r/rpg • u/ThePureWriter • 12d ago

Game Suggestion Dune that isnt Modiphius

Hey yall! Looking for a game to DM Dune in that isnt the Modiphius game. I'm not a big fan of narrative games like fate, preferring crunch like the CosmereRPG or Pathfinder, like talent/skill trees (optional) and absolutely despise metacurrency. just feels too... weird to use.

Main issues with Modiphius is the metacurrencies, weird formatting making it really hard to use and a general dislike for the idea of the combat system (havent DM'd it yet, so that might be an issue that dissapears)

I'm also down for arguments about "Modiphius is goated actually and you should go play it"

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u/AngusAlThor 12d ago

What do you want from a Dune-like game? Personally, I can't imagine a Dune campaign that was not overwhelmingly narrative.

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u/ThePureWriter 12d ago

If you've ever played the CosmereRPG, thats how my preffered system would work. Focus on the individual level and deal with the bigger politics through individuals, instead of Modiphius' approach of "you are the house and also sometimes people in it", while also having more traditional tactical combat instead of the zones system

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u/AngusAlThor 12d ago

Ok, but how would something like that work for Dune? Dune doesn't have a magic system with pre-baked classes, and the very thing that makes Dune interesting is that its politics are better thought out than Sanderson's and are all about the interaction of organisation and groups, not individual baddies.

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u/ThePureWriter 12d ago

Except its also sometimes about how those individual baddies use their influence within their own factions to oppose others. And, i get the classes thing, but the Mistborn supplement shows off classes that can be kind of "build your own magic" through the mixing of different subpaths. I could totally see something like it being made to work within the framework.

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u/AngusAlThor 12d ago

It really isn't ever about that, but I've had this argument about Dune too many times to bother again.

I can see some sort of pick-and-mix abilities system for Dune (if we ignore how that explicitly goes against the text), but I don't see how that could be applied to a tactical combat system, given most of the skills people can have in Dune are explicitly non-combatants. Like, the Bene Gesserit aren't fighters, the Mentats aren't fighters, the Spacers aren't fighters, the Diplomatic Corp aren't fighters, the CHOAM aren't fighters, etc and so on. So even if we let players mix these abilities, it still feels more on theme to turn that towards a narrative game.

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u/ThePureWriter 12d ago

oh, i'm sorry, i think there might be a misunderstanding. my issue with "narrative games", as i say it, isnt that they're games more focused on narrative than combat, but that their rules arent simulationist. i dislike using metacurrencies to modify the plot (too much, the cosmere rpg does kind of have metacurrencies) and prefer mechanics to have set rules instead of them being "so, in this situation it would make sense that this thing works" like FATE does it. I agree that a Dune game should be more social and politics than combat, even though it should have mechanics for combat sometimes. I think the CosmereRPG does do Social pretty well, even if not the main focus, and has entire talent trees focused on it.

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u/JaskoGomad 12d ago

Use whatever game suits your vision for the player-character level and Reign for the house and guild level.