Dune Dénouement

If a licensed roleplaying game is based around a big story, the question is, how does its publisher address that story? Does it ignore it in favour focusing upon the setting instead? Does it incorporate it into the roleplaying game and make it a feature? The problem being that the events of the big story are inviolate and no matter what the players and their characters do, they cannot change them. Does this then undermine character agency? The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings from Free League Publishing sets its stories between the two pillars of the intellectual property it is based upon, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, giving it a sixty-year window in which a campaign can be set. Similarly, Green Ronin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: A Game of Thrones Edition, based on George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series is set a century before the events of the books. Victory Games published multiple scenarios for James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty’s Secret Service, most of them quite tightly based on a particular film, but written in such a way that if the players followed the actions of James Bond in the films, their characters would fail. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game, published by Modiphius Entertainment, does all of these—and more, for it has a more difficult path to tread.

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game enables the players to create characters who are members of a noble house and roleplay them as they work to improve the fortunes of their house. Those fortunes are bound up in Arrakis, the desert world that is the source of the Spice Melange that underpins the economy and structure of the Known Universe. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune began their story with a big ‘what-if?’. What if the Player Characters’ was appointed control of Arrakis instead of House Atreides and so supplanted House Harkonnen? The consequences and ongoing story were explored in Masters of Dune, but with the Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook, the players, their characters, and the campaign collide head on with the events of Dune—as depicted in the book and on screen—and ride that sandstorm all the way through to the unleashing of a great change. Their story will weave in and around the secret compact between the Emperor and House Harkonnen to unseat House Atreides, the rise of Muad’Dib, the fall of the Imperium, and the Jihad that followed. The Player Characters cannot change any of these events through their actions, but what they can do is explore some of the consequences to what happens on Arrakis that would otherwise take place in the background, participate in them, in the process tell their own story. That is their agency.

The Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook requires some set-up if run as a sequel to Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune and Masters of Dune. The Herald of Change will come to the Player Character’s house and announce that the Emperor has awarded stewardship of Arrakis to House Atreides. This still sets up the events of Dune since House Harkonnen hates House Atreides and the Emperor can use that hatred to destroy a rival. The Player Characters will also maintain a presence on Arrakis, though no longer a major one, and will likely have formed a relationship with House Harkonnen—whether as allies or enemies—especially if their house replaced the Harkonnens in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune. The relationship between the Player Characters and House Harkonnen, and possibly with the Emperor himself, is important throughout the plot of the Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook. This is because it is one way in which the characters—and more importantly, the players—are forced to make choices that do not adhere to the plot of the novel as the characters are only aware of the obvious events rather than the secret events. So, what the Player Characters are aware of is that House Atreides has lost and House Harkonnen has won, and thus the question is—even though they as players know that Paul Atreides has survived—who does their house ally itself with? And then in the aftermath of the fall of House Corrino, how closely and openly do they ally with the new Emperor?

Fall of the Imperium consists of four parts which will take the Player Characters and their House from the Imperium through to the Ascension of Paul Muad’Dib. It opens with ‘The Gathering Storm’ with the replacement of House Harkonnen as the siridar governor of Arrakis by House Atreides and with the perceived weakening of the Harkonnens, House Ecaz seeks the Player Characters’ aid in taking its revenge for a past feud. Here, for the first time, there appears a theme that runs throughout the campaign—making alliances. There is always a choice of choosing between an alliance with or against House Harkonnen, but this like so many of the other choices throughout the campaign is never morally black or white. There are always advantages and disadvantages to any choice that the Player Characters have to make, which will extend from their dealings with House Harkonnen in the opening and middle parts of the campaign to their interaction with Emperor Shaddam IV in its climax and Emperor Paul Muad’Dib in the aftermath. Either way, the Player Characters will initially discover evidence of House Harkonnen’s stashing away Spice, but there is little that they can do with the information before events get out of control as the Player Characters trace a killer in the desert—with the unexpected help of the Spacing Guild—all the way to Kaitain. Yet before the Player Character can do anything with information they have gained, they return to Arrakis and get embroiled in the swirling mass of Harkonnen troops, backed up by the Emperor’s dread Sardaukar, as they assault House Atreides on Arrakis.

If ‘The Gathering Storm’ funnels the Player Characters down onto Arrakis in a maelstrom of death and destruction, ‘Muad’Dib’ opens up both the campaign and the Known Universe. As House Harkonnen takes control and then ever tighter control of Arrakis, the flow of Spice lessens and house after house is forced to look to other sources. In their hunt for a secure source, the Player Characters will find themselves visiting a variety of locations, such as a ski lodge, where when assassins strike, they will have to escape via ski bikes in James Bond style! The other way in which the campaign opens up is strategically, as play switches to Architect mode, the Player Characters directing house agents on a variety of missions. Although not discussed, these are easily expanded so that the players could roleplay these missions rather than handling them as straightforward dice rolls. After the Player Characters gain proof of how extensive House Harkonnen’s coverup of its Spice mining and reportage, they find themselves the subject of Imperial interest. This is nasty fraught situation and there is no option in terms of what to do with it, as the Player Characters find themselves entertaining the Emperor’s most dangerous representatives—Count Fenring and Lady Margot—and even negotiating with Baron Vladimir Harkonnen!

Events hurtle towards a climax as the flow of Spice from Arrakis dwindles and the Landsraad Council is divided over what to do about House Harkonnen’s growing mismanagement of Arrakis. The failure forces everyone to act, the Emperor coming directly to Arrakis and the Player Characters manoeuvred into intervening on their own. ‘Fall of the Imperium’ will culminate in the scenes in the Imperial throne room as Paul Maud’Dib confronts Emperor Shaddam IV and reveals himself as Duke Paul Atreides. The campaign takes an interesting change of tone as a regime change institutes a degree of uncertainty in how the Imperium works. Loyalties old and new are tested again and again as the old order faces a whirlwind of change, part of its fuelled by the new Emperor’s desire for revenge. In turn, the Player Characters are ordered to enact that revenge on an ally, scour the old Imperial capital in search of art, secrets, or people—or a combination of all three before the jihad falls upon it, even clear their names. If the Player Characters have more choice in this last part of the campaign, then their actions have more consequences, potentially leading to their own deaths or even the destruction of their house.

Rounding out Fall of the Imperium is ‘Adventures in the Era of Muad’Dib’. This is guidance on running and playing Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game in the era of the new Emperor. This includes advice on portraying Paul in this period, on what the altered priorities are of the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild, and the role of Paul’s new faith. This is represented mechanically by a faction template for the Qizarate and a number of associated Talents. The advice for the Game Master highlights the dangers of the Jihad, the autocracy of Paul’s reign as Emperor, and the possibilities of conspiracy and counter-revolution. The advice short, but solid, and doubtless, a whole supplement could be devoted to this. There are also some scenario hooks for the Game Master to develop.

The is very much a book of two halves, one half consisting of acts one and three—‘The Gathering Storm’ and ‘Fall of the Imperium’—and other half acts two and four—‘Muad’Dib’ and ‘War Across a Million Worlds’. In ‘The Gathering Storm’, the Player Characters are being pushed towards history and then in ‘Fall of the Imperium’, they are riding its waves, whereas in both —‘Muad’Dib’ and ‘War Across a Million Worlds’, they have far more freedom to act. The consequences are greater, especially in ‘War Across a Million Worlds’, but they do have more freedom to act. Similarly, in ‘War Across a Million Worlds’ the writers have greater freedom in their writing, no longer quite hemmed in by the plot of the novel. Whereas in ‘The Gathering Storm’ and ‘Fall of the Imperium’, the Player Characters are constantly coming up against that plot, encountering events portrayed in Dune, but at a distance or being involved in events that take place offscreen. The latter are more effective then the former, but in places it feels as if the Player Characters are there to witness what was not explicitly written down. The worst example of this is the attack on the sietch by the Sardaukar in which Paul’s first son, Leto, is killed, which the Player Characters are forced to accompany. There is almost nothing that the Player Characters can do to change the outcome, effectively meaning their agency is undone by plot immunity. Fans of Dune may well enjoy having their characters present at many of these scenes, but too often they feel like exposition that only serves to highlight the difficulties of writing a campaign set in and around the events of a great novel.

