Why no Dune RPG?

[trancejeremy]

Well, lots of popular licenses don't have successful RPGs. And I'm not sure Dune is all that popular. It's had one movie which flopped, a couple of made for TV movies which got okay ratings for cable.

I've always been surprised there has never been a Dragonriders of Pern game. There's like a zillion unofficial ones, but I don't think there has been an official one.

 

[trancejeremy]

I've always wondered: what does one do in a Dune RPG? It's a wonderful book but I don't see a great deal there that translates as action-oriented daring-do save for some brief scenes. I could run something involving the Houses or something as a 'mini-series' but I can't see doing a sprawling campaign with it.

Sort of like a Vampire game but without the vampires, I would imagine. Lots of politics and angst and dressing in black.

 

[HellHound]

Check out Burning Sands for the Burning Wheel RPG.

It is, for all intents and purposes, the Dune RPG. It is excellent, and is almost enough to make me run Burning Wheel.

(I'm not dissing Burning Wheel - Luke's writing is on FIRE in those books, he makes me want to play right there on the spot - but my players are pretty adverse to rules-heavy games outside of D&D, and I'm not a fan of the three-stage scripting system he used for social and physical combat, but I am a HUGE fan of just about everything else in the game).

 

[Tewligan]

I have to wonder if you could actually do Bene Gesserit under D20 rules. They're so powerful, they're practically superhuman. I'd hate to be the person starting as a "1st-level Sardaukar", too.

I would make Bene Gesserit and Sardaukar prestige classes if I were trying to make a d20 Dune game.

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, lots of popular licenses don't have successful RPGs. And I'm not sure Dune is all that popular. It's had one movie which flopped, a couple of made for TV movies which got okay ratings for cable.

One could make the same argument for the Buffy franchise that began with a not-so-successful film. And yet Eden is currently publishing the licensed RPG, including one based on a Buffy spin-off, Angel.

Then again, it doesn't have to have a successful motion picture franchise.

But as was stated earlier many times, the Herbert Estate wanted too much money in order to grant a license.

 

[Dragonblade]

IRC, When WotC bought out LUG to get their hands on the Star Trek license (which Paramount promptly yanked, and which is another story altogether), they also acquired the Dune license which LUG had at the time.

LUG had just been ready to release their ICON system based Dune RPG. However, this was also when the Sci-Fi channel was releasing their Dune miniseries. Due to a clause in the contract that allowed them to renegotiate because of WotC's buyout, the Herbert estate demanded an obscene amount of money in order for WotC to keep the license. Apparently, the Herbert estate thought the Sci-Fi channel's miniseries would be more than a passing fad and decided to milk it for all their could.

WotC refused the new ridiculously high price and simply released the few ICON books they had already printed before the existing license expired.

So for those of you disappointed that the Dune RPG was short lived, blame the Herbert family greed. And yes, WotC was planning a d20 version.

 

[Greylock]

Where's the love for The Fifth Element?

Dunes, spaceships, ninjas...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or Dorsai, or Foreigner, or...

Face it- there's a lot more good fiction out there than can ever be made into rpgs...

Which is why we make our own campaigns using the RPGS we deem best.

 

[painandgreed]

I have to wonder if you could actually do Bene Gesserit under D20 rules. They're so powerful, they're practically superhuman. I'd hate to be the person starting as a "1st-level Sardaukar", too.

Well, epic level Bene Gesserit were practically superhuman, but I don't think all of them were. The first levels and all are the ones in the background that never spoke are probably of a more reasonable power level. Jessica was pretty far advanced IIRC and she could only preform a few stunts no more powerful than a sorcerer could preform.

Sardaukar would probably be a PrC for the best of the various militaries.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Check out Burning Sands for the Burning Wheel RPG.

It is, for all intents and purposes, the Dune RPG. It is excellent, and is almost enough to make me run Burning Wheel.

(I'm not dissing Burning Wheel - Luke's writing is on FIRE in those books, he makes me want to play right there on the spot - but my players are pretty adverse to rules-heavy games outside of D&D, and I'm not a fan of the three-stage scripting system he used for social and physical combat, but I am a HUGE fan of just about everything else in the game).

You should run something at Gen Con