r/dune

I’m a dungeons and dragons player and I’d like to start setting up a campaign based in Dune universe.

What are some interesting aspects of the world that you like?

What are some interesting or important lore points that stand out to you?

What kind of life would a poor person be expected to live? How about a wealthy person? What are some common professions?

Interested to hear your ideas.

I just did not understand how it happened. Paul explained to him what he was seeing in his visions? And from that, Gurney gathered that a war leading to deaths of billions is inevitable?

Paul at first was only interested in fighting for the Fremen, the next time we see him after coming from Giedi Prime is when he meets Gurney. Then he seems more troubled, as opposed to enjoying victories and just fighting against Harkonnens. What does he see that his demeanour changes? It can be a bit confusing to me.

He changes to seek more power it seems to me - goes for the family atomics. I know that even before we meet Feyd things were getting tense. I'm also watching the movie in parts so I might be missing a sense of continuity. Anyway, do answer if you can :)

Is there any lore on why the inventors of the grandfathers of RTS games decided to include a third faction / campaign? And what did they base them on?

I will preface this by saying I'm going to discuss a lot of spoilers. If you haven't watched the films or read the books, you may want to stop reading now.

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When I saw the 2021 film, I complained to a friend that Paul would never have spoken to Jessica in the ways he did. My friend asked if I had read the whole book series. I had only read the first book.

He explained to me that Paul was meant to be awful from the get-go. The idea I had of Paul as someone who used his power for good was a total misunderstanding. Apparently, there were a lot of people who made the same mistake I did, which is part of why Frank Herbert continued writing the series.

I don't know how many times I watched David Lynch's Dune as a kid. At least enough times to *think* I had understood the world building and overall glory of the story. I was enraptured. Fast forward thirty years and I'm so effing bummed.

Some of my other friends playfully laughed about my friend "breaking my childhood." I struggle with it so much. I'm trying to get through the second film, but couldn't finish the second book. I was broken-hearted.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for other than wondering if I was Prime A Stupid for essentially missing the entire point of the series. Paul was a hero to me, and David Lynch hating his film so much that he refused to talk about it has me so sad. The film felt formative to me.

Thoughts? Reprimands? Anything?

Edit: Based on feedback so far, I'm gathering that my friend saying "Paul was awful" is a gross oversimplification. I appreciate people's takes, and feel better about coming back to the books.

Not sure how much of this is considered spoiler, so I guess better safe than sorry...

>!Paul spends a lot of time fretting about the future Jihad in the first book, and the entire plot of the second book is basically the fallout from this Jihad. Yet I don't recall any explanation or justification as to why it was happening. Who are the victims, and who are the Fremen leaders driving it, and why?!<

>!Both the Fremen and Paul hated the Harkonnens, so fair enough, they were probably wiped out. Even Giedi Prime was not completely destroyed though, so let's say that's 6 billion dead and zero planets.!<

>!Who are the other 55 billion victims and the 90 planets sterilized?!<

>!The Guild could be considered enemy #2, since they used to squeeze the Fremen and they are in prime position to mess with anything and everything in a Galactic empire. If I were the Galactic Emperor, my first order of business would be to develop a parallel organization that can compete with the Guild and I can control, but no. Paul just lets them keep doing whatever, plotting behind his back, controlling all interstellar travel.!<

>!The next obvious target would be the ex-Emperor and the Sardaukar. Were they killed? No, they are enjoying retirement, occasionally practicing landing maneuvers, which does raise an eyebrow but doesn't merit any actual action -- there are apparently 61 billion other people who are more dangerous than that.!<

>!Then there are the Bene Gesserit, who casually refer to Alia, the high priestess/living goddess of the Fremen as an "abomination", the Emperor's mother as a "traitorous bitch", and are perpetually miffed that they lost control of their Kwisatz Haderach. Should we subject them to a bit of religious retribution? Nah, it's all good, plenty of other people are more sacrilegious than that. We'll just let their obvious mole sit in on the Emperor's high council and periodically report back to them, so that they have a fair chance while plotting against the Emperor.!<

>!Should we maybe oppress the Bene Tleilax a bit, whose "customs and ethics led to widespread revulsion" even among the generally more open minded segments of the population, plus have a monopoly over some useful and potentially very dangerous technologies? No, leave them and their deprived conspiracies alone, we have bigger fish (sand trout?) to fry!!<

>!The major houses could be a target, but why? What is the point of letting the ex-Emperor live, marrying Princess Irulan, leaving the Bene Gesserit and The Guild alone, the CHOAM company in place, if not to ensure that the rest of the political establishment go along with the new leadership?!<