Physically, the Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook is very well presented. The layout is clean and tidy and the artwork is excellent.

The Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook is an ambitious attempt to do the impossible—write a roleplaying campaign based on the events of the seminal novel that the roleplaying game is based upon. Fortunately, that ambition is fulfilled and the result is a campaign, that at its best, is often morally difficult and full of challenging situations, which takes the Player Characters through the events of Dune and beyond. At its worst though, are the situations with a lack of agency which relegates the characters and their players to the role of spectators. Nevertheless, if the Player Characters and their House survive the events covered in the Fall of the Imperium Campaign Sourcebook, then they really will have awoken.

Screen Shot XII

How do you like your GM Screen?

The GM Screen is a essentially a reference sheet, comprised of several card sheets that fold out and can be stood up to serve another purpose, that is, to hide the GM's notes and dice rolls. On the inside, the side facing the GM are listed all of the tables that the GM might want or need at a glance without the need to have to leaf quickly through the core rulebook. On the outside, facing the players, can be found either more tables for their benefit or representative artwork for the game itself. This is both the basic function and the basic format of the screen, neither of which has changed all that much over the years. Beyond the basic format, much has changed though.

To begin with the general format has split, between portrait and landscape formats. The result of the landscape format is a lower screen, and if not a sturdier screen, than at least one that is less prone to being knocked over. Another change has been in the weight of card used to construct the screen. Exile Studios pioneered a new sturdier and durable screen when its printers took two covers from the Hollow Earth Expedition core rule book and literally turned them into the game’s screen. This marked a change from the earlier and flimsier screens that had been done in too light a cardstock, and several publishers have followed suit.

Once you have decided upon your screen format, the next question is what you have put with it. Do you include a poster or poster map, such as Chaosium, Inc.’s last screen for Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition or Margaret Weis Productions’ Serenity and BattleStar Galactica Roleplaying Games? Or a reference work like that included with Chessex Games’ Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune or the GM Resource Book for Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu? Perhaps Or scenarios such as ‘Blackwater Creek’ and ‘Missed Dues’ from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition? Or even better, a book of background and scenarios as well as the screen, maps, and forms, like that of the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack also published by Chaosium, Inc. In the past, the heavier and sturdier the screen, the more likely it is that the screen will be sold unaccompanied, such as those published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment for the Starblazer Adventures: The Rock & Roll Space Opera Adventure Game and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG. That though is no longer the case and stronger and sturdier GM Screens are the norm today.

So how do I like my GM Screen?

I like my Screen to come with something. Not a poster or poster map, but a scenario, which is one reason why I like ‘Descent into Darkness’ from the Game Master’s Screen and Adventure for Legends of the Five Rings Fourth Edition and ‘A Bann Too Many’, the scenario that comes in the Dragon Age Game Master's Kit for Green Ronin Publishing’s Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5. I also like my screen to come with some reference material, something that adds to the game. Which is why I am fond of both the Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune as well as the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack. It is also why I like the Gamemaster’s Toolkit published by by Modiphius Entertainment for use with Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, the roleplaying game based on the novels by Frank Herbert.

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Gamemaster’s Toolkit comes with a four-panel screen and a Game Master booklet that contains tools and advice on running a campaign for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium as well as adventure hooks, intrigues, and more. The screen itself is a sturdy affair, as is standard for the hobby today, but in portrait format rather than landscape. This is not as easy a format to use, plus it does have a much imposing presence at the table. The front of it depicts a map of Arrakis, or rather the known map of Arrakis at the time of the events of the novels. So, the northern polar region around Arrakeen and Catharg with the surrounding shield wall and The Great Flat, Funeral Plain, and Habbanya Erg to the west and the Deep Desert to the east. Done in sandy shades of yellow and brown with the startling blue of the polar ice cap at the centre, it is an imposing presence at the table. On the inside, the outer left panel list Skills, Drives, Traits, difficulty levels, and the skill test procedure, whilst on the inner left panel summarises the use of Determination, challenging Drives, how to add to the Game Master’s Threat pool, and the uses of Momentum. The inner righthand panel covers the rules for conflict and the attack sequence, plus the costs for spending Advancement Points, whilst the outer right panel has sections for creating NPCs on the go and generating story hooks. Throughout, every section has a page reference number so that the Game Master can check for further details or an explanation in the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium core book. Overall, there is a clear and pleasing simplicity to the Game Master’s Screen, and it is easy to read and use.

The Game Master booklet expands upon the chapter on being a Game Master in the core rulebook, first suggesting the types of conflict that the Player Characters might be involved in a scenario for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. These include humanity versus nature, humanity versus civilisation, humanity versus tradition, humanity versus other humans, and so on. It supports these with eighteen different story seeds each of which includes a dramatic hook, an immediate call to action, locales, what is at stake, and the nature of the opposition. For example, in ‘Forgotten Vendetta’ under Kanly or humanity versus other humans, the Player Characters’ House may find itself the target of Kanly from a Minor House over an ancient and otherwise forgotten slight and a War of Assassins has already begun or in ‘The Star Pilgrims’ under Wilderness Survival for humanity versus nature, there is a race on to locate and investigate a crashed starship recently uncovered from the sands—just how old is it? No stats are provided and the Game Master will have to develop them into something playable, but they are good starting points.

To help the Game Master, the ‘Adventure Generators’ is a set of tables to create all of the elements of a scenario. This starts with title structure, key character type involved, location, object or animal, concept such as revenge or calamity, and institution or group. Following this are tables for a starting point for the adventure, involving the Player Characters and an enemy, before revealing the plot and identifying the antagonists and their aim. Further tables throw in problems and obstacles, a hidden hand behind the plot, and the supporting cast and NPCs. It is suggested that this is then mapped onto an intrigue map, with tables further tables given to detail the NPCs. All of this is supported by a really good example of how an adventure generation works which can easily be adapted to the Game Master’s campaign. All the Game Master has to do is supply names and stats and the plot is ready to play.

In addition, Game Master booklet includes four Intrigues as both inspiration and ready-to-develop examples. These dive into the conspiratorial aspect of the Known Universe, including the Bene Gesserit’s Missionaria Protectiva attempting to craft a new superstition with which to manipulate the Fremen, the Bene Tleilax scheming to obtain the secrets of the Bene Gesserit breeding programme, investigating the low yields of spice recovery from the harvester cleaning crews, and the Ixians attempting to scavenge the remains of an ancient spaceship. The latter could be tied back into the earlier ‘The Star Pilgrims’. The Locations add three example places that the Game Master can add to her campaign. They include a smuggler base, a sample House which serves as an information broker on Arrakis, and a House-run passenger spaceship. These nicely detailed, complete with full NPC stats, and again fairly easy to insert into a campaign.

Physically, the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Gamemaster’s Toolkit is well presented. The screen itself is sturdy and easy to use, whilst the Game Master Booklet is clean and tidy and easy to read. If there is an issue, it is that the Game Master will need a bag in which to store its various parts and not lose them!

The Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Gamemaster’s Toolkit is a solid resource for the Game Master. The screen will always find a use, whilst the contents of the Game Master booklet is really something that the Game Master will dip into as necessary and as an addendum to the Game Master advice in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. This can be as direct inspiration using its almost ready-to-play content or as a series of prompts for the Game Master’s imagination.

Allies & Arrakis

In an alternate timeline of the Known Universe, House Nagara was awarded the fiefdom of Arrakis and not House Atreides. It thus gained both the right to mine the Spice melange that can only be found on that one world and which powers the Known Universe and the greater enmity of the previous holder of the fiefdom, House Harkonnen. This is a giant ‘What if?’ scenario explored in the massive boxed set, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune, published by Modiphius Entertainment for use with Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, the roleplaying game based on the novels by Frank Herbert. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune also asked several other questions. What if the transfer of power was peaceful rather than necessarily fractious and partially contested as seen between House Atreides and House Harkonnen? What if the reason for this is the fact that House Harkonnen and House Nagara are allies? What if, despite losing control of Arrakis, it was in the best interests of House Harkonnen to help House Nagara gain and keep control of the fiefdom? Of course, despite Agents of Dune actually depicting House Harkonnen in a more sympathetic light, House Harkonnen being House Harkonnen, ultimately the transfer or at least its aftermath will not go as planned for the Player Characters and House Nagara, but ideally, at the end of Agents of Dune, they will be control of the Spice mining on Arrakis and masters, at least for the moment, of their destiny. This is where Masters of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune begins.

