good idea. One of the key, if not the most important, mechanics in the entire game is "The Grid," which represents the emotional state of your character. Every character starts at one of the starting positions on the grid, and as they experience scenes during each of the ten chapters, they may, and very likely can't help but shift from spot to spot. ![[Grey Ranks - The Grid.webp]] I think I'll yield the floor to the author again. > [!info] **Grey Ranks**, p 33 > B2 is the best starting position for a physical, > patriotic, or outgoing character. It is the space > closest to martyrdom. > > B4 is the best starting position for an > intellectual, religious, or shy character. It is > the space closest to nervous breakdown. > > D2 is the best starting position for an outspoken, > family-oriented, or aggressive character. It is > the space closest to derangement. > > D4 is the best starting position for a pessimistic, > loner, or apathetic character. It is the space > closest to suicide. You know it's going to be good when the *author himself* points out very clearly how close each of the starting positions is to an amazingly horrific end. You can choose from martyrdom, nervous breakdown, derangement, or suicide. There is no playing around with soft language in this game, and I am here for it. **Andrzej starts out in D2**, full of hatred for the Germans and enthusiastic about doing what needs to be done. I did mention that almost no characters in this game come to a good end, right? You are a Polish child soldier in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. Getting shot while doing something is probably one of the better things you can look forward to. The last thing you do before chapter one is *choose one of the situations from the situation list on 93*. If it involves another person/character, write down their name for later. After this, for every chapter, your situation is going to be taken from a list which is limited by your position on the grid. I'm going to pick one of the most evocative ones for now, **"A sturdy pair of boots spotted with blood."** You're almost done, I promise. A final note, there are certain things required of all characters. Two stand out: > - Want affection. Love and romance can’t be avoided, nor should they. > > - Be capable of hate. This really shouldn’t be a problem. Even if you can’t envision it as play begins, enough bad things will happen that by mid-game, hate will seem natural. This is serious *not fucking around* territory and isn't the first time that the absolute intensity is communicated but this is quite possibly the last time you're going to get a warning before everything comes at you like an onrushing Nazi panzer. ### Chapter 1 Proper Chapter one is really just an opportunity to introduce your characters to one another without the introduction of other characters getting in the way. It's a single mission without any personal scenes. As the author puts it, *"The events in chapter one will be the last carefree moments in the characters' lives."* You start from the setup that you've been given and proceed to simply playing out a straightforward scene. Given that I'm a little bit short on other players right now, I'm just going to quickly jot down something appropriate. Every chapter begins with a set broadcast from *Radio Lightning*, the free Polish radio station. It's subversive, it's forbidden, and everyone listens to it. It also gives a general concept for the chapter direction. In the case of chapter one, it's *Monkey-Wrenching the Occupation*. Once we're done, we'll move on to the last bit of character generation, which happens right after chapter one. What goes on with our hero? > Andrzej and his crew resolve to continue the project of spreading subversive newspapers which declare the Nazi efforts already lost and predict the mass death of the Germans when the Polish people rise up. They can't really fail in Chapter One so they work along how they collect the papers and run them through back-alleys and broken fences to newspaper vendors who don't recognize them immediately as forgeries. Some, of course, are in on it. Andrzej tries and fails to find one of the conspirators during the mission and is unable to, overlooking a pair of boots with blood on them behind the door of the stand. Later, he brags about having helped write some of the content. ### The End of Chapter 1 Having finished the first chapter and played out a successful mission with the rest of your crew, each character needs to have *something that they hold dear*. Everyone picks for themselves, but no overlap. Once you pick it, you explain why it's important and what the physical, tangible symbol of that thing is to them. You choose from six possibilities: - My faith - My country - My city - My family - My friends - My first love Now, I'll give you one guess as to why spending time figuring out what the thing your character most cares about and a physical manifestation of that care and focus might be important. It is not so that thing can be completely left alone in the course of the story. When/if this thing is lost or destroyed, it represents the loss of the greater metaphor. How could this possibly end poorly? Andrzej is going with **my family**, manifest in **his family apartment**. The place he was born and raised, where his parents still live, is vital to his concept of being. We need *two starting reputations*, which the group as a whole pick. Again, no overlap between characters. They start as all negative (awkward teens not being known for being awesome) but they transform into positives over time. We'll take **careless** (loose lips sink ships, Andrzej; don't go bragging) as well as **direct** (the boy isn't subtle in the least but he could become truly devious). Last, everyone together makes some extra teens, one for each player. Each one gets a reputation that none of the player characters has. - **Piotr Nowak, selfish:** A 17 year old who works with the printer for the fake news papers. That's it. Character generation is done. You have a character, their emotional state, a couple of descriptors, what's at risk, and some extra characters, along with background with the rest of your crew having thrown a monkey wrench into the Bolsheviks' plans. You also have a vast amount of ominous threat looming overhead because it's the first of July 1939 and you are child soldiers in Warsaw. Every single one of you with something to lose and more than your life on the line. ![[Grey Ranks - Andrzej Wisniewski, The Crier (sheet).webp]] ## Exunt You have completed the first step into a larger, darker world, one where you can plumb the depths of human depravity and potentially have the opportunity to express the higher aspirations of mankind pressed to the edge of everything they know, with everything to lose. What do you do in the face of World War II and some of the ugliest fighting and most oppressive actions of the entire war? In case you didn't pick up on it before, I *love* **Grey Ranks** not just because it's a well-written, well-structured game in and of itself, but because it's one of the few games which aren't overt wargames that doesn't pull its punches in any way. It puts the worst kinds of experiences out there in front of you and expects you to deal with them like an intelligent, rational adult who is playing at being an irrational, dumb kid. It's an extremely bold choice to put out a game with that as its core message, and I'm not even sure that the hobby would let you pursue such a thing anymore. The sheer amount of outrage and horror at merely suggesting that people can deal with, treat with, think about the elements that go into this story even if you stick to strict historical accuracy — and maybe *because* you stick to strict historical accuracy — is truly staggering. I'd say we need more games like this, but I'm not sure we *deserve or have earned* them. And that's all I have to say about that. Tomorrow we actually get around to that trifold I was talking about yesterday. I can't promise it will be much more emotionally accessible, but it's guaranteed to be shorter. Until then.