Eat the Reich - Starter guide

What is Eat the Reich?

Eat the Reich is a fast, ultraviolent roleplaying game with a premise that needs no second pitch. The year is 1943, you are a vampire commando, and you have been coffin-dropped into Nazi-occupied Paris with one mission: cut a bloody path through the German war machine, reach Adolf Hitler, and drink all of his blood. It is loud, pulpy and unapologetically anti-fascist, written by Grant Howitt (Honey Heist, Spire, Heart) and illustrated by Will Kirkby. Think Wolfenstein crossed with a grindhouse fever dream.

The book is built to tell one complete story across a single evening or a few sessions, not an open-ended campaign. It is also a beautiful object: a striking 72-page volume that won three Gold ENnie awards in 2024 (Best Cover Art, Best Interior Art and Best Adventure) and was an Origins Award finalist, so the praise goes beyond marketing copy.

How does the system work?

The engine is called the Havoc Engine, and it is a pure six-sided dice pool. You declare what your vampire wants to do, you build a pool of d6 based on the relevant stat and on how convincingly and cinematically you describe the action, then you roll. Any die showing 3 or lower is discarded. Any die showing 4 or higher is a success you can spend, and you spend those successes to push the objective forward, wipe out squads of Nazis, soak incoming damage, or gulp down mouthfuls of blood.

Pools tend to average around six dice and can balloon when you lean into the spectacle, so the rules actively reward outrageous, creative violence. You do not build a character from scratch. You pick one of six iconic pregenerated vampires, each with their own abilities, and you level up mid-mission by drinking the blood of the Übermenschen, the augmented Nazi mini-bosses. Reinforcement rules keep sending enemies in waves, so you are always outnumbered and always the deadliest thing in the room. Flashbacks are woven in to colour who your vampire used to be.

What do you need to start?

The core book is genuinely everything you need. It is standalone and contains the full rules, the six ready-to-play characters, the deliberately inaccurate maps of Paris, the enemies and the bosses. Add a shared fistful of six-sided dice that everyone at the table can grab from, and you are ready. No separate player's handbook, no GM guide, no miniatures.

Who is this game for?

Both ends of the spectrum, which is part of its charm. It is excellent for complete beginners because there is no character building and the rules fit on a couple of pages. It is equally good for experienced players who want a palate cleanser between long campaigns, or a guaranteed-fun convention slot. It rewards people who enjoy improvising and narrating big, ridiculous moments.

Where it falls short is just as honest. This is not the game for long campaigns, deep tactical crunch, or subtle social intrigue. It tells one story, and that story is killing Hitler. If you want a sprawling open world or character optimisation, look elsewhere. Worth flagging too: the violence is graphic and the historical subject is heavy, so the book includes quick safety tools and the right tone is a table-by-table conversation.

How does it differ from other systems?

Against D&D 5e the contrast is stark. 5e is a long-form, level-by-level campaign game with detailed tactical rules that often dictate what you can do. Eat the Reich is the opposite: rules-light, finite, and built so the fiction drives the dice rather than the dice driving the fiction. You will not lose an evening to character creation, you will be killing fascists within minutes.

Compared to something like Blades in the Dark, both share flashbacks and a story-forward feel, but Blades is a sustained campaign of careful heist planning, while Eat the Reich is a single pedal-to-the-floor rampage. If you already know Howitt's Honey Heist, this is that same anarchic energy expanded into a full, gorgeous book.

Where do you begin?

A simple path into your first session:

• Read the book once, front to back. It is short, and the tone teaches you how to play.
• Let each player pick a pregenerated vampire. No prep required.
• Gather a shared pile of d6 in the middle of the table.
• Read the safety tools aloud and agree on tone together.
• Run the opening coffin drop and encourage everyone to narrate big.

For inspiration, several actual plays are worth a listen, including episodes from Roleplaying Public Radio and the Technical Difficulties podcast, alongside video actual plays on YouTube. Ten minutes of watching a session communicates the feel faster than any rules summary.

Recommended products at Netherbook

Start with the core Eat the Reich book. Pair it with a generous set of six-sided dice. A shared pool of fifteen to twenty d6 keeps the big rolls flowing without anyone scrambling for dice. And if your group falls for the studio's style, the other Rowan, Rook and Decard games such as Spire are natural next stops once the Paris dust has settled.