Houses of The Landsraad

2
disclaimer
Welcome to DUNE.
My name is Dorian Hawkins and I love DUNE. This piece of work is one fans homage to that
wonderful piece of work.
Let me stress right from the get-go that this tome utilises the ONE ROLL ENGINE, as devised by GREG
STOLZE and popularised by SHANE IVEY and DENNIS DETWILER of ARC DREAM.
I do not own any rights or even claim any ownership of their game mechanics. In fact, if you even want
to use this book, you need a copy of the REIGN rules (available imminently in an inexpensive pocket
book version and PDF, so you really have no excuse).
This game is also based on the novel DUNE by Frank Herbert. The rights to DUNE and the CHRONICLES
OF DUNE do not belong to me and if there is any challenge to this fan work, holders of the license or
intellectual property of DUNE and its related products should contact me at dth@oroborus.biz
immediately.
This book is intended for peoples use until there is an official DUNE RPG out there. Until such time, I
hope this meager work can suffice.
Hya Hya Chouhada!
Dorian Thomas Hawkins
The One Roll Engine is the property of Arc Dream and Greg Stolze. DUNE is the property of Herbert Properties LLC. The
writer makes no claim to such licenses and this role-playing game is available for no profit. Should any party object to this
document, please contact the author and it shall be removed.
3
the known universe

The year is 10,091, one hundred years before This delicate balance of power serves to prevent
the events of DUNE. any particularly ambitious or destructive faction
or individual from upsetting the stability of
The Known Universe is one great Empire ruled society; at least, for a time.
over by the Padishah Emperor. No rock escapes
its influence: where man exists, so too does the Elrood Corrino IX is the 80th and current
Padishah Imperium. Emperor of the Known Universe. During his
reign of 138 years, Elrood married into many
The supreme military power of the Emperor royal houses of the Imperium, among them
through his elite army, the Sardaukar, paired House Mutelli, House Hagal and House Ecaz.
with his essentially unlimited wealth, makes He is an unpredictable and harsh Emperor but
him the principal power in the Known Universe. then, most of the Corrino Emperors were
While the Emperor is supreme sovereign ruler of The Landsraad, then, is a political body
the universe, power is shared, in a quasi-feudal consisting of many Great Noble Houses who are
arrangement with the noble houses of the vassals to the Emperor. House is idiomatic for
Landsraad and with the Spacing Guild, which ruling clan of a planet or planetary system.
possesses a monopoly over interstellar travel.
A Great House, or House Major, directly swears
Members of House Corrino have sat on the its allegiance to the Padishah Emperor in return
Golden Lion throne as Padishah Emperors from for his grant of fees or fiefs. Such things can be
the time of the ancient Battle of Corrin to contracts for the production of some product or
modern times. service but generally, it is the granting of land
in the form of a planets and moons within a
given planetary system. Largely, those contracts
The landsraad are tied to the lands granted.
The Landsraad, as a political body plays a very The greatest example of this is Arrakis, also
important role in the political and economic known as Dune. This fief yields the prestigious
power balance of the Empire, which it shares Spice Mining Contract. Only the Emperors
with the Emperor and the Spacing Guild. favourites are selected to rule Arrakis.
The Landsraad represents the unification of all The Landsraad is overseen by the High Council.
the other noble Houses, creating a check against This is the inner circle of the Landsraad during
the power of the Emperor which is theoretically the time of the Faufreluches, "the rigid rule of
a comparable force. Both the combined Houses class distinction enforced by the Imperium." The
and the Emperor are in turn totally dependent Council is "empowered to act as supreme
on the Guild for interstellar travel. In return, the tribunal in House to House disputes and
Spacing Guild has no purpose without the upholds the Imperial bill of rights called The
existence of the Empire. Great Convention.
4
weapons and practices, as outlined in the

The great convention Assassins' Handbook.
The Great Convention is a huge legal document The second is Kanly,

Kanly which is the enactment of
which establishes the laws of the Imperium and a formal feud or vendetta in a manner that
woe betide anyone who breaks them. The Great complies with the Great Convention. It often
Conventions fundamental law is that human results in an official war of attrition between
life is precious and many of the articles exist to two opponents, usually Great Houses.
enforce this.
The act of kanly was originally created as a way
For instance, the Great Convention puts a of allowing bitter disputes to be resolved
proscription on computer technology stemming without any harm being brought upon innocent
from the religious tenet of Thou shalt not make bystanders. It was similar in many ways to the
a machine in the likeness of a human mind. It ancient duels made on Earth, although it
also states that any weapon which causes usually had much broader ramifications.
indiscriminate destruction is strictly banned,
punishable by trial and execution. Thus, atomic Kanly has occurred most famously between
weaponary and other weapons of mass House Atreides and House Harkonnen, and
destruction are strictly prohibited. between House Moritani and House Ginaz. In
both situations, Kanly resulted in the dramatic
The Great Convention establishes very specific success of the former party over the latter.
laws about how warfare can be conducted.
Specifically, one of its laws, the Dictum Familia, Kanly requires that certain forms of conflict are
prohibits all forms of informal conflict against permitted, while others are not. The use of
noble blood which in turn establishes that there atomics is strictly forbidden, for example. Usage
are only two legal forms of conflict and these of atomics usually means a sentence of exile.
first be condoned by the High Council in a legal
contract. Any grievance by one member of the Landsraad
against another is brought before the High
Council in a Bill of Particulars.
For example, shortly after the assassination of

his father Duke Leto Atreides I and the
Harkonnen/Corrino invasion of the planet
Arrakis in Dune, Paul Atreides expresses a
desire to put forward a Bill of Particulars to the
Landsraad High Council to express his
grievance and point out the laws that had been
broken by this invasion.
A Fell Blade
Paul believes that his grievance would be
The first is the War of Assassins,
Assassins which
supported because the Great Houses would
stipulates that formal declarations of intent are
never support the Sardaukar eliminating them
required and it only permits certain kinds of
one-by-one (which was, of course, one of the
5
principal reasons why the Landsraad existed to The Sysselraad can be viewed as the Empire in
begin with). miniature: the ruling House Major could easily
demolish any single House Minor but together,
In all grievances, a Judge of the Change is the Houses Minor could overthrow the House
appointed. A Judge of the Change is "an official Major, should they wish to.
appointed by the Landsraad High Council and
the Emperor to monitor a change of fief, a kanly
negotiation, or formal battle in a War of The Faufreluches
Assassins. The Judge's arbitral authority may be
challenged only before the High Council with Faufreluches is a term commonly used to
the Emperor present." describe the class system employed by the
Imperium.
The faufreluche system is meant to provide

some sort of order for the way in which
humanity related with one another, both to
maintain order and civility and to keep certain
groups under control within the Imperium.
However, it attempted to minimise alienation of

individuals or minorities by catering for
everyone: The catchphrase of the faufreluche
A Judge of the Change system was "A place for every man and every
man in his place."
The highest act of law is the Process Verbal in
which the House is put on trial. The findings of An integral part of the Faufreluche system were
which can end in a sentence of execution or the Great Houses, Minor Houses, siridar fiefs,
exile or being stripped of all holdings. and the Padishah Emperor.
The theory behind the Faufreluche system's

The houses minor existence was that, because of the vastness of
the universe, and the immense distances, across
Given all that, it must be stated that the Houses which humanity was scattered, a central figure -
Major could not exist without the Houses the Emperor - was required to provide focus and
Minor. These are smaller noble families which direction in people's lives. This figure was
are granted fees and fiefs within a specific represented locally for people by the head of the
planetary system and in return, they swear Great House that governed them.
allegiance to the ruling House Major.
Flaws in the Faufreluche system could be seen
As the Landsraad Council is the collective group in that House Harkonnen, once banished for
of all the Great Houses, the Sysselraad Council cowardice after the Battle of Corrin, could return
is the collective group of all the Lesser Houses and become a viable political power through
of a given system, overwhich the ruling House market manipulation.
Major presides.
6
The Faufreluches has enabled the existence of it controls all economic affairs across the
the Empire for thousands of years with little cosmos, although it relies upon the Spacing
destabilisation. Of course, it has not come Guild for transport across space due to the
without its flaws. Guild's monopoly on interstellar travel.
Its principle flaw is that the Faufreluches is a

caste system and therefore the caste into which
you are born dictates much about your life. The
lower your caste, the less freedom of choice you
have about your own destiny to the point where
those at the bottom are effectively slaves to the
system.
The caste system is divided into levels. The

highest caste is the Regis Familia and these
make up the noble families of the Known CHOAM Agents
Universe. Universally, they all belong to a
house and rule over the Empire. The following quote gives a good insight into
the importance of CHOAM;
The next highest caste is the Na-
Na-Familia being
house family members, high ranking "Few products escape the CHOAM touch ... Logs,
officers/advisors and merchant gentry. donkeys, horses, cows, lumber, dung, sharks,
whale fur - the most prosaic and the most exotic
The middle caste is the Bondsmen.
Bondsmen These are ... even our poor pundi rice from Caladan.
the free peoples, the artisans, craftsmen and Anything the Guild will transport, the art forms
skilled labourers. of Ecaz, the machines of Richese and Ix. But all
fades before melange. A handful of spice will buy
The penultimate caste is that of the Pyons.
Pyons a home on Tupile. It cannot be manufactured, it
These are the peasants and serfs who toil the must be mined on Arrakis. It is unique and it
land, work in the mines or what have you. has true geriatric properties ... But the
important thing is to consider all the Houses
Lastly, there are the Maula.
Maula These are the that depend on CHOAM profits. And think of the
lowest and most derided. They are the enormous proportion of those profits dependent
criminals, the outcasts and the slaves. upon a single product - the spice. Imagine what
would happen if something should reduce spice
Most members of a household are at least production.
Bondsmen but many are Na-Familia.
The corporation's management and board of
directors are controlled by the Padishah
CHOAM Emperor and the Landsraad (with the Spacing
Guild and the Bene Gesserit as silent partners).
The Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Because of its control of inter-planetary
Mercantiles (CHOAM) is a massive, universe- commerce, CHOAM is the largest single source
spanning development corporation. Essentially, of wealth in the Empire; as such, influence in
CHOAM (through partisans within it and control
7
of directorships) is the central goal of political thousands of years, great academies came into
maneuvering, both to receive dividends and also existence to train individuals to a level far
(it is implied) to skim off profits. beyond that which we could expect in our time.
The following quote sums up CHOAMs place in It is forbidden for any technology to think of its
politics; own accord and thus, while sophisticated tools
and the like are allowed, anything which
"You have no idea how much wealth is involved, governs itself is not.
Feyd," the Baron said. "Not in your wildest
imaginings. To begin, we'll have an irrevocable The only industrial manufacturing technology
directorship in the CHOAM Company." allowed are clock-set automatons called
Servoks. They allow a basic, unskilled action to
Feyd-Rautha nodded. Wealth was the thing. be repeated ad infinitum and are used sparingly
CHOAM was the key to wealth, each noble House throughout the Known Universe.
dipping from the company's coffers whatever it
could under the power of the directorships. Thus technology is still rife but it is all relegated
Those CHOAM directorships - they were the real to simple and majestic solutions to problems.
evidence of political power in the Imperium, Flying machines and ground cars exist as do
passing with the shifts of voting strength floating lights and sensors devices. These are
within the Landsraad as it balanced itself things that a human being simply cannot do.
against the Emperor and his supporters. However, you will not find any truly robotic
devices or digital technology.
It cannot be understated then how important
economic power is. Renown and status stems In fact, artificial limbs and cybernetic
from ones CHOAM Directorships and the enhancements skirt dangerously on the verge of
revenues generated from them, which in turn breaking the Great Convention. Though such
feeds from the effective management of the things exist and are employed, not without
contracts and lands granted to each noble house causing deep consternation and clucking of
by the Emperor and the CHOAM Board of tongues and only the most outlandish of people
Directors. willingly replace their limbs.
Every noble house has shares in CHOAM and a So, with a very humanist attitude and
downturn in profits from a lucrative contract thousands of years of development in training
can spell doom for the governing house. techniques, the people of the Known Universe
are highly specialised, human machines, trained
A place for every man to do a specific job to an extremely high level.
There are schools of learning devoted to the

It has been said that there is a ban on computer
conditioning of these people to perform these
technology. However, this proscription goes
tasks, covering all manner of different callings
further and there is a ban on all machinery
and conditionings, however, none are more
which would otherwise replace a human being.
impressive than the Mentat Academies.
All delicate devices and technology are therefore
handcrafted by individuals and over the
8
Mentats are humans trained to mimic often screen themselves with an illusion of
computers: human minds developed to being loyal to other groups or individuals.
staggering heights of cognitive and analytical
ability. The Mentat discipline was developed as The Bene Gesserit existed for millennia,
a replacement for computerized calculation, just appearing as a semi-mystical school that
as the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild took trained women for service to the Empire as
on functions previously provided by thinking Truthsayers or mates. In reality, they were
machines. For thousands of years, society has subtly controlling the Empire behind the scenes
considered Mentats the embodiment of logic in order to help humanity become more mature
and reason. and ultimately guide humanity into tapping its
genetic potential.
Unlike computers, however, Mentats are not
simply calculators. Instead, the exceptional In addition to their superior combat skills, the
cognitive abilities of memory and perception are Bene Gesserit possessed precise physiological
the foundations for supra-logical hypothesizing. control that allowed, among countless uses,
Mentats are able to sift large volumes of data precise control over conception and embryotic
and devise concise analyses in a process that sex determination, ageing and even the ability
goes far beyond logical deduction. They are not to render poisons harmless within their bodies.
limited to formulating syllogisms; they are the They possess a distinct ability to sense when
supreme counselors of the Dune universe, filling people lie and their power of Voice allowed
roles as menial as archivists and clerks, or as them to control others by merely modulating
grand as advisors to Emperors. their vocal tones.
Sisters who survived a ritualized poisoning

The bene gesserit known as the spice agony achieved increased
awareness and abilities through access to Other
The Bene Gesserit are perhaps far more Memory (the ability to store the entire memories
powerful but also far more subtle in their and personality of other people), and were
approach. They are a key social, religious and subsequently known as Reverend Mothers.
political force in Known Universe described as
an exclusive sisterhood whose members train
their bodies and minds through years of The spacing guild
physical and mental conditioning to obtain
powers and abilities that can easily seem Almost diametrically opposed to the Bene
magical to outsiders. Gesserit is one of the most powerful bodies
within the Known Universe, the Spacing Guild.
Due to their secretive nature and misunderstood
abilities, outsiders often call them witches. The Spacing Guild has a monopoly on imperial
banking and interstellar travel: with the use of
Trained at the Mother School on Wallach IX, melange, the geriatric spice, Guild Navigators
and later headquartered at a hidden world are the only beings capable of piloting the
known as Chapterhouse, the Bene Gesserit are massive Guild heighliners safely through space.
loyal only to themselves. However, to obtain The heightened awareness and prescience of the
their goals and avoid outside interference, they
9
spice allows the Navigator to plot a safe course categorically preventing any military action. To
between the stars. the contrary, there have been numerous cases of
Guild support of war, and in each of them the
Guild was paid high rates to transport troops
and materiel.
It is noted that Houses of the Imperium may

contract with the Guild to be removed "to a
place of safety outside the System;" in the past
some Houses in danger of ruin or defeat have
"become renegade Houses, taking family
atomics and shields and fleeing beyond the
Imperium."
A Guild Heighliner
Heighliner
The Guild controls a "sanctuary planet" (or
Contrary to popular belief, the navigators do not planets) known as Tupile intended for such
themselves 'fold' space, allowing a nearly "defeated Houses of the Imperium ... Location(s)
instantaneous trip. The space-folding is known only to the Guild and maintained
accomplished by Holtzman engines activated inviolate under the Guild Peace."
from the navigator's chamber aboard their
enormous Heighliner guild vessels. The Navigators are humans who have adapted
to life in zero-gravity. They have mutated over
The Guild is apolitical (with exceptions, noted the years of spice suffusion and have three
below), since their monopoly allows them to "stages" of this mutation. The final, most
dictate terms to all parties that preserve the advanced stage is a huge, slug-like creature.
economy that supports them.
As the only party able to transport goods in an

interstellar economy, the Guild's highest
concern is that commerce continue; for
commerce to continue, the Guild must continue;
for the Guild to continue, melange must be
available.
Ultimately, the Guild's only concern is that the

melange continue to be mined on Arrakis.
Because spice is a requirement for long distance Third Stage Navigator
space transport, their motto resonates
throughout the empire: "the spice must flow." They must spend their time in an artificial zero-
gravity chamber when visiting a planetary
With their power over interstellar transport, the surface, as exposure to full earth gravity would
Guild holds the ability to peacefully end wars be (at best) highly uncomfortable, and
and to shape much of the political world. This is potentially lethal. Whether this adaptation is
not to say that the Guild takes the position of
10
the result of artificial engineering or many very dangerous, capable of swallowing a mining
millennia of selective breeding is unknown. crawler whole.
Thus, the mining operation essentially consists

