Modiphius Entertainment | Dune: Standard Edition Core Rulebook | Roleplaying Game

Let me start by saying that the production values for this book are exceptional. The art work is evocative and fully captures the feel of Dune. The source material is extensive, to such an extent that there's plenty of stuff there that is new to me, and I have been a "Dune Nerd" since I first read it in 1983/4. As a Dune fan the book is worth the price just for background material and art.Which is a very good thing, because as a Roleplay Game the book is next to useless. Out of some misguided game design ideology to use one very tiny mechanic for absolutely EVERYTHING the authors have opted for a set of rules so abstract as to not even be worth the paper they are written on. And to make things worse they essentially repeat those rules 6 times; once for Core Rules, and then once each for Dueling, Skirmish, Warfare, Espionage and Intrigue. Dueling, Skirmish and Warfare are all essentially the same, with the only real difference being scale. Espionage and Intrigue are also essentially the same. But this shows the problem with the Core Rules, they are so ephemeral and abstract that they don't really tell you anything, and they have to repeat the rules with a few - very poor it has to be said - examples thrown in.The abstractness is taken to the nth degree with there being no rules for equipment, gear, weapons, armour, etc - instead choosing to call all of these things by the same name "asset"; and then giving you no guidelines at all on what an asset can actually do. You are told that players can essentially magic Assets out of thin air whenever they want, just by spending Momentum (a resource that is, in effect, never ending), but that those Assets simply vanish at the end of the scene, for no better reason than they were created in the first place.I actually like the core rolling mechanic; but the rest of the rules are so deliberately abstract and ephemeral as to be next to useless. When you do start to get your head around the rules you soon realise that they are more akin to a, badly implemented, set of rules for a Strategy / Resource Management boardgame - without the board (as having an actual board would not be abstract enough) , and not an actual Roleplay Game.As much as love the source material in the book, I can honestly say there is no chance at all I'll be running Dune using these rules, they are simply not fit for purpose.Edit: After spending 12 days with these rules, and even conversing with the Rules Author at Modiphius Forums I am even more convinced the rules, as written, are unworkable. The Author has, at times, given me three different explanations of the same mechanic, all of which contradict one another. When the game's Author doesn't even understand the rules it is a clear sign the rules just don't work.Accordingly I have amended my original 3 Star rating to 2 Stars; the ONLY thing of value in the book is the extensive background material.

First the Dune RPG is absolutely Gorgeous. The artwork throughout is excellent and the variant covers look excellent as well.A full quarter of the book is taken up with setting, so even if you haven't read any of the books you can get a good feel from everything from the Butlerian Jyhad to the Scattering. Though the focus is on the time of the original Book.It is heavy on the Narrative style with a lot of aspect drawn from the Fate system, notably the use of Assets instead of pages and pages of Equipment. This allows the players to focus on the Now instead of having to check exactly what range their Lasgun Type 42 or whatever has.The system is essentially the usual Modiphius 2d20 system with a few tweaks. The same they use for everything from Star Trek to Conan. If you have played any Modiphius game you will pick the core of it up easily. They use a few more of their ideas from Infinity for expanding it to Intrigues and Social combat but essentially they don't make you learn 5 different systems just because your players want to shift from physical combat to plotting to sabotage a dynastic wedding.The style of the game pushes you away from using violence to solve every conflict. That fits very well with the feel of the Book itself where schemes and plots were more important than the couple of set piece duels that occurred.In short if you want a beautiful, narrative game Dune is great.If you prefer lots of detailed rules and pages of equipment tables, probably not.