This fan-made Harry Potter re-skin of Secret Hitler swaps fascists for Death Eaters

Sometimes while the mechanics of a great game might be right up your street, there’s something about the theme that you feel could be improved by adjusting it slightly – or even replacing it completely.

In the case of Reddit user mysterious_gamer and their pals, the game was social deduction title Secret Hitler, which they believed could be improved by replacing the original liberals versus fascists setting in 1930s Germany with the magical world of boy wizard Harry Potter.

Luckily, Secret Hitler creators Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges, Max Temkin and Mac Schubert opted to release the game under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence, which essentially means that the title's rules and design can be remixed and adapted by fans – as long as they don’t attempt to charge for their custom-made versions.

Obviously, the Harry Potter branding is not as freely available, meaning that – for now – Secret Voldemort remains a one-off, with no print-and-play files available.

It’s a shame, as the custom-made box and components are a seriously impressive project, as pictures on Imgur show. The role of president has been swapped for the Minister of Magic title, while chancellor carries across to the new game.

Replacing fascists and liberals are Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, respectively, while Lord Voldemort takes up the mantle of the titular real-life dictator.

Meanwhile, the party policies for each political side are now pureblood supremacy and muggle protection laws, with presidential powers altered for a more magical atmosphere – including the ability to send a player to Azkaban.

Even the colour palette and central tracking boards have been subtly changed, replacing icons with Harry Potter-suitable logos (wands, the Deathly Hallows and the Dark Mark are all present and correct) and opting for red and green over the original orange and blue.

It’s a clever way to combine a personal passion and the mechanics of a well-loved game, and has got us thinking – what game would you re-brand to suit your own pop culture loves? If you have any bright ideas, let us know on social media – we’d love to hear them!