Back in the summer of 2021 I had the tremendous fortune to be among the players chosen for an attempted campaign of Modiphius' then-new roleplaying game, Dune: Adventures In The Imperium. As happens all too often in online games, the gamemaster vanished without notification and we players were left to wonder whether they would ever return. Just under two years later, I find myself wanting to build off the ideas I promoted in that now-defunct game and begin a new Dune campaign of my own. The spice must flow!

Dune: Adventures In The Imperium is the sort of game that screams for characters who are competent and compelling, so it is my intent that players will create theirs to be on a par with those from the Dune saga (whose game-related stats may be found in Chapter 9 of the core rulebook). Likewise, the players' House will be on a comparable level with those from the saga (in game and setting terms, the characters serve and belong to a House Major). All options presented in the game line as of this writing will be available to players.

The architect of Dune, Frank Herbert, named his focal House, Atreides, after one of the legendary dynasties of antiquity (rulers of House Atreides were alleged to be direct descendants of Agamemnon and Menelaus, respectively the kings of Mycenae and Sparta in Homer's The Odyssey). Drawing on similar albeit historical inspiration, the characters' House will be named Maccabees after the leaders who led a revolt against Seleucid religious tyranny. Descendants of those leaders would found the Hasmonean dynasty of classical Judea.

One of House Maccabees' domains will be Faith, as Judaic culture under the Hasmoneans was a reaction to the Seleucid suppression of Jewish traditions. House Maccabee's ultimate, secret agenda is preparation for Kralizec, the apocalyptic final battle between good and evil (the Buddislamic equivalent to Armageddon or Al-Malhama Al-Kubra). The second will be Military, the primary aspect of this centering on the House's elite soldiery, named the Widow's Sons after the Biblical martyrs from 2 Maccabees. I liken them to the Scottish Black Watch or Israeli Sayeret Matkal.

Anyone care to join me on this journey?

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 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabees
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabean_Revolt
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty

 ~ https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Kralizec/XD
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Malhama_Al-Kubra

 ~ http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/19287
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeret_Matkal
 ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Watch

This message was last edited by the user at 05:27, Mon 27 Mar 2023.

My parish has been studying Maccabees for Lent, so I'd be interested in seeing how this story unfolds. Since the player house has already been created, will the players be involved with creating the rival house and the player house principals?

Players will each create their own original character, although the House's ruler is a non-player character. I expect there to be a fair amount of intrigue within the House, as in Hasmonean times there was considerable conflict between those who embraced Greek influences (the Sadduccees) and those who rejected them (the Pharisees). Given its ties to ancient Greece, House Atreides will factor into the overall story in ways big and small. The late Lord, Herod, favored the House's pro-Atreides faction... though it is whispered that, on his deathbed, he bid his wife and successor, Lady Salomé, eschew foreign influence and embrace tradition. (I'm blending bits of Hasmonean and Herodian dynastic lore here, as both had queens named Salomé.)

I have borrowed ideas for House rivals and conflicts from the Deuteronomistic history of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Jeremiah as well from ancient historical records or scholarly exegesis of same. A creative utilization of anachronism provides oodles of meaty ideas just stemming from Hasmonean difficulties with the Essenes and Samaritans alone! The decisive split between Jew and Samaritan is thought in some circles to have occurred during the Hasmonean period. Stir in elements from the fifth- and sixth-century Samaritan revolts against Byzantium, and all sorts of fun are just ours (well, mine at least) for the taking.

Understood; you've eschewed the player-GM collaboration aspect of house creation. Honestly, I think that's half the fun of creating characters in Dune, allowing the players invest time in developing the house their characters will serve.

Admittedly I leapt headlong and wedged myself in Shai Hulud's craw doing research, rare that my faith and ancestry gel so wonderfully as the basis for a game, but there is always room for change in any collaborative effort. Oh, and before I forget, here are the salient parts and pre-gen characers from the quickstart for anyone who doesn't own the rulebook:

 ~ https://www.sendspace.com/file/h7nx02

In reply to Davy Jones (msg # 4):

For what it's worth, I've personally never seen a collaboratively-designed game work on RPoL: someone always does the vanish and leaves the highly bespoke thing with a missing leg, causing it to slide over and die.

@Alyse: what kind of rating were you thinking for this, and is there any relationship to any canon?

In reply to tibiotarsus (msg # 6):

I plan to rate the game Adult unless I have players who object. Everything written by Frank Herbert and his literary heirs forms the basis of canon for this game, but such is the nature of player agency in roleplaying that canon may be bent or broken... much as it might in a game of Pendragon. Much will depend on the era in which we choose to play. Defaulting to the game's starting date of ten years before the events of the first novel yields different results than opting to start it ten years after.

Ah, yeah, I don't do Adult.

Maybe put in the original post that the era is up to the interest check, since different people might want different things/would assume you've chosen, since you've chosen the House?

Wildly cool concept, I wish you the best of luck with it.

I default to Adult because I prefer mature players. For me it has nothing to do with graphic content.

In my experience, the Adult rating mostly attracts deeply immature way-over-18s who think anything goes: I've seen GMs on this site literally describe their own choice to exclude thoughtful and mature 17-year-olds as "laziness" spawned by not wanting to make decisions on not-outrageously-horrific content. For anyone with PTSD relating to the kind of things you don't let the 17-year-old private see or the usual meaning of "Adult Entertainment",  that's a deeply unsafe environment, both for that person and any fellow players' enjoyment.

Anyway, it's not my place to advise you, and no shade intended: this is just an opportunity to consider the perspective that people showing up at an Adult game will want the Adult content advertised, and that people that don't trust internet strangers with that kind of content will avoid it due to the rating. I shall get off your thread before pulling it too far from the pointand leave you to some - heh - very hot Adult fun time.

I read Herbert's original three books way, way back when they were new. Also saw the David Lynch adaptation. So my grasp on subsequent canon is pretty weak. Will you summarize the highlights before chargen begins?

You can probably get better summaries of the various novels from http://dune.fandom.com/, but for the setting overall I will have seventy pages of material for those who need them. Massive spoilers for the novels, of course.

I was part of that Dune game back in 2021. Would be great to finally give the system a run.

Sadly, though, I'm with tibiotarsus on this - if you could see your way to making it a mature rating rather than adult, I'd be keen to get in on this.

Do you have any sort of overarching theme/storyline planned at this point (assuming we can discuss that in this thread - I can't recall if that's off-limits or if it's just character discussion that's taboo)? In that older game, we had a very specific long-term goal laid out right off the bat, which I felt was helpful in establishing a character concept and determining a character's initial goals and motivations.

While I like the idea of a rich setting for its own sake, it would be good to have something to build towards right off the bat.

(Those in my own games are quietly cursing me for my hypocrisy at this point, by the way.)

I think the era best suited for the game is roughly contemporaneous with the Prelude To Dune prequels, taking place slightly more than one generation before the events of Dune. We could easily use materials from Agents Of Dune and Masters Of Dune should the players wish to try their hand at managing the spice trade on Arrakis. Also, keep in mind that Lady Salomé presides over a House in the throes of factional politics and intrigue.

I'd be interested in giving this a shot, would let me get some use out of my pdfs.

As several folks have voiced† a preference for a Mature rating, I shall make that our rating in lieu of Adult. Kindly walk without rhythm to this link to a message in another game to request access. Mods, please close this thread at earliest convenience.

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† — Couldn't resist the Dune pun, sorry.