The Reviews. Episode 19 – Big Al reviews Dune (audio version, for real this time)

The RPG Academy: Faculty Meetings

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The Dune: Adventurers in the Imperium roleplaying game takes you into a far future beyond anything you have imagined, where fear is the mind killer so be sure to keep your wits about you. The Imperium is a place of deadly duels, feudal politics, and mysterious abilities, noble Houses politic constantly for power, influence, and vengeance in a universe where a blade can change the fortunes of millions. Build your House, carve your place in the universe or rebuild an ancient lineage and fight for the Imperial throne.

Art and Layout

From the beginning of the book, I was impressed with the art. A dark, epic flavored science fiction setting and adventure. The problem is that as you progress into the book, the art starts to become monotonous. Everything is shades of brown, and nothing is in sharp definition.

The result of this is a dreamy, epic, dark feel, but it does, or for me at least, become stale. So much so that approximately two-thirds through the book I really started having to remind myself, “Hey, you need to check out that piece of art.” Otherwise, I found myself glazing over these breaks in written content without a second thought. Now, it is worth mentioning that with my constant self-reminders I did actively review a handful of images that were very well composed, including an interesting interpretation of a knife fight with shield technology. It’s just unfortunate that I had to actively look at those images rather than having them jump off the pages.

When it comes to layout, I am very impressed with how the book is organized, and how and when they chose to interrupt text with art, and asides. The aside text boxes which are placed in very appropriate places to draw your attention to specifics serve to break up the text along with the art. I struggle with RPG books in general. It’s a lot of information and most of it is dry to one degree or another. It’s refreshing to read an RPG book like this one that is clearly consciously designed to break the monotony of dry text.

The last minor shortcoming in the book is one that is relevant to the vast majority of RPG books and to which there is no solution and that is how the elements of the RPG are presented sequentially in the book, aka chapter order. Dune starts out with a focus on lore, which is fantastic, but once we get into the rules of the game, and how different pieces of the game interact, it stumbles, as most if not all RPG books do. The reality is that there simply is not a perfect order to address the elements of the game. The unfortunate effect of this though is that some sections of text only become clear chapters later when other elements of the game are considered. Small quibble, and no solution.

Taking all this into consideration, I am giving the Art and Layout of the Dune: Adventures in the Imperium RPG book a solid B. I’ve seen better, and I’ve seen worse.

Art and Layout rating: B

Fluff

The book starts with an emphasis on the lore behind the setting. Through to page 84 we get an extremely concise, captivating, and thorough exploration of the history of the known universe. This would be enough for a B+ if the book stopped there. But it does not.

At first that seems to be all the setting/story background you will receive, but when you get to Chapter 9 – Allies and Adversaries – you get what amounts to another substantial slice of lore, in the guise of potential NPCs and Houses that may play a part in your own adventure within the Dune universe.

This is nice for two reasons. First, its fun as a fan of the source material, Frank Herbert’s Dune (and to varying degrees the other adaptations of that source material in film and video games) to see things like the stats for Duke Leto Atriedes, or the twisted mentat Piter De Vries. It may not be necessary to your game to any degree, and further you may want to step outside that source material to tell an entirely original story, but having that information, is just plain cool. Outside of fan service, however, this chapter is equally important to someone completely new to the universe of Dune, because it does function to flesh out the lore and the setting even beyond what’s already accomplished in the beginning of the book.

This hidden cache (not truly hidden, but somewhat unexpected), is such a delight that my initial fluff rating of B+ is increased an entire grade to A+.

Fluff rating: A+

Crunch

The crunch of this game is where I struggled most in reading, retaining, and understanding the book. The mechanics of this 2d20 system are both pleasantly simple and yet simultaneously confoundingly difficult. The system is designed for a lot of flexibility, which is nice in theory and in practice.

But getting to the “in practice” aspects is as intimidating and difficult as the system is simple in theory. Let me be frank – I am still mildly confused about how this system works. I understand it, but at the same time I find myself losing my grip on that understanding even as I type this.

The system is a narrative heavy system. This is generally a feature I consider a positive and not a negative, but in the case of Dune it really functions a bit as both. Scope is always a tricky thing when you look at a game in terms of design. Some games are designed for high fantasy. Games where in it does not really make sense to have joke-y or lackadaisical characters. These are Lord of the Rings games and not Acquisitions, Inc games. Some games provide enough flexibility to do both (Dungeons & Dragons, generally).

Then there are games that not only fall into one category – say high fantasy science fiction, but then within that one category subsequently divide into other subcategories. Dune starts with an idea of high fantasy science fiction. If you know the source material, you already know this. If you don’t know the source material, then you know this by the end of the first section of the book that deals primarily with lore.

This is the easy part of the game design. Then it gets complicated.

Dune is designed to allow for both intimate gaming and gaming on an incredibly massive scale. The only impediment becomes yourself, or rather your gaming group. Finding the right gaming group for this is not going to be as simple as it is to find the right D&D gaming group. It will be more than a mesh of compatible personalities, it will extend into finding a mesh of compatible philosophies, compatible goals (beyond simply enjoyment).

The crunch allows for this because of its flexible nature. But that flexible nature becomes a potential trap, a mechanism that can paralyze a game as easily as it can propel the game forward.

The balance is difficult to conceptualize, and I fear difficult to achieve as well. Which is why I find myself reluctantly giving the crunch a C+. I want to like it more than I do, but I can not overlook the pitfalls that are built into it.

Crunch rating: C+

Final thoughts and overall rating.

My overall impressions of Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, are positive. I would give the book a B+ overall. It scratches a particular itch which may be difficult to verbalize without first being introduced to the source material of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and subsequently loving that source material to some degree or another.

But as a fan of Dune, I can emphatically recommend you pick up this book. How you use it and the plethora of ancillary books that Modiphius has already announced and/or indicated will be made is going to be a personal preference. But regardless, if you are a fan of Dune, you do need this book.

But what if I’m not a fan, Alan?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

If you are not already a fan of Dune, I would ask of you this – Would you like to play a game that mixes the high fantasy of Lord of the Rings with the exotic flavor of Star Wars? If the answer is yes, then you need this book.

Once more, when all is said and done, I do think this book is going to be a positive addition to your collection of RPGs, but most especially if you are already a fan of the source material.

Overall rating: B+

~ Big Al, the Lawyer.

A big thank you to Modiphius for sending us a digital copy for this review.

Head over to Modiphius’ store and order your copy today

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The Dune: Adventures in the Imperium roleplaying game is based in part on the Frank Herbert Dune novels as well as other related media. It is sub-licensed to Modiphius from Gale Force Nine. Nathan Dowdell is the lead designer of the game which uses a custom version of Modiphius’ 2D20 system.

Alan “Big Al” Nicholas lives in the desert of West Texas where finding a good RPG group is as difficult as finding water. When he’s not looking for a new RPG Kickstarter or an online RPG group, he can be found prosecuting crime as the Ward County attorney or traveling with his wife to his daughter’s volleyball games. He can be found on Twitter at @bigalthelawyer or on the RPG Academy discord valiantly but vainly defending the Snyderverse.

Comments and Feedback are always welcome.
Thanks!!

~Michael

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