Dune: Adventures in the Imperium RPG - The Great Game: Houses of the Landsraad Review

The Dune RPG from Modiphius does something I love: before even creating their characters, Dune players work together to create their House. The House creation immediately gives players an investment in something larger than themselves, something that can have impact far greater than any one member of the party alone, and something that persists in the game worldd, and can grow and affect that world in profound ways.

The Great Game: Houses of the Landsraad is a brief-but-mighty supplement for the Dune RPG which does many things, including significantly expanding the setting beyond Arrakis itself, detailing the major houses in the Dune setting, adding new player archetypes, and so on. But by far the biggest addition is the new (optional) House Management System, which enables players to drive their House's development in much greater detail. They can take on specific projects to build new things (Construction Ventures), or curry favour and build alliances (Boon Ventures), as well as develop their own characters in tandem (Character Ventures).

In order to do all this, the players will have to balance their Wealth, Resources, Status and Reputation, and use their House Skills and Traits to their best effect, all while trying to keep their population happy -- or at least, happy enough so that they don't let intruders or revolutionaries roll up to your palace gates. For me it adds a whole set of interesting, new mechanics to perhaps the best part of Dune, and makes the transition from Minor House to Major to Great feel truly earned.

So, if you love the Dune RPG, for me this is a must-buy. The House Management System is a home run, the setting info is excellent and useful even for those already familiar with the world of Dune, and of course new archetype and campaign options are always, always welcome. They packed a *LOT* of good stuff into these 128 pages!

Next time we'll look at Power and Pawns, the second rules expansion for the Dune RPG, which unlocks an even higher level of play -- the court of the Padishah Emperor himself!

Every quid received will go toward the production of more and better content for you fine folks :)

[TheThinKing]

I found this video looking for info on the Dune TTRPG - it seems criminally underrated at this point!

[mariodosantos]

Thinking you could take 2d20 Dune almost as is and run a A Song of Ice and Fire game with it...