Masters of Dune is a complete campaign for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. It is a sequel to Agents of Dune which put the Player Characters and House Nagara in charge of the most important substance in the Known Universe and sees them plot, intrigue, entreat, and investigate potential allies and enemies in an ongoing effort to maintain their control of the Spice flow. Fail, and House Nagara will lose wealth, reputation, and honour—at best. At worst, the House might be disposed and broken, its peoples and former holdings the possessions of House Harkonnen. At best, the House will rise in estimation of one or all of the Emperor, the Landsraad, the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Fremen. There is even the possibility that House Nagara could build enough status, power, and most important of all, allies to challenge the Emperor himself! That though is a possibility only explored in a sidebar in Agents of Dune and would send the campaign off in a very different direction. Although Masters of Dune is written as a sequel to Agents of Dune and thus for use with House Nagara and its pre-generated Player Characters, it need not be. Masters of Dune can be run without a playing group having roleplayed its way through and with a playing group creating a Great House and Player Characters of its own and substituting both for House Nagara and its members. However, to get the most out of Masters of Dune, the group should ideally have played through Agents of Dune, either using House Nagara or one of their own creation. This is not just because of the emotional investment that the players will have in their characters and their characters’ House after playing Agents of Dune, but also because Agents of Dune will prepare them for the plots within plots of the story of Masters of Dune. One lesson learned from Agents of Dune is ‘trust no-one’ and that is going to be true of Masters of Dune also. The other important lessons for a playing group preparing to play Masters of Dune is that the players and their characters need to be proactive, they need to look for motives beyond what is obvious, and they need to look for allies.

Masters of Dune does not need anything more to play than Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. It is even suggested that it could be run using just Dune: Adventures in the Imperium: Wormsign Quick-start Guide, but this is not really recommended given the amount of detail and extra rules needed to help the campaign flow. That said, Sand and Dust: The Arrakis Sourcebook will be useful for extra detail, especially the scenes involving the Fremen.

At the heart of Masters of Dune is a set of Influence Indices. These are Honour, Imperial Support, Landsraad Support, Military Power, Ruthlessness, Spice Production, Wealth, and Sietch Korba Trust. The latter is important in one particular scenario of the campaign, whilst the rest are important throughout. Each Index runs from -5 through 0 to +5. These mix reputation and other factors, and will rise and fall depending upon the actions and decisions of the Player Characters. For example, Wealth might fall because the Player Characters need to purchase a particular item to present to a potential ally and so gain a favour and improve their House’s standing with them. In addition, a sperate chart tracks Spice production over the course of the campaign and there are checkboxes to indicate that the Player Characters have gained the favour of the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild. The latter two indicate possession of one-off favours owed by either faction. Either the Player Characters have it, and if they do, once used, they will need to do something else to regain that favour. These Influence Indices need to be tracked throughout the course of the campaign, the current state of Spice Harvesting especially at the end of each chapter of the campaign, so that there is an ongoing need for some bookkeeping throughout Masters of Dune. Not complex bookkeeping by any means, but it is necessary.

The structure of Masters of Dune is not linear. It consists of nine chapters and begin with the first chapter and end with the ninth. In between, the other seven chapters can be played in any order or in some cases, not at all. As newly appointed fief holders of Arrakis, House Nagara and thus the Player Characters have been placed in a position of great trust by the Emperor and to some extent the Landsraad and the Spacing Guild. Yet it is also a precarious position, most notably because House Harkonnen covets the wealth and the position itself and wants the fiefdom back, but also because no other faction truly knows if the Player Characters can ensure that the Spice can flow. So, as well as working to prove that House Nagara can do so, the Player Characters will often find themselves looking for allies. This means visiting other worlds—Geidi Prime in an attempt to parley with House Harkonnen, Kaitain to win the favour of the Emperor or those of the other Great Houses, and even to Wallach IX to court favour with the Bene Gesserit or simply into space itself to deal with the Spacing Guild. These two encounters are interesting in themselves because both the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild are notoriously neutral when it comes to the power politics of the Known Universe. Except, of course, when Spice production is threatened.

Other chapters are more reactive in nature, for example, if the Player Characters have weakened themselves and their House too much, their enemies will attack the House’s facilities on Arrakis, and if successful, could lead to the destruction of House Nagara, or more likely, drive it off Arrakis and out of control of Spice production. It is possible to continue the campaign if this happens, but it becomes all the more challenging for both the players and their characters. If it comes to pass, it will probably signal—or at least hasten—the end of the campaign. Another takes the Player Characters offstage and puts them in direct contact with the Fremen, shrinking the scale of the story down to just one location rather than encompassing the whole of the Known Universe. If it seems to the players that this story—at least on the campaign’s grand scale—is not as relevant, its events and those of the Player Characters do have the potential to influence the course of the campaign and its outcome, although in small ways.

The scope and scale of Masters of Dune telescopes in and out over the course of the campaign. The Player Characters will find themselves attending a lot of formal events, most frequently dinner parties, but there are audiences with the Emperor and operas to attend, but also targeting criminal gangs on Arrakis and hunting for saboteurs. The Player Characters will find themselves questioned as to their actions and having to justify themselves as well. Just as there are many factions that they cannot trust, there are factions who do not trust them and whose trust they have to earn. For example, the encounter with the Spacing Guild includes a scene which echoes that between the Emperor and the Third Stage Guild Navigator in the David Lynch version of the film from 1984, which then leads to a completely unexpected set-up and means of gaining the Spacing Guild’s favour. For the most part, all of the individual chapters are well done, with clear explanations of the situation at the start and possible outcomes at the end. Only the final chapter feels slightly rushed it climaxes in a confrontation between House Nagara, House Harkonnen, and the Emperor. Ultimately, even it does feel as if the authors are taking the Game Master and her players on a grand tour of the Known Universe, Masters of Dune presents a set of plot threads that the Game Master can weave in response to the directions and actions of the players and their characters.

Physically, Masters of Dune is very well presented. The writing is good and it is easy to read and for the Game Master to run. The artwork is also very good. However, the cartography is more relational than representative, showing connections to areas rather than mapping them out, so making them very bland. Worse still is the editing. Too many ‘page XX’ references and in one case, a whole page being printed twice.

As a sequel to Agents of Dune, Masters of Dune is exactly what the Game Master wants. It picks up where Agents of Dune left off, opening up the linear plot of the massive starter set to give greater agency to the players and their characters in interacting with the great and the good of the factions of the Known Universe, whilst still providing the Game Master with numerous means by which those factions can react to the actions of the Player Characters and act accordingly. Agents of Dune takes the Player Characters to places both expected and unexpected, has them face challenges major and minor, and ultimately confirm their place and the place of their House in the Known Universe. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Masters of Dune is a great sequel to Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune and a campaign worthy of the setting.