The Spice of vacuuming it off the surface with a vehicle
called a Harvester until a worm comes, at which
In Dune, there is only one source of melange: time an aircraft known as a Carryall lifts the
the sands of the planet Arrakis, colloquially mining vehicle to safety.
known as Dune and millennia later called
simply "Rakis." The Fremen, who have learned to co-exist with
the sandworms in the desert, harvest the spice
It is noted that a pre-spice mass is "the stage of manually for their own use and for smuggling
fungusoid wild growth achieved when water is off-planet.
flooded into the excretions of Little Makers," the
"half-plant-half-animal deep-sand vector of the Melange is used all over the universe and is a
Arrakis sandworm." sign of wealth; of every valuable commodity
known to mankind, "all fades before melange. A
Gases are produced which result in "a handful of spice will buy a home on Tupile."
characteristic 'blow,' exchanging the material
from deep underground for the matter on the Due to the rarity and value of melange and its
surface above it." necessity as a catalyst for interstellar travel, the
Padishah Emperor's power is secured by his
Frank Herbert describes such a spice blow in the control of Arrakis, which puts him on equal
following passage from Dune: footing with both the assembly of noble families
called the Landsraad and the Spacing Guild,
Then he heard the sand rumbling. Every Fremen which monopolizes interstellar travel.
knew the sound, could distinguish it
immediately from the noises of worms or other Although it is referred to as "spice," melange
desert life. Somewhere beneath him, the pre- can be mixed with food, and it is used to make
spice mass had accumulated enough water and beverages such as "spice coffee," "spice beer,"
organic matter from the little makers, had and "spice liquor". Melange is in fact a drug in
reached the critical stage of wild growth. A
the clinical sense and daily use can extend
gigantic bubble of carbon dioxide was forming
human lifespans by hundreds of years.
deep in the sand, heaving upward in an
enormous "blow" with a dust whirlpool at its
In larger quantities it possesses intense
center. It would exchange what had been formed
psychotropic effects and is used as a powerful
deep in the sand for whatever lay on the surface.
entheogen by both the Bene Gesserit and
Fremen to initiate clairvoyant and precognitive
It is known that the pre-spice mass, "after
trances, access genetic memory and heighten
exposure to sun and air, becomes melange."
other abilities. But melange is highly addictive,
and withdrawal means certain death; the spice
Collecting the melange is hazardous in the
is "A poison - so subtle, so insidious . . . so
extreme, since rhythmic activity on the desert
irreversible. It won't even kill you unless you
surface of Arrakis attracts the worms, which
stop taking it."
can be up to four hundred meters in length, and
11
Extensive use of the drug tints the sclera,

cornea and iris of the user to a dark shade of
blue, called "blue-in-blue" or "the Eyes of Ibad,"
which is something of a source of pride among
the Fremen and a symbol of their tribal bond.
On other planets, the addicted often use tinted

contact lenses to hide this discoloration.
When aerosolized and used as an inhalant in

extremely high dosages - the standard practice
for Guild Navigators - the drug acts as a
mutagen.
The Spice is also key to conferring the more

supernatural of the Bene Gesserit abilities and
without which, they would lose much of their
power.
12
System
ETHOS OF THE ONE ROLL ENGINE This is typically derived from adding a statistic
(representing your characters personal
Whats in a name? you might ask. Simply, capabilities in the game universe) to a skill
when the situation calls for a dice roll, the ORE (representing your characters knowledge and
attempts to determine as much as possible from training in a given area). The resulting number
a single roll of the dice. Some game systems can becomes the dice pool and you roll that many
really slow play down at certain stages and d10s.
combat (see CHAPTER 4 for how we deal with
that using the ORE) is one of the chief culprits. There are other ways to determine a dice pool
but they are defined by specific situations.
The first point to get across then is Quick
resolution is good. Generally, you may never roll more than 10 dice
unless special circumstances call for it. If your
Speed really is at the essence of the ORE and dice pool is greater than 10, apply any positive
you can help speed your game up by reducing or negative modifiers before you roll. Modifiers
the number of dice rolls. There really is no point may reduce your dice pool below 10, however, if
in forcing your players to make needless rolls your dice pool is still greater than 10, ignore the
for easy or mundane tasks. Unless you are a excess and roll 10 dice.
teenager, getting up in the morning is relatively
easy and a doctor should never need to roll dice IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, NEVER ROLL MORE THAN 10
to take someones temperature. DICE UNLESS THE RULES TELL YOU TO!
Conversely, rolling dice where there is It is advised that each player has 10d10s at
absolutely no possibility of success is also a their disposal and the Judge has 15.
pointless exercise. So making a test to see if a
character spontaneously develops the mutant SUCCESS VS FAILURE
power of Awesomeness is equally fruitless.
Youve rolled your dice pool and you now have
So, dice rolls are called for when the outcome is lots of d10s on a surface but you dont know
uncertain and at least one party cares about the what any of the numbers translate into.
result.
To determine whether you succeed or fail a test,
THE DICE you are looking for dice results which have
matching numbers. Further, you also really
The One Roll Engine exclusively uses ten sided want to know how many of those dice match
dice (d10s to the in crowd). and what the matching number is.
When you are required to make a test, you will Within the ORE, the number of dice which
roll one or more d10s. The number of dice you match is called the Width.
Width So if you have 3 dice
roll is called your Dice Pool.
Pool
13
which all show the same result, you have a In every instance, a basic pass or fail is a Width
Width of 3. of 2 (2 dice both showing the same result) also
known as a TWO OF A KIND. This is called a
The actual value showing on the matching dice Standard Success and represents doing an
is called the Height.
Height So if you have 3 dice all adequate job of whatever you were doing, C
showing 7, you have a Height of 7. grade work or a Bronze Medal.
E.g. You roll a dice pool of 7 dice. You score 1, 2, A Width of 3 (3 dice showing the same result) is
3, 3, 5, 6, 7. You have rolled two 3s and no a THREE OF A KIND. This is called an Expert
other matching numbers. Therefore you have Success and represents achieving an above
rolled a width of 2 (since you have two matching satisfactory standard of success, B grade work
numbers) and a height of 3 (those matching or a Silver Medal.
numbers are 3).
A Width of 4 (4 dice showing the same result) is
Width and Height can be expressed in terms of a FOUR OF A KIND. This is called a Master
Master
WxH. Or Width by Height Success and represents an outstanding standard
of success, A grade work or a Gold Medal.
E.g. A Width of 3 and a Height of 7 would
become 3x7. You might say I have a set of 3 by Needless to say, a Width of 4 is better than a
7. Width of 3 which, in turn, is better than a
Width of 2.
Width and Height can also be referred to as W
and H, respectively. It is possible to achieve greater than a Width of
4, however, it becomes increasingly unlikely.
If you have no matching results, you fail the Should you be lucky enough to achieve a Width
dice roll: you do not complete whatever you of 5, 6 or more, the level success increases with
were attempting to do. it (5 is better than 4, 6 is better than 5 ad
infinitum).
WAS I?
BUT HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS
YOU SAY JUMP AND I SAY HOW HIGH?
You can see whether you have succeeded or
failed a test but in many situations you will As stated earlier, Height can measure a number
want to see how well you succeeded. of things but chiefly, it represents success over
adversity and how easy your character finds
Success is measured in Width and Height. dealing with the challenge at hand. Height can
Width determines how well you succeeded, the obviously be from 1 to 10, with 1 being the
wider, the better. Height determines how well worst and 10 being the best.
you overcome your challenges but can also be a
measure of other details, such as speed, and A good analogy is there are two different people
these can vary per test. Often, Width is more writing the same essay topic. They both get the
important than Height but there are some same grade, however, how they got there could
scenarios where Height is more relevant. be very different. It may be that one person had
to re-start their essay several times while the
other sat down to write theirs and it flowed
14
straight out. In game terms, the first person had Or any other combination you can construct
a lower Height than the other. using that roll of the dice (even no sets if you
really wanted).
Without any further complications, Height can
give us the information as to how quickly you THE RUN
achieved something or how effective you were.
When a character fails to achieve a set (2, 3 or 4
E.g. You might be running a race. You roll your of a Kind and so on), if you roll three dice
Race Running dice pool of 7 and score 3x7. So showing consecutive numbers, 1, 2 and 3 for
you got an expert success, which means you ran example, this is a Run.
Run
your race well (no trips, slips or fumbles,
avoided the holes in the road), however, your A run counts as a Width of 1 (ONE OF A KIND,
height determines your effect, and in this if you like) with a Height of the highest die in
instance, you got 7s, so your height is 7, while the run. This is called a Minimal Success and
your opponent only got 5 putting you in the represents the character succeeding but just
lead. barely. Whatever you were doing was badly
executed and certainly wouldnt win any prizes.
Because of the interaction between Width and However, when a success means the difference
Height, you can yield a lot of information from between life and death, a minimal success is
that one roll. better than the alternative.
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO
TO DO A Minimal Success is a special circumstance
representing a last chance or just barely
So youve rolled 4x10 and you are pretty achieved win. The act of reducing a set to 0 or 1
impressed with yourself. However, you really represents the spoiling of a set and does NOT
needed two sets and not a single good one. become a Minimal Success (for more on this,
Fortunately, they are your dice youve rolled see Opposed Tests later in this section).
and you can do whatever you like with the
result. Rolled 4x10? Well that can be two sets of THE FULL HOUSE
2x10 or even a set of 3x10 and a 1x10 if you so
desire. When you do roll a wide set, separating Sometimes you might score multiple sets.
it in to further sets is called Breaking Up.
Up Multiple sets are an uncommon thing and
achieving one should be something to celebrate.
E.g. Youve rolled 1, 3, 3, 3, 3 and 3. Your Accordingly, to give more oomph to their dice
options are as follows; rolling, if a character scores multiple sets, you
may discard a single set to add 1 to the Width
5x3 with the 1 as a wasted die. of another set with a greater Height.
4x3 with a 1 and 3 as wasted dice. E.g. you roll 2x2 and 2x5. You may discard the
2x2 to add 1 W to the 2x5, becoming 3x5
3x3 and a 2x3 with the 1 as a waste die.
15
COMPLICATIONS scoring a success a challenge but also reduces

the number of dice with which to do it!
If only everything were that simple. As art
mirrors life, so do role playing game mechanics. So dont try driving a race car through rush
hour traffic (Difficulty 5 with a -3d penalty, in
Any game engine would be nothing without case you were wondering).
Penalties and Difficulties.
Difficulties How else would your
Judge get his or her enjoyment? Penalties should also stay around the -1d or -2d
level. A modifier of greater than 2d
Every task has a Difficulty rated from 1 to 10. 1 substantially affects the dice pool probability of
is easy and 10 is improbable. The difficulty is success. However, in some situations, an
directly related to how challenging the task is to increasingly higher penalty will be incurred
accomplish. Microwaving soup would be an (theres no stopping a player character when
easy task, however, cooking a five course meal they really want to do something) and so, -3d
of cordon bleu food for a group of severe food and higher exist for this reason.
critics would be much, much harder.
Again, players, if your Judge is giving you a
Once a difficulty is assigned, you roll your dice penalty of greater than -2d, they are trying to
and discard any dice which are lower than the tell you something
difficulty.
BONUSES
E.g. Your car breaks down on a deserted
highway and you decide to fix it yourself. The It isnt all bad, however. Sometimes, you can do
task is determined to be difficulty 4. You roll things to weigh things in your favour. When
your dice pool of 5 and the best result you get is this happens, you receive a dice pool Bonus.
Bonus
3x3. All your dice less than 4 are discarded This is expressed in terms of +Nd (add Number
meaning everything goes, including your 3x3. of dice). You temporarily add the number of dice
With no W or H, you fail the roll: the broken to your dice pool, hopefully improving your
engine is too much for your limited knowledge. chances of success. Remember, you may not roll
more than 10 dice unless specifically directed
A Penalty represents a hindrance or challenge to.
which affects your performance. This might be a
strong wind or harsh weather than affects your As a loose rule, taking Extra Time (doubling the
landing attempt or you might be pressed for normal length of time to undertake something)
time when attempting to paint a masterpiece. adds +1d. You may then take Double Extra
Dice pool penalties are expressed in terms of - Time to raise that to +2d. This is different to
Nd (minus Number of dice). Auto Complete (see below), which is only
applicable to a project with a definite goal.
So a -1d penalty temporarily reduces a dice pool
by 1, a -2d penalty reduces a dice pool by 2 and E.g. A character has to reverse engineer some
so on. technology she found. Fortunately, she isnt
under pressure and so spends double the normal
As you can see, attempting to perform a difficult time working on it, receiving a +1d bonus.
task in adverse conditions not only makes
16
Their Engineering dice pool is normally 6 but In any such case, you must resolve actions in
the +1d bonus increases it to 7. the most logical order. This way, you cannot
decide to drive the car before you jump in it.
AUTO COMPLETE
For every additional action beyond the first,
If a character undertakes a task that isnt time incur a -1d penalty.
sensitive, that character may Auto Complete.
Complete
The Judge determines how long it will take to E.g. A character decides to do three actions. He
complete the task in terms of Minutes, Hours or incurs a -2d penalty.
Days and multiplies that by the Difficulty of the
task. Once the time factor is determined, if the If using different skills, use the lowest dice pool.
character opts to spend that much time at the
task, they may succeed automatically without E.g. A character attempts to drive a car while
rolling a die. Auto Complete gives you the firing out the window. This multiple action
equivalent of a Width of 2 with a Height equal would require the use of the drive skill and an
to your skill rating. attack skill. The former is 7 dice and the latter is
5. Use the latter with a -1d penalty.
E.g. You offer to repair your friends car but he
doesnt care when he gets it back. The Judge Once you have determined what you are doing,
determines it is Difficulty 3 to fix and will take in what order and how many dice you are
Hours. rolling, throw those decahedrons! You are
looking to score multiple sets with each set
Since your friend doesnt care how long you applied to a different action. As mentioned, if
take, you decide to Auto Complete. Multiplying you generate fewer sets than actions, you
Hours by Difficulty 3 results in you taking 3 cannot apply a set to an action reliant on an
hours to fix the car. earlier action.
MULTIPLE ACTIONS E.g. You decide to disarm an opponent and stab

them with their own weapon. This is a use of
It is possible for a character to act more than your unarmed skill and your weapon skill. The
once in a round and resolution of this still only latter skill is lower than the former. You roll your
requires a single roll. weapon skill, less 1 die, and score 1, 2, 2, 5, 5.
Your result of 2x2 and 2x5 means you
A character deciding to act more than once successfully complete both actions. Had you
establishes which actions they are to undertake rolled 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, you could only succeed on
and the order in which they must resolve. This the disarm test.
is relevant if an additional action is reliant on
an earlier action. Any penalties affecting one or more of the
actions involved affect the dice pool for all
E.g. A character decides to jump in a car and resulting actions.
drive it away. She couldnt perform the drive
action before she had completed the jump action.
17
COMPETITIVE TESTS As usual, Width represents how well you

performed the task and Height represents the
Sometimes a task is in direct competition with quality or speed or some other trait. As Judge,
another party. Arm wrestling, a race, a battle of you must clearly establish whether Width or
wits, all these are good examples of Competitive Height is the winning aspect.
Tests (also known as Dynamic Tests). The
outcome of any such test is to determine who As a general rule, use Width when two or more
wins and who loses. people are in direct competition. Use Height
when two or more people are in comparative
Follow the rules above and whoever rolls competition.
higher, be it Width or Height, wins the test.
EXAMPLES OF COMPETITIVE TESTS

WIDTH HEIGHT
ARM WRESTLING WINNING A DANCE OFF
WINNING A DEBATE RUNNING A RACE
FACING DOWN AN ENEMY COOKING A FINE MEAL
COOPERATIVE TESTS The most basic and obvious opposed test is

character X attempting to stab character Y in
If multiple people work on a task, they all roll the face (also known as combat).
the appropriate dice pool with the same
difficulty and applying any bonuses or All parties roll their dice pools as normal. If the
penalties. Once all dice are rolled, the character active character fails the roll, well, theres
with the narrowest set becomes the baseline. All nothing for the opposing character to stop and
other characters may then contribute a single consequently, you may ignore their result.
die to baseline characters result. This can be a
Special Die (see below). Conversely, if the active character succeeds and
the opposing character fails their roll, then the
E.g. A team of three investigators examine a task resolves unopposed as normal.
crime scene. They all roll their dice pools and the
lowest set is 2x4. This becomes the baseline. When both the active character and the
Fortunately, both his colleagues can contribute opposing character succeed, the latters result
a 4 to this resulting in an increase to 4x4. becomes Counter Dice (also known as Gobble
Dice).
In the unlikely situation that no one scores a
set, then the test fails as normal. Each such die in the set counters (discards) a
die of the active characters set, thus reducing
OPPOSED TESTS the Width. If a set is reduced to 0, that set is
Spoiled and neutralised.
When one character decides to do something
and another character wants to stop them, the E.g. You roll your dice pool and score 3x7. Your
only way to resolve this is with an Opposed opponent rolls 2x8. Those two gobble reduce the
Test.
Test 3x7 to 1x7, spoiling the set.
18
Nb. This is a change from other One Roll Engine each roll and the final Width required for
games, where a set is spoiled on a 1 or 0. Here, Completion.
Completion
as long as you have some Width, you have a
success. Projects are measured in terms of Easy,
Easy
Involved,
Involved Complicated,
Complicated Extensive and
There is one further factor to consider: the Exhaustive.
Exhaustive
Height of a set. You cannot gobble a die of
greater Height. COMPLEXITY TIME COMPLETION
EASY HOURS 3
E.g. You roll your dice pool again and score INVOLVED DAYS 6
2x4. Your opponent rolls an impressive 3x3. COMPLICATED WEEKS 12
However, the Height is less than your Height INTENSE MONTHS 18
and cannot be used to gobble your 4s. EXHAUSTIVE YEARS 24
Each gobble die can be applied against any set The Complexity does not determine the Time
generated providing some defense against and Completion, i.e. if the Project is
multiple opponents. Complicated, it does not always take a Weeks
work for a roll and a cumulative Width of 12.
E.g. Your opponent attempts to trip you and
then strike you while you are down. She rolls A given Project might be Intense in terms of the
2x4 and 2x6. You attempt to dodge and score time required to complete (a week per roll) but
2x7. Because you scored a two of a kind, you might only be Easy in terms of the level of work
have 2 counter dice. You can dodge one or apply required to complete it (Width of 5).
a counter die against each.
It is all determined by the Judge.
PROJECTS
E.g. A character attempts to build a stealth
Sometimes a character will want to do an action bomber in his back garden. He has a group of
that will take a long time but he or she has people to help him and they have the requisite
opportunity to work on it at their leisure, going knowledge and tools.
off and doing other things and then coming
back it when they can/want. Examples might The Judge determines that because they have an
include writing a thesis, rebuilding a car or efficient team and actually know what they are
making a sculpture. Such actions are called doing, its only an Intense project in terms of
Projects.
Projects Time. However, they are still trying to build a
Stealth Bomber in a suburban garden. Thats
The key fact about Projects is that they require Exhaustive in terms of Completion.
multiple rolls to complete with each roll adding
its Width to the last. Once the Width reaches a So the Project requires a cumulative Width of 24
final Completion rating, the project is finally and each roll requires a month of work
successful.
If Quality of a Project is a factor, perhaps a
When a character starts a project, the Judge character wants to produce an amazing piece of
determines the length of Time it takes to make
19
film, then take the average Height of each roll DICE ROLL SHOULD BE ALLOWED. SO A CHARACTER
(round off). COULD EITHER SQUISH, SQUASH OR USE A FULL
HOUSE, NOT ALL THREE.
E.g. A character is designing her own car and
she wants the interior to look fantastic. It takes DICE WITH ME
her 6 rolls to finally complete it (6 weeks in
total). Her rolls are 2x4, 2x8, 3x10, 2x5, 3x7 Beyond standard dice pools, there are a variety
and 2x9. The average Height is 4 + 8 + 10 + 5 of die types to consider.
+ 7 + 9 = 43 / 6 = 7. This creates an average
Height of 7. The interior is pretty darn good. Area Dice are applied when damage is applied
over an area. Examples are falling in to a
SQUASHING THEM DICE bonfire, a gas main exploding underneath you
and those pesky balls of fire wizards seem to
For added flexibility, there is a further option like throwing at people. Area Dice are discussed
for manipulating the dice: Squashing and in more depth in the Law section.
Squishing.
Squishing
Special Dice are a limited but powerful resource
Squashing is when a character takes a in the dice rolling mechanic. They represent
metaphorical hammer to the dice, reducing the supernatural, or otherwise amazing abilities, or
Height of a set to inflate the Width. If a a high level of training. How you obtain them
character has the option to Squash, they may and such matters are covered in the appropriate
reduce the Height by 2 to add 1 to the Width of chapters, however, they can apply to skills and
a set. other dice rolls.
Squishing is the opposite: squeezing the dice Special Dice come in two varieties, Expert Dice
thereby reducing the Width but increasing the and Master Dice.
Dice The former represent an
Height. If a character has the option to Squish, enhanced level of training or ability above the
they may reduce the Width by 1 to add 2 to the layperson while the latter represent a level of
Height of a set. understanding or power that is way above the
journeyman.
These options can be made available as
standard during play if a Judge wishes or they The following principles govern how Special
could be attached to some other factor (e.g. Dice work.
having an Expert Die in a skill might allow you
to Squish and having a Master Die might allow The First Principle of Special Dice is that a
you to Squish and Squash). Some Feats and character may only purchase such dice for their
Advantages might allow you to Squish or skills and may only Nominate a single special
Squash too. die per skill.
Heres a general rule worth pointing out; Nominating is the act of choosing a die before
the roll and making that a special die.
WHERE CHARACTERS ARE ALLOWED TO MANIPULATE
THEIR DICE RESULTS (SEE FULL HOUSES, SQUISHING E.g.1. A character has the Stealth skill. They
AND SQUASHING), ONLY ONE SUCH MANIPULATION PER may only nominate a single Special die for that
20
skill, either Expert Dice or Master Die but not E.g.4. A character has a dice pool of 5 and a
both. Special Die Rating of 5, yielding a Master Die.
They receive a -1d penalty. This reduces the
The Second Principle of Special Dice is that a Special Die Rating to 4. The die nominated as a
character invests points into a Special Dice Master Die is now 4 Expert Dice.
Rating on a given skill which determines the
number of Expert Dice or Master Dice they have. The Fourth Principle of Special Dice is a
The progression is as follows; character may receive bonus to Special Dice
from Advantages and Feats. This adds directly
SPECIAL DIE RATING SPECIAL DICE YIELDED to your Special Die Rating. If a character does
1 1 EXPERT DIE not have a Special Die already, they may utilise
2 2 EXPERT DICE the bonus die type as if they possessed it.
3 3 EXPERT DICE
4 4 EXPERT DICE E.g.4. A character has an Advantage which
5 1 MASTER DIE gives them an +1 Special Die when socialising
with people of the Spacing Guild. She does not
E.g.2. A character has the Duel skill. They have have a Special Die for her Diplomacy skill. When
a Special Dice Rating of 3. They receive 3 Expert she rolls her Diplomacy skill dice pool, she may
Dice. use the +1 Special Die as if she had a Special
Die Rating of 1, yielding an Expert Die.
The Third Principle of Special Dice is that a
character does not roll any Special Dice they The Fifth Principle of Special Dice is you may
may have. They take a single die from their pool only ever nominate have 1 Special Die in a
and nominate that as the Special Die. pool. No matter how much your Special Die is
improved, you may not ever have more than a
If this is one or more Expert Dice, the score of Master Die.
the die is immediately set at a value of 7 before
the roll. If this is a Master Die, you may set it The Sixth Principle of Special Dice is that where
any value after the other dice are rolled. you have multiple Expert Dice, you may only
nominate a single die to be an Expert Die.
E.g.3. A character has a Prowess rating of 3 However, each additional Expert Die allows you
and a Sword skill rated at 4. That character also to NUDGE your Expert Die after your roll, i.e.
Special Dice 1. The character rolls to strike: they increase the value of your Expert Die by 1.
take 1 of the 7 dice and sets it to 7. They then
roll the remaining 6 dice. Sets are now formed E.g.6. A character has 3 Expert Dice. They have
as normal. a dice pool of 6. They nominate a single die and
set its value to 7, using one of their Expert Dice.
The Fourth Principle of Special Dice is that They then roll their remaining 5 dice and score
where a dice pool receives a dice pool penalty, 1, 4, 5, 8 and 9.
Special Dice are the first to be lost. Such a
penalty is applied directly to your Special Die Using the nominated die, this results in a pool
Rating. of 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. Discarding an Expert Die,
the character nudges the nominated die to an
8. The character then uses the remaining Expert
Die to nudge the nominated die to 9. This
21
changes the pool to 1, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 9. Yielding

