Quote:
Originally Posted by PK Games
Could be a good setting, but how do you do it in BRP?
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Well....
The first question is "Am I trying to run a game set in the Imperium, or is it an Arrakis game?" There's a fundamental difference in the amount of prep you'd need to do, and the focus there.
I'd come up with some cultural modifiers to represent the different major Houses of the Landsraad. Languages, customs, appearance, skills, weapons of choice, etc.
I'd narrow the existing list of professions to Artist, Assassin, Athlete, Doctor, Engineer, Entertainer, Explorer, Gambler, Hunter, Merchant, Noble, Pilot, Politician, Priest, Sailor, Scholar, Scientist, Servant, Shaman, Slave, Soldier, Spy, Student, Teacher, Technician, Thief, Tribesman, and Warrior. Some Houses might not have all of these available.
I'd come up with some "organizations" like the Suk School, Swordmasters of Ginaz, Mentat training, etc. that would serve like professions, but would include boosts to skills and offer training. Like an old RQ cult.
Characters would all be on the "highly trained" side of the spectrum. Rolling 2d6+6 for characteristics. I'd give players the option of how old they'd like to be, and have them figure out what House roles they'd like to fill before doing much more character generation. Lots of skill points available.
I'd use psychic and super powers to represent stuff like Mentat and Bene Geserit training. Other training could be handled through super powers like Super Skills, Super Characteristics, Super Senses, etc.
Clairvoyance is a Water of Life thing
Danger Sense seems like a Mentat thing
Dead Calm is Mentat training
Eidetic Memory, the same
Emotion Control is a Bene Geserit power
Mind Control is a technique of the Voice
Precognition is a power sought by the Bene Geserit
etc.
I'd throw together rules for body shields that properly represent the ones from
Dune, and would cobble together some of the basic bits of tech/weaponry specific to the world. I'd stat out ornithopters and the like, as well. The Holtzman Effect would simply a huge explosion. Sandworms would be so large as to defy stats (or I could just steal the stats for Dholes from
Call of Cthulhu, if for some reason I decided I wanted to have sandworms in my game).
It doesn't seem that difficult, actually. I can imagine that it would take a chunk of time (maybe a week or so of prep, spending an hour or two a day), but otherwise I'd readily jump into it.
At its heart,
Dune isn't a science-fiction story about spaceships and explosions and weird experiments... it's about people dealing with enormous metaphysical issues colliding with their religion, and grappling with political issues, all taking place in a sprawling setting inspired by ecological and economic issues.