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DUNE
A Dream of Rain
A Roleplaying Game of Galactic Intrigue
based on the d20 System
With acknowledgements and deepest thanks to Frank
Herbert
DUNE: A DREAM OF RAIN
DUNE:
A Dream of Rain
by Steve Medeiros
INTERIOR ART
Joseph Wigfield
COVER ART
Jeremy Simmons
IMPERIAL CONSULTANT
Ryan Shehee, Order of Valor
LINE MANAGER & MECHANICS EDItOR
Charles D. Schmendiman
PROOF READING
Sean Ross, Peer of the Realm
LAYOUT
Steve Medeiros
d20 Modern
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permission.
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Licensed Product. 'd20 System' and the 'd20 System' logo are trademarks of
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, a
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thereto in conflict with the terms hereof. The full content of this document is designated
Open Game Content
.
DUNE
™ & © 2004 Herbert Limited Partnership,
Evil Twin Games, Inc.
completely unauthorized user.
Material from
Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium
, ©2000 Last Unicorn Games, Inc. Used without permission.
Material from
Fading Suns Roleplaying Game
, ©2003 Holistic Design, Inc. Used without permission.
Material from
Iron Lords of Jupiter
d20 Modern Mini Game
, ©2003 Paizo Publishing. Used without permission.
Material from
Mutants & Masterminds
, ©2002 Green Ronin Publishing, Inc. Used without permission.
Material from
Pulp Heroes
d20 Modern Mini Game
, ©2003 Paizo Publishing. Used without permission.
Material from
Spycraft
, ©2003 AEG. Used without permission.
Material from
Star Wars Roleplaying Game
, ©2003 Lucasfilm, Ltd. Used without permission.
Material from
Swords of Our Fathers
, ©2003 The Game Mechanics, Inc. Used without permission.
Material from
V is For Victory
d20 Modern Mini Game
, ©2003 Paizo Publishing. Used without permission.
Material from
Wheel of Time™ Roleplaying Game
, ™ & ©2003 Wizards of the Coast. Used without permission.
Content
Evil Twin Games, Inc.
grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-assignable license to use, display, and print for home,
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Other People's Trademarks & Copyrights
In this document, we use the names of a lot of other games and game companies. We're not trying to claim any of their copyrighted or
trademarked materials as our own or make any money from the production or distribution of this document.
We thank them, one and all* in advance here for not suing our broke asses.
*Especially the benevolent Herbert Foundation.
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Unless otherwise noted, all content ©2000-2004
Evil Twin Games, Inc.
All rights reversed. Prosecutors will be violated.
Unauthorized reproduction, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing.
Big Bag o’ Thanks to the Authors
Frank Herbert, Peter Adkison, Richard Baker, Andy Collins, Monte Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, Bill
Slavicsek, Owen K.C. Stevens, Jonathan Tweet, John Tynes, JD Wiker, and Skip Williams
Loads o’ Thanks to Those Who Inspired this game:
David Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, Jurgen Prochnow, William Hurt, and Sting (from whom we stole the tagline).