a set of 2x9.
The Seventh Principle of Special Dice is that

where a character has their Special Die Rating
improved beyond 5, each point beyond this may
be used to PROTECT your Special Dice, i.e. cancel
a die penalty (either -1 Height or -1 die).
E.g.7. A character has a Special Die Rating of 4.

They receive +3 Special Die. This makes the
total 7. They receive a -2d penalty for an action.
They Protect their Special Die and cancel the -2d
with 2 points from their Special Die Rating. This
reduces his total rating to 5.
Waste Dice (also known as Loose Dice) are any

dice that do not form part of a set after rolling.
Generally, these dice are wasted and unusable
but certain game effects can take advantage of
them.
22
LAW
This Chapter deals with all the miscellaneous STEP ONE - INITIALISATION
rules and laws which govern the ORE. Youll
find everything you need from punching So your motley crew of players have got
someone in the face to disarming a trap here. themselves in to a bit of a pickle and the only
way to resolve it is with stabby hurty death. At
So lets start with most gamers answer to a this point, all characters involved in the combat
problem: combat. have to determine what they are doing.
FINISH HIM! Combat awareness is the deciding factor here:

the more observant/situationally alert have the
Every role-playing game spends an inordinate ability to make a much more informed decision
amount of time on the combat section. Any than he or she who hasnt got a clue what just
gamer worth their salt can give you a million happened.
reasons why this is the case but ultimately it
boils down to too many people all having a To reflect this, compare the Insight statistic of
vested interest in the outcome. all combatants. This is the characters Initiative
Score. The character with the lowest Initiative
Bullet Time declares their action first with the highest
declaring their action last.
At any point when it becomes important to
measure a characters activity as a blow by blow Any ties are broken by the Intellect statistic and
account, use Rounds to keep track of things. A then Prowess. If anyone is still tied, randomly
Round is a 5 second measurement of activity. It determine it (flip a coin, roll a die, the person
might help if you think of Rounds in terms of with the best shirt).
special effects used when films slow the action
down so you can exactly what is happening. You must announce all your actions at once,
especially important if you are announcing
Generally, you will only use Rounds in combat multiple actions. This includes any powers,
or other intense competition. feats or special attacks you might wish to
perform.
Each Combat Round is broken down into the
following steps: STEP TWO - DETERMINATION
1. INITIALISATION: Decide who is doing what and Every character, where necessary, rolls a dice
to whom. pool dependent on the relevant action to
determine their results: if you are firing a gun,
2. DETERMINATION: Find out how everyone did you will probably use Insight plus
and how quickly. Marksmanship or if making a calculation, use
Intellect plus Mathematics.
3. RESOLUTION: Apply the results to combatants.
23
All characters roll their dice at same time. This Once all actions are performed, start a new
next statement is actually more important than round of combat.
it sounds;
STEP THREE - RESOLUTION
Speed is a measure of a characters reaction
time in combat: the higher the Speed, the Now you know what youve done and how well,
quicker the reaction time. The character with it is time to resolve these actions and put that
the highest action speed resolves their action cause into effect!
first, then the character with the next highest
resolves theirs and so on. People taking actions other than an attack or
defend, resolve each action in order of Speed,
ACTION SPEED IS DETERMINED BY HEIGHT. from Highest to Lowest: people run away, close
a door, release the hounds, whatever.
E.g. Your character is involved in a big old fist
fight. You roll 3x5 to hit the darn galoot who is A character who is defending applies his or her
bothering you and he goes and rolls 2x3. Your set as Counter Dice against an opponents
Speed is 5, faster than the varmint. You react attack, reducing the Width by their Counter
before he does. Dice.
That is worth repeating; E.g. A character shoots at someone else. The

second character dives for cover. Our shooter
YOU CANNOT REACT TO AN ACTION WHICH IS FASTER rolls 2x8 and our diver rolls 2x9. The divers
THAN YOUR OWN. counter dice block the attackers Width. The
diver is safe.
The most important fact about Speed is that you
cant react to an action that resolves before your Some important things to note about attacks
own. that remain constant throughout your combat
options;
This means that;
1. Due to the sheer impact and stress from
- you cant defend yourself against something being hit, any character subject to a
faster than you; successful attack loses a die from their
highest set, even if they take zero
- you cant grab a ladder if it is pulled away damage. This includes people hiding
before you reach it; behind forcefields.
- you cant grapple someone if theyve already 2. Damage dealt is equal to your Width.
jumped out of the window; Weapons add to your dice pool.
Ad infinitum. 3. Damage always comes in one of three

forms, Physical Damage,
Damage Mental Damage
Ties are broken by who has the highest Prowess and Social Damage.
Damage
and then by Insight. If after that they are still
tied, they act at the same time.
24
Physical Damage represents attacks Having a statistic reduced by damage causes

designed to penetrate the skin and reach different effects;
those vital fleshy bits which keep you
alive. Physical Damage generally causes If a character has a Physical statistic reduced to
lost limbs, bleeding wounds and zero, they are incapacitated. If they have both
punctured organs. Physical Damage reduced to zero, they are dead.
affects Physique or Prowess.
If a character has a Mental statistic reduced to
Mental Damage describes any form of zero, they are catatonic or otherwise reduced to
attack which attacks the psyche. Torture minimal response. If both Mental statistics are
and emotional abuse both cause mental reduced to zero, they are in a coma.
damage. Mental Damage affects Insight
or Intellect. Lastly, if a character has a Social statistic
reduced to zero, they become pliant and
Social Damage represents public subdued, unable to mount an argument. If they
humiliation or loss of face and a have both statistics reduced to zero, they will
damaged reputation. An argument, blindly follow commands, effectively stripped of
mockery or intimidation causes social will.
damage. Social damage affects Charm
and Command. Complications
When a character takes damage, they reduce an Instead of taking damage, a character can buy
appropriate statistic by 1 for each point of it off by taking a Complication. A Complication
damage. Which statistic loses damage is is an affliction or wound of some kind caused
determined by the victim. Damage can be split by the attack.
between each statistic however the character
likes, all on one or evenly or any other possible When you take damage, you may decide to
combination. convert all said damage into a Complication.
They must convert all or nothing. Theres no,
There are damage boxes next to each statistic Ok, Ill convert 1 point of those 3 points into a
on a given character sheet. If a character takes 1 point complication.
damage, tick a box. For each box marked off,
reduce the appropriate statistic by 1. Different forms of attack cause different
complications and the severity of the damage
If a character takes multiple kinds of damage in determines the severity of said complication.
a round, apply Physical damage first. then
Mental damage and lastly, Social damage. The major problem with taking a Complication
is that it takes a lot longer to heal than statistic
E.g. A character is dealt 3 Physical damage. He damage. However, if it means the difference
decides to take 2 to Physique and 1 to Prowess. between life and death, a Complication is a fair
He marks off 2 boxes on Physique and 1 on price to pay for survival.
Prowess. His Physique is therefore reduced by 2
and his Prowess by 1 Nb. You can only be afflicted by each
complication once at any given time! So if you
25
have a Bruise/Cut, you cannot take another immense pain but profuse bleeding and
Bruise/Cut! If you already have complications, spatter.
further damage is just going to make things
worse for you! If the character is not treated for
bleeding within rounds x Physique, they
Physical Complications will Pass Out. If they are then not
treated, they will Bleed Out in rounds x
BRUISE/CUT (1 POINT COMPLICATION) Physique.
The character has a vicious welt caused A character who survives the initial
by the attack. This creates a -1 Height wound, then receives -2 Height to all
penalty to some activity based on the actions due to pain. Oh and theyve lost
injury. lost their limb.
If to the face, this might be to a social GORE (5 POINT COMPLICATION)

roll. A blow to the head, a mental roll. To
the torso, to any athletic activity. The character has received a devastating
blow and only has moments left to live.
BLEEDING (2 POINT COMPLICATION) Perhaps they have been disemboweled or
shot in a kidney or some such serious
The character is bleeding badly and if not injury.
treated in a number of minutes x the
characters Physique, they will Pass Out. If not treated immediately, the character
will die in rounds x Physique score. They
If they Pass Out, they will Bleed Out in receive -2 Height to all actions due to
minutes x Physique. pain until healed and are at -2d to
perform any activity while injured and
BROKEN BONES (3 POINT COMPLICATION) recuperating.
The character has a broken hand, limb, Mental Complications

fractured skull or rib. This creates a -1
Height due to pain and -1d penalty due MUDDLED THINKING (1 POINT COMPLICATION)
impairment applied to activities based on
the injury. The character is distracted and otherwise
finds it difficult to concentrate. He or she
A broken limb, applies a penalty to any may get words muddled or misremember
use of that limb. A broken rib, any things.
athletic activity.
They lose -1 Height on any activity until
LOST LIMB (4 POINT COMPLICATION) they are able to recover and rest.
The characters primary limb or a leg is

wholly removed, causing not only
26
ERRATIC BEHAVIOUR (2 POINT COMPLICATION) bizarre and as do the decisions you

make.
The character is suffering from strange
thoughts and isnt sure where they are At this point, the Judge is well within his
coming from. Paranoia, self harming and or her rights to decide things for you or
other weird behaviour is not uncommon. to detail things that arent really there.
You receive -1 Height to all actions until Reality for your character becomes much
you are able to recover and rest. You also moreinteresting.
receive -1d to any actions requiring
concentration and thought or when The only to remove this complication is
dealing with people in social situations. through extended counseling.
TRAUMATIC STRESS (3 POINT COMPLICATION) Social Complications
The character has night terrors, severe BRUISED EGO (1 POINT COMPLICATION)
anxiety, paranoid delusions and other
traumas. You receive -2 Height to all The character feels hurt or stung by
actions until you are able to take situation and wont quickly forget what
extended relaxation recovery. happened. The character suffers -1
Height due to lack of concentration until
You receive -1d to all actions requiring they have chance to cool down.
concentration and during social
situations. For a day or two after the event,
reminding them of it can give them a -1
PHOBIA (4 POINT COMPLICATION) Height for a few rounds.
You develop a severe phobia related to SULLENNESS (2 POINT COMPLICATION)

the source of the damage. The mere
thought of the phobia can give you a -2 The character becomes moody and
Height to all their rolls for up to an hour. withdrawn. They are difficult to engage
in conversation and certainly wont
Being presented with the source will instigate social activities. They receive -1
plummet you into sheer terror frenzy. Height to their rolls until they have a
chance to cool down.
The only way to remove a phobia is
through extended counseling. They received -1d to their social rolls
until either they resolve the problem (roll
INSANITY (5 POINT COMPLICATION) Insight + Focus after every nights sleep)
or until someone helps them get over it
The character has suffered such mental (they roll Charm + Enthrall during a
trauma that it has broken their mind. heart to heart).
Your behaviour becomes increasingly
27
PARIAH (3 POINT COMPLICATION) reputation and dealings will be affected:

you have become social leper, an outcast
The character is considered to be or exile.
someone who should not be seen in
public. For whatever reason, people will Whatever you have done, no one wants
not publically acknowledge your to associate with you. You just dont
existence and ignore you. exist. You cant get anyone to even
acknowledge your entrance to a room.
The characters attempts to socialise with People ignore you, you can scream in
people, even in private, are somewhat their faces and theyll still not
compromised, incurring a -1 Height to acknowledge you are there.
their rolls.
You have suffered social death.
In public, they also receive -1d to all
their rolls. When dealing with those people who
have to be civil with you (subordinates,
DISCONNECTED (4 POINT COMPLICATION) family), you receive -2 Height and -2d to
all your social rolls.
Association with you is really bad at this
moment. No one wants to be seen with HEALING
you or even acknowledge your existence.
Any injured character will be interested to note
Worse, one of your friends or contacts that they will eventually get better.
has cut you lose. You are too much a
liability, too unpredictable or just bad for The healing rates are determined by the type of
business, and youve reached the end of injury and by the level of said injury.
your association.
All damage takes 1 week of rest or inactivity to
The Judge will decide how this affects recover one box of statistical damage.
you, perhaps a reduction in one of your
appropriate Advantages or some Physical Damage requires you to be bed bound
character now effectively hates you. and possibly even on life support for the
duration of healing. A physician can reduce this
Your dealings with everyone else receive time by the results of a medicine roll. If a
-2 to their Height and lose -2d to any character becomes active at any point, this
social rolls while people are avoiding aggravates the injury and they must begin
you. another 7 days of rest.
OUTCAST (5 POINT COMPLICATION) Alternatively, a physician can make a medicine

roll to allow the character to remain active for
This is the worst case scenario: your that day while still counting it as rest. A
reputation has suffered greatly, so much Physician cannot reduce the period of
that people truly think that by recuperation and allow a character to be active
associating with you, their own at the same time.
28
Mental Damage requires relaxation and that Damage (or PD). Fires, falls, gunshots,
you dont get involved in stressful situations. electrocutionsthey all cause PD.
Psychotherapy and relaxation activities can
reduce this time by the Width to a minimum of There is no real distinction between types of
one day. Physical Damage. Given the nature of the
Known Universe, if someone is trying to punch
Unlike Physical Damage, interrupted healing you, they will be skilled enough to ensure that
does not restart the healing period but it does said punch could kill you. And if they arent, it
pause it. is unlikely they are going to injure you at all.
Social Damage requires you spend your time Light attacks (a punch, a knife wound) do
away from people, giving them time to forget Width in PD. Medium attacks (a sword or other
your transgressions. medium weapon attack, a moderate fall) does
Width +1 in PD. Heavy attacks (a two handed
Other people can attempt to raise your profile sword, a big drop or sniper rifle attack) do
and win people round with a social campaign, Width +2 in PD.
effectively reducing the time it takes to heal.
Each day spent on the campaign allows people Mental Damage (or MD) is a bit more
to roll Charm + Intrigue, with the resulting complicated. This is any type of attack that
Width reducing the healing period. might cause mental trauma. Certain types of
torture are a clear source of MD. Obviously
Complications do not start to heal until after all traumatic events cause Mental Damage: seeing
damage boxes are healed. In all cases, to heal a a loved one eviscerated before your eyes,
complication, the character must spend the knowing that you caused the deaths of a
entire recovery time inactive and no amount of thousand people by your ignoranceanything
therapy or medicine can make them active. which is horrifying causes MD.
If a character wants to heal a complication, they MD is the middle ground between Physical
have to take the time out to do it properly. Injury and Social Injury. It is the experience of a
thing that the brain cannot immediately
Complications heal at a rate of 1 week per level comprehend. To reflect this, for every 2 points
of complication. Again, this time can be reduced of Physical or Social Damage you receive, you
in the same way that boxes of statistical can transfer a point to Mental Damage.
damage can be reduced.
E.g. You are dealt 4 points of Physical Damage.
SOURCES OF DAMAGE You can transfer up to 2 points to Mental
Damage.
So weve discussed what damage is and what it
does to you but weve not really discussed what Light mental attacks (such as seeing a pet killed
causes it. or forcibly sleep deprived for several days) does
Width in MD. Medium mental attacks (being
Physical Damage is pretty obvious: anything informed that your brother has been killed or
which causes physical pain causes Physical that youve put someone you care about in
danger) do Width +1 MD. Heavy mental attacks
29
(stabbing the love of your life, seeing a truly Armour gives a character a difficulty to perform
horrifying sight) do Width +2 MD. physical actions like Dodging or Swimming.
Light Armour yields Difficulty 3, Medium
Social Damage (or SD) can be terrible, inflicting Armour yields Difficulty 5 and Heavy Armour
loneliness and frustration and powerlessness as yields Difficulty 7.
no one wants to deal with you, talk to you or
even be in the same room. This can affect any action that requires full
body mobility. Things like jumping, running
Bullying and intimidation cause Social Damage. and the like. This does not affect things that
Anything which causes people to laugh at you require small motor actions, like firing a gun or
or otherwise affect your reputation, this is striking with a sword.
social damage.
Holtzman Shields
Light social attacks (someone mocking you or a
cutting retort at your expense) do Width in SD. In Dune, technology has been adapted for
Medium social attacks (a serious threat of reliable use in personal defensive shields. These
injury, a humiliating event) causes Width +1 in shields, unlike many others in science fiction,
SD. Heavy social attacks (being on the receiving are not round projections of force but form-
end of a vitriolic diatribe, a serious threat of fitting energy fields which permit penetration
death) causes Width +2. only by objects that move below a pre-set
velocity.
ARMOUR
It is noted that "In shield fighting, one moves
Getting injured hurts and is to be avoided. If fast on defense, slow on attack ... Attack has
you arent quick enough or skilled enough to the sole purpose of tricking the opponent into a
defeat your opponents before they can land a misstep, setting him up for the attack sinister.
blow on you, youd better find a method of The shield turns the fast blow, admits the slow
putting something in between you and those kindjal!"
incoming attacks.
As one would be unable to breathe within a
Armour stops attacks from penetrating your shield that did not permit atmospheric gases to
squishy organs which are vital for not being penetrate it, man-portable shields have a
dead. However, armour comes in different relatively high penetration velocity,
varieties and generally, the more damage it approximately six to nine centimeters per
stops, the more restrictive it is. second.
To reflect this, armour has an Armour Rating However, shields for ships and planetary
from 1 to 3, with Armour Rating 1 being Light installations can and often do have extremely
Armour, Armour Rating 2 being Medium low penetration velocities, as artificial life
Armour and Armour Rating 3 being Heavy support technologies can be utilized while the
Armour. shield is active.
This Armour Rating reduces Physical Damage The Holtzman shield (sometimes colloquially
on a one for one basis. known as a Dueling Shield) has therefore
30
been employed as a generic defense mechanism 4. Slow Pellet Stunners,

