Dune: Fall of the Imperium — Adventures in Arrakis

Dune: Fall of the Imperium, a campaign sourcebook to be used as an addition to Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, published by Modiphius Games, is an excellent addition to an already excellent RPG, providing a ton of adventures that happen concurrently with the events of Dune and Dune Messiah , allowing your player characters to interact with key characters and influence pivotal moments, placing the PC’s right alongside the action.

 

Let’s dig in.

This 114 page full color hardback supplement is meant to be used alongside the core rulebook, and takes the players through the Imperium Era to the Ascension of Muad’Dib Era. There are 4 acts, comprising 3 full adventures apiece, so that gives you 12 different adventures to take your players through, not to mention tons of story seeds that can be used to create more adventures with.

If you haven’t played Dune or any of Modiphius’s other RPGs, you’re going to have to learn a new system, the 2d20 system, but don’t worry, it’s easy. A self described “cinematic” RPG ruleset, the player rolls 2d20 with hopes of hitting equal to or under a target value. Like other roleplaying games, you typically add your result to a Skill + Drive, depending on the test. All skill tests can be manipulated via focuses, gamemaster difficulty adjustments, dice purchases, and modifying your character sheets.

Additionally, this game has a system that allows players to have multiple focuses in storytelling. Through Architect level play, the PCs use assets from a distance to achieve an objective, say commanding an army across Arrakis or activating assassins on Giedi Prime. And in Agent level play, PCs perform missions themselves, more similar to traditional TTRPG mechanics.

This leads to exciting adventures, dynamic combat, and some intense political discussions, all of which line up nicely in the Dune universe.

 

The big difference for me when I look at this game versus other systems I’ve played, is that PCs can do a lot of dice manipulation, through various systems of purchasing d20s, gaining new Drives, losing Drives, changing their focus, acquiring new assets…it makes PCs think harder about their resources, carefully planning their next move, and considering the variables of the world, versus leaving everything up to random chance. This game in particular makes it feel like every choice leads to more events and consequences down the road.

The game does a great job of allowing players to invest heavily into the backstories and motivations of their characters, allowing the GM to craft a dense story that can reach across the stars. I can see this system being excellent for fans of Dune or for players who just want something new to try out vs a traditional d20 system.

Back to the book on hand, Fall of the Imperium is an excellent way to integrate players into the main narrative. For example, when Arrakis fell to the Harkonnens, were your players helping House Atreides? How did anyone find out the Emperor was working with the Baron? Do the PCs serve themselves and their House? When Muad’Dib rises to power, do they resist? Reading through the adventures, they are extremely well crafted to allow players to have a pivotal hand in these and many more events. As a supplement, there are plenty of tables, maps, and artwork that a gamemaster can use to their advantage when helping tell the story.

If there’s only one knock I can put against this book and the core rulebook is that there’s a lot of reading and a lot to wrap your head around, in terms of conflict resolution, defining player attributes during the game, building Houses, and the level system of storytelling, but this is to be expected with a role playing system that focuses more on storytelling than crunching numbers and delivering combos of dice.

 

If you’re running Dune already, then this is a must purchase. If you are curious about playing Dune, then pick up the core rulebook and this supplement, as the scenarios are familiar to anyone who has read the text or seen the movies. Have fun journeying the galaxy, readers.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: