Shrapnel: Rulebook (Digital Founders Edition)

A cinematic WWII commando tabletop roleplaying game.

1940. The world is ablaze.

Nations clash across every continent while, beneath the thunder of artillery, a quieter war is being waged. One of sabotage and small teams who vanish before the alarm has a chance to sound. You are not the front line. You are the fly in the ointment. The derailed train. The officer who never makes it to his briefing.

Shrapnel puts you in the boots of an operator within a multinational commando squad operating deep behind enemy lines. Told through the lens of tense action cinema rather than military simulation. Think The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, Saving Private Ryan. The game pivots frequently between high stakes planning and split second improvisation. No nations are named. No history is claimed. This is a fictional stage for bold, dangerous stories, built with respect for the real weight of the setting that inspired it.

HOW IT PLAYS

Shrapnel runs on a simple roll under skill system: pick your die by difficulty (Easy through to Very Hard), roll under your rating. The system builds in critical successes, complications, and failures that always keep the table on its toes. Four resources drive every mission:

• Grit: How much punishment your operative can take before it’s over.
• Adrenaline: Push past your limits in clutch moments at the risk of burning out later.
• Stress: Stress scars shape who your operative becomes after the mission.
• Hope: Hope is what keeps the whole squad fighting when the odds turn ugly.

Combat is fast and lethal by design, with a Gamemaster facing Alert System and reinforcement dice pools that let danger escalate in real time as the squad gets noisier.

WHAT'S IN THE BOOK

• 12 distinct squad roles: NCO, Rifleman, Medic, Gunner, Engineer, Sniper, Resistance Fighter, Forward Observer, Vanguard, Vehicle Commander, Dog Handler, and Quartermaster. Each brings their own signature feature and standard loadouts.
• Three ready to run missions: Spanning Level 1 to Level 5 play. Operation Broken Span, Blood in the Desert, and the underground vault heist of Operation Iron Vault. Complete with keyed maps, branching outcomes, and GM read-aloud text.
• A full Gamemaster’s toolkit: A powerful Mission Generator built on the Five Room Dungeon method, a Campaign Map Generator, Mission Balancing guidance, and three separate 1d100 tables covering random encounters, intelligence finds and resistance operations.
• Full NPC profiles: Everything from conscripts, regulars, veterans and officers to military police. These should cover all the possible bases, or at least get you in the ballpark.
• Solo play rules: Includes a Solo Oracle for running Shrapnel as a one operative campaign behind enemy lines.
• The Shrapnel Open Community Licence: You’re free to design and publish your own missions and content for the system.
• 134 pages, fully illustrated throughout.

WHO IT'S FOR

Tables who want their WWII action stylised, cinematic, and squad focused rather than a wargame with a rulebook attached. Shrapnel is built to run as fast one shots for a single session or convention slot just as readily as an ongoing campaign. Pulpy or hardcore, the tone dial is yours. A dedicated Content & Safety chapter (session zero tools, lines and veils, a pause button) is built into the core rules, not bolted on as an afterthought.

Play with care. Remember the cost.

Shrapnel: Founders Edition is the debut release of War-Torn Workshop, designed, written, illustrated, and laid out by Dave E Gregory.