Assaying Arrakis

Arrakis is the most important planet in the Known Universe. From it flows the Spice Melange, and thus the power to control the Imperium. Spacing Guild navigators consume it in vast quantities to be able to fold space and thus ensure the interstellar travel and trade that underpins the Landsraad, the alliance of Houses Great and Minor, and CHOAM—or Combine Honnette Ober Advancer Mercantiles—which controls all trade and contracts across the Imperium, including that of Spice. The Bene Gesserit uses give their Sisters the gift of foresight and so pursue its own program even as it is advises Houses Major and Minor. To those that can afford it, Spice is a means to prolong life and delay aging, and for the noble houses, which means being able to plan and bring to fruition plots that take generations to bring about. The Emperor holds the key to extracting Spice, for it is within his gift to grant Arrakis and the right to extract Spice to the House of his choosing. It is both a gift and a curse, for although it will make the House occupying Arrakis rich, the House must ensure the Spice continues to flow even as rival Houses plot to undermine their efforts, smugglers shift Spice from under its nose, and very environment of Arrakis—endless dessert, high temperatures, and sandworms hundreds of meters long which can swallow a spice harvester whole—threaten to disrupt and undermine their operations. Then there are the Fremen, the mysterious inhabitants of the deep desert, secretive and insular, who have their plans for their world, ones which do not involve the Emperor or the governing House, and for which they only await the right sign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is, as the title suggests the sourcebook for the world known as Dune for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game based on both the recent films and the fictional universe and novels originally created by Frank Herbert. The supplement provides an overview and details of the world of Arrakis, its history and geography; the Fremen and their history and culture, as well as new character Archetypes and Talents; the ecology of the Sandworm and how to ride them; and the secrets of Spice, how it is harvested, and its effect upon the Known Universe, plus Spice-related Talents. This is all supported by new campaign ideas and frameworks and a scenario.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook starts with the planet itself and its history, which given the secrecy of the Fremen is little known and consequently there are few details here and the supplement is more about Arrakis as is, rather than as was. That said, there are suggestions for using Arrakis as a setting in the different Eras of Play for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, though again, these are only briefly touched upon. More detail is given to the various locations in the cities of Carthag and Arrakeen and the roles they play in the setting. For example, the Conservatory Garden at the Residency in Arrakeen is initially presented as a gift to Lady Jessica, even though it is a sacrilegious waste of water, but it actually becomes a blueprint for the greening of Arrakis. All of the various locations are accorded plot hooks, rumours, and a suggested encounter or hazard for the Game Master to develop. Primarily intended for The Imperium, The Ascension of Muad’dib, and Era of the God Emperor Eras of Play, these locations are neatly done whilst leaving plenty of space in both cities for the Game Master to add her own content. The nature of the desert and how it changes as Muad’dib’s reign and that of his heirs progress, and beyond, is explored in detail. This broadens the options for the earlier discussion of the different Eras of Play.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune. It is also the sourcebook for Fremen, revealing further details of their history, culture, and outlook after that given in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. This covers their oral history, their attitudes to live and death, plus of course, the importance they attach to water. Interesting here is the inclusion of the Jacurutu, a tribe massacred for stealing water and reviled ever since, such that their sietch is a taboo place. Descendants of the Jacurutu are included as an option for Player Character Fremen, which would have to be kept secret otherwise they would be an outcast. This inclusion adds a wrinkle in the otherwise uniform nature of the Fremen and perhaps the supplement could done with more of this to add a little more variety here and there. Fremen technology is examined in detail, noting the high degree of its craftsmanship and including Fremen Stillsuits, the feared Crysknife, and the Deathstill which is used to extract the water from the dead, as well as the Distrans Bat, domesticated bats used to record and send messages over long distances. Rules also cover worm riding, whilst the section on ‘Fremen and Outsiders’ covers their attitudes and dealings with various factions on and off world. This is useful whether the Player Characters are Fremen themselves or outsiders to make contact or deal with the Fremen, so helpful for the Game Master and her players. The section on playing through the period of the reign of Muad’dib, more tightly focuses on The Ascension of Muad’dib Era of Play and the changes that the Fremen undergo, both culturally and spiritually.

For Fremen Player Characters and NPCs, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook adds a table of life Events, new Foci—such as Desert Navigation, Fremen Culture, Pottery, and Stillness, new Fremen Templates including Naib, Fedaykin, Sayadina, and Ecologist. Bolstered with new Talents, many of which are Fremen specific, ranging from Chosen of Shai-Hulud (skilled worm rider), Crysknife Master, and Desert Walker to Tooth Crafter (craftsmen who make the crysknives), Water Wisdom, and Ways of Ichwan Bedwine (Fremen oral history), this is where there is some variation between Fremen. A set of tables allow the creation of sietch, including size, influence, and reputation. There is advice here on the roles they can have in a campaign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune and Fremen. It is also the sourcebook for the Spice itself and this even includes Spice-related Talents like Spice Refinement, Enhanced Lifespan, Shortening the Way, and Voice of the Inner dark. Many of these require the consumption of Spice. The focus though, is on the physical nature of Spice and effects, where it comes from and how it is extracted, and the ramifications of all of this. In particular the need to balance the time spent extracting Spice and the inevitable arrival of a sandworm which threatens the loss of equipment and workers and extracting and smuggling Spice without attracting the attention of the planet’s governing House or any Imperial oversight. It should be noted that all of the factions on Arrakis, and not just the actual Smugglers, smuggle Spice, for there are always willing purchasers. Suggested roles are given for a harvesting crew which lends itself to what would literally be a very dirty campaign, the Player Characters having to deal with the stress of harvesting as well as the difficulties and intrigues of rival harvesters, criminal and smuggling gangs, and the all too ready to take a bribe authorities.

Campaign support covers the culture life and communities of Arrakis, including artists, mercenaries, and engineering, as well as locations where they might be found, and numerous NPCs. These include Bounty Hunter, Craftsperson, Fremen Craftsperson, Fremen Sayyadina, Market Seller, Mystic, Ornithopter Pilot, Spice Manager, Spice Worker, and others, plus factions such as Bankers, Courtesans, Criminals, Importers, and Manufacturers. Campaigns specific to Arrakis include Spice Smugglers, Imperial Agents, Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Guerrillas and Revolutionaries, and Explorers of the Old Empire. Each of these is supports the Game Master in their own way. The NPCs include named examples that the Game Master can bring to her campaign and a scenario hook; each faction includes a campaign inspiration; and each of the more detailed campaign frameworks on Arrakis includes suitability for the different Eras of Play, suitable Archetypes, and notable Assets, Factions, and Antagonists. In the case of the campaign inspirations and the frameworks, the Game Master will need to develop these further, but she is given two far more detailed campaign outlines as well. ‘Shadows on the Sand’ sees a group of smugglers, descendants of House Richese, the former governors of Arrakis which had all but bankrupted itself in extracting Spice before the fiefdom was taken away from them and given to the Harkonnens, attempting to survive and smuggle spice whilst keeping its true identity a secret. There are some interesting ideas here that the players and characters to see the story of Dune from a different viewpoint. ‘The House of Heslin’ is about a House Minor attempting to establish and run a merchant operation in Carthag and so establish itself on Arrakis. This will probably involve more intrigue and interaction within the city than the other campaign set-up. It would have been interesting to add a similarly developed third campaign idea here, one focusing on the Fremen rather than outsiders as the other two do.

Rounding out Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is the scenario, ‘The Water Must Flow’. Set during the governorship of House Harkonnen, a drought triggers riots and leaves the Player Characters’ House with insufficient water to pay the Water Tax to the Harkonnens. As rioters swirl around the city, they are forced to attend a feast hosted by another House Minor, this one allied to House Harkonnen. There, they may be able to find a way of negotiating a solution to their own House’s situation. What they do find is a friendly face—although how far that can be trusted is another matter—which suggests investigating the recent hijacking of a carryall with a delivery of water. The trail will lead into deadly plot in in Carthag’s many shadows and then out into the nearby desert. It is a solid scenario that can easily be run as a sequel to ‘Harvesters of Dune’, the scenario from the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game core rulebook.

Physically, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is a nice-looking supplement. It is well written, and it includes some decent artwork, although sadly, not every Archetype is illustrated. One issue with Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is that there are no maps. So, no maps of Carthag and Arrakeen, the only cities on the planet, and even no maps of the planet itself. All would have been useful, although there are no maps of either city upon which the writers can draw upon within the canon itself. The lack of a map of Arrakis is even odder, since they do exist and this is a world sourcebook.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not lacking in content, but it does leave the reader wanting more in places. Primarily this is in the history and future history of Arrakis and its importance in the Known Universe, their descriptions underwritten in comparison to the default period of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium—the decades before the accession of House Atreides to the fiefdom. Here is where Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook comes alive and gets interesting, providing support and ideas for campaigns involving Spice harvesting and smuggling in particular, and the Fremen to a lesser extent. The background and details, as well as the Player Character and NPC options, for the Fremen, are good support for player and Game Master alike. Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is solid support for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium for it opens up and develops options for campaigns set on Arrakis.

Friday Filler: Dune: Betrayal

The social deduction game drawn from the parlour game, Murder in the Dark and the classic Russian game, Mafia, has become a fixed staple and genre of the board gaming hobby. This type of game is typically played between two teams, one hidden, one not. The smaller hidden team consist of the murderers or the traitors, whilst the larger team—amongst which the smaller team hides—consist of their victims, the ones they are going to betray or murder. It is up to the larger team to identify the murderers or traitors, as the latter try to keep their identities hidden whilst also undermining or murdering the members of the larger group. The genre reached its peak with the release in 2010 of Indie Boards and Cards’ The Resistance: A Game of Secret Identities, Deduction, and Deception, and Breaking Games’ Secret Hitler in 2016. Although, there were many releases in the genre, it is not as popular as it once was, however, this does not mean that the occasional entry in the genre is being released, such as Dune: Betrayal from Gale Force Nine.

Dune: Betrayal is a social deduction game based on the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert and the more recent film directed by Denis Villeneuve. Both universe and story of Dune are absolutely perfect for social deduction, especially one involving betrayal as the main characters in the book are betrayed from within and all but destroyed by a rival noble house. Designed for between four and eight players, aged fourteen and up, Dune: Betrayal casts the players as Nobles and Fighters of honourable House Atreides and heartless House Harkonnen. House Atreides has been awarded the fiefdom of Arrakis by the Emperor, but House Harkonnen, in connivance with the Emperor, is planning to retake and destroy House Atreides in the process. Dune: Betrayal is game of secret identities in which House Harkonnen is planning to attack House Atreides. If House Harkonnen can identify the members of House Atreides, it will greatly help in its attack and so win the game for the House Harkonnen team, but if House Atreides can identify the members of House Harkonnen, it will greatly aid in its defence and so win the game for the House Atreides team.

The game consists of a small Scoring Board, which tracks both the seesaw movement of the scoring to House Harkonnen and back again to House Atreides, and so on, five different sets of Cards, and nine tokens. The different sets of Cards consist of eight Identity Cards (four Atreides and four Harkonnen), twenty-four 24 Trait Cards (eight Atreides, eight Harkonnen, and eight Fighter), sixteen Target Cards (eight Attack and eight Defend), thirty Action Cards, and eight Reference Cards. Each Identity Card gives the character’s name, rank—noble or fighter, three scoring Sigils, and Special Attribute. The Sigils are Atreides, Harkonnen, All Nobles, All Fighters, and All Players. The core characters for the four-player game are Baron Harkonnen (Harkonnen Noble), Trooper (Harkonnen Fighter), Duke Leto Atreides (Atreides Noble), and Duncan Idaho (Atreides Fighter). Expanding the game from five to eight players adds more Nobles and Fighters from each side, as well as more characters from Dune.

The Trait Cards are marked Atreides, Harkonnen, or Fighter. Each player will have two in play, matching the identity of his character. Thus, Duke Leto Atreides will have the Atreides and Noble Trait Cards, whereas the Harkonnen Fighter has the Harkonnen and Fighter trait Cards. The Attack and Defend are used to target another player. Ideally, Attack Cards should be played on enemies as this will lose a player points. The Action Cards vary in effect, but all are inspired by Dune and illustrated with stills from the film. Each is marked with a Sigil matching those on the Identity Cards— Atreides, Harkonnen, All Nobles, All Fighters, and All Players. Action Cards can be played immediately, as interrupts against other Action Card, and in the first, second, or either of the two Targeting rounds. For example, the ‘Ornithopter Escape’ Card is marked with an All Fighters Sigil and acts as an interrupt to prevent another player targeting you, forcing him to either target another player or disCard the Action Card played. The ‘Harkonnen Probe Ship’ Card has the Harkonnen Sigil and enables the player to view another player’s Trait Card. ‘Mind Breaker’ has the Atreides Sigil and enables a player to view another player’s Trait if it is Shielded. Any player can draw and use an Action Card, but if the Sigil on the Action Card matches a Sigil on either of a player’s Trait Cards, they will score him points at the end of the game. However, if a player picks Action Cards based on Sigil too explicitly, then that may possibly indicate his Trait Cards and thus his identity for the other players.

At the beginning of the game, each player receives an Identity Card and Trait Cards for the Identity. These are placed face down. The identity is kept secret. Three Action Cards are drawn and placed in the middle of the table. As is standard in social deduction games, some information is initially revealed to the players, or in this case, Baron Harkonnen, who starts the game knowing who the Harkonnen Fighters are and thus who the Atreides characters are—but not which of them is the Noble or the Fighter.

Dune: Betrayal is played out in six rounds—three Action rounds, two Targeting rounds, and one Battle round. In the Action rounds, the players take it in turns selecting and playing Action Cards. The aim here is play them on the Traits of the other players and in the process reveal them, thus giving clues as to a player’s Identity. Once one player has learned a player’s Trait, that Trait Card is turned sideways to indicate that it is Shielded. A Shielded Trait can only be viewed by the ‘Mind Breaker’ Action Card. Obviously, a player will be able to learn whether the targeted player is a Fighter or a Noble, or an Atreides or Harkonnen. In addition, certain Action Cards, ‘Atreides Sigil’ and ‘Master of Assassins’, enable a player to target rival players with two types of tokens—Atreides Sigil and Assassin Tokens. Atreides Sigil Token are played on your house to protect it, Assassin Tokens on a rival player to attack it. Points scored at the end of the game for playing the Tokens varies and depends upon whether the player is Harkonnen or Atreides.

In the two Targeting rounds, players take it in turns to play their Attack and Defend cards. These are placed face down on a rival player’s Identity Card. The aim here is for the player to attack his enemies as they will lose points—especially Nobles, and Atreides Nobles in particular. In the Battle round, Identities are revealed and points are scored for Attack and Defend Cards, Tokens, and Action Cards. The team with the greatest number of points wins.

Physically, Dune: Betrayal is reasonably well presented. The rules are clearly written with explanations of how the game should be played and examples of the scoring system at the end of the game. The latter is needed as it is the most complex part of the game. Good use is made of illustrations from the film to match the Action Cards and give Dune: Betrayal much of its flavour and feel. Even then that flavour and feel is not very much. The card stock is slightly thin and may not stand up to too much handling without card sleeves.

Throughout the rules for Dune: Betrayal there are strategy notes, which primarily encourage the players to discuss with each other what they will have discovered, not necessarily explicitly or even truthfully! Thus they can lie. Plus, of course, the players do need to keep an eye on what their rivals are doing as that will potentially give them clues too. However, the game and its play feels underwhelming, especially in relation to Dune as a setting, with the keeping of Identities secret meaning that the players can only reference the characters in the film in an oblique way rather than fully roleplaying them. A much longer, and more detailed game would allow for that, most obviously with the classic Dune board game published in by Avalon Hill in 1979 and again by Gale Force Nine in 2019. Nor do any of the characters have any real special abilities that might have again added some flavour or feel to the game. Although play is quick, it does not feel it, and the play and thus the social interaction of the game is not working with very much—the Traits and the Action Cards played—in an attempt to reveal very little. So there is little for the players to build on.

There is still scope for a good social deductive game based on Dune, but unfortunately, Dune: Betrayal is not it. It is not interesting enough and it does not make interesting use of the Dune franchise. There are still good social deductive games available—the aforementioned The Resistance and Killing Hitler—are excellent examples and still very playable. There is even another game from Indie Boards and Cards, Coup, published in 2012, which might better have suited the Dune universe, certainly its artwork was reminiscent of Dune as a setting. Dune: Betrayal is at best, a game for the Dune fan to try, but even then, they should be looking at the more recent reprint of Dune and then Dune: Imperium, for a better, more thematic and interesting play experience.

