Dune, and all it entails

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Jonathan Hicks

Jonathan Hicks

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I'm considering a new sci-fi game and I'm a huge fan of Dune and the universe it resides in. I'd like to run a game in Herbert's creation but I also have my own Dune-inspired setting that I'd like to do some work on.

Regardless, my question is this - as a player, what would you expect from a Dune-inspired game? Would you like to take part in the struggles of the Great Houses? Specialise in a Guild, CHOAM or one of the other orders, Mentat or Bene Gesserit et al? Be a smuggler, a freedom fighter?

Would you like to experience the games the Houses play, or just exist on the edges and have your own adventures while the big players have their wars? How much would you like to be involved in the main plot?

It's a few questions, I know, but I'd love to know what gamers want from a Dune game.
 
All of the above. I'm not one for focused games; I like comprehensive, flexible toolkits.

I'd use Traveller (T5 if I could brave it) or Mythras (with bits from core, Luther Arkwright and M-Space).
 
It really depends when the game is set, in regards to the chronology of the books. The setting of God-Emperor is vastly different to that of the status quo at the start of the first novel.
 
It's a psionics over technology universe. I would run a campaign in the pre-Atreides move to Arrakis from Caledan. There the players have the most freedom to be what they want.
 
I actually liked the campaign premise behind Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium. Where the characters played as members of a minor or major House - as swordmasters, strategists, mentats, Bene Gesserit, nobles - all struggling to keep their House alive against the threats of assassination, sabotage, betrayal, structured warfare, etc. Diverse character types with a joint goal.

But, it would also be cool to play in an Arrakis-focused campaign - as smugglers, or Fremen during the events of the first book. Participate in part of the timeline, but not be bound to playing as the "big players".
 
T5 actually has rules for things like Face Dancers and Mentats. All told, I think you'd have to run the game in the period of the first book or possibly during the Jihad. The problem is that people want to interact with the characters from the series. That's what I've seen when running Star Wars or MERP anyhow. They don't want transplanted ideas or worse still original ones. They want the stars. It's a bit like Homer Simpson harassing BTO to play Taking Care of Business. He doesn't even know the start of the song, he just wants the refrain.

Oh well, wars of assassins. At least Traveller has nobles and precogs built into the rules. Personally I'd go with Space Master or one of my own rulesets. I actually have a bit of a setting that is very high tech hard sf that might bear some resemblance to Dune. It started as a way to strip the serial numbers off of Warhammer 40000 for a story I wanted to tell but I wound up with quite something else. It's on my long list of projects to get back to. Immortal noble houses, capitals that orbit the galaxy at relativistic speeds. Knife fighting as a dance craze. All that to do a romance between a noble heir and a serving girl. :grin:
 
It's not a system I use, but I recall Burning Wheel had a 'not-dune' version called Burning Sands available free online, and I recall it being rather comprehensive. Might be worth a look if only for mining ideas
 
can the Imperium at large be a wild-and-woolly place of madcap space adventures or does Dune lend itself to a more staid approach? I mean if we're talking about a hunk-of-the-galaxy-spanning empire there's technically room for anything to happen. It's not as though it's the titular Keep in B2 with 30-40 residents...

Still, would a rag-tag group of adventurers along the lines of a young Han Solo and hangers-on be out of place in a Dune setting?

(Hey, wasn't that what Han was popped for, Spice smuggling, anyway? :smile: )
 
thedungeondelver said:
can the Imperium at large be a wild-and-woolly place of madcap space adventures or does Dune lend itself to a more staid approach? I mean if we're talking about a hunk-of-the-galaxy-spanning empire there's technically room for anything to happen. It's not as though it's the titular Keep in B2 with 30-40 residents...

Still, would a rag-tag group of adventurers along the lines of a young Han Solo and hangers-on be out of place in a Dune setting?

(Hey, wasn't that what Han was popped for, Spice smuggling, anyway? :smile: )
Click to expand...


Again, depends on the era. Spacefaring is basically under a monopoly by the Spacing Guild over the period of the firs three novels. In God-Emperor, almost no space travel is allowed, with Leto II deliberately repressing the populace to engender a diaspora. So the best period (annd one completely unexplored in the fiction) would be immediately following the fall of the God Emperor, when humanity suddenly is freed from generations of oppression and the stars are open to them again.
 
I love the idea of playing a Dune game, but much like Star Wars, I don't know enough of the canon to run a decent game.

If I did I would definitely use Burning Jihad, the Burning Wheel version. Though I think I have a dubious pdf of an actual Dune game, I think it was the same system as one of the Star Trek games.
 
