Dune - Chronicles of the Imperium

[Shaakir]

Hi.
this is a topic for you roleplayers out there in the void. Has any of you played the Dune rpg, Dune - Chronicles of the Imperium?
If so, how is it? and are there any sites were gamers keep it alive, uploading their own adventures, supplements and so on?
I know it never really was released but you can not be picky when there are no alternatives.

[Shaitan]

edit: I'm a dumb ass. It's a paper game, not a computer game. Duh....

[TheDukester]

Played it, yes. There's lots of interesting ideas in there, but it requires a dedicated GM to have any sort of lasting value.

Thankfully, the credits for Spanky McDune and Neck-Bolts Herbert appear to be honorary only. They had nothing to do with the product itself, other than slamming the door behind it. D:CotI has the distinction of being one of the last third-party products ever approved by the Herbert Living Parasites.

The other problem, of course, is that it's extremely rare. There was only a single limited print run, the company was sold soon after, and soon after that, Anderprick began to exert his control over the HLP. Clearly, his first order of business was no competition.

Off the top of my head, I know of no sites dedicated to the game. As mentioned, the problem is how rare it is, which makes it 100 times easier for a group to just play some other system.

[TheDukester]

I wonder if there's a Mac version. I suppose I could always run it in an emulator/VM, but I avoid them whenever possible.

Unless I'm on the crack-pipe again, he's asking about a physical pen-n-paper product:

http://bit.ly/exuws1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SandRider]

I think I've seen that somewhere recently in .pdf ... I may even have it downloaded ...
$500 seems kinda steep for a D&D rule book, even @ "collectors" prices ...

[Shaakir]

I wonder if there's a Mac version. I suppose I could always run it in an emulator/VM, but I avoid them whenever possible.

Unless I'm on the crack-pipe again, he's asking about a physical pen-n-paper product:

http://bit.ly/exuws1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes exactly. I'm talking about pen and paper version.

[Shaakir]

yep, a friend has fixed it as a pdf. Mostly for my sake, for he knows that I like Dune. But it would be interesting to hear about the experiences people have of the game before I spend a lot of effort to read it. What is the games pros and cons?

[Freakzilla]

I wonder if there's a Mac version. I suppose I could always run it in an emulator/VM, but I avoid them whenever possible.

Unless I'm on the crack-pipe again, he's asking about a physical pen-n-paper product:

http://bit.ly/exuws1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You know, even a crackhead can be right every now and then.

[Shaitan]

Unless I'm on the crack-pipe again, he's asking about a physical pen-n-paper product:

http://bit.ly/exuws1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Duuuuhhhrrrrr, of course. Silly me. I played more D&D back in the day than I'd like to admit (at least in the company of non-D&D-playing women, which is after all about 99.999% of the ones worth having) so I should have guessed but I seemed to remember an orphaned Dune online game that was never finished so the two stories overlapped in my mind and I made an assumption. Sounds interesting....though I've found that paper-and-dice type games don't vary that greatly from one to another so I'd be somewhat annoyed to discover that it's just a Dune theme on the basic paper fantasy RPG.

[Shaitan]

yep, a friend has fixed it as a pdf. Mostly for my sake, for he knows that I like Dune. But it would be interesting to hear about the experiences people have of the game before I spend a lot of effort to read it. What is the games pros and cons?

I'd love to get my hands on that PDF!

[Shaitan]

Played it, yes. There's lots of interesting ideas in there, but it requires a dedicated GM to have any sort of lasting value.

Thankfully, the credits for Spanky McDune and Neck-Bolts Herbert appear to be honorary only. They had nothing to do with the product itself, other than slamming the door behind it. D:CotI has the distinction of being one of the last third-party products ever approved by the Herbert Living Parasites.

The other problem, of course, is that it's extremely rare. There was only a single limited print run, the company was sold soon after, and soon after that, Anderprick began to exert his control over the HLP. Clearly, his first order of business was no competition.

Off the top of my head, I know of no sites dedicated to the game. As mentioned, the problem is how rare it is, which makes it 100 times easier for a group to just play some other system.

The bit about needing a good DM is very true of paper games in general, and having players who take the game seriously helps as well. I have a hard time mustering up much passion for the classic medieval fantasy games ala D&D or even the Star Trek type paper RPGs, but I think a well done "interactive story" in the Duniverse could be a lot of fun if it was a well written script and a talented DM -- particularly if it was played with a group like the one we have here on Jacurutu! I could see actually enjoying that a lot.

[Shaitan]

$500 canuckistani dollars for a physical copy of the guide?! Holy shit!

http://rpggeek.com/geekstore.php3?actio ... mid=160126" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Omphalos]

$500 canuckistani dollars for a physical copy of the guide?! Holy shit!

http://rpggeek.com/geekstore.php3?actio ... mid=160126" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, that's the dumbass price. Go to a gamecon and track one down for next to nothing.

[TheDukester]

Well, I've never seen that happen.

This is a definite "holy grail" for the RPG set, and I've never seen it go for less than three digits in the last few years. For instance, I paid about $125 for my last copy and recently sold it for quite a bit more on eBay. And the online retailers seem to begin their pricing at $200 ...

I suppose a retailer or convention exhibitor could make an uninformed mistake and mark a copy for $20 or something — stranger things have happened. But the interwebs have helped to make everyone more informed about these sorts of things, and one effect from that is that there's fewer "ZOMG! Rare gem bought for $8!" stories every year.

[Omphalos]

Oh, is it?

Sorry, was just spouting off. Ragabash and his buddy Ryan Macklin tell me that they can get stuff cheap at gamecons, if ever I wanted something.

[TheDukester]

For like 95% of stuff, that's pretty much true. Most dealers are desperate to get rid of their RPG inventory, especially recent stuff and D&D stuff (not to mention recent D&D stuff ... yuk-yuk).

Things like the Dune RPG are just the exceptions that prove the rule. Circumstances came together to make it a rare item, that's all.

[Tleszer]

Just saw this on io9.com. It is written by Matthew Colville who was working on the Dune RPG. The article also provides a .pdf for a proposed outline for the game, as well as .pdf of the Dune Adventure.

[inhuien]

Thanks Tleszer.

[Shaakir]

There are many role-playing games that is no longer manufactured but the fans have kept on producing material themselves.
I've been in a couple of such forum projects through the years... is this something that would interest someone on the forum?
writing adventures and the like?