A Delicate Balance

The year is 10,181. The Imperium has stood for 10,000 years under the rule of House Corrino, currently headed by Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. Balanced against him are the Landsraad, the alliance of Houses Great and Minor, whose feudal seats are granted by the Imperial house, and a combination of the Spacing Guild and CHOAM. CHOAM—or Combine Honnette Ober Advancer Mercantiles—controls all trade and contracts across the Imperium, including that of Spice. The spice melange is harvested on only one world—the desert planet of Arrakis—and bestows longevity, enhanced awareness, and prescience. Although highly addictive, it has one other property. It enables the mutated Guild Navigators to safely navigate interstellar space and thus the Spacing Guild to maintain its monopoly on all space travel between systems, for the Imperium bans the construction of thinking machines and has done so for millennia, ever since the Butlerian Jihad. Yet beneath this façade of stability, the Houses Great and Minor jockey and feud for power, such as the centuries old rivalry between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, the Great Convention preventing such feuds from breaking out into open warfare, but allowing economic wars and wars of assassins. Emperor Shaddam IV sits over it all, ready to unleash his dreaded Imperial Sardaukar, shock troops raised and trained in the harshest of environments, should the conventions be broken, a House gain too much power, or too strong a voice in the Landsraad. Four Great Schools provide services to the Emperor and all of the Houses. The Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit provide wives, counsellors, and concubines; the Order of Mentats, strategists, spymasters, consellors, and advisors capable of computer like calculations; the Suk School incorruptible and unbreakable physicians; and the Swordmasters of Ginaz, commanders, generals, security officers, and bodyguards, trained in the use of swords and other weapons capable of piercing the personal energy shields worn as protection.

This is the setting for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game, published by Modiphius Entertainment and based on both the recent film and the fictional universe and novels originally created by Frank Herbert. Using the publisher’s house rules of the 2d20 System, it enables players to take the reins of a House in the Landsraad, and as its heirs and advisors, direct it fortunes in the quietly turbulent politics of the Imperium. Perhaps they will negotiate new contracts, gain the right to harvest spice from Arrakis, form an alliance with another house, or feud with a rival house. All of these are possible in a rules system which allows the players to play at two levels—‘Architect’ when they will direct the fortunes of their house and ‘Agent’, the personal level of the Player Character. Of course, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium is not the first roleplaying game to be set within Frank Herbert’s creation, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium having been designed by Last Unicorn Games and published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000, but it does have the advantage of already being better supported. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune provided a campaign starter that offered a different beginning than might be expected in the setting, and it should be noted that by being set over a century before the start of the first novel, Dune, there is a greater flexibility in what is possible in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game.

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium begins with an introduction to the setting of the Known Universe that takes up a quarter of the book. Its primary focus is on the situation in the year 10,181, but also explains how that came about using the history and background drawn from the expanded series of novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Potentially, this history offers scope to play in different time periods, although that is not the focus of core rulebook, and in addition, the history does not push beyond the year 10,181 and the events portrayed in either Dune or its film adaptations. As well as a timeline, the background covers the major factions and balance of powers, the schools, and more. There is a degree of repetition here as the book looks at each in more depth, but this a very solid overview which will be appreciated by fans of both the novels and the films, as well as helping to cement the setting for anyone coming to Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game after watching just the films.

Playing and running Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Gamereally begins with the creation of a House, the noble family with feudal holdings around which much of the roleplaying game’s play will be directed. The choice of Nascent House, House Minor, House Major, or Great House will determine much of the framework. It will determine how many Domains, areas of interest the House will have, how many enemies, and mechanically, how much Threat (used to create problems and difficulties for the House and the Player Characters) the Game Master will have at the start of each session Apart from the enemies, who can be created on the given table, all of this is down to player choice.

House Hauteville is a renowned for its skilled military and its tacticians based on the world of Menerth III. It is also known for its diary products made on the vast upland pastures it owns, and had to protect in the past, hence its development of its military prowess. This includes its former vassal, House Indermauer, whose founders originally trained with House Hauteville, and has continued offer rival services to this day.

House Hauteville
House Minor
Primary Domain: Military
Secondary Domain: Farming
Banner: A red cow on a green background
House Trait: Stalwart (Military)
Enemy: House Indermauer (Rival)

When it comes to Player Character creation, a player decides the role that his character will take in the house. This can include the heirs, councillors and advisors, swordmasters, warmasters, and more. A player will have a main character and possibly supporting characters too. A Player Character in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium is defined by Skills, Focuses, Drives, Traits, Complications, and Assets. The five Skills are Battle, Communicate, Discipline, Move, and Understand, whilst the five Drives are Duty, Faith, Justice, Power, and Truth—both of which are rated between four and eight. Focuses represent skill specialisations, such as Deductive Reasoning for Understand or Dirty Fighting for Battle. Traits can be Talents, which make a test possible or make it harder or easier depending upon its nature. So the Bene Gesserit Talent of Hyperawareness grants a Bene Gesserit Sister the ability to ask two questions rather than one when spending Momentum to Obtain Information, whereas the Bold Talent can be selected by anyone and when used with the Battle skill, the player can additional twenty-sided dice by generating Threat for the Game Master to use, the player can reroll one of the dice in the pool. Assets include equipment, contacts, and so on, for example, a personal shield or someone in a criminal gang on Arrakis.

Although character creation can be done in play, and that process is fully detailed too, the standard process involves selecting an Archetype, which sets the base skills, assigns four focuses to the skills, three Talents, assigns the values and statements to his character’s Drives, chooses three assets which the Player Character will always have access to, and then finally, a Trait, Ambition, and any personal details. Faction templates are also available if a player wants his character to be a Bene Gesserit Sister, Fremen, Mentat, Spacing Guild Agent, or a Suk Doctor, but these are optional and a player is free to pick and choose as he likes.

The sample character is a Mentat, sponsored by the Spacing Guild to work with House Hauteville in ensuring that the house’s goods and services find markets.

Name: Benedikt Winter
Faction Template: Spacing Guild Agent
Archetype: Analyst
Ambition: To ensure the economic prosperity of my house

Skills
Battle 4 Communicate 5 (Bartering) Discipline 8 (Composure) Move 4 Understand 7 (Attention to Detail, CHOAM Bureaucracy)

Drives
Duty 8 (I serve at the pleasure the House) Faith 4 Justice 5 Power 6 (Power must be used wisely and cleverly) Truth 7 (You will know me by my deeds)

Traits: Analyst, Guild Agent
Talents: Calculated Prediction, Guildsman, Intense Study
Assets: Sapho Juice, Ixian Dampner

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium employs the 2d20 System first used in the publisher’s Mutant Chronicles: Techno Fantasy Roleplaying Game and Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, and since developed into the publisher’s house system. To undertake an action, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of a Skill and a Drive. Each roll under this total counts as a Success, an average task requiring two successes. Rolls of one count as two Successes and if a character has an appropriate Focus, rolls under the value of the Skill also count as two Successes.

In the main, because a typical difficulty will only be a Target Number of one, players will find themselves rolling excess Successes which becomes Momentum. This is a resource shared between all of the players which can be spent to create an Opportunity and so add more dice to a roll—typically needed because more than two successes are required to succeed, to create an advantage in a situation or remove a complication, create a problem for the opposition, and to obtain information. It is a finite ever-decreasing resource, so the players need to roll well and keep generating it, especially if they want to save for the big scene or climatic battle in an adventure.