I think I heard a month or so ago a new Dune game is coming out in the next year.

I don't recall if it was 2D20 or 5E...
 
dragoner said:
It's a psionics over technology universe. I would run a campaign in the pre-Atreides move to Arrakis from Caledan. There the players have the most freedom to be what they want.
Click to expand...
There are no psionics in Dune. This is the major misconception people have about it. There is Spice-induced prescience and the Bene Gesserit trainings, which are often interpreted as psionic but are actually explained in quite different ways.
 
TristramEvans said:
I think I heard a month or so ago a new Dune game is coming out in the next year.

I don't recall if it was 2D20 or 5E...
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It is 2D20, and I play tested it. Unfortunately, I have to abide by the non-disclosure contract.
 
Trippy said:
There are no psionics in Dune. This is the major misconception people have about it. There is Spice-induced prescience and the Bene Gesserit trainings, which are often interpreted as psionic but are actually explained in quite different ways.
Click to expand...
You interpret prescience as something other than psionics?
 
Trippy said:
There are no psionics in Dune. This is the major misconception people have about it. There is Spice-induced prescience and the Bene Gesserit trainings, which are often interpreted as psionic but are actually explained in quite different ways.
Click to expand...


Next you'll tell me the books didn't have super sonic fighting words....
 
Jonathan Hicks said:
I'm considering a new sci-fi game and I'm a huge fan of Dune and the universe it resides in. I'd like to run a game in Herbert's creation but I also have my own Dune-inspired setting that I'd like to do some work on.

Regardless, my question is this - as a player, what would you expect from a Dune-inspired game? Would you like to take part in the struggles of the Great Houses? Specialise in a Guild, CHOAM or one of the other orders, Mentat or Bene Gesserit et al? Be a smuggler, a freedom fighter?

Would you like to experience the games the Houses play, or just exist on the edges and have your own adventures while the big players have their wars? How much would you like to be involved in the main plot?

It's a few questions, I know, but I'd love to know what gamers want from a Dune game.
Click to expand...
So many questions that can be answered with an "yes":thumbsup:.
 
Trippy said:
There are no psionics in Dune. This is the major misconception people have about it. There is Spice-induced prescience and the Bene Gesserit trainings, which are often interpreted as psionic but are actually explained in quite different ways.
Click to expand...

This is true. In the books the Spice-induced prescience of the Bene Gesserit and the Guild Navigators are very pointedly not psionics. They are functionally similar but in reality work quite differently. The David Lynch film and its game adaptations really muddied the waters further by making Spice-induced abilities Psionics and calling them that.
 
Torque2100 said:
This is true. In the books the Spice-induced prescience of the Bene Gesserit and the Guild Navigators are very pointedly not psionics. They are functionally similar but in reality work quite differently. The David Lynch film and its game adaptations really muddied the waters further by making Spice-induced abilities Psionics and calling them that.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the people of the Imperium probably call them "witchery", which hardly helps, either.
 
AsenRG said:
To be fair, the people of the Imperium probably call them "witchery", which hardly helps, either.
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That was the point though. The Bene Gesseret cultivate superstitions in the masses, to explain things about themselves and other mysteries, which are not actually supernatural. They do this to create political power for themselves. Big theme in the book.
 
TristramEvans said:
It really depends when the game is set, in regards to the chronology of the books. The setting of God-Emperor is vastly different to that of the status quo at the start of the first novel.
Click to expand...
This bears repeating. However I will add that if you are playing in the "classic" era (the first book) there is a definite feudal feel. The Guild monopoly on space travel and the sheer expensive (implied) would ensure that most people never leave their home planet. Interplanetary travel seems a lot more involved than plotting a quick course in your little freighter and hitting the hyperspace button.
 
Stars Without Number is the perfect system for a Dune-style game. You can easily limit the psionics available to give you the right mix.

edit: I hate autocorrect
 
Hey! What's wrong with playing a giant caterpillar-fetus-mutant! I really want to play such an character now...wait...didn't one of the SW games have rules for playing Hutts?

Anyway, on a more serious note. I just finished rereading Burning Sands Jihad again, and while it is a fantastic take on BW and Dune, I think it's utility would be limited as it is built basically to emulate the events of the first book only. Not saying you couldn't work with it to do something else, but it would take some work.

EDIT: The other one, Chronicles of the Imperium is much more expansive, though the system is clunky IMHO. Last Unicorn Games tried hard but I don't think the system would emulate the Dune experience very well.
 
CRKrueger said:
You interpret prescience as something other than psionics?
Click to expand...
Yes. It not anything to do with the ‘power of the mind’ affecting reality, as much as having one’s perceptions opened up as a result of taking spice. The idea of prescience being psionic is directly refuted in the dialogue of the book.
 
