Punching Nazis and Toppling Tyrants: Tabletop RPGs About Fighting Authoritarian Regimes

Nick Sampson | Jan, 25 2026 There has always been something deeply satisfying about stories where ordinary people stand up to overwhelming, cruel systems and refuse to back down. Tabletop roleplaying games are uniquely good at letting players step into those stories, not just as observers, but as active participants shaping how resistance looks, feels, and unfolds.

Some RPGs approach this theme with grounded historical tragedy. Others lean into pulp adventure, cosmic horror, or absurd ultraviolence. What unites them is a simple core fantasy: taking a stand against fascism, tyranny, and authoritarian power, whether that power comes from Nazi war machines, occult conspiracies, or galactic empires.

Here are several standout tabletop RPGs about fighting authoritarian regimes, that let players fight Nazis, resist authoritarianism, and explore what that struggle really costs.

Grey Ranks

By Bully Pulpit Games

Grey Ranks is not a power fantasy. It is a harrowing, intimate, and emotionally heavy roleplaying game about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Players take on the roles of teenage Polish partisans fighting against German occupation during a doomed sixty day rebellion.

Instead of focusing on tactical combat, Grey Ranks centers on character growth, emotional bonds, and impossible moral choices. Each scene is tied to a specific date in 1944 and is introduced by a broadcast from the underground radio station, Radio Lightning, grounding the fiction in real historical context.

The game constantly asks difficult questions. Is achieving a goal worth destroying the thing your character holds dear? How much can a young person endure before hope turns into exhaustion or hate? Characters are tracked on a Grid that represents their emotional and physical condition, pulling them toward extremes that can lead to heartbreak or death.

Grey Ranks is collaborative and intentionally challenging. It is about resistance, yes, but also about grief, sacrifice, and the brutal reality of fighting an authoritarian regime when the odds are stacked against you. It won multiple major awards, including co winner of the 2008 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming and Indie RPG Awards Game of the Year.

This is a game for groups that want something serious, poignant, and historically grounded. Get Grey Ranks - Here -

Eat the Reich

By Rowan, Rook, & Decard

Eat the Reich takes the exact opposite tonal approach and commits to it completely.

In this tabletop RPG, you play a vampire commando dropped into occupied Paris with one goal: drink all of Adolf Hitler’s blood. It is ultraviolent, absurd, stylish, and unapologetically anti fascist pulp.

Players are sent on a one to three session rampage of blood magic, explosions, meaningful flashbacks, and hundreds upon hundreds of extremely dead Nazis. Mechanically, it uses a simple D6 dice pool system called the Havoc Engine, which keeps the focus on cinematic action rather than rules complexity.

Beyond the premise, Eat the Reich stands out for its production quality. The 72 page rulebook is lavishly illustrated, includes pregenerated iconic characters, enemy reinforcements, gruesome Übermenschen, and non accurate but richly detailed maps of Paris.

It is also critically acclaimed, winning Gold ENnie Awards in 2024 for Best Cover Art, Best Interior Art, and Best Adventure, and becoming an Origins Award finalist in 2025.

Eat the Reich is not subtle. It is loud, cathartic, and deliberately indulgent. It exists to let players tear through fascists in a way that feels emotionally and narratively satisfying, with just enough depth to make the carnage meaningful. Get Eat The Reich - Here -

Achtung! Cthulhu

By Modiphius Entertainment

Achtung! Cthulhu blends World War II pulp adventure with Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It imagines a secret war where Allied operatives fight not only Nazi forces, but occult cultists, mad science divisions, and eldritch gods manipulating the conflict from beyond human comprehension.

Players take on roles as Allied agents, resistance fighters, mystics, psychics, or soldiers working for secret organizations like Britain’s Section M or America’s Majestic. Their enemies include the Cult of the Black Sun, Nazi sorcerers trying to unleash Yog Sothoth, and the Nachtwölfe, a rival faction using weird science and Atlantean technology.