A Dream of Rain On-Line Campaign Playtesters
Ryan Shehee, Steve “MagicMarker13” Rubio, Hedgehog39, Talmeth, ArtaXerxes, Aurora Miller, David Medeiros, Paul Scofield, Alex Orman,
Gautam Sheoran, Sean Ross, and Ari Lawrence.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The Basics
The Core Mechanic
Five: Equipment
Purchasing Equipment
Melee Weapons
Ranged Weapons
Explosives
Improvised Weapons
Armor
General Equipment
Tools & Kits
Gadgets
Carrying Capacity
Services
Vehicles
Nine: Gamemaster
Purpose of the Game
Role of the Gamemaster
Atmosphere
Style of Play
Adjudicate the Game
How to Build an Adventure
Locations
Rewards & Behavior
Structure
Setting Costs
Awarding Experience Points
How to Build a Campaign
Favors & Contacs
The Dune Universe
TheEnvironment
Catching on Fire
Starvation & Thirst
Suffocation&Drowning
Falling
Falling Objects
Poison
Disease
Acid
Electricity
AbilityScoreLoss
Gamemaster Classes
Commoner
Diplomat
Expert
Thug
Playing DUNE
A Game Session
Character Creation Summary
One: Character
Abilities
Generating & Assigning Ability
Scores
Character Classes
The Basic Classes
Level-Dependent Benefits
Armsman
Bene Gesserit Adept
Duelist
Engineer
Fremen
Knave
Mentat
Noble
Scientist
Starting Occupations
Vital Statistics
ActionPoints
Allegiances
Reputation
Wealth
Loyalty
Gaining XP and levels
Multiclass characters
Six: Combat
Combat Sequence
Combat Statistics
Combat Basics
Initiative
Surprise
Actions in Combat
The Combat Round
ActionTypes
Injury and Death
Character Condition Summary
Movement and Position
Combat Modifiers
Cover
Special Initiative Actions
Special Attacks
Vehicle Movement and Combat
Seven: Prana Bindu
Weirding Powers
New Feat:
Weirding Talent
Power Lists
Two: Skills
Skill Basics
Acquiring Skill Ranks
Using Skills
Skill Descriptions
Ten: Friends & Foes
The Creature Factory
How To Read a Creature
Description
ExampleCreatures
Supporting Characters
Ordinaries
Children
ChallengeRatings
Eight: Prestige Classes
Qualifying for an Prestige Class
Ambassador
Assassin
Bodyguard
Fedaykin
HouseLord
Infiltrator
MartialArtist
Master of Assassins
ReverendMother
Sardaukar
SukDoctor
Swordmaster
Three: Feats
AcquiringFeats
Prerequisites
Feat List & Descriptions
Eleven: Campaign
The Known Universe
The People
The Gods and Religions
The History
The Organizations
The Cosmology
The Threats
The Mysteries
Adventure Ideas
Four: Heroes
Loyalty
Factions
BeneGesserit
Emperor
SpacingGuild
Great House of the Landsraad
HouseMinor
Minor House Creation
Appendix One: Terminology
Appendix Two: Planetologica
INTRODUCTION
“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your
study of the life of Muad’Dib then, take care that you place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. And take the
most special care that you locate Muad’Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his
first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place.”
-- “Manual of Muad’Dib,” by the Princess Irulan
IN THE BEGINNING
DUNE: A Dream of Rain
is a
d20 System
game based on the novels
by Frank Herbert. While the game takes place on a galactic scale,
most of the action is set on Arrakis, now the most important planet in
the known universe. Important because it is the only known source of a
spice that permits space travel, extends human lifespans and even
allows humans to alter their consciousness.
The game is a world of wild adventure and political intrigue, where
heroes battle with a lasgun in one hand and a knife in the other. Where
a forgotten culture becomes one family’s only hope for survival and
miraculous technologies expand the limits of human potential.
While psionic powers exist to a certain extent in the form of Prana
Bindu training and the so-called “weirding way,” “magic” as such, does
not. It is a well known science fiction axiom that any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but I draw the
line quite clearly here.
The
DUNE
Universe is considered to be technologically advanced
with a few major anomalies. Most of these anomalies can be attributed
to the various advancements afforded by the Holtzman discoveries.
They include: faster-than-light travel, faster-than-light communications,
force shields, and contra-gravity. These elements all exist in an
otherwise 'standard' sci-fi setting. The second major deviation from the
standard world of advanced human technology is the almost complete
lack of any computers or thinking machines within the
DUNE
universe.
Computers above a simple abacus are very rare; those above the
power of a modern calculator simply do not exist. This seemingly
gaping hole in the technological fabric of the universe is filled by
several elements, the most notable of which are the Mentats. Mentats
are “human computers” trained from birth to perform complex logical
and analytical functions at very high rates of speed and reliability. The
Bene Gesserit Sisterhood also performs several similar duties,
although with a strikingly different purpose and ideological motivation.
Against this background,
Dune
chronicles the conflict between the
aristocratic House Atreides and its enemy the House Harkonnen,
behind who lurk the combined powers of the Emperor Shaddam IV,
leader of House Corrino, and the Spacing Guild.
While the other noble houses including House Atreides and House
Harkonnen do not individually approach the power of the Emperor and
are in competition for fiefdoms, financial and political power, and
Imperial favor, they are collectively represented in an assembly known
as the Landsraad, which provides a check and balance against the
power of House Corrino and the Emperor.