The new game, without disclosing anything I think, may well be set in the time just before the events of the first book. Then again, they may have different eras in it - possibly via supplements?
 
SirFrog said:
Stars Without Number is the perfect system for a Dune-style game. You can easily limit the psionics available to give you the right mix.

edit: I hate autocorrect
Click to expand...
Along the same lines Traveller would work pretty well.
 
Trippy said:
That was the point though. The Bene Gesseret cultivate superstitions in the masses, to explain things about themselves and other mysteries, which are not actually supernatural. They do this to create political power for themselves. Big theme in the book.
Click to expand...
I know, you're kinda talking about one of my favourite SF series:shade:!
But the perception of it being witchery won't help most players to see it as non-psionics. Although, now that I think of it, the Bene Gesserits are pretty much monks, in D&D terms:grin:!

Séadna said:
Along the same lines Traveller would work pretty well.
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Of course, Dune is pretty much guaranteed to have been a major inspiration:thumbsup:!
An something like Traveller or the OOP Dune book would be what I'd use if I run Dune. Amusingly, it also had its own kind of lifepaths:tongue:!
 
On a side note, when talking about Traveller, that other inspirational series, Asimov’s Foundation, is also coming to Apple TV I think in the New Year.

....aaaand....it looks like Modiphius are starting to put some previews up for the new Dune RPG - in their free house magazine - with Preorders opening in December.

In short, the game will allow you to create characters and Noble Houses to which they will belong. You will be able to play spies, sword masters, Mentats, advisers, Bene Gessrit, Fremen etc. It will be set specifically on Arrakis during the Imperium era. Yes, it is the 2D20 system - and you’ll be able to buy custom dice and limited edition covers based on Noble Houses, along with GMs screens and journals. The book will be full colour and 336 pages. Not sure what follow on supplements there will be.
 
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For running a Dune-esque game you need to duplicate the massiveness of a single planet's presence in a galactic civilization. The planet Dune (and if you make one of your own) is irrefutable and its overpowering importance has hardened the universe into the few space-faring civilizations which can cope with this.
However one approaches creation of the campaign world reflection on how the one important planet turns the entire cosmos into fits has to be nailed down. Characters are always reflected in their relationship to the dominating planet.
The effects used by the source material is well known and read. The GM's task when they pick up the Dune Gauntlet is how to impart that massiveness into a gameable expression. And that is why I would use Classic Traveller cause I find a campaign of this "flavor" would take much thought to come up with something worth playing.
I have made, and this is probably unnecessary and misguided, a Dune-inspired campaign the elusive unicorn of my gaming ambitions. I wait for the day when the idea gels and I scream "I got it!" and start scribbling some notes. I mean, you gotta come up with something cooler than psychotic-narcotic spice which allows you to fold space and well, you get the picture. Tall order. Another place where I don't think a system is going to save you. It is going to take a lot of passion and vision from everyone at the table to not be lame.
 
cryptkeeper said:
For running a Dune-esque game you need to duplicate the massiveness of a single planet's presence in a galactic civilization. The planet Dune (and if you make one of your own) is irrefutable and its overpowering importance has hardened the universe into the few space-faring civilizations which can cope with this.
However one approaches creation of the campaign world reflection on how the one important planet turns the entire cosmos into fits has to be nailed down. Characters are always reflected in their relationship to the dominating planet.
The effects used by the source material is well known and read. The GM's task when they pick up the Dune Gauntlet is how to impart that massiveness into a gameable expression. And that is why I would use Classic Traveller cause I find a campaign of this "flavor" would take much thought to come up with something worth playing.
I have made, and this is probably unnecessary and misguided, a Dune-inspired campaign the elusive unicorn of my gaming ambitions. I wait for the day when the idea gels and I scream "I got it!" and start scribbling some notes. I mean, you gotta come up with something cooler than psychotic-narcotic spice which allows you to fold space and well, you get the picture. Tall order. Another place where I don't think a system is going to save you. It is going to take a lot of passion and vision from everyone at the table to not be lame.
Click to expand...
"Without this one planet...the universe as we know it, ends. Not with a bang, but with the whimper of dying Navigators, Nobles whose age catches with them, planets suddenly getting cut off once generational ships become the only mode of transport and the cultures, which the Bene Geserit maintain somewhat unified, splitting in as many ways as the number of systems.
And this is all one planet. There's no other like it and no synthetic spice has ever worked. No Dune, no Imperium. Now, show some reverence to Dune's desert, where the source of all life is located, will ya?"
 
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