>!And even if some of them do not go along, who wants them exterminated? Not Paul, obviously, since he is continuously fretting over all the damage. When and why have the Fremen, who spent the last 10,000 years dreaming of freedom and a watery paradise on Arrakis, developed this burning desire to travel to other planets to slaughter billions of people they have never met, the moment they have a chance to do whatever on their own planet?!<

Been trying to figure this out for a while. Yeah maybe it's technically illegal for the Harkonnen to have stockpiled spice to begin with but I never get the impression the Guild cares about where their spice is coming from considering they're willing to buy from smugglers and directly from the Fremen. And it's not like the Atreides stole the spice or anything, it says in the book that the stockpile was destroyed.

Is it just me or does it make zero sense that the Guild would let the Atreides do this? I get that maybe the Guild are ultimately supposed to be neutral when it comes to inter-House conflict but I can't picture them being so when letting the raid go off is directly against their interests, especially given that they know that Arrakis is going right back to the Harkonnen soon and spice production is going to be disrupted for a while because of all the fighting. And I can't imagine the Guild somehow didn't know that was the target, that stockpile was probably the most valuable thing on Giedi Prime and if the Atreides know about it I'm sure the Guild are also aware of it.

Don’t get me wrong I love that Frank’s reason to create Dune was partially the cautious tale of charismatic leaders, and how people are products of the system that made them, I think that was completely genius on his part in doing so, and the how essential ecosystems are, Arrakis being the primary focus of the series. I just love if we could’ve gotten more attention on the politics of the Imperium besides Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino. Like explore other factions in the landsraad, other great houses, and the CHOAM market, and how clever you have to be to remain on top without getting the attention of The Emperor and getting yourself killed which was Duke Leto’s mistake. I would’ve to know more about the different cultures in the landsraad, besides the fremen representing Middle East, like in Part Three, we’re going to see Naraj, and it’s inhabitants’s attire seem very much inspired by the Samurai of Japan. That’s what I mean, explore the universe of the Dune Universe.

One of the biggest changes from the book to other media has been the character of Rabban.

In the movies he is depicted as a brutish fool who kills his own advisors in showy fits of rage. He is a brute who communicates through incompetence and anger.

But book Rabban is just another military aristocrat. He’s well trained enough to listen when the Sardaukar report that the Fremen are more than rabble. He’s also well aware of the threats to his life from his family. He operates under bad information due to the successful Fremen propaganda campaign upheld by the spice bribes. If not neutered by his Uncle he may have been able to wield the Sardaukar much better or at the very least much sooner.

Even movie Rabban is smarter than it looks. Before he kills his military chief he asks a deviously simple question, why aren’t you holding the entire planet? This is of course due to spice bribes but everyone believes the cover story that the southern hemisphere was uninhabitable. But the question itself was at the heart of the conflict. It was the Fremen’s true advantage, and Rabban sees it and calls it out.

It’s easy to reduce him to the leader of a pogrom and just another Harkonnen psychopath, but Frank painted him differently. Frank showed us a competent military leader gaslit and his hands tied by his overbearing family. Taken in this light maybe the movie Rabban killed his chief for being the Barons man as much as for failing militarily.

Hey all, I finished the book a few weeks ago and I keep mulling over this comparison in my head and i’m wondering if this has been discussed before.

In Leto II’s vision of the golden path, he sees the loss of spice due to the abundance of water being brought to Arrakis and the interference with the sand trout/worm life cycle. This brings unimaginable consequences considering the amount of people who rely on the spice for health/transportation.

As someone of gen z who has dealt with a lot of climate nihilism, this feels VERY familiar. I see spice as a symbol for fossil fuels and other finite, natural resources we have built our society around. These industries are not only unsustainable, they are actively changing the chemical composition of our airs and oceans at a rapid pace. Eventually, it’s going to catch up with us, and many people/animals will die, until those left learn to adapt to a changed planet and rebuild new industries that are hopefully more sustainable.

I know that global warming theories were around at the time Frank wrote the series but it wasn’t a super mainstream topic of discussion. Maybe it’s possible he had it in mind?

Say Yueh's intent to betray is caught by Jessica or his Imperial conditioning breaks through and he doesn't go through with it and/or Leto manages to rally the freman to his side sooner.

In any case the Harkonnen assault on the Atreides is a failure, Leto is still alive and in control of Arrakis. What happens next?