Stunners being spring-
and it is common for people of importance to loaded darts carrying poison tips or an
wear them. electrical charge. Stunners are not very
effective.
Upon activation, they create field of force
around the wearer which is only visible at the Holtzman shields once activated, has enough
peripheral edges of said field. Striking the charge for about 10 minutes.
forcefield with a blow of sufficient velocity
causes the point of impact to glow and make An active holtzman field automatically prevents
blue sparks. all attacks classed as High Velocity. Typically,
this includes all ballistic. thrown projectiles and
The Holtzman shield forever changed the way any other fast moving attacks. A key thing to
people fight as it almost entirely negates the use remember about High Velocity attacks is that is
of projectiles. impossible to control how fast they go: their
velocity is intrinsic to their very nature.
There are only four forms of weapon which
remain useful in a shield-wearing culture; Low Velocity attacks, such as Slow Pellet
Stunners and melee attacks can penetrate the
1. Personal Combat,
Combat that is, fighting with shield but doing so requires a Slow Attack
short blades. This is the most reliable manoeuvre which incurs a -2d penalty.
way of dealing with a shielded
individual. Nb. it is never discussed whether a person can
wear armour and a holtzman shield. For the
Nb. As any great work of fiction, the fine purposes of this game, you either use one or the
details of how such shields work is not other. In case you missed that: you may never
detailed. Thus, it doesnt explain wear armour and utilise a dueling shield!
whether people can fight unarmed. The
liberty has been taken that fighting Just returning back to the idea of unarmed
unarmed is possible but painful if you go attacks against a Holtzman Shield. If you
too fast. So very few people actually do imagine that trying to break through a
it. Exact details are provided later. Holtzman forcefield is like trying to push
through electrified jelly (jell-o to you Americans)
2. Gas weapons,
weapons though it is a simple and the faster you are going, the more
matter to wear a small respirator or hold resistance you receive.
ones breath for some time.
And then imagine that you go too fast and you
3. Laser weapons,
weapons though the interaction of are punching an electrified wall doing so then
the holtzman field and lasgun wave is becomes a risk which can easily be counteracted
unpredictable and subject to causing by using a blade or some other form of weapon.
nuclear explosions. So not a practical
tactic, especially given that the nuclear So few people would choose to fight unarmed
reaction may be centered on either the but sometimes you dont get that option. So
lasgun wielder, the shield wearer or what happens when a person ends up wrestling
both! against a shielded opponent?
31
If you get no sets against a holtzman shield, that he didnt expect to live himself and so was
you miss and thats ok. Nothing else happens. quite happy to risk a possible nuclear explosion.
If you get sets and are dodged, thats ok too. And so, with that said, lets get to the nitty
gritty: what happens when you get a lasgun
If you get sets and penetrate, youve done very and a holtzman shield and put them together.
well. Do your damage and give yourself a pat
on the back. Well, extrapolating on the ideas present in the
book (but never clearly stated), it all depends on
For any other result, for example, your attack is the size of the holtzman shield and the lasgun.
parried, you impact on the shield etc, you take 1
point of physical damage from either bruising a The larger the holtzman effect, the less effect a
hand or getting a nasty shock. lasgun waveform has on it. In this fashion.
House Shields (huge holtzman generators
Of Lasguns which protect, say, a skyscraper, a castle or
some such estate) are completely safe: it would
Knowing how the mind of a player works, at take an extremely powerful lasgun waveform to
some point, someone is going to want to point a destablise a House Shield.
lasgun at a holtzman shield.
And by extremely, this means virtually
Well get to the physical effects in a moment but impossible without some completely convoluted
lets take a moment to discuss the political plan that might take an entire campaign to
fallout (pun only slightly intended). resolve, i.e. if a group of players think it is a
neat idea enough to focus an entire game on it,
There is an article in the Great Convention (the then fine. Otherwise, nyet.
fundamental laws of the Empire) that prohibits
nuclear explosions. The GC is pretty much all However, if the lasgun is equal to or more
about the protection of human rights and their powerful than the holtzman field, get ready to
right not to be indiscriminately blown up. This shout Atomics! very loudly
makes nuclear warfare the most heinous crime
that can be committed under the terms of the In this case, roll a single die.
Great Convention.
On a 1, nothing happens. Absolutely nothing.
This needs spelling out to your players: if they The laser and the holtzman field short one
are caught messing with atomic explosions, another out: the gun and the shield generator
there is no legal defense! Every single person in are now useless.
the Known Universe will sell you out. Theres
nowhere to hide. On a 2, the holtzman shield implodes, killing
the wearer and anyone else inside it in a messy
In the books, Duncan Idaho does cause a explosion.
lasgun/shield interaction but his entire house,
his family, friends, everything he held dear, was On a 3, the lasgun explodes loudly, killing
about to be destroyed! It is pretty much a given anyone near by.
32
On a roll of 4, 5 or 6, the holtzman shield A character may purchase a specific weapon

detonates in a huge atomic blast. Everyone skill, kindjal or rapier or pistol for example,
nearby is killed in fiery mushroom cloud. which allows them to use only that weapon.
However, a weapon skill is paired with Prowess
On a roll of 7, 8 or 9, the lasgun feedsback and and not Physique or Insight.
its atomic death for anyone stupid enough to be
within several miles of the explosion. GUNS AND ARROWS
On a 10, the lasgun and the holtzman shield You might also be interested in the rules for
both explode in nuclear fury. shooting people.
And if you somehow survive all that, please be Making a standard shot at someone is covered
aware that you will get caught and be executed. the same way as any other attack is: you roll
With mentats who only need the barest scrap of your dice pool and hit someone if you score a
detail to piece together an investigation, Bene set.
Gesserit who can tell if someone is lying and
there being enough people in the Known Things get complicated when you start using
Universe with some measure of prescience to bigger and better weapons. So lets start at the
notice such a disaster, it really is only a matter beginning.
of time before you are caught.
RANGE
STICKS AND STONES
Ranged combat obviously occurs at range. This
There are really only two fundamental kinds of is defined as Short Range (the target is close),
attack: Close Combat and Ranged Combat.
Combat The Medium Range (the target is within reasonable
difference between the two should be pretty distance) and Long Range (the target is far
obvious. away).
Within each kind of attack are a multitude of A character making a ranged attack adds 1 die
weapons designed to kill, injure, maim and to their dice pool at Short Range. That character
generally mess someone up. receives no bonus nor penalty at Medium Range
and they lose 1 die from their dice pool at Long
There are two general skills that cover for each Range.
kind of attack: Duel and Marksmanship
Marksmanship.
hip
AUTOMATIC FIRE
Duel governs all armed close combat but
generally, only bladed weapons are employed as Some weapons can fire lots and lots of bullets.
blunt weapons would do no damage at such a This is not a game where getting big guns and
slow speed. shooting lots of bullets is encouraged (or even
worthwhile). So rather than having tight rules
Duel is paired with Physique and to govern it, we have some loose and fast
Marksmanship is paired with Insight. mechanics.
33
A character can fire a Short Burst or a Long Personal weapons (a pistol, slow pellet stunner,
Burst or lay down Suppressing Fire. A Short rapier, kindjal) yields no bonus to attack but all
Burst adds 1d to the dice pool but incurs a -1 such weapons are considered Low Velocity (or
Height penalty. This costs 3 rounds of LV).
ammunition. A Long Burst adds 2d to the dice
pool but incurs a -2 Height penalty. This costs a Medium weapons (SMGs, broadswords, battle
third of the clip. axes and the like) add 1 to the Width of
damaging sets. Medium weapons are High
Suppressive Fire costs two-thirds of a clip and Velocity (HV).
involves the character laying down a wall of
bullets, affecting an area equal to half the Large weapons (halberds, shotguns, assault
number of bullets fired in metres. Anyone rifles) add 2 to the Width of damaging sets.
caught in that area reduces the Height of any Large weapons are High Velocity (HV).
action by the Width of attack. If their Height is
reduced to zero, they take 2 points of Physical Bonuses to damage are applied after a character
Damage. has made any relevant defensive action. In this
fashion, being hit by a sword doesnt make it
OF WEAPONS more difficult to counter.
Combat in the Known Universe is very different Lasguns are highly damaging laser weapons.
to that of our time. To begin with, theirs is a However, they are rarely used due to the
dueling culture favouring light blades. Heavier prevalence of the holtzman shield (see the
blades, like broadswords or even polearms are appropriate earlier section).
rendered ineffective by the Holtzman Shield.
And yet, because they are so devastating,
The same is true for nearly all firearms and sometimes one will find its way on to a
thus, guns and large blades are rarely battlefield (normally in the hands of a
employed. player).
Generally, you can expect people to carry IF A CHARACTER IS DIRECTLY HIT BY A LASGUN, THEY
ceremonial dueling knives (called a Kindjal) but ARE DEAD. NO ARGUMENTS.
rapiers are almost as common. The heaviest
weapon commonly employed is an epee. No amount of armour can protect you and you
really dont want to be wearing an active shield
Larger weapons do exist and are sometimes if someone is pointing a lasgun at you.
employed. The same goes for firearms. But the
situations are very specific (such as large troop But it must be stressed that Lasguns are heavily
engagements) and isnt a general concern. frowned upon, to the point that people might
consider you to be carry a small nuclear device
All weapons are therefore described in terms of in your hand because, technically, you are!
Personal (being a small or lightweight weapon), Some Siridars might even outlaw lasguns
Medium or Large. completely within their territory.
34
DODGED A BULLET Remember, gun fights are not all that common
in an age where forcefields render them
Average Joes and Janes cannot dodge or parry completely ineffective.
ballistic weapons (although you might allow
characters to dodge projectile weapons). AREA EFFECT
You can, however, Dive For Cover.

Cover When an attack affects an area, such as a
fireball or grenade, then it has an Area Rating.
Rating
Cover is any scenery that you can put between
your attacker and yourself. Any attacks coming The character making the area attack rolls their
for you should be stopped by the cart, wall or attack roll as normal. Every character caught in
whatever youve interposed between yourself the Area of Effect rolls a dice pool of the
and the gun. attackers Width + Area Rating. If the character
does not score a set, just use Area Rating.
Like armour, Cover has a rating from 1 to 3
which measures the amount of your body Every die which rolls less than the attackers
protected. Light Cover is roughly 30% of your Height deals 1 damage.
body (your legs behind a rock or hiding behind
a lamp post) and is rating 1, Medium Cover is E.g. A character throws a grenade at victim 1
roughly 60% (shooting round the corner of a (Area Rating 4). She scores 3x6 on her attack
building) being rated 2 and Heavy Cover being roll. Victim 1 rolls 4 dice plus the Width for a
90% of your body (hiding behind a wall) being total of 7 dice and scores 1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 9 and 9.
rating 3. Victim 1 takes 1 damage for each die under 6,
which is 4.
The level of cover creates a difficulty to hit a
character: to hit a character in Light Cover is OFF-HAND
Difficulty 4, a character in Medium character is
Difficulty 7 and a character in Heavy Cover is If you use an object in your off-hand, you
Difficulty 10. receive a -2d penalty to your dice pool. If you
use an object in your primary hand and your
Diving For Cover is where a character moves off-hand, you receive -3d!
behind cover to avoid being hit. When taking a
Dive For Cover action, roll Prowess + Athletics TWINNED SETS
as counter dice. You lose 1 die for each metre
you must move to get into cover. Some special abilities and feats Twin an attack
or set. This means that when the character
When actually in cover, only your visible body performs a certain action (as determined by the
parts are vulnerable to fire: if an attack strikes a ability) they perform the action twice: first with
location that is in cover the attack is nullified. the appropriate set and then a second action,
Obviously, this makes Called Shots a bit more using the same set as the previous action.
important in a gun fight!
E.g. A character has an ability which allows
them to twin a build action. They roll and score
3x5 to make a neutron grenade. The twinning of
35
this action generates a second build action at When using two Ranged Combat weapons, you
3x5, thereby creating two neutron grenades. immediately twin any resulting attack set for
two attacks, irrespective of your opponents
TWO WEAPON COMBAT skills. Again, this must be against the same
target.
Some players will want to pick up two swords
or two guns (or two somethings) and run The downside to using two weapons is a -1d
around making like a John Woo hero. penalty to your attack pool, regardless of
whether it is ranged or close combat. You also
In the DUNE universe, this is actually incur the Off Hand Penalty for another -2d.
reasonable: seasoned fighters have been trained
since an early age. And Bi-Manual Fighting, That means you get -3d to your dice pool if you
as it is called, is a viable tactic in a scenario insist on trying to be clever without the
where fighting is all about misdirection. appropriate training.
When using two Close Combat weapons, the Of course, there are some feats which overcome
experts say that only when your opponent is this and, if your GM allows them, you can
less skilled than you, can you really use two pretend to be in a John Woo movie to your
weapons to your advantage. hearts content.
To reflect this, when a character is wielding two COMBAT ACTIONS

