Any Dune conversions out there?

[Tsyr]

Yeah, like someone said... You almost buy Dune d20. It's called Fading Suns, not Dune, and it lacks some of the dune specific flavor text, but it's more or less dune... right down to the shields. Trim out some of the strange races, a couple of the classes have to go, the more advanced cybernetics, and your good to go.

 

[Noah Kolman]

Hey,

Florin, I'd be curious as to what you thought of the Last Unicorn Games Dune game. From what I understand from a few people who saw/read it, it was less than spectacular. I am a huge Dune fan, and have always wanted to play a Dune RPG, and when I first found out about the Dune game I was intrigued. Unfortunately, unless you want to pay $75+, you can't get a copy. Maybe I'll check out Fading Suns.

 

[Florin]

Honestly, I've only really paged through it, since I don't have a gaming group right now, but I know people who have played it and liked it. It needs the fleshing out they were going to give it with supplements, but those obviously are not going to come out.

It would have been worth the 30-35 bucks, I think, but then again, I'm not a stickler for having a game match novels exactly.

 

[Tsyr]

The LUG Dune book isn't bad as a conversion reference for Fading Suns... I wouldn't want to play that system, though.

Not really very well edited either, IMHO... badly layed out.

 

[Florin]

Yeah, I don't like the LUG system either. I'm going to sit down and start on some notes tonight, I think.

Does anyone have an opinion on the WotC noble vs. the Fading Suns noble? I'm leaning towards the Fading Suns one just because it's OGC, but then again, it's not like I could release a Dune RPG under the OGL anyway...

 

[Tsyr]

I prefer the Fading Suns... It's less mechanicly... fixed, I guess, would be the best way to put it.

Plus, the SW one has no Social feats

 

[Florin]

Well, looking at things, here's the class list I've come up with:

Base Classes:
Noble (probably use Fading Suns)

An Adept class for the Bene Gesserits, I think I'm going to build a lot of feat choices into it to represent the various kinds of BG that exist.

Use the Fighter/Soldier class, but rename it to Swordmaster. I'll probably up the defense rating a bit, though, since armor is not a Dune thing, except for the rank-and-file troops.

The Knave class from Fading Suns

The Guilder class from Fading Suns

The Scout from Star Wars

The Algai'd'siswai class from Wheel of Time for the Fremen

I'm really not sure what to do for the Suk. I think the Guilder class would probably work well for it.

Prestige Classes:

A Truthsayer PrC

A Guild Pilot PrC

Probably a Prophet PrC for those who want to focus on Precience.

 

[War Golem]

I picked up a copy of the Dune RPG book at GenCon 2000 (? was it 2000? my memory fails...). I didn't know anything at all about the game when I bought the rulebook, and it wasn't d20, but Dune has always been one of my favorite books/stories since I first read it as a wee lad.

I was less than thrilled. I'm going on memory here since I haven't looked at the book in a while, but there is virtually nothing in the book about Arrakis or Fremen, the 2 topics I was most interested in adapting for my D&D campaign. The book focuses primarily on the socio-political structure of the known universe, with emphasis on the Ruling Houses, and the factions such as the BG and the Guild.

I guess there's a fair amount of background info in there that a DM would find useful in running a campaign in the Dune universe, but there was very little that was immediately adaptable to a D&D game... which is almost always a primary consideration in my gaming purchases.

I recall that there was a supplement supposed to be released a couple months later that did focus on the Fremen, but LUG tanked and the planned supplements were never released... particularly unfortunate as they were already written.

p.s. sorry, Florin, I haven't picked up FS d20 yet so I can't comment on their Noble class.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I recall that there was a supplement supposed to be released a couple months later that did focus on the Fremen, but LUG tanked and the planned supplements were never released... particularly unfortunate as they were already written.

Salutations,

Yeah- it is one of those sad spots on my bookshelf.

There had a plan to follow up with books like- a gm book, a book with details on the houses, and a boxed set on Arrakis.

I am just thankful for WOTC buying LUG and getting the Dune book out the door- I think it is a beautiful book and think it is a good product. (Though, I agree with not caring for the mechanics of the system.)

FD

 

[Florin]

Well, the game was supposed to be set before Paul Atreides came into his own, with the Harkonnens still on Dune, I believe. So, doing a big write-up on the Fremen probably wasn't a good idea for the main book. Besides, my favorite part of the setting was the houses and other factions fighting.