Know then that it is the year 10,191. The Known Universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The Spacing Guild and its navigators, who the spice has mutated over 4,000 years, use the orange spice gas, which gives them the ability to fold space. That is, travel to any part of the universe without moving.
Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you — the spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.
A piece of News that I came across in the last week (though it was announced 2 weeks ago) is one that I have to share with everyone here.
The news is simple: DUNE IS GETTING AN RPG!
And not only that, but it’s the master license, meaning that they’ll be able to use both the book universe and anything that gets added via the movie tie-in that’s coming in 2019. And I am EXCITED! Partly of course because of the fact that Dune is finally getting a (hopefully good) RPG, as it is a beloved franchise, but the people doing it are Modiphius Publishing. If you do not know them, they’re the ones behind a lot of famous RPGs, like Conan, Achtung Cthulhu, Tales of the Loop and most recently the Star Trek Adventures RPG (which was reviewed HERE by Linda Whitson).
So what does this mean?
Well, I’m guessing we’ll get more information on each of the noble houses Harkonnen and Atreides, but hopefully, we’ll get more than just those. Personally, I hope we get to see more of the Ordos, but they were a later addition to the Dune universe by Westwood Studies, for their Dune game, where they were introduced as a third faction. Barring that though, I hope to see more of the nobles houses that are mentioned in the various books, especially the houses involved in the League of Nobles. (Though I’d really like to see all of them).
Just as with the noble houses, I expect to see more details on Calladan, Giedi Prime, and Kaitain (the seat of the Golden Throne and the Padishah Emperor’s power). There will, of course, be more details on Arrakis/Dune itself, that I’m sure of, but again, I’m hoping to see more of the universe itself too, even if that’s not within the confines of the Core Book.
Faction-wise, I guess we’ll see the noble houses, the Navigator’s Guild, Fremen (maybe they’re part of House Atreides, depending on when it takes place), as well as of the Sardaukar/Emperor’s Forces. But I’m hoping to see some of the more obscure references too, like the Tleilaxu and of course the Bene Gesserit themselves.
I do believe, however, that they’ll make this a class-less game (though that’s a guess of my own), as I don’t think it’d be very easy to squeeze the various factions, houses and so on, into the boxes normally filled by class-games. There are no immediate advantages to this at least that I can see, so I’m hoping it’ll be a skill-based system. I expect there will be some form of limiting factor, whether that is faction, descent, or background.
And speaking of background, I fully expect that this is one of those games that’s likely to feature some pretty high-level politics. At least the universe itself seems to lend itself to that, with a strong undercurrent of religious beliefs (like Muad’dib being a prophesied figure, the hand of God). And finally… We must see Shai-hulud, the worm! And the harvesters and ornithopters!
Similarly, the question is whether we will see new dice introduced here. My gut feeling says no, and this is because historically Modiphius has stuck to the classic dice (whether that is the d20set or d6s), but if we do see a new dice-mechanics, I hope it’ll take the approach of going with the narrative element, especially since that’s a strong current wave in modern RPGs.
In short, I for one, cannot wait to see what they come up with. 🙂
Kim Frandsen
Latest posts by Kim Frandsen (see all)
- Finder’s Archive – Crypt of the Eternals - June 2, 2023