closed combat weapons, if their appropriate
skill is higher than their opponents skill (or There are several basic combat actions.
Threat Rating if facing an Unworthy Opponent,
see below), they twin their resulting attack set AIM HOLD
against the same opponent. ATTACK PARRY
CALLED SHOT PUSH
E.g. A character is wielding two sai and has her CHARGE RUN
skill at 3. DISARM STAND
DODGE STRANGLE
She is facing off against a character who has a DISPLAY MOVE TACKLE
naginata and a skill of 2. The second character DRAW THREATEN
twins her attack set. FEINT TRIP
GRAPPLE WAIT
Her sai dice pool is 7. Because she is using a
weapoin in her Off Hand, she receives -2d. Activate
Activate Shield: it takes an action to reach for
Because she is using a weapon in both hands, your Holtzman Shield and switch it on.
she receives an additional -1d, reducing the dice
pool to 4d. Aim: you take time to prepare your ranged
attack. Add 1d to your next Ranged Combat
She rolls and luckily scores 4x2. This is twinned Attack. You may only take two consecutive Aim
to two attacks of 4x2 and 4x2. actions.
36
Attack: you hit someone with your fist, cut MASTER SUCCESS - 4x: as above, save the if you
them with a blade or shoot them with a pistol. have a free hand, the weapons yours if you
want it.
If it is a Close Combat Attack, use Physique +
Duel or Prowess+ Weapon Skill. Display Move: a character performs an
impressive manoeuvre before combat begins:
If it is Ranged Combat, use Insight + perhaps the character rips his opponents
Marksmanship or Prowess + Weapon Skill. weapon from their hands and puts it to their
throat or perform a complex kata.
Called Shot: a character attempts to hit someone
in a specific location. Roll your you attack at - This Display Move does no damage and you roll
1d at a Difficulty of 5. If you hit, your victim your appropriate attack skill (or Physique +
gets to decide whether they take damage to Control if youre just showing off your
their statistic or a complication, however, you physique). Score a set and you gain a 1d bonus
get to decide which statistic is affected or what (or offset a -1d penalty) for your first attack
the nature of the complication is. against anyone who say your posing.
Charge: a character moves some distance and Draw: a weapon is no good holstered (or lying
then whacks someone with an attack. Make a several feet away from you). You take a Draw
Physique + Athletics roll (when Running) or action to ready it from its holster or pick it up
Physique + Ride (if Riding). The charging bit from the floor. This requires no roll but if you
and the whacking someone bit are two separate use it in the same round, this requires a
actions. multiple action.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2x: add 2d. Feint: you convince your opponent you are
about to perform one kind of attack but do
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3x: add 3d. something completely different. Every time you
Feint against an opponent, you gain a 1d bonus
MASTER SUCCESS - 4x: add 4d. to your next attack.
Dodge: counters an Attack. If this is Ranged You can only gain a 2d bonus from Feinting.
Combat, you must Dive For Cover (as
described above). Roll Prowess + Athletics. Grapple: a character grabs someone and holds
them still. Roll Physique + Close Combat or
Disarm: you attempt to rip someones weapon Prowess + Wrestling. You can either take them
out of their hand. Roll your attack dice pool at - down (pinning them to the floor) or pin them
1d at Difficulty 5. against a wall at no penalty, however, if you
want to remain standing, you lose a die.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2x: the attack does no
damage but the weapon is knocked X metres, This roll is countered by a Physique + Duel or
where X is the Width of the attack. Prowess + Wrestling, whichever the resisting
party has.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3x: as above, except X is twice
the Width of the attack.
37
If the grappler wins the roll, both characters are Strangle: you decide to choke someone to death.
immobile until either they release the grapplee You must have someone in a Grapple to use this
or they escape. action. Take a Called Shot to the Head and roll
the appropriate attack.
You must be Close-In to grapple someone.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2x: you do 2 Choking
Hold: a character grabs another characters limb Damage. Next round you automatically do 2
to stop them from doing something they might Choking Damage if your victim doesnt break
regret. Roll Physique + Duel or Prowess + free.
Wrestling. You may use any resulting success
as counter dice. EXPERT SUCCESS - 3x: as above, except 3 Choking
Damage.
Parry: counters a Duel. Roll Physique + Duel or
Prowess + Weapon Skill. MASTER SUCCESS - 4x: as above, except 4 Choking
Damage.
Push: one character pushes another character.
You must be Close-In to push someone. Roll Choking Damage builds up each round. If it
Physique + Duel or Prowess + Wrestling. You exceeds the victims Physique, they begin to
move them 1m per resulting Width. Obviously, asphyxiate, receiving -2d to all their actions. If
this means neither of you are now Close-In. it exceeds twice the victims Physique, they die.
If someone performs a Trip or Slam action Choking Damage fades at a rate of the victims
against you while you are making a Push Physique statistic if the strangle is released.
action, they gain 1d.
Tackle: you slam into someone and attempt to
If anyone makes a Trip or Slam action against a take them down. Roll Physique + Close Combat
character who has been Pushed, they receive a or Prowess + Wrestling at a -1d penalty. You do
1d bonus to their roll. W Physical damage in addition to both you of
you being Downed.
Run: every character can move 5m per round
without making a roll. A character can then roll Threaten: a character makes a vicious threat
Physique + Athletics adding 2m x Width. before combat. Roll Command + Intrigue and
use the Width as a Social Attack.
Slow Attack: To penetrate the Holtzman Shield,
your attack must be made slow and Trip: a character attempts to flip someone to the
deliberately. downed position. Roll your appropriate attack
at Difficulty 2. You add 1d if your opponent is
Such attacks incur a -2d penalty. performing (or subject to) a Push or Tackle
action.
Stand: a character who is Downed has to stand
up. This requires an action. Or, you can perform STANDARD SUCCESS - 2x: the victim loses a die
a Prowess + Athletics test to perform a kip up from a set and receives -1d next round.
and get to your feet as part of a multiple action.
38
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3x: as above, but the victim is E.g. A character faces off against a group of 7
also downed. armed street punks, each one Threat Rating 2.
They have a Dice Pool of 14.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4x: as above, but the victim
also takes 1 Physical Damage. Just to reiterate an important point;
Wait: a character holds their action until ONLY UNWORTHY OPPONENTS THAT CAN ACTUALLY
someone else has acted. Declare your action as MAKE AN ATTACK CONTRIBUTE THEIR THREAT RATING TO
normal, however, when your Speed comes up, THE UNWORTHY OPPONENT DICE POOL!
you choose to wait. You may then time your set
to act at the Speed as any other lower set. If you This is relevant because if there are more
wait and no one acts, you lose your action. opponents than space to attack the player
character(s), they cannot contribute to the dice
UNWORTHY OPPONENTS pool. So if clever players can reduce the number
of opponents who have an attack opportunity,
Sometimes, as a Games Master, youll want to by use of some terrain for example, they can
put in some throwaway characters for a bit of a limit the amount of dice rolled against them.
scrap as a minor challenge or to add a bit of
excitement. They might be the Masterminds When making an attack, you roll your Dice Pool
henchmen, the Daimyos soldiers or the Dons which represents the whole group making
gangsters. This is when youll want to use the attacks at the player character(s). Any sets
Unworthy Opponent
Opponent rules. generated do their Width in damage.
Unworthy Opponents are unnamed characters Judges should try to limit the Width of the sets
whose sole purpose is to provide a bit of action generated by Unworthy Opponents to their
for the players without slowing the game down. Threat Rating, breaking up any sets which are
too wide into smaller sets. So a group of 5
They dont have statistics like player characters critters at Threat Rating 2 should only really be
or the Judges characters but instead have a netting sets at a Width of 2.
Threat Rating
Rating.
ting
Unworthy Opponents are obviously going to
This Threat Rating is an abstract measure of an get killed/taken down quickly. Ultimately, thats
unworthy opponents dangerousness and is what they are there for. When players hit such
generally rated from 1 to 5. characters, they deal damage as normal with
each point of damage reducing that unworthys
Each such Opponent that can make an attack Threat Rating. When the Threat Rating reaches
adds its Threat Rating to an Unworthy 0, the unworthy is Out and no longer
Opponent Dice Pool. This dice pool could be any contributes to the dice pool. Thats where the
number and you may expressly roll up to 15 damage stops, however: one attack can only
dice. If you have more than 15, ignore the take out one unworthy in this fashion.
excess for now.
When an unworthy is taken out, this reduces
the overall Unworthy Opponent Dice Pool. If
this Dice Pool is higher than 15, then the
39
number of dice rolled doesnt change. The Vehicles have statistics which measure their
Unworthy Opponent Dice Pool has to be reduced physical reality, rated from 1 to 5, just like
below 15 before it starts affecting how many regular people do.
dice are rolled.
HANDLING SIZE
E.g. A group of 30 normal men and women have SPEED
been incited to riot. They are Threat Rating 1
each which creates an Unworthy Opponent Dice Handling is the vehicles agility and
Pool of 30. They roll 15d in combat. Every time manoeuvrability. This affects how easy it is
an unworthy is taken out, this reduces the Dice pilot (and not crash).
Pool by the Threat Rating of 1. So 16
unworthies have to be taken out before they roll Size is the actual physical size of the vehicle.
less than 15d.
Speed is how fast the vehicle travels.
MORALE ATTACKS
Size is the most important aspect to define as it
A Morale Attack is a special type of Social has the most physical impact upon the game.
Attack. It represents a sudden shocking event Conversely, Handling and Speed are more
that might give a person cause to think twice. abstract values.
Any Social Attack against Unworthy Opponents The first chart shows the abstract scale. The
affects a number equal to the Width with a second chart is a rough approximation.
Threat Rating equal to or less than the Height of
the attack. SIZE RATING DESCRIPTION
1 PERSONAL
E.g. A character makes a Social Attack scores 2 SMALL
2x7. This affects two Unworthies with a Threat 3 LARGE
Rating up to 7. 4 HUGE
5 GIANT
VEHICLES
SIZE RATING DESCRIPTION
At some point, a character is going to want to
1 1 - 10 M LENGTH
actually drive a vehicle or, more likely, drive a 2 10M - 50M LENGTH
vehicle into another vehicle. 3 50 - 500M LENGTH
4 500M - 1000M LENGTH
The vehicles in DUNE range from ground 5 1KM - 5KM LENGTH
vehicles, not dissimilar to the vehicles of today,
all the way up to starfaring frigates. However,
Vehicles of Size Rating 1 and 2 are classed as
they all utilise the same basic guidelines: a
Manoeuvrable.
Manoeuvrable
vehicle has an Engine to move it and a Cockpit
to hold the pilot. Everything else is just
variation on a theme.
40
EXAMPLE VEHICLES AIR TRAVEL

SIZE RATING DESCRIPTION SPEED RATING APPROXIMATE VALUE
GROUNDCAR, 1 100 KM/H
1
PERSONAL ORNITHOPTER, 2 250 KM/H
LARGE ORNITHOPTERS, 3 1,000 KM/H
2
PERSONAL VOIDSHIP 4 1,500 KM/H
HOUSE FRIGATE, 5 2,250 KM/H
3
HOUSE TRANSPORTER,
For determining Void Speeds in space where
4 CRUSHER
acceleration is important (especially important
when talking about space combat), you can use
5 MONITOR
the following chart.
There are four Speed Modes and each is rated For your information, 1G of thrust is
from to 1 to 5. approximately 9.75 m/s2.
The Categories are; VOID SPACE TRAVEL

SPEED APPROXIMATE
SEA AIR RATING ACCELERATION
LAND VOID 1 01 - 05GS
2 05 - 10GS
Each describes a different mode of travel (it is 3 11 - 14GS
self explanatory which type is which). 4 15 - 19GS
5 20+ GS
SEA TRAVEL
SPEED RATING APPROXIMATE VALUE Void is best described as a normal speed that
1 15 KM/H can be measured in metres per second without
2 50 KM/H breaking your calculator (or brain). All combat
3 100 KM/H is undertaken at such speeds.
4 150 KM/H
5 200 KM/H For arguments sake, all Void ships use the
same rules for interplanetary travel: a ship can
LAND TRAVEL travel 1 AU in 6 days minus the Speed Rating.
SPEED RATING APPROXIMATE VALUE
1 25 KM/H E.g. A Speed 3 ship could travel 1 AU in 6 less
2 100 KM/H equals 3 days.
3 200 KM/H
4 300 KM/H The approximate values above dont really
5 400 KM/H mean that much when taken in comparison
with one another and are only there as a rough
guideline for interest more than anything.
41
The key point to take away from the Speed its Handling, the pilot increases their Difficulty
statistic is that it is a measure of comparable by 2 for each point over.
speeds within that class.
E.g. A sports car has a Land Speed Rating of 4
You really cant compare, say, having an and a Handling Rating of 2. If the driver
acceleration of 20+Gs to travelling 200 km/h: increases speed to 3, he is now at Difficulty 2. If
the orders of magnitude are just so disparate he then increases it to 4, he is at Difficulty 4!!
that it would be a pointless exercise.
Vehicles also have some subsidiary statistics.
If you do any amount of research of the various
science fiction vehicles, youll note that they are ARMOUR FIREPOWER
portrayed as having fantastical levels of CARGO PASSENGERS
acceleration and that the speeds they must CREW SENSORS
travel during combat are just plain old
impossible! So when you look at the Speed Armour describes how much plating or
Rating, all you need to know is that Speed 1 is shielding the vehicle has. This works exactly
slower than Speed 3 which is slower than Speed like Armour Rating as described earlier in this
5 and so on. section.
You can also use the Speed Mode if you need Cargo describes how much space there is for
another qualifier. Each is given a Rating: the goods and other materials. This is described in
higher the rating, the master that mode is. terms of physical space and also mass
tolerance.
SPEED MODE RATING SPEED MODE
1 SEA Crew is the number of people required to pilot
2 LAND the vehicle.
3 AIR
4 VOID Firepower is the vehicles integral-mounted
weapons.
Using the above chart, if for some reason you
need to compare one vehicles sea speed against Passengers is the number of people the vehicle
anothers land speed, you can determine that can seat in relative comfort. Some vehicles may
the Land Speed Mode always trumps the Sea have also have Cabins.
Cabins These are places for
Mode. passengers to live in while aboard.
Although this comparison, again, might seem Sensors measures the vehicles sensory
completely useless (and it mostly is, it is just information rating. This could be Sonar or
included for completeness), the might be Radar but might be something much more
situation where you must compare a land impressive in higher technology games.
vehicles speed with an air vehicles speed.
A vehicle also has a number of Systems
Handling measures a vehicles response to the required to make it move and perform all the
pilot, thereby determining its agility and jobs it would normally do.
manoeuvrability. If a vehicles Speed goes above
42
Consult the following System Chart for VEHICLE WEAPONS

examples.
Nearly all weapons to be used by or against
SYSTEM
YSTEM EXAMPLE vehicles are incredibly destructive. So much so
ACCESS DOOR, HATCH that use against normal people is considered
CARGO TRUNK, HOLD overkill (instant death).
COCKPIT DRIVERS SEAT, BRIDGE
COMMUNICATIONS CAR RADIO, CB SYSTEM Against vehicles, its really a measure of how
CONTROLS JOYSTICK, NAVIGATION accurately you strike your target: a direct hit
ENGINE THRUSTERS, TURBINES from any vehicle weapon is pretty much going
ENVIRONMENTAL A/C, OXYGEN to take that vehicle out.
PASSENGER YOUR FRIEND
POWER BATTERY, GENERATOR To reflect this, were not even going to bother
SENSORS RADAR with individual weapon damages. All vehicle
WEAPONS MISSILES, ROCKETS weapons do damage Structural Damage equal to
the Width.
Each system represents something integrated
into the vehicle itself. Whenever the vehicle What truly separates vehicle weapons from one
takes damage, one of these systems might get another are stats: Penetration Rating and
knocked out. Effective Range Rating.
Rating The bigger and nastier
the weapon is, the higher the Penetration and
Vehicle weapons deliver Structural Damage the further away you can shoot them, the
which is then either applied to the vehicles higher the Effective Range Rating.
Rating
Structure or applied to the various systems on
the ship as Complications. Penetration reduces any Armour Rating by
Penetration Rating.
When all Structure is removed, the vehicle is
destroyed. Effective Range is measured in terms of Visual
Range or Beyond Visual Range (described
Each Vehicle has a Structure Rating equal to below).
twice its Size Rating.
VEHICLE WEAPON RANGES
E.g. A size 2 helicopter: has a Structure Rating
of 4. As has been intimated already, guns on vehicles
tend to be big and explodey. Furthermore, the
Each system can be hit twice. The first hit higher the tech level, the more likely youll be
knocks the system out and the second system shooting at targets several kilometres away.
completely destroys it. A knocked out system
can be repair, given enough time. A destroyed Therefore, vehicle combat is performed at only
system has to be completely replaced. two ranges: Escape Range (ER) and Visual
Range (VR).
Of course, this can be disastrous if its a critical
system like Life Support or Cockpit or Engines Escape Range is essentially the non-
engagement range outside Visual Range. If you
43
are at Escape Range, either party can decide to A MANOEUVRABLE VEHICLE WITH A HIGHER POSITION
break off an engagement and disappear into the ROLL CAN ATTACK YOU AND YOU CANNOT ATTACK IT
clouds/traffic. BACK.
Weapons therefore can only be used if you can Maybe the vehicle is just too fast or your
see your target. There are no computer/self opponent is right behind you or has found a
guided weapons in the DUNE universe. blind spot in your combat resolution. Whatever
the reason is, your opponent has every
VEHICULAR COMBAT advantage and your only recourse is to run off
or jockey for a superior position.
Vehicle Combat is not very different from person
to person combat, only some of the terms have Manoeuvrable vehicles can always attack a non-
changed. manoeuvrable vehicle, irrespective of position.
You still follow the same standard steps: When rolling position, Manoeuvrable Vehicles
roll Speed rating + Pilot skill. Non-
1. INITIALISATION: Decide who is doing what and Manoeuvrable Vehicles roll Sensor rating +
to whom. Computer skill.
2. DETERMINATION: Find out how everyone did Vehicle combatants declare their actions in
and how quickly. order of Position width, from lowest to highest
(Height breaks a tie).
3. RESOLUTION: Apply the results to combatants.
Actions then resolve from highest width to
Only the rolls are slightly different. lowest.
STEP ONE - INITIALISATION

NITIALISATION STEP TWO - DETERMINATION
Here you are determining Position,

Position not Everyone rolls their dice at the same time and
initiative. Your Position in a dogfight really resolves their actions in order of Speed, starting
determines everything: what you can see, what with the highest to the lowest.
you can shoot at and what can shoot at you.
The rolls made are determined by the action and
Position is measured by a roll and the set the nature of the vehicle: big Ships of the Line
generated by that roll. The wider the roll, the roll very different attacks to snub fighters.
better the position.
Following is a list of common actions pilots and
It is important to note in vehicle engagements drivers can take. This is far from non-
that Manoeuvrable vehicles cannot be attacked exhaustive as players will inevitably create a
if it has a superior position. situation a Games Master couldnt possibly
account for.
That needs spelling out.
44
ATTACK JINK Escape: if you are at Visual Range, make a

BAIL OUT LAND Speed plus Skill roll. If you are successful, you
BRAKE MANOEUVRE increase your range to Escape Range. If at
CHASE RAM Escape Range, the engagement is broken off,
ERRATIC MANOEUVRES SIDESWIPE ending combat. Countered by Chase.
ESCAPE SWERVE
HOVER TAKE-OFF Hover: if the vehicle is capable of it, you may
hover in place. Roll Handling plus Skill. Any
Attack: the pilot or co-pilot fires the vehicle- actions performed from a hovering vehicle have
integrated direct weaponry (machineguns, their Width and Height limited to the Hover
miniguns, lasers etc). result (ignore any excess Width or Height).
Pilots roll Handling rating + Gunnery. Jink: this counters an Air Attack or Space
Attack.
Co-Pilots roll Insight + Gunnery.
Land: a pilot lands an aircraft. Roll Handling
Gunners roll Firepower rating + Gunnery. plus Skill. It goes without saying that a Landing
roll would only be required in adverse
Bail Out: someone aboard the vehicle decides to conditions.
get the heck out of dodge. A character can either
do this manually (i.e. open a door and jump Position: you attempt to get a better vector on
out) or using an ejection system. Performing a your target. Roll Speed + Pilot or Sensors +
Bail Out manually requires a Coordination plus Computer and the result is your new Position.
Athletics roll. An ejection system is an
automatic 2x10 Bail Out action. Ram: the pilot drives her vehicle into
something. Roll Handling plus Skill and add
Brake: the vehicle comes to a complete stop. Size Rating and Speed Rating to damage. The
Roll Handling plus Skill. You lose 1d for each ramming vehicle takes two-thirds the damage
point over Speed over the vehicles Handling. delivered to itself. Vehicles designed to ram take
one-third of the damage.
Chase: the pilot or driver is trying to catch up
with someone or avoid losing them. Roll vehicle Sideswipe: swerves into another vehicle. Roll
Speed plus Skill. If successful, decrease range by Handling plus Skill and add Size Rating to
1 (Escape Range becomes Visual Range). damage. The Sideswiping vehicle takes half
Countered by Escape. damage to the opposing flank and knocks the
victim 1m per Width in the sideswiping
Erratic Manoeuvres: the pilot is making it direction.
difficult for someone to make an Attack against
you. This does not take an action per se. The Swerve: this counters Land or Sea Attack.
pilot takes a Difficulty from 1 up to their Pilot
Skill. This difficulty applies to all their actions Take-
Take-Off: the pilot launches his vehicle. Roll
this turn but also affects anyone trying to hit Handling + Skill. It goes without saying that a
them! Take-Off roll would only be required in adverse
conditions.
45
G-FORCES It is important to note that every set generated

by an attack from a Ship of the Line counts for
When a Manoeuvrable vehicle performs a damage! You do not have to take multiple
manoeuvre at Air Speed or Relativistic Speed, actions!
this subjects the passengers to G-Force.
Force
Ships of the Line can manoeuvre their hull to
The G Force is equal to the vehicles current protect different parts of the ship from other
Speed. If this is higher than the characters Ships of the Line.
Physique Rating, they receive a -1d penalty for
each point in excess. In this fashion, a Ship of the Line can apply a -1
Height penalty to any attack from any other
If this is more than 2 points higher than the Ship of the Line attacks against it. However,
characters Physique score, the character suffers this affects their own ability to attack back by
a Red-
Red-Out (or Black-Out, the former is when reducing the number of guns which have a
blood rushes to the head and the latter is when firing solution to their target.
blood is pulled away, in the middle of
dogfighter, either is Bad News) and cannot take Accordingly, for every -1 Height imposed on an
an action next round. enemy vessel, any gunner on that Ship of the
Line receives -1d to their attack roll.
SHIPS OF THE LINE
FIREPOWER EXAMPLE
These are the big battleships and frigates. 03 VOIDSHIP CARRIER
06 HOUSE TRANSPORTER
They have a Firepower rating which measures 09 HOUSE FRIGATE
their overall direct attack weapons (i.e. how 12 CRUSHER
many guns they have to shoot at people). 15 MONITOR
They also have a number of Gunners to fire STEP THREE - RESOLUTION

those weapons.
All actions are performed and results applied
All weapons contribute to the vessels Firepower (and ships blown up!).
rating and this rating can be assigned to
different targets, one per Gunner. If there are still combatants, battle continues.
Attack rolls are assigned Firepower + Gunnery Note, you only roll for Position at the beginning
for firing a Ship of the Lines weapons. of combat or if you take a Position action.
E.g. A battleship has a Firepower rating of 6 DAMAGE TO CREW

and 4 gunners who all have Gunnery 3. It can
either assign all its guns at one target Some attacks will cause damage to the people
(Firepower + Gunnery = 9). Or it can fire at who are driving the vehicle.
multiple targets, splitting up its Firepower.
It has already been mentioned that if someone
receives a direct hit from a vehicle weapon that
46
they just die (not even a red smear is left in deployment of weapons to cause such
some cases!). destruction would be prohibited.
However, a system hit to Crew or Pilot isnt the A War of Assassins might yield a well-placed
same thing: this is when either a hit to the ornithopter attack or a bomb set to explode
vehicle causes an internal explosion or shrapnel when in the air but in both cases, the person
or something that injures the people inside. setting the explosion would have to ensure
minimal loss of pedestrian life or fear a
Use the Width of the damaging attack as an grievance.
Area Attack against the crew.
When an actual vehicle combat does occur,
VEHICLE COMBAT IN DUNE rockets or otherwise guided missiles would be
the biggest weapons employed against non-
Now, the thing is, there isnt a whole lot of shielded vehicles.
vehicle combat in the DUNE books. But your
players are going to want to do it. Its only Since there can be no self-guided missiles in
natural. DUNE and standard ballistics would prove
pretty useless in any situation other than
Even in the most political, story heavy games, against human beings (which in of itself would
at some point, someone is going to want to be heavily frowned upon anyway), large
shoot someone from a moving car or ram an explosives are the likely weapon of choice.
ornithopter into another ornithopter. So here
are some rules. Such explosives can have tactical uses against
structures and buildings, so if they are rendered
But heres the deal: these rules are inspired and useless by a well placed holtzman generator,
extrapolated from the books but you wont find you do have other options.
anything here that is actually from the books.
Lasguns would prove deadly against any
So this is the part which is the most standard vehicle shield and useless against a
extrapolated (or, liberties definitely taken). shielded starship.
With that in mind, lets discuss put some ideas
out there. Rockets are useless against a shielded aircraft.
So the only resort would be a controlled
Vehicle combat in DUNE will happen but it collision of a specifically designed battle
would probably be fairly rare. And when it does ornithopter whose goal was force a target
happen, unless one or more players is directly aircraft to crash land.
involved, you must consider why it is
happening. If it is a pitched space battle as part This requires a successful ram attack countered
of Kanly, then 9 times out of 10, it can be by the targets jink manoeuvre. A successful
resolved as a House Venture. ram either does damage or, if shielded, requires
a Handling + Pilot roll with penalty of the
But that raises a valid point: unless the house is ramming attacks Width. If the handling roll is
in full-blown Kanly, such destruction and failed, the aircraft is Rocked.
Rocked A second
47
successful attack forces the Rocked aircraft to Shooting down a warhead before it detonates is
Crash.
Crash a Difficulty 7 Sensors + Gunnery roll at Escape
Range. At Visual Range, it is Difficulty 4.
Space battles again would be limited to full
scale Kanly where the utter destruction of your TROOP COMBAT IN DUNE
opponent is the goal. Otherwise, space ships
would far too great a resource to jeopardize in a By now, it should be well ingrained that full
conflict and the resulting explosion would be scale warfare does not occur very often in the
pretty indiscriminate. Imperium. To begin with, unless you are in a
War of Assassins or Kanly, it is strictly illegal to
Although atomic explosions would technically do so.
be acceptable in space, the use of such weapons
is still prohibited by the Great Convention. And Troop mobilization in a War of Assassins is still
breaking the fundamental laws of the Imperium prohibited to small scale raids and surgical
just isnt done. So, the application of nuclear strikes. Anything large or indiscriminate are
weapons, even in a relatively safe environment strictly illegal.
would be heavily frowned upon. So ingrained is
the anti-nuclear mentality. Kanly does allow full scale wars but
indiscriminate destruction is still prohibited.
However, electromagnetic pulse warheads could
be practically used in such a relatively safe In all cases, the job of the Judge of the Change is
environment. Thus space battles are about such to monitor and assess the care and attention the
warheads being guided by remote and launched combatants have taken to minimize wanton
at one another while the starships attempt to destruction.
detonate the warhead before it strikes the hull.
If the Judge of the Change determines that life
Such a warhead detonating on a Size Class 3 or was lost that could have been prevented, he or
small vessel will completely cripple it, shield or she will bring a Bill of Particulars against the
no shield. offending House, leading to criminal charges
and a possible Process Verbal.
It would cripple a Size Class 4, with a second
warhead taking it out. Viable targets are any person who is a part of
the direct household. So thats the noble family
A Size Class 5 can take three such warheads and any of their relatives, their teachers, any
before being taken down. head of a department. Plus any
fighter/combatant.
A ship which is taken out has all its electrical
systems taken out. All the lights, environmental This does not include hirelings, such as cleaners
systems, reaction drives, everything. If the crew and workers and the like. Pyons and the like are
doesnt die from hypothermia, lack of oxygen considered below the machinations of the
will get them not before long. Houses. In fact, the Great Convention was
written expressly to protect such peoples lives
from said machinations.
48
So, warfare is a really tricky process and is So unless you secretly build them over a
usually limited to the storming of the House significant period of time, you might as well
capitol and even then, it requires strict control send your opponents a note saying I have a
over who gets killed or captured. huge army all armed with shields coming to get
you!
Whats worse is when a location is protected by
a house shield. Gaining access to the objective Much more practical and common are troops
inside the house shield normally requires some armed with close combat weapons and body
kind of insurgent pre-battle action to sabotage armour, transported by shielded vehicles and
the thing. deployed into a small area.
On of the things that was so brilliant about the Personal guards and highly trained surgical
Harkonnen attack upon the Atreides was that units will be trained in Shield Fighting and
they had an inside man who was completely these are the ones that will be defending the
above suspicion. He was able to sabotage the ultimate targets
house shield and subdue the Duke before the
battle even began! Troops may be armed with slow pellet stunners
but as their targets are generally shielded, it is
Damage to infrastructure, particularly to fief somewhat irrelevant.
infrastructure, is allowed, as long as there are
no attacks which endanger the lives of pyons Ballistic weapons are virtually unheard of. Only
and the like. in situations where shields cannot be deployed
(such as the sands of Arrakis) or arent used for
The actual warfare itself can take many forms whatever reason (perhaps a house is too poor to
and really, it is usually specific to the situation. equip all its key personnel with shields).
However, generally, troops are moved
planetside by starship and then deployed by Even against troops in body armour, firearms
shielded transport ornithopters. would rarely get the opportunity to be used,
given the prevalence of shielded transports.
Assault ornithopters might be used defensively Rapid and tactical deployment of troops
and as escort vehicles. effectively negates any advantage gained from
using them.
Ground vehicles may be deployed, depending on
the Houses preference. Some like to use them, And ultimately, the fact that any of your targets
others dont. are going to be completely immune to them,
well, it would be logistical waste to even bother
Troops may utilise shields or not. Obtaining arming your troops with the extra weight.
such large numbers of them may take time and
training the fighters to use them can be Lastly, cost is a huge factor for troop warfare.
difficult. Worse, obtaining them can be a huge The Spacing Guild charges huge levies for troop
telegraph to your rivals, basically signaling that transport and so, you cannot deploy a Might
you are arming entire brigades of soldiers with greater than your Treasury quality.
holtzman shields.
49
VEHICLE SIZE SPEED SPEED HANDLING ARMOUR CREW GUNNERS FIREPOWER PASSENGERS
CLASS MODE RATING
GROUNDCAR, 1 LAND 4 3 1 1 0 0 1
PERSONAL
CARRIER
TRANSPORT
APC
AFV
BATTLE
ORNITHOPTER, 1 AIR 4 4 0 1 0 0 1
PERSONAL
CARRIER
TRANSPORT
BATTLE
VOIDSHIP, 2 VOID 4 3 1 2 0 3 5
PERSONAL
VOIDSHIP, 2 VOID 3 2 1 2 0 6 10
CARRIER
VOIDSHIP, 3 VOID 2 1 1 4 2 6 50
TRANSPORTER
VOIDSHIP, 3 VOID 3 2 2 6 4 9 25
FRIGATE
VOIDSHIP, 4 VOID 2 1 3 12 6 12 50
CRUSHER
VOIDSHIP, 5 VOID 1 1 4 20 10 15 100
MONITOR
50
Setting
So DUNE is a rich and evocative blend of There is a single ruling family (the Siridar Lord
corporate politics and feudal ancestry which or Lady) who represent the House Major, owned
lends itself to all kinds of settings. of the planet. There can be any number of Minor
Houses which run parts of the planet for the
So which do you choose? House Major to whom they owe fealty.
The most obvious would be that of the players If you were to only have three to five families,
taking on the role of one of the Great Houses of suddenly the game takes on a whole different
the Landsraad and politicking with the best of focus.
them. Perhaps the players would take on the
role of House Moritani feuding with House There is also the option of taking on a non-
Ginaz or even something like House Atreides noble group, such as an Out-freyn society (like
fending off attacks from House Harkonnen. the Fremen or the technologists of Ix or
Richesse) or smugglers or a powerful merchant
According to the vaguely canon DUNE family.
Encyclopedia, there are something like thirty
Great Houses and thus it might be a great idea In many ways, this gives the players far more
for the players to come up with their House. freedom to forge their own destiny.
But this has a number of problems associated Beyond who the players are, you might need to
with it. consider when and where the game is set.
To begin with, this kind of campaign might be

unsuitable for new players or those unfamiliar
with DUNE.
Plus the scope of the campaign suddenly

becomes very large for the Judge as not only is
the Emperor more likely to be involved in some
fashion but also there are many other families
to account for. Yes, they may only be footnotes
or not even that but these things must be
considered by the guy or gal running the game. Alliances made, alliances broken
Another option is to play one of a number of To help with creating your DUNE game, a basic
Minor Houses on a world belonging to a House preferred setting has been included. This is
Major. just a collection of ideas meant to get those
creative juices flowing. You are encouraged to
This is much less epic in scope but at the same ignore it and go with whatever suits your group
time, much more easy to manage. best. However, sometimes the idea of a DUNE
51
RPG is compelling but when you sit down to If someone thinks having a planet covered
plan it, you encounter many problems. At that completely in water, then you should put that
point, revisit this section and check out the in. This is all about ownership of the game and
following section. It might help you immensely. everyone should feel like theyve had a hand in
its creation.
The preferred setting to this game is 100 years
before the events of DUNE, set on a fictional The key point of this that any features that
non-canon world, belonging to a fictional non- added in, i.e. not generated with a roll of the
canon Great House and the players filling the dice, has no game effect beyond adding flavour.
positions of Regis Familia, Na-Familia and Such worlds and moons are barren or otherwise
Bondsmen of a House Minor bound to the said uninhabitable or useless for resources and are
Great House. therefore just a feature.
Like any good science fiction, the narrative is Of course, if there is a disagreement at any
about the characters and their interaction, stage, the Judge should step in to ensure that
drives, ambitions, goals and failings. And not the creation process doesnt get bogged down
about robots killing one another with lasers. on irrelevant details.
But moreover, it is the detail of the world you This One Roll also establishes any features of
inhabit. Therefore, the first thing you should do the planet(s), such as large territories of
is set out the world itself. grasslands or regions of mostly mountainous
terrain.
In a later section, there is a One Roll system
that used to design the star system where the Again, the players and Judge should feel free to
players live. 11d10 and split the sets and waste add as much detail to the land masses as they
dice on the various stellar bodies and like. Where a territory has no specific feature or
habitable/notable locations on said stellar features, then it has no one dominating trait.
bodies.
Once the playground has been established, next
The very first session should entirely be about are the fine details. Such things like what are
designing the sandbox for the players to play the major imports and exports? What is the
in. name of the ruling Great House? Who are their
family members? Does the planet have its own
You roll up the Siridar Fief, determining how religion or does it follow the Orange Catholic
many planets and territories there are and the Bible? What about travel? How do people get
like. This is a communal effort between the around? Does everyone use ornithopters or
players and the Judge. shuttles? Or does this planet use zeppelins? Or
steam trains or sailing ships or space-faring
The players and Judge are encouraged to add as frigates?
many features to the star system as they like.
Put as many planets, moons, large and small, You are entirely encouraged to think as much
into the system, as many continents, islands, about the flora and fauna as you can. The world
straits etc as they want. should come alive from the interaction of ideas
between the players. This is the players world
52
and the game is to take place mostly in this A result of 9 on the Solar System chart yields a
planetary system, so the more evocative it is, Greater Extreme Conditions planet. A 6 yields a
the better and also, the more DUNE it is. large uninhabitable planet. A 2 is a small
Uninhabitable Moon and a 1 is an Asteroid
After youve come up with as much about the Field.
world as you can, the seas, the continents, the
peoples, its time to roll up the House history. This means the system has a Greater Planet
which is habitable but conditions are extremely
Again, you roll 11d10 and again, you are harsh (it is a frozen world roughly where Mars
looking for sets to establish historical events would be), in the same orbit is a Small Affluent
which modify your houses traits. This also Planet. Roughly where Earth would be is a Large
creates a back story for your house, explaining Uninhabitable Planet which is orbited by a small
how it came to be and the major events Uninhabitable Moon, a Small Habitable Moon
afflicting it. and a Medium Habitable Moon.
You then repeat this process for every other The small affluent planet is called Zelona and
Minor House and then weave together their although has many smaller islands, it only has
historical events to form the political history. one landmass of note, which is approximately
size of the United Kingdom. This landmass is
called Hastalan and is a very cold and
inhospitable place (Harsh Conditions). However,
the place is mineral rich and so people go there
to make their fortune.
It is decided that there is a common phrase

amongst the people of this system, Life is either
hard living or hard working.
One of the players decided it would be cool if the

War Stories moons were all orbiting the same planet. So the
large uninhabitable planet is a blue gas giant
An Example of System Creation called Zasta.
11d10 were rolled and the following results The gas giant is something of a cosmic vacuum
came up: 3x4, 2x8, 2x5, 9, 6, 2 and 1. cleaner and has gathered up an uninhabitable
moon and no less than two habitable moons,
3x4 is a Medium Moon. This yields three Endor and Thyca.
Territories.
Endor is a small forest (Forest) moon, famous
2x8 is a Small, Affluent Planet. This yields two for its quality real wood products.
Territories.
Thyca is actually bigger than Zelona (the
2x5 is a Small Moon. This yields another medium moon). The world is a very wet world
Territory. made up mostly of plains which give way to
water logged fields (Grasslands and Wetlands).
53
There are two large landmasses, the first called Zelonans mounted a revolt and subsequent
Uss and the second called Abrant, very close to invasion against Thyca (Invasion/Revolt).
one another. The water is shallow between them
and one can walk between them, if one wishes. Colonel Patrone Felderon was in charge of a
wing of thopter pilots and he mounted a daring
The rest of the world is mostly small islands and rescue to save the Venhei, even in the face of
unimpressive landmasses. stolen frigates bombarding the Venhei capital.
The system is ruled over by House Venhei, which Felderon then was entrusted with the safety of
makes its home on Zelona, their royal castle the Venhei na-familia. He escorted them toward
situated at Uss. safety only to be pursued by the enemy frigates.
House Venhei has three minor houses who owe Over the course of the next few days, he did
them fealty. These are House Felderon, House what he could to ensure their safety but each
Banthet and House Vorst. We decided not to do time he thought he had outfoxed the enemy, he
anything with the houses until after wed rolled was confronted by yet more ships.
their histories.
He decided that the only way forward was to
The first is House Felderon. We roll another mount an attack. He split his forces, taking just
11d10 to determine the history of their house. a few thopters and led a suicide run against the
We score 2x9, 3x8, 2x6, 10, 7, 4 and 3. frigates. He flew his personal command
ornithopter into the lead frigate, unknowingly
These translate into: taking out the leaders of the rebellion (Victory).
2x9 Glory Soon after, the Zelonan invasion petered out.

3x8 Victory Felderons bravery and sacrifice was honoured
by the Siridar familia by granting them lands
2x6 Infrastructure and investing Felderons wife with the
hereditary title of Baroness (Glory).
10 Windfall
The newly installed House Felderon were highly
7 Invasion/Revolt thought of by their pyons. They were enamored
with the wife of a war hero, especially as the
4 Descent locals were far from friendly toward the invasion
forces.
3 Catastrophe
Almost 50 years passed of prosperity
So. House Felderon. We get to decide what the (Infrastructure). Not from any real talent on
first event is, i.e. the event which directly led to behalf of Baroness Felderon but more because
the formation of the house. the fief almost ran itself.
The players think about it and decide that there Then disaster: there was a blight on the land
was a major revolt. Due to the harsh conditions and crops failed (Catastrophe). The pyons
on Zelona, the people there resent the started to go hungry and with it, order began to
freeloaders on Endor and Thyca. So the break down. Unfortunately for the Baroness, she
54
didnt have the talent or the power to effectively Well, obviously, House Banthet won some long
manage the problem. The war was many years ago conflict (Conquest) that impressed House
ago and Felderons sacrifice was forgotten. Venhei. With a 3x10, they were really impressed
Faith in the family was shaken for years to come (Favour).
(Descent).
House Banthet were House Venheis close
25 years later, the Baroness passed on at an friends and allies for hundreds of years, the two
age of 114. Their only child, Helene Felderon of them cementing their longstanding friendship
came to power. Helene had had the chance to through intermarriage.
learn from her mothers mistakes and to study
with talented family Bondsmen. When she However, perhaps 500 years ago, the youngest
became Baroness, she was ready for it. daughter of House Venhei was due to marry the
middle son of the Banthet family. However, the
Ten years passed and Helene proved to be a youngest daughter had other ideas. She ran
formidable leader and she quickly established from the family leaving upset in her wake
House Felderon as a force to be reckoned with. (Scandal).
With the house on the ascent, she garnered The then leader of House Banthet, Earl Olaf
much attention for potential suitors. Eventually, Banthet, took it personally and that bruised ego
she was pressured into finding a suitable festered. For a very long time. Olaf came to be a
partner, she chose her partner, the son of a very old man, reaching 140 years thanks to the
powerful merchant family, Francois Nasteur. Spice. And the older he got, the more senile he
grew (Madness).
With House Felderon bolstered by the fortunes of
a powerful family, never in the Houses 93 years Finally, he could tolerate it no longer and vowed
has it ever been this strong (Windfall). to revenge himself upon House Venhei. He
started sending emissaries to Zelona, spouting
Next, House Banthet. such propaganda about how the Venhei
promised much but didnt deliver. How they
We roll 3x10, 2x2, 2x1, 9, 6, 5 and 4. were just using the Zelonans, letting them live a
challenging life and they reaped all the rewards.
We have;
For a people whose lives were filled with
3x10 Favour hardship, it was not difficult for a respected
2x2 Conquest person such as Olaf to cause trouble. And not
2x1 Treachery before long, the Zelonans were in a full blown
rebellion and invading Thyca (Treachery).
9 Division
6 Madness The eldest son of Earl Banthet (himself, not a
5 Scandal young man) learned what his father had done.
4 Descent Having waited years and years for his old man
to die, he didnt waste the opportunity to break
Hoo boy. away from his father, taking his most loyal
retainers and siding with the Venhei in the
forthcoming conflict (Division).
55
When the Zelonan Uprising faltered, House He found sympathizers in the form of the other
Banthet faltered with them. Now, they are very houses minor. Afraid that Mathaus had become
much a house in decline. Olaf was removed from a despot, they saw Tomas as a viable
power and saw his final days consigned to a alternative.
wing in the Banthet family home while the
middle son, Magnus, became the Earl. Some90 They banded together in a grand conspiracy
years later, the son of Magnus, Emret, wishes against Mathaus under the banner of Tomas
nothing but to repair the damage his senile (Alliance).
grandfather committed (Descent).
The battle was fierce and raged for years.
Lastly, House Vorst. Eventually, Tomas and his alliance of houses
minor defeated the despot Mathaus (Conquest),
We roll 2x7, 2x4, 2x3, 2x2, 9, 8 and 1. however, Tomas lost his life in the process:
House Vorst was no more (Doom).
2x7 Ascent
2x4 Change It looked like the worst was going to happen. A
2x3 Villain Siridar familia had been decimated by civil war
2x2 Conquest and the Emperor was all-but ready to arrive.
9 Division And yet, House Commander Heinrick Banthet,

the right hand of Tomas Vorst, suggested that if
8 Alliance Baron Nikolaz Venhei took over the lands of old
House Vorst and demonstrated that no profits
1 Doom had been lost, the Emperor might well install
House Venhei as the new rulers of the system.
Ok, this is a little less straight forward. Whether Heinrick was being altruistic or
politically savvy, that is lost to time.
House Vorst was once a Great House, however,
the Siridar-Baron Mathaus Vorst was a With Heinricks insight into House Vorsts inner
despicable and terrible man. workings, the Venhei were able to takeover
things without too much effort.
He ruled the Siridar Fief with his hands tightly
around the throat of all his vassal houses CHOAM and Imperial Agents did indeed arrive to
(Villain). assess the situation. It was unusual but not
unheard of for a Great House to be overrun by
The Vorst family had always been stern and their vassal houses. Thanks to Heinrick, both
strict but Mathaus was easily the worst of the CHOAM and the Imperial Agents left satisfied
lot. that House Venhei had taken over and profits
would not suffer.
The final straw came when the entire family of
House Czyr were put to death for treason. The All that remained was for House Venhei to swear
brother of Mauthaus, Tomas Vorst, left his their fealty to the Padishar Throne.
brothers household and vowed that things
would change (Division).
56
As the Venhei rose to power taking the old Vorst House Banthet has suffered decline and is
capital, Nikolaz, in honour and memory of jealous of the rise of House Felderon.
Tomas, granted Tomas son, Wilhelm Vorst, the
old Venhei lands and installed Wilhelm as the Lastly, House Felderon is the new kid on the
Earl of a new House Vorst (Change). block and has recently thrown in its lot with a
wealthy family. What this means for their
He also rewarded Heinrick with an Earldom who future, no one can say: the loyalty of Baroness
became the head of House Banthet. Helene Felderon is yet to be tested.
Wilhelm Vorst took up residence on the forest Now comes the final bit. Organising the Siridar
moon of Endor and did everything he could to Fief.
prove his loyalty to the Venhei. Wilhelm knew
that his Uncle Mathaus had been a tyrant and House Vorst is on Endor. This is a small
fully deserved everything he got. One hand territory of forest land.
around their throats had always been the
family way but he had gone too far. House Banthet and House Felderon decide to
both be Thyca on the mainland. Both are on the
It had cost the Vorst familia their position and grasslands.
very nearly their blood. Wilhelm was under no
illusions that the Vorst family would never So now we calculate their starting Quality
reclaim their place and as the only surviving Scores.
member of the family (who had never expected to
rise to power anyway), he would rather bury the All three houses are on a moon, yielding base
past. scores of Might 10, Defense 10, Influence 10,
Dominion 20, Territory 10 and Treasury 10.
Wilhelm was quick to court the bondsmen of
Endor. He threw their lot in with them, offering There is no wealth modifier.
their best and brightest positions within his
new household. He married the daughter of an House Vorst (being in forest land) receive +5
artisan family which won him great popularity Defense, -5 Influence, +5 Dominion and-5
from the people (Alliance). Treasury. This modifies their scores to Might 10,
Defense 15, Influence 5, Dominion 25, Territory
Not before long, the people of Endor felt they had 10 and Treasury 5.
a real representative and defender in Earl Vorst.
Over the last thousand years, House Vorst, and House Felderon and House Banthet (both on
Endor, with it has become a highly profitable Grasslands) receive -5 Defense, -5 Influence, +5
and extremely well managed fief. Their ornate Dominion, +10 Territory and -5 Treasury. Their
wooden furniture has become known throughout scores are now Might 10, Defense 5, Influence 5,
the Known Universe (Ascent). Dominion 25, Territory 30 and Treasury 5.
Now, in modern times, House Vorst is friendly to Then their house history modify their scores
all houses, even now, afraid of becoming tarred further.
with the old brush. Gone are the old ways and
now they have a new motto: One hand
proffered in friendship.
57
House Felderon had 2x9 Glory, 3x8 Victory, 2x6 +17 Treasury, +24 Territory, +7 Influence
Infrastructure, 10 Windfall, 7 Invasion/Revolt, 4 -13 Dominion, +4 Defense, +24 Might
Descent and 3 Catastrophe.
Resulting Quality Scores:
They choose:
Might 34, Defense 9, Influence 12
+10 Treasury, +5 Defense Dominion 12, Territory 54, Treasury 22
+10 Defense, +10 Treasury
+10 Influence House Banthet
-5 Territory, +5 Might, +5 Dominion
+5 Influence Might 3, Defense 1, Influence 1
-5 Territory, +5 Dominion Dominion 1, Territory 5, Treasury 2
-5 Defense, +5 Dominion, +5 Might
House Vorst rolled 2x7 Ascent, 2x4 Change, 2x3
Total modifiers: Villain, 2x2 Conquest, 9 Division, 8 Alliance, 1
Doom
+10 Might, +10 Defense, +15 Influence
+15 Dominion, -10 Territory, +20 Treasury They choose:
Resulting Quality Scores: +10 Influence, +5 Treasury

+10 Dominion, +10 Influence, -5 Treasury
Might 20, Defense 15, Influence 20 +10 Influence, +10 Treasury, -5 Dominion
Dominion 40, Territory 20, Treasury 25 +10 Dominion, +10 Territory, -5 Might
-5 Territory, +5 Might, +5 Defense
House Felderon +5 Treasury, -5 Dominion, +5 Might
-5 Influence, -5 Dominion
Dominion 4, Territory 2, Treasury 3 Total modifiers:
House Banthet rolled 3x10 Favour, 2x2 +25 Influence, +5 Might, +5 Defense
Conquest, 2x1 Treachery, 9 Division, 6 Madness, +5 Territory, +15 Treasury, +5 Dominion
5 Scandal, 4 Descent.
Resulting Quality Scores:
They choose:
+10 Treasury, +10 Territory Dominion 30, Territory 15, Treasury 20
+10 Territory, +10 Treasury, -5 Influence
+10 Might, +10 Influence, -5 Dominion Resulting Quality Ratings:
-5 Territory, +5 Defense, +5 Might
-5 Dominion, +5 Territory +5 Influence Might 2, Defense 2, Influence 3
-5 Influence, +5 Might Dominion 3, Territory 2, Treasury 2
+4 Might, -1 Defense, -3 Influence
-3 Dominion, +4 Territory, -3 Treasury
Total modifiers:
58
Character Creation
Characters in the DUNE universe are extremely These choices are called Templates and each
highly trained to an extent that they can character gets to choose four, each representing
perform tasks and abilities well beyond what we their development from childhood through to
would consider possible. adulthood. These are;
The Spice Melange has also been adapted to Background History,

History which pertains to a
confer almost supernatural powers to those who characters early childhood and their
are trained and so, DUNE characters are not upbringing. This has three stages: Early Life
your typical protagonists. (your childhood and life experience prior to
schooling or conditional programming), House
Service (the professional role a character played
between graduating and starting play) and
Personal Calling (which is your characters
personal interests or weird way).
Vocational Conditioning,
Conditioning which pertains to a
characters intense late teens to late 20s
training and conditioning.
But before we tackle the templates in more

Proper Instruction detail, we should really discuss things like what
statistics are and how skills work.
Training in a specific field begins at a very early
age in order to develop someone to the very
peak of their ability. THE BASICS
Suffice to say that most characters in the DUNE A character consists of various Elements which
universe are highly specialised. describe different aspects of the character. These
elements are;
You get far less leeway in designing a character
in HOUSE OF THE LANDSRAAD than in other STATISTICS
ONE ROLL games. SKILLS
ADVANTAGES
Whereas in other games, you are pretty much FEATS
free to design your character how you would
like, here, you get a number of choices based at Other character generation systems are
key points in a characters history which then described later in this section.
determines the statistics and skills they receive.
59
working out the best route home are all

ELEMENT 01 - STATISTICS examples of this statistic.
These are a measure of a characters natural Insight describes a characters perception

physical and mental capabilities. Every faculty, creativity and quickness of thought.
character, even big giant monsters of Painting a picture, spotting something on the
destruction, have statistics to describe how floor and hearing a car bearing down on you
clever, quick thinking and strong they are. are all examples of insight.
These statistics are; Command is a characters bearing and force of

personality. Public speaking, ordering a
PHYSIQUE PROWESS subordinate and inspiring a team of co-workers
COMMAND CHARM are all measured by command.
INTELLECT INSIGHT
Charm measures a characters likeability,
Physique is a characters physical power and charisma and influence. Persuading someone to
endurance. Lifting things, holding your breath buy from you, making a new friend and
underwater and climbing are all measured by performing well in an interview are controlled
this statistic. by charm.
Prowess is a characters agility and manual Think of these statistics as pairs of Aggressive
dexterity. Fixing a watch, lassoing a cow and and Subtle statistics. An Aggressive statistic is
hurdling a fence are governed by prowess. where you achieve your goal through sheer
force and brutality whereas a Subtle statistic
Intellect is a characters intelligence, force of describes a success achieved through finesse
will and knowledge. Learning a new language, and grace.
cracking a code, resisting temptation and
PAIRING AGGRESSIVE SUBTLE

PHYSICAL PHYSIQUE PROWESS
MENTAL INTELLECT INSIGHT
SOCIAL COMMAND CHARM
As stated, these are the default statistics and as STATISTIC RATINGS

a Judge, you might want to tailor them to your RATING MEASURE
game. LAZY/OUT OF SHAPE
1
UNDEVELOPED/CHILD
The names given to statistics do flavour your SOME EFFORT/AVERAGE
2
game and a serious game of soldiers might be ADOLESCENT
better served by alternate names. 3
SPENDS TIME TRAINING
ABOVE AVERAGE
MUCH TIME TRAINING
4
GIFTED INDIVIDUAL
AT PEAK OF
5
HUMAN ABILITY
60
ELEMENT 02 - ADVANTAGES Broad Skills always have two Narrow Skills

attached to them. This might need a bit more
These are special backgrounds and traits that explanation.
your character possesses. They define your
character above and beyond what he or she In game terms, the Narrow Skill is exactly what
knows and her physical and mental prowess. it says on the box: if you have a Narrow Skill
called Boxing, you can box and thats it. If
Such things as physical attractiveness, social you have the Broad Skill you can do everything
standing and wealth are all Advantages your within that field, which probably includes more
character might possess. A list of Advantages than two Narrow Skills.
and the points they cost appears later in this
section. There are more Advantages available This is done for specific game reasons in that it
but once again, they are specific to the game would be difficult to list every possible Narrow
they appear in. If you want to use those, buy Skill that a Broad Skill could have and then
the game! create feats for them all.
ELEMENT 03 - SKILLS You should also consider that if you were to

purchase two Narrow Skills, you have paid the
These are a characters training and learned same amount as a Broad Skill. Therefore, there
knowledge. They can range from the abstract, should never be a situation where a character
such as Quantum Theory to punching someone has three Narrow Skills. This, again, is
in the gut. intentional. If a character purchases one Narrow
Skill, they are considered to have such a
Like statistics, normal Joes and Janes have skills fundamental understanding of the field that by
rated from 1 to 5. In the standard game, they purchasing a second Narrow Skill, they would
come in two varieties, Broad Skills and Narrow. have the equivalent knowledge of someone with
the Broad Skill.
Broad Skills represent an area of knowledge
and training which encompasses a number of E.g. The Broad Skill of Duel has the following
twp Narrow Skills attached: Attack and
skills. Science is a good example of a broad
Defend.
skill as it encompasses the study of chemistry,
physics and biology.
You may purchase Broad Skills and the
associated Narrow Skills independently of one
Broad Skills are expensive to buy but if you
another. However, where you have both a Broad
want your character to be generally good in that
Skill and an associated Narrow Skill, you would
area, then you purchase the Broad Skill.
only ever use the higher of the two when
making dice rolls.
Conversely, Narrow Skills are cheaper to buy
than Broad Skills but represent a specific and
Fortunately, points spent on Narrow Skills can
focused area of training within a broader area.
be Cashed In and put towards buying the
If Science is a broad skill then Biology
would be a Narrow Skill within the associated Broad Skill. This is covered in more
detail later in this chapter.
aforementioned skill.
61
More information on the specifics of Skills are even then they are called secret feats for a
covered in Chapter 03. reason
SKILL RATINGS You many only purchase Secret Feats in

RATING MEASURE character generation when the appropriate
1 APPRENTICE/TRAINEE Vocational Conditioning informs you. Outside of
2 JOURNEYMAN/COMPETENT character generation you need to find an
3 VETERAN/SUPERVISOR appropriate teacher
4 EXPERT/PIONEER
5 MASTER/MENTOR E.g. The Cooking Skill has a Skill Feat called
The Iron Chef. You have Cooking on 3. You can
only purchase level 1, 2 or 3 of the Iron Chef
ELEMENT 04 - FEATS Skill Feat.
Borrowing a term from another game, these are Further, you must purchase them in level order,
specific trainings that a character develops i.e. you must buy level 1 before buying level 2
within a given skill. They represent special and so on.
stunts and techniques that go beyond the
mundane student or practitioner of a skill.
SPECIAL DICE
In game terms, Feats give knacks and special
options or effects during play. Examples are In the System section, you were introduced to
being able to draw a weapon and strike in the Expert Dice and Master Dice. This section
same round without penalty or gaining a bonus explains how you get them.
in a specific circumstance.
You may only purchase Special Dice for Skills.
There are several kinds of Feat: Skill Feats, You buy Special Dice, ticking off the boxes on
Combat Feats and Secret Feats. They are rated the relevant skill until you have all 5. That is
from level 1 to 5, can only be purchased for the your limit. The first box is a single Expert Die,
skill they are associated with and you cannot each additional box yields a bonus Expert Die
purchase a level higher than your skill rating. until you fill your last box and they all convert
to become a single Master Die.
The first two kinds of feats are obvious what
they are. Secret Feats are special abilities and The effects of Expert Dice and Master Dice have
trainings that certain secretive orders teach, previously been discussed.
such as the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats or the
Spacing Guild. These Secret Feats represent
their amazing abilities. You may only learn
secret feats by being specifically trained and
62
ELEMENT 02 - ADVANTAGES
Every character is created as a blank slate and An important point is that a Judge has final say
Advantages are where your character becomes on whether an Advantage is applicable to his or
more fleshed out. These are traits and abilities her game.
which set your character apart from everyone
else and could be something as mundane as Some advantages, such as Allies has Assistance
being left a family heirloom or as important as and Loyalty, have two aspects, each rated 0 to
having a supernatural ancestor. 5. To determine the overall rating, add the two
aspects together. Further, in all such cases, the
Some Advantages have a Rating attached to it first aspect must be at least 1.
and this is the cost in Points to purchase it.
Advantages are specifically non-exhaustive and E.g. The Benefactor Advantage has the two
while there is a comprehensive list enclosed in aspects of Backing and Relationship. If your
this tome, you are encouraged to make use of Backing is 2 and your Relationship is 1, your
Advantages from other ORE games and Benefactor Rating is 3. In this case, the Backing
definitely to invent your own. aspect must be at least 1.
ADVANTAGE COST
ALLIES 1-10
AMBIDEXTROUS 4
BEAUTY 4
BENEFACTOR 1-10
CONTACTS 1-10
EMINENCE 1-10
ESTATE 1-10
GINAZ TRAINING 3
GUARDIAN 1-10
HONORARIUM FAMILIA 2
IMPERIAL CONDITIONING 4
INFLUENCE 1-10
LUCKY 1
MENTOR 1-10
PRETERNATURAL STATISTIC 10
PRIZED BLOODLINE 5
RANK 1-10
SPICE AGONY 5
SPICE DIET 3/5
STAFF 1-10
WEALTH 1-10
WORLDLY 3
63
ALLIES Cost: 1 - 10 street: these people are equally important to you

as you are to them. They have their own
Allies represent one or more people who wish to agendas and might just want to involve you.
aid and abet you. They will normally use
whatever resources they have to get your Allies are there for you when you need them
request done. They could be siblings, a business and will try to do what they can to help. They
partner, close friends or lovers. The downside to are reliable and definitely worth having. The
Allies is that the relationship is a two-way problem is that their problems can become your
problems. Buy Allies when you want to ensure When you get in touch with your allies, make a
help when you need it and dont mind having to Charm plus Assistance Rating roll with a
cope with other peoples trouble at a later date. Difficulty based on what it is you want. The
more challenging the request/requirement, the
You must pay for the amount of Assistance they more difficult it is for you to find someone who
can give you and how Loyal they are. Help is a can help.
measure of your associates temporal power and
can represent any number of people you know. Difficulty Rating
Loyalty describes how tied they to you and to
what lengths they would go to help out. 1 EASY: Your request is simple.
2 DEMANDING: Helping you takes time. .
Assistance Rating 3 CHALLENGING: Illegal/time consuming
request.
0 You are solitary, a loner by nature. 4 HARD: Help you hide the body..
5 VERY HARD: Help you commit the murder.
1 MANPOWER: Can carry and fetch things for
you. If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
2 FINANCIAL: Can lend you small sums of than your Loyalty Rating, you receive a -1d
money. penalty for future Allies rolls for 1 week.
3 NETWORKING: Can get you into VIP events.
4 POSITION OF POWER: Can get you that AMBIDEXTROUS Cost: 4
zoning permission.
5 THE MAN: You got a problem? They have the You can use your Off-Hand as well as your
solution. Primary Hand: you do not receive the -2d
penalty for using your Off-Hand (however, you
Loyalty Rating still receive the -1d penalty for using both
hands, if you are thinking about being a Bi-
0 They expect a favour for a favour Manual Fighter).
1 RESPECT: They always take your call. BEAUTY Cost: 4