Now where the players generate Momentum to spend on their characters, the Game Master has Threat which can be spent on similar things for the NPCs as well as to trigger their special abilities. She begins each session with a pool of Threat—equal to the number of players if their characters’ House is a Minor one, but can gain more through various circumstances. These include a player purchasing extra dice to roll on a test, a player rolling a natural twenty and so adding two Threat (instead of the usual Complication), the situation itself being threatening, or NPCs rolling well and generating Momentum and so adding that to Threat pool. In return, the Game Master can spend it on minor inconveniences, complications, and serious complications to inflict upon the player characters, as well as triggering NPC special abilities, having NPCs seize the initiative, and bringing the environment dramatically into play.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but offers more options in terms of what Momentum can be spent on. This includes creating a Trait or an Asset, or taking advantage of one in the situation, either of which can then be brought into the combat, and keeping the initiative—initiative works by alternating between the player characters and the NPCs and keeping it allows two player characters to act before an NPC does. It takes in various forms, scaling up from duelling and skirmishes to espionage and warfare, taking in intrigue along the way. These are supported by descriptions of the various assets which the Player Characters can bring into any one of these conflict types. Where Dune – Adventures in the Imperium differs from other 2d20 System roleplaying games is the lack of Challenge dice, and instead of inflicting damage directly via the loss of Hit Points, combatants are trying to defeat each through the removal of Assets and attempting to create—cumulatively—Successes equal to or greater than the Quality of the task or the opponent. Minor NPCs or situations are easily overcome, but difficult situations and major NPCs will be more challenging to defeat and will require extended tests.

In addition, a Player Character has access to Determination, typically a point at the start of an adventure. Determination is used in conjunction with a Player Character’s Drives and their associated statements, and when spent, a point of Determination can be used to set a die automatically to one, to reroll dice, create a new trait, or take an extra action. However, if the action is at odds with the statement attached to a Drive, then the Game Master can force the Player Character to comply or challenge the Drive and its statement. Compliance means that the Player Character suffers a Complication, unable to overcome the Drive, but Challenge means the Player Character can act freely, but leads to the loss and use of the statement, at least temporarily. It can be recovered, but with some difficulty. Either way, the Player Character gains a point of Determination.

What Determination highlights here is the degree of nuance in the combination of Skills and Drives for each Player Character, a Skill often being used over and over again, but the how and the way being determined by the Drive. A Player Character will have a greater chance of success if his highest Skill is combined with his highest Drive, representing the best that the character can do and for what he believes to be the best of reasons. However, even shifting away to another Drive, because it is more appropriate, for example, Duty versus Faith, may well mean that the Player Character is still as skilled, but not as personally motivated.

Overall, the iteration of the 2d20 System in the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium lies at the simpler and easier end of its implementation. It is not as simple as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, but is roughly on a par with Star Trek Adventures.

For the Game Master, there is advice on setting up and running a game, the type of campaigns possible, managing the types of conflict in the game, as well as on running a gaming with safety and comfort in mind. It pays particular attention to bringing key aspects of Dune as a setting—faith, prophecy, prescience, and hyper-perception, all versus the freedom they can be often seen to impinge. It is solid advice throughout, and there is further support of stats for the major figures in Dune—Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Paul Atreides, and more. They take in the Atreides household, plus notables of House Harkonnen and House Corrino, amongst the Fremen on Arrakis. Alongside the notables, there are sample NPCs and Houses that the Game Master can more easily be brought into her campaign, and advice on creating them too. Many of the NPCs come with story hooks too. Rounding out Dune – Adventures in the Imperium is the adventure, ‘Harvester of Dune’, in which the Player Characters are assigned to check on their House’s fiefdom on Arrakis. What they discover is trouble, deceit, and betrayal. It is a solid enough affair, and could be easily become the starting point for a campaign.

Physically, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium is cleanly and tidily laid out. The book is well written and easy to read. The artwork throughout is excellent as well.

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game is very much pitched at the fans of Herbert’s novels, but provides enough background and explanations that the more casual player, intrigued after the seeing the more recent film, could better understand the setting to play in it. And this is all done whilst focusing on one period within Dune’s millennia long future history and avoiding the more immediate future history of Frank Herbert’s novels. From there, it builds the means to create campaigns played at dual scales—the personal and the epic, and involve intrigue, espionage, warfare, and more, whether that is down some dirty alley or at a grand ball, at a reception for an Imperial envoy or across the sweeping deserts of Arrakis. Overall, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game takes an incredibly rich and detailed setting and makes it impressively accessible and playable.

A Differing Dune

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune is built on two key factors. One is that you begin playing as soon as you open the box. Two is an enormous, ‘What if?’. Subtitled a ‘Roleplaying Campaign Experience’, it is both a starter set and more than a starter set for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, the roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment based on the novels by Frank Herbert, set in the far future of the year 10, 191 during the reign of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. This is an Imperium of great and noble houses—and some not so noble, that feud, jockey, and politic constantly for power, influence, and vengeance. It is a future where the Bene Gesserit, a mysterious sisterhood guides and advises the emperor and every house from the shadows, yet has a secret agenda of its own; where thinking machines have been outlawed and replaced by the human computers known as mentats; and where interstellar travel is monopolised by the Spacing Guild whose navigators, heavily mutated by the spice drug melange, fold space and enable instantaneous travel from one system to another. The spice drug melange is found on only one planet, Arrakis—or Dune—and since it is vital interstellar travel and commerce, control of the spice mining on Arrakis can make a house incredibly wealthy and it is within the power of the Padishah Emperors to both bestow and withdraw this gift. It is with this set-up that Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune begins.

Open up Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune and the first thing you see is a ‘Read This First’ pamphlet. This does five things. It addresses the players and their characters directly, first explaining to the Player Characters what is happening and what they are going to be doing, in the process giving them agency, before explaining what is going on to the players, essentially that this is not the Dune they might be expecting. It also details what is in the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune box and what all of the components are—and there are a lot of components. This is a packed box. It also provides a rules reference on the back page. It is not the only rules reference in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune, but to be honest, more is better. Lastly, it guides the Gamemaster about what steps to take getting ready to run the first of the scenarios in the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune ‘Adventure Book’, which is immediately beneath the ‘Read This First’ pamphlet.

The next component consists of five, full colour, character folios. Each of these has been carefully designed in terms of its presentation. So on the front there is an illustration and description of the Player Character as well as a reason why a player might choose to roleplay that character. Inside is an introduction to the Known Universe in the year 10,191 which is standard to all five of the character folios, and then background and details for the Player Characters. They include two nobles, brother and sister, one a duellist, the other a diplomat; plus a Swordmaster, a Mentat, and a Bene Gesserit Spy. On the back of each, just like the ‘Read This First’ pamphlet, is a rules reference.

Below this is a Momentum and Threat Tracker (Momentum is spent by the players to gain certain advantages for their characters, whilst the Game Master spends Threat to give them to her NPCs), a Spice Harvesting Tracker, three handouts, a sheet of counters, a double-sided map for the campaign, a double-sided duelling and negotiation positioning map, a set of five twenty-sided dice, a pack of plastic stands, and a pack of cards. The latter contains images and stats of every item, NPC, and Player Character in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune. The great thing about the NPC and Player Character cards is that as much as they are intended to be used as references, they can also be slotted into the plastic stands and then used as figure standees to show that NPC or Player Character is on a map or the position that he has taken up on the duelling and negotiation positioning maps when they enter play. Beyond the limits of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune, most of these physical components—the Spice Harvesting Tracker, the counters, the duelling and negotiation positioning maps, the dice, the plastic stands, and most of the cards will prove useful in an ongoing Dune – Adventures in the Imperium campaign. The handouts are decent and done on sturdy paper, but the particular delight of the three is a pamphlet which the Player Characters are given as soon as they step off the shuttle onto the planet which gives them an introduction to Arrakis. It is pleasingly immersive. Lastly, there is one extra thing in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune and that is a copy of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. Or rather there is a code for the PDF. Either way it is fantastic extra, because what it does is enable the Game Master and her players to look up the rules if they want a further explanation or a more experienced group to create their Player Characters and play the campaign with those rather than the five included in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune.

The ‘begin playing as soon as you open the box’ aspect of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune instructs the Game Master to read the ‘Read This First’ pamphlet and give the character folios out for her players to choose. Once done, the Game Master reads the opening section of ‘Adventure Book’ which explains the basics of the Player Characters and the setting, plus the first decision that the players will take collectively, that is what type of house do their characters belong to. This is determined by a piece of advanced technology. A Maula Rifle and House Nagara is a military house, a Blight Scanner and it is farming house, and so on. There are five options. There is a fair bit to read out here, so a little bit of patience is required upon the part of the players, but on page, the action starts. The players are roleplaying. There is no explanation of the rules up until this point. Instead, these are explained as they come up as part of each scenario. There are details in the sidebars which in turn expand upon the rules, such as giving assistance to another Player Character; explain more about the setting, for example, why Lasguns are rarely used in the Known Universe; and to give direction advice to the Game Master, such as handing a particular card to the players.