The game uses a cinematic version of the 2D20 system and supports both short pulp adventures and long epic campaigns. It includes detailed character creation, vehicles, experimental weapons, magic systems, psychic powers, and a deep setting that merges historical research with mythos horror.

Achtung! Cthulhu scratches a very specific itch. It is for groups who want heroic action, secret agents, occult conspiracies, and cosmic dread, all wrapped around the central fantasy of stopping Nazi occult forces from reshaping the world. Get Achtung! Cthulhu - Here -

Star Wars Roleplaying Games

Multiple Editions by West End Games, Wizards of the Coast, and Fantasy Flight Games

While not explicitly historical, Star Wars is arguably one of the most iconic anti authoritarian narratives in modern pop culture.

Across its many tabletop RPG incarnations, the core theme remains the same: a small group of rebels fighting back against a vast, oppressive empire. Whether you are smugglers, Jedi, spies, or ordinary citizens pushed too far, the story is always about resisting tyranny and choosing hope over fear.

The West End Games version leaned heavily into cinematic storytelling. Wizards of the Coast brought in d20 mechanics. Fantasy Flight Games emphasized narrative dice and character driven play. Despite the mechanical differences, every version supports stories about rebellion, resistance, and overthrowing authoritarian power.

It is a flexible framework. You can run political thrillers, desperate insurgency campaigns, or heroic space opera. At its heart, though, Star Wars remains a story about standing up to an empire and believing that even small acts of defiance matter. Get Fantasy Flights Star Wars RPG - Here -

Why These RPGs About Fighting Authoritarian Regimes Matter

What makes these RPGs compelling is not just that they let you fight Nazis or topple tyrants. It is how differently they approach that same emotional core.

Grey Ranks forces players to sit with the consequences of resistance. Eat the Reich offers cathartic fantasy and ultraviolent satire. Achtung! Cthulhu mixes pulp heroism with existential dread. Star Wars reframes rebellion as mythic, hopeful adventure.

Together, they show how tabletop RPGs can explore resistance from multiple angles. They let players feel the fear, the anger, the hope, and the moral weight of standing against authoritarian regimes, whether grounded in real history or filtered through fantasy and science fiction.

If you are looking for tabletop experiences where punching Nazis is only the beginning, and where fighting authoritarian power comes with emotional, narrative, or thematic depth, these games are a powerful place to start. If you have other good Nazi and Authoritarian Punching RPG's let us know!

Beyond the Game: Real World Resistance and Understanding Authoritarianism

While tabletop RPGs let us explore themes of resistance, tyranny, and standing up against oppressive regimes in imaginative ways, the real world still faces challenges that demand awareness, understanding, and action.

If your interest in games like Grey Ranks, Eat the Reich, Achtung! Cthulhu, and Star Wars starts from a place of wanting to make sense of authoritarianism and resist it in everyday life, there are excellent resources to help you learn more and get involved.

• Understanding Authoritarianism: The Commonwealth Commons Library provides a clear overview of what authoritarianism is, how it shows up, and how to recognize its signs in politics and society. You can read more here: https://commonslibrary.org/authoritarianism-how-you-know-it-when-you-see-it/

• Protecting Democracy: Protect Democracy offers tools and strategies for how citizens and institutions can respond to threats to democratic norms. Their resources focus on civic engagement and institutional accountability: https://protectdemocracy.org/authoritarian-threat-response/

• Humanitarian Support: Justice Frontline Aid works directly in conflict zones and for civilians affected by war, displacement, and violence. Supporting organizations like this can make a real impact for people in crisis: https://www.justicefrontlineaid.org

• Local Civic Action: Indivisible helps people build community power through grassroots organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement across the United States. You can find ways to get involved locally here: https://indivisible.org
  

Resistance takes many forms, both fictional and real. Whether you are rolling dice or making phone calls, protesting, donating money, sharing social media, or opening conversations to relatives, every voice and every action matters in the ongoing effort to preserve freedom, dignity, and human rights around the world or in your own home city.