2 FRIENDS: Would be upset if they let you
down. You have a captivating quality which youre
3 TRUSTED: Your secrets are safe with them. you apart from other people. It might be
4 CLOSE: Always there when you need them. through exquisite natural beauty, a fantastic
5 INTIMATE: Would die for you. flare for dressing or an impressive physique.
64
Whatever it is, your dice rolls to convince or 2 PIONEER: Can pull a few strings for you.
enthrall others have a minimum Height of 8. 3 INFLUENTIAL: Knows who to speak with to
get things done.
BENEFACTOR Cost: 1 - 10 4 MOGUL: Possesses rare or highly sought
goods or artefacts.
A Benefactor is someone who is behind you for 5 MAGNATE: Your benefactor says Jump,
a specific purpose and will do whatever they people say How high?
can to assist you, as long as it is benefits your
shared goal. The Benefactor may call on you for Relationship Rating
assistance but invariably you can expect any
such request to be connected with your mutual 0 You have nothing bonding you together.
interests.
1 LINKED: Considers your needs.
The main issue with a Benefactor is that they 2 ASSOCIATED: Mostly at your disposal.
will only really go out of their way to help you 3 UNITED: Will help if he can.
if it is ultimately helping themselves. They are 4 INVESTED: You represent considerable gain
only your ally in so far as their needs are or loss.
concerned. Buy Benefactor when you want a 5 BOUND: If you falter, so does she.
powerful ally and dont mind having to put that
extra effort in to maintain the relationship. When you get in touch with your Benefactor,
make a Charm plus Backing Rating roll with a
Difficulty based on what it is you want. The
more challenging the request/requirement, the
more difficult it is for you to find someone who
can help.
Difficulty Rating
1 EASY: Your request is reasonable. Of shared

interest.
2 DEMANDING: Requires some effort.
Powerful Magnate Benefactor has misgivings.
3 CHALLENGING: Illegal or questionable
You must purchase a Benefactor in terms of request. Benefactor is uncertain.
Backing
Backi ng and Relationship.
Relationship The former describes 4 HARD: Risky or dangerous request.
how much assistance they can provide if and Benefactor unhappy.
when you need it and the latter is how strong 5 VERY HARD: Very risky or dangerous.
your association is. Benefactor against decision.
Backing Rating If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
than your Relationship Rating, you receive a -
0 There is no one looking out for you. 1d penalty for future Benefactor rolls for 1
week.
1 RESPECTED: Can put in a good word for you.
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CONTACTS Cost: 1 - 10 2 INSIDE INFORMATION: Knows things outsiders

wouldnt know.
Contacts can consist of HOUSE 3 BREAKING NEWS: Knows things a few hours
former work colleagues, TRAIT before everyone else.
people you may have met Espionage 4 DIRTY LAUNDRY: Knows what a given person
in a bar or friends of would prefer others not to.
friends. They know you Every point 5 DARK SECRETS: Knows what a given person
and are more than willing invested in this tries to keep buried.
to offer you information or advantage
the name of someone who counts adds 1 to Rapport Rating
might be able to help you appropriate Trait
more directly. Score. 0 You scratch their back, theyll scratch
yours.
The good thing about Contacts are that they are
hard to alienate (and if you do, you can soon 1 WARY: Somewhat guarded with you.
pick up new ones) and rarely impose on you. 2 CASUAL: Conversation limited to small talk.
The chief drawback to Contacts is that they are 3 FRIENDLY: They send you letters and kind
unlikely to go out of their way to help you; if regards.
what you need takes longer than a quick 4 CLOSE: You regularly contact one another
conversation, you will need a third party, which for a catch up session.
can be costly. 5 INTIMATE: You attend family occasions.
Contacts require the least amount of effort to When you get in touch with your web of
maintain and rarely cause you trouble in return. contacts, make a Charm plus Information roll
However, they dont really help that much in with a Difficulty based on what it is you want
terms of what they can tangibly provide you. to know. The more challenging the information,
Buy this advantage if you only want the more difficult it is for you to find someone
information. who can help.
You must pay for the amount of Information Difficulty Rating

they can give you and how much of a Rapport
you have with them. Information is a measure 1 EASY: Common knowledge. How to get to
of your contacts ability to gather knowledge or London.
put you in touch with someone who can help. 2 DEMANDING: Uncommon information. A
Rapport describes just how far you can push good, reliable plumber.
them and your arrangements with one another. 3 CHALLENGING: Specialist knowledge. How to
fix your PC.
Information Rating 4 HARD: Prohibited knowledge. How to grow
cannabis.
0 You dont know anyone you can turn to. 5 VERY HARD: Official secrets. How to hire a
professional assassin.
1 STREETWISE: Can give you the word on the
street.
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If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher 4 MARQUIS/SSUPERSTAR: The Pyons are
than your Rapport Rating, you receive a -1d interested in your welfare.
penalty for future Contacts rolls for 1 week. 5 DUKE/MMEGASTAR: People drop your name
into conversation.
EMINENCE Cost: 1 - 10 Reach Rating
Your Eminence is a HOUSE 0 Only people in the place you live know who
measure of your standing TRAIT you are.
in society and/or how Dominion
famous you are. The 1 CITY-WIDE: You are known throughout the
higher your Eminence, the Every point territory.
more well known you are invested in this 2 REGION-WIDE: You are known in a large
and the more Joe and Jane advantage region (a state).
Public may pander to your counts adds 1 to 3 COUNTRY-WIDE: Youre known all across a
whims. appropriate Trait country (France).
Score. 4 CONTINENT-WIDE: Youre known across a
Eminence is not a Get out continent (North America).
of jail card in life. It is a 5 INTERNATIONAL: Youre known across two
characters ability to get continents (Asia and Europe).
what they want from the
people who have some When you want to use your Eminence to get
vested interest in them. your own way, make a Command plus Status
roll with a Difficulty based on what it is you
Buy Eminence if your character is a social want. The more outrageous the demand, the
climber, noble or superstar. Just be prepared for more difficult it is for people to comply.
people who dont care about you to just say
No. Difficulty Rating
You must pay for your Eminence in terms of 1 EASY: Get a meeting with someone of your
your social Status and the Reach of your status.
influence. Your Status rating details how 2 DEMANDING: Getting on the VIP list to an
important you are while your Reach describes elite club or restaurant.
how far your importance stretches. 3 CHALLENGING: Obtain free designer gear for
advertising purposes.
Status Rating 4 HARD: Make a criminal charge disappear.
5 VERY HARD: Win an international award.
0 No-one knows who you are.
If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
1 BARON/VIP:
VIP: You are a leader of industry. than your Reach Rating, you receive a -1d
2 VISCOUNT/M
MINOR CELEBRITY: You are a penalty for future Eminence rolls for 1 week.
recognised persona.
3 EARL/H
HOUSEHOLD NAME: Bondsmen talk
about you.
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ESTATE Cost: 1 - 10 Property Rating
You have the deeds of HOUSE 0 You have no home in your land.
ownership to an area of TRAIT 1 SMALL HOUSE: Has a 2 bedroom detached
land. The nature and Territory home.
quality of this land is 2 LARGE HOUSE: Has a 5 bedroom detached
entirely up to you and the Every point home.
amount of points you invested in this 3 MANSION: A large mansion with many
want to spend on it. advantage rooms.
counts adds 1 to 4 STATELY HOME: A luxurious building with
Estate is measured in appropriate Trait more rooms than you can fill.
terms of Size and Score. 5 CASTLE: A large castle or palace.
Property.
Property
Size former determines just how much land you

possess and Property determines what sort of
property you possess as a home.
Your lands are considered bought and paid for

in full. If you own a working estate, it is
considered self-sustaining. If you wish your
estate to grant you money, buy the Income
Advantage as well.
Castle Estate
If you wish to sell your estate (assuming you
can find a buyer), multiply the income of the GINAZ TRAINING Cost: 3
estate by 10 to determine the approximate sale
price. There are many schools that train in the arts of
fencing and melee but none so fine as the
Size Rating Swordmaster School of House Ginaz. You are
one of the elite few who have had the honour of
0 You are without land. training with the Ginaz. You may purchase the
Broad Skill: Swordmanship and may learn the
1 SMALL: You have modest grounds of Ginaz Secret Feats.
approximately 1 km2.
2 MODERATE: You own a territory of GUARDIAN Cost: 1 - 10
approximately 5 km2.
3 LARGE: Your estate measures roughly 12 The Guardian is a custodian who has nothing
km2. but your safety and protection in mind, perhaps
4 PALATIAL: Land covers an area of 25 km2. this is a parent or a loyal right hand man.
5 MAJESTIC: Land covers an area of 50 km2.
The Guardian shares a much closer bond to you
than say an ally or a benefactor, however, this
bond works both ways and you care for your
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Guardian as much as they care for you. Difficulty based on what it is you want. The
Accordingly, they will have certain expectations more challenging the request, the more difficult
of you as much as you might of them. it is for you to persuade your Guardian to act.
Buy Guardian if you want someone who will Difficulty Rating

always have your back but be prepared to have
them watch over you like a hawk. 1 EASY: Ensure you dont go hungry. Keep
you warm.
You must purchase a Guardian in terms of 2 DEMANDING: Get your landlord off your
Auspices and Bond.
Bond The former describes their back.
ability to defend you when you need it. The 3 CHALLENGING: Stop that stalker from
latter is how strong your association is. bothering you.
4 HARD: Prevent the spies from finding
Auspices Rating anything.
5 VERY HARD: Keep you out of prison.
0 There is no one looking out for you.
If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
1 UMBRELLA: Minor irritations can be made to than your Bond Rating, you receive a -1d
disappear. penalty for future Guardian rolls for 1 week.
2 SHELTER: You will always have a roof over
your head. HONORARIUM Cost: 2
3 DEFENDER: Anyone bothering you will soon FAMILIA
leave you alone.
4 PROTECTOR: Financial and legal problems The character has been honoured as a named
soon disappear. member of his Siridar household, gaining all of
5 AEGIS: Will attempt to shield you from the benefits associated with the Na-Familia
anything adverse. caste of the faufreluches. The character gains
full protection under the Article of Kanly known
Bond Rating as Dictum Familia, defending him or her against
all informal acts of treachery (such as
0 You have nothing bonding you together. assassination and unrighteous prosecution). If
the characters current Caste is less than rank 4,
1 OBLIGATED: Your Guardian has to help you. it is now 4.
2 RELUCTANT: Your Guardian will help but
only in truly dire situations. As a member of the family household, the
3 PLEDGED: Your Guardian feels she owes you characters new honour obligates him or her to
help. uphold the Great Convention and House Law.
4 CONNECTED: Your Guardian has a special Failure to act in accordance with the letter and
connection to you. spirit of such legislation will result in
5 AFFINITY: Your Guardian has an inherent revocation of the Honorarium Familia and may
bond with you. warrant more serious punishment depending on
the nature of the offense.
When you get in touch with your Guardian,
make a Charm plus Auspices roll with a
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IMPERIAL Cost: 2 The character cannot take up arms against his

CONDITIONING fellow human beings, insinuate poison into his
rivals drink or withhold medical treatment from
The character has received the highest order of a dying enemy. The character not only finds
conditioning against the taking of human life, such acts entirely unconscionable but also quite
qualifying him or her as a graduate of the Suk impossible, given the deeply ingrained Pyretic
medical school. The character now bears the Conscience.
marks of Imperial Conditioning-wearing a
diamond tattoo on their forehead and drawing INFLUENCE Cost: 1 - 10
their long hair back into the silver Suk ring-
indicating his or her superior medical training You have sway over a HOUSE
and absolute trustworthiness. group of people or sector. TRAIT
This is a much more Influence
Considered safe enough to administer treatment nebulous arrangement
even to the Emperor, the character enjoys high than that found with the Every point
demand for his or her services, deriving many Associates advantage. invested in this
social and material benefits as a result. The Your influence represents advantage
character finds that most people entrust him or your ability to change the counts adds 1 to
her with matters having little to do with his or course or policy of a appropriate Trait
her medical training or pacifistic conscience. specific group or sector. Score.
They confide their personal problems, solicit the However, that group or sector is a powerful
characters honest advice or confess their machine good examples are The Orange
darkest secrets as if the character were their Catholic Church, Local Government or the
psychologist, counselor and confessor, all Corporate Sector.
combined.
Although you have no direct control over this
Aside from the benefits of his or her obvious faction, this also affords you some protection as
trustworthiness, the character gains +1d on this group will not come calling on you for
Diplomacy and Intrigue rolls. favours nor will it be able to give up much
information about you.
The downside to this is that, as a result of the
characters Imperial Conditioning, they find You must purchase influence in terms of Sway
themselves bridled by the so-called Conscience and Trust.
Trust The former represents how much
of Fire. This is the restraining mechanism power you wield within the faction and the
programmed at the inhibitory level of his or her latter represents their trust and relationship
subconscious mind. with you.
Though his conditioning does not force the Sway Rating

character to adopt a pacifistic ideology, the
character finds his or herself incapable of 0 No one listens to you.
enacting any volition to directly endanger life.
1 RESPECTED: Members respect your opinion
but dont always listen.
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2 PERSON OF STATURE: Youre involved in a lot LUCKY Cost: 1

of their dealings.
3 POPULAR FIGURE: Members seek your advice. Once per session, if you do not roll any sets,
4 CANON: Members usually wait for your you may re-roll all the dice in your dice pool.
opinion on a decision.
5 DE-FACTO LEADER: if you arent the head of MENTOR Cost: 1 - 10
this group, you might as well be.
The Mentor is responsible for you in someway
Trust Rating connected to your training, occupation or
nature. The Mentor wants you to be successful
0 The faction wouldnt miss you if you but on your own merits. They will not blindly
werent there. assist you and are more likely to offer an
inspiring word than provide a solution.
1 WARY: Your counsel is taken under Conversely, your Mentor is unlikely to require
advisement. your assistance or make much demand on your
2 GUARDED: Your input is appreciated. time.
3 ACCEPTED: Invited to all the meetings.
4 MEMBER: Seen as one of their own. A Mentor offers guidance and education with
5 CUSTODIAN: You are considered to have their some influence in the real world. Buy Mentor if
best interests at heart. you want someone useful behind you but wont
necessarily affect your day to day life.
When you use your influence, make a
Command plus Sway roll with a Difficulty based You must purchase Mentor in terms of Support
Support
on what it is you want. The more challenging and Fellowship.
Fellowship The former describes how much
the decision, the more difficult it is for you to assistance they can provide if and when you
convince those you influence. need it and the latter is how strong your
association is.
Difficulty Rating
Support Rating
1 EASY: Within the interests of the group.
2 DEMANDING: A few key people have some 0 There is no one to guide you.
doubts.
3 CHALLENGING: An unpopular or difficult task 1 SKILLED: Can have a word with a few
or course of action friends.
4 HARD: Little support of your desires: boos 2 VETERAN
ETERAN: Can get audience with some key
from the back bench. VIPs in the field.
5 VERY HARD: Loud rallying against the sheer 3 EXPERT: Influential in several fields.
idea. 4 MASTER: Many look to her for pearls of
wisdom.
If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher 5 GRAND MASTER: If he said the sky was
than your Trust Rating, you receive a -1d green, many would agree.
penalty for future Influence rolls for 1 week.
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Fellowship Rating
0 Your relationship is strictly professional.
1 COLLEAGUE: You talk mostly about work.

2 COMPATRIOT: You share one or two stories.
3 FRIEND: You are good friends.
4 RELATIVE: You are like a favoured niece or
nephew.
5 PROGENY: You are like a son or daughter.
BG Sisters
When you get in touch with your patron, make
a Charm plus Support roll with a Difficulty Make no mistake, the Bene Gesserit have no
based on what it is you want. The more love for you per se. Consider their perspective to
challenging the need, the more difficult it is for be one of wanting to protect a prized pet: they
you to get your mentor to help. are interested in you for your breeding stock
and would make efforts to help you, as long as
Difficulty Rating this didnt work against them.
1 EASY: Get advice on a course of action. You receive +1d on your Etiquette and
2 DEMANDING: Get some advanced training. Convince rolls against Bene Gesserit characters.
3 CHALLENGING: Give some hands on help.
4 HARD: Help return a stolen heirloom. RANK Cost: 1 - 10
5 VERY HARD: Avenge a parents death.
Rank is similar to Eminence in that it measures
If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher your standing and status but whereas the latter
than your Fellowship Rating, you receive a -1d is concerned with society as a whole, the former
penalty for future Patron rolls for 1 week. is specific to an organisation. This could be a
corporation, a military power, a religious cult or
PRETERNATURAL Cost: 6 even a secret society.
STATISTIC
Your position means that you can utilise the
You are unnaturally gifted in one of your six resources and subordinates within that
statistics. Choose a statistic: add 1 to that organisation to your gain. However, the
statistic and you may increase it to 6. organisation understandably has a tight control
over what happens with its resources and
PRIZED Cost: 5 misuse of its tools and members could lead to a
BLOODLINE reprimand or even expulsion.
Your genes make you special. Literally. There is Further, you are within a hierarchy which
something unique about your genetic makeup means that while you might not be at the
that makes your family standout and to the bottom, someone is definitely above you.
Bene Gesserit, this makes you worth saving.
72
Rank is good because you gain the support and When you need something doing, make a
assistance of an organisation, whatever that Command plus Station roll with a Difficulty
may be. The downside to this is that you work based on what you need. The more challenging
for that organisation and they will have the need, the more difficult it is to justify it to
demands upon you. Take this advantage if you your superiors.
want major resources and dont mind being part
of a hierarchy or receiving orders. Difficulty Rating
You buy Rank in terms of Station and Sphere.

Sphere 1 EASY: Obtain minor tools/equipment
The former describes your position within the specific to your company.
organisations hierarchy and the latter the 2 DEMANDING: Obtain intelligence on a target.
power, influence and nature of the 3 CHALLENGING: Provide secure premises or
organisation. communication.
4 HARD: Obtain detailed secrets on a target.
Station Rating 5 VERY HARD: Perform a hostile takeover.
0 You are not a member of any If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
organisations. than your Sphere Rating, you receive a -1d
penalty for future Rank rolls for 1 week.
1 LIEUTENANT: You are above the rank and
file. SPICE AGONY Cost: 5
2 CAPTAIN: You have proven yourself capable
of leadership. The Spice Agony is an ordeal in which an
3 MAJOR: You are a respected, key member of acolyte of the Bene Gesserit takes a poisonous
an organisation. Awareness Spectrum Narcotic and, by internally
4 LT-
LT-COLONEL: You are second-in-line to a changing the substance and neutralizing its
ship, department or cell. toxicity, awakens her inner self and the selves
5 COLONEL: Youd have your own ship, of all her female ancestors.
department or cell.
An acolyte unable to effect this change dies.
Sphere Rating Only females had ever survived the agony.
0 Your organisation has little to no Once an adept has reached a certain point of
resources. development, they may undergo the Spice
Agony Ritual.
1 SMALL BUSINESS: Couple of people. Access to
stationary. In game terms, the character must possess all
2 CULT: Handful of people. Some resources. the Bene Gesserit Secret Feats. After purchasing
3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A department. You this Advantage, they have successfully
have official powers. undergone the Spice Agony and become a
4 CORPORATION: Scores of skilled professionals Reverend Mother.
at the companys disposal.
5 MILITARY: A whole military force. In addition to now being able to purchase the
Reverend Mother Secret Feats, you may now
73
attempt to change the chemical composition of Further, you cannot live without the Spice: if
any substance you ingest. your source is cut off or you otherwise do not
take the Spice within 12 hours, you start to
Roll Physique + Habitus with a difficulty based suffer withdrawal symptoms. If you do not take
on the Potency of the substance. If they score a the Spice within 12 hours x your Physique
set, they transform the foreign toxin into a statistic, you will die.
harmless substance. This effectively makes
them immune to all poisons. Fortunately, the Spice is readily available, for
the right price.
STAFF Cost: 1 - 10
Staff are people who work HOUSE

directly for you. If you TRAIT
want something done, Warfare
they are the ones to do so,
no questions asked. They Every point
may be friendly with you invested in this
and even highly respect advantage
Inner Eye you, however, bear no counts adds 1