What the ‘Adventure Book’ and thus Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune is thus providing programmed learning through play or learn as you play. This has the advantage of the rules coming into play only when the story needs it and it helps that the 2d20 System, the mechanics used for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium as well several other roleplaying games from Modiphius Entertainment are not that complex and that their iteration here are relatively simple in comparison to others. Yet there are downsides to this approach, none of them major, or indeed, insurmountable. The programmed learning and structure of the campaign means that it is linear and it is difficult to deviate away from its plot. It means that there is no one clear explanation of rules in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune, although the various reference sheets on the back of the character folios and the free copy of the PDF of the core rules counter this issue. On the other hand, the player or Game Master who has played any of the other 2d20 System roleplaying games will adjust to the rules presented here with ease.

One potential issue of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune is that its introduction is not sufficiently basic enough. Now its introduction to the setting of Dune, the 2d20 System, and Dune – Adventures in the Imperium are all fine, but it really does not have much in the way of an introduction to what roleplaying is. Both player and Game Master really need to have some idea of what roleplaying is before tackling Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune because it does not start from first principles. Of course, in the hands of an experienced Game Master, the programmed nature of learning makes it easier to teach the rules and mechanics.

Dune: Adventures in the Imperium and thus Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune employ the 2d20 System first used in the publisher’s Mutant Chronicles: Techno Fantasy Roleplaying Game and Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, and since developed into the publisher’s house system. To undertake an action, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of a Skill and a Drive. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes. Rolls of one count as two successes and if a character has an appropriate Focus, rolls under the value of the Skill also count as two successes.

In the main, because a typical difficulty will only be a Target Number of one, players will find themselves rolling excess Successes which becomes Momentum. This is a resource shared between all of the players which can be spent to create an Opportunity and so add more dice to a roll—typically needed because more than two successes are required to succeed, to create an advantage in a situation or remove a complication, create a problem for the opposition, and to obtain information. It is a finite ever-decreasing resource, so the players need to roll well and keep generating it, especially if they want to save for the big scene or climatic battle in an adventure.

Now where the players generate Momentum to spend on their characters, the Game Master has Threat which can be spent on similar things for the NPCs as well as to trigger their special abilities. She begins each session with a pool of Threat, but can gain more through various circumstances. These include a player purchasing extra dice to roll on a test, a player rolling a natural twenty and so adding two Threat (instead of the usual Complication), the situation itself being threatening, or NPCs rolling well and generating Momentum and so adding that to Threat pool. In return, the Gamemaster can spend it on minor inconveniences, complications, and serious complications to inflict upon the player characters, as well as triggering NPC special abilities, having NPCs seize the initiative, and bringing the environment dramatically into play.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but offers more options in terms of what Momentum can be spent on. This includes creating a Trait or an Asset, either of which can then be brought into the combat, and keeping the initiative—initiative works by alternating between the player characters and the NPCs and keeping it allows two player characters to act before an NPC does. Where Dune: Adventures in the Imperium differs from other 2d20 System roleplaying games is the lack of Challenge dice, and instead of inflicting damage directly via the loss of Hit Points, combatants are trying to defeat each through the removal of Assets and attempting to create—cumulatively—Successes equal to or greater than the Quality of the task or the opponent. Minor NPCs or situations are easily overcome, but difficult situations and major NPCs will be more challenging to defeat and will require extended tests.

The system is intended to cover the various types of situations which can occur in a story in Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. So, individual duels, skirmishes and open battles, espionage, and social intrigue. All these, as well as spice harvesting rules are presented in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune as they appear in the story and thus come up in play. In general, anyone with experience of the 2d20 System will see that the iteration here involves more of a narrative, storytelling style of play.

In terms of setting and story, it is the big ‘What if?’ of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune which comes into play. In the novel Dune, House Atreides is awarded the fiefdom of Arrakis by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV as part of a conspiracy with former fief holder and enemy of House Atreides, House Harkonnen. A prequel to this is even explored in Dune: Adventures in the Imperium Wormsign Quick-start Guide. The ‘What if?’ though of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune asks what if the Player Characters’ house was awarded the fiefdom instead of House Harkonnen? Further, what if the transfer of power on Arrakis from House Harkonnen to House Nagara—the Player Characters’ house—was peaceful, rather than as fractious as that depicted in the novel? And what if the reason for this is the fact that House Harkonnen and House Nagara are allies? What if, despite losing control of Aarrakis, it was in the best interests of House Harkonnen to help House Nagara gain and keep control of the fiefdom? The ‘Adventure Booklet’ gives several reasons for this, but there can be no doubt that this flies in the face of almost sixty years of storytelling and of House Harkonnen never being portrayed as anything less than the villain. This puts a different perspective on matters and forces anyone familiar with the story to roleplay against their player knowledge. The campaign itself begins on Giedi Prime, home planet of House Harkonnen, with the Player Characters being trained, going through a couple of simulations, assessed by House Harkonnen trainers, all in preparation for the great shift, getting involved in some intrigue and being exposed to the terrible conditions on the planet, before travelling to Aarrakis and taking control of the fiefdom.

Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune includes five full colour character folios, representing five members, including two heirs of House Nagara, and ideally, the campaign in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ is designed to be played by five players, plus the Game Master. It can be played with less, but this does limit the specialities available to the characters and their players as a whole. If the playing group decides to instead create their own characters using the rules inDune – Adventures in the Imperium, they should ideally create characters with similar roles to those presented in the given character folios to fit the campaign. The campaign consists of three acts with three or four scenes each, which all together should provide multiple sessions’ worth of play. There is a lot of boxed text to read out, which when combined with the programmed learning of the roleplaying game’s mechanics, means that it does require a little patience upon the part of the players. For the more experienced Game Master, there are notes at the start of each chapter which break its events down and enable her to bring to play as she would normally do in any other scenario.

Physically, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune comes in a sturdy box and everything inside is superbly presented. All of the components are good quality and many of them will be useful in a Dune – Adventures in the Imperium campaign beyond the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune boxed set.

There remains the question, of course, of just who the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune boxed set is aimed at. That is not necessarily an easy question to answer. It is not quite suitable for anyone new to roleplaying as it does not explain what the basics of roleplaying are, but the programmed learning and structure of the campaign goes someway to offset that. For the experienced Game Master and group of players, the programmed learning and structure may instead be more of hindrance than a help, but with some effort and adjustment, there is nothing to prevent the Game Master from adapting it to her preferred style of running a game. For the Dune devotee though, and the player with a little experience of roleplaying and an interest in Dune, Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune, perhaps being run with the Game Master with some experience, is actually a really good introduction to both the setting and the roleplaying game. 

In the past five years, starter sets for roleplaying games have gotten better and better. It is not enough to put the basic rules, a scenario, some dice, and a link to another scenario online in a box and sell it as a starter set. A starter set has to offer longevity—it is no longer a ‘done and discard’ product. The starter set can no longer leave the Game Master and her players wondering what they should play next. The One Ring Starter Set, the RuneQuest Starter Set, and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set are all proof of that—and so is Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune. It provides the means to learn the rules and play a mini-campaign, in the process teaching the rules and the mechanics, exploring different aspects of the setting, most notably Giedi Prime, and establishing the players and their characters, and their House on Dune, ready for further adventures and intrigues—whether they are of the Game Master’s own creation or available from Modiphius Entertainment.

If a Game Master and her players have any interest in exploring the Known Universe and Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, then Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune really is the starting point that they want. Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune provides a fantastically complete and superbly appointed introduction to both the Known Universe and Dune – Adventures in the Imperium—both the setting and the roleplaying game—and lives up to its subtitle of providing a ‘Roleplaying Campaign Experience’.