On the fringes of the Galaxy are the shape-shifting Tleilaxu and Ix, a
planet whose history is lost in the mists of time and whose society is
dominated by technology.
The Fremen are the native population of the planet Arrakis. They are
a hardy people, used to the hardship and deprivation of their desert-
planet. They await their Messiah because of a legend planted
intentionally across the Universe by the
Missionaria Protectiva
, a
division of the Bene Gesserit dedicated to religious manipulation. The
Messiah legend is intended to ease the path of the
Kwisatz Haderach
when they bring him into being.
The Harkonnens are ordered by the Emperor to cede stewardship of
the planet Arrakis (known generally as Dune) to the Atreides. The
planet Arrakis is extremely arid and inhabited by giant, menacing
worms which live under the sand (the Fremen call them Shai-Hulud).
The Fremen, adapted to this harsh climate, are obsessed with water
and consider the worms holy. Dune is the sole source of
melange
, also
known as "the spice" that gives limited prescience and prolongs the
user's lifespan; with it the Guild Navigators see a path through fold-
space, and the Bene Gesserit can enhance their abilities. The spice is
the most valuable commodity in the universe and it is found only on
Dune. Thus, the planet is the political fulcrum of the Universe.
The
DUNE: A Dream of Rain Roleplaying Game
supports adventures
and campaigns set in four distinct eras.
In the current year of 10,191, the Corrino Empire (and later, the
Atreides Empire) is a roughly feudal system ruled by the Emperor of
the Known Universe, Shaddam IV. His control varies wildly depending
on local governmental control. The Empire of House Corrino is based
on a triumvirate of power: the Emperor, CHOAM, and the supposedly
neutral Spacing Guild. The various Houses rule local planets as fiefs
and systems on the appointment of the Emperor as vassals. The
Landsraad consists of the various Houses, as a sort of Imperial
Senate.
CHOAM (Combine Honette Ober Advancer Mercantiles) is an
economic body concerning trade profits which ties the various houses
together by economic means, not unlike a contemporary corporation
and its shareholders. Directorships in CHOAM represent potentially
vast wealth and economic influence.
A crude distinction between a major and a minor house is the size of
the fief they control. Minor houses are limited to a planetary or smaller
scale of local government.
Major houses are elected to representative positions in the
Landsraad, and control one or more star systems. There are those
who would argue that the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood holds as much
influence if not more than any of these branches, but their power is a
subtle and dark one.
Though very active in politics, they do not usually let their presence
be known in an overt manner. Communication is common throughout
the universe at virtually instantaneous speeds at a range of 250 light-
years (77 parsecs) without the need for re-broadcasting, though ships
traveling through fold-space cannot be contacted by any known means
of communication.
This is DUNE
Sandworms. Noble Houses. Maula pistols. Sardaukar. Fremen. …the
Spice.
DUNE
is space fantasy at its best: full of action, intrigue, and
adventure. The heroes are larger than life and the villains are utterly
evil. In the
DUNE
universe, advanced computers have long been
forbidden due to the Butlerian Jihad, a rebellion against thinking
machines, and as a replacement human skills have been developed to
an astonishing degree:
Mentats
through intensive training learn to enter a heightened mental
state in which they can perform complex logical computations.
The
Spacing Guild
holds a monopoly on interstellar transport. Its
navigators use the spice/drug melange to gain limited prescient
abilities, enabling them to safely guide Guild Heighliners to their
destination by folding space.
The
Bene Gesserit Sisterhood
has developed almost inhuman
powers through many years of physical and mental conditioning. When
a Bene Gesserit acolyte becomes a full Reverend Mother, she gains
her ancestral memories — the complete memories of all of her female
ancestors. She cannot recall the memories of her male ancestors, and
is terrified by the psychic space within her that the masculine
memories inhabit.
The Sisterhood is conducting a breeding program to develop a
superhuman male who can recall both his male and female ancestral
memories, as well as the ability to see (and thus control) the future.
They refer to him as the
Kwisatz Haderach
. This recall is due to an
ordeal known as Spice Agony and involves overdosing on melange,
which no man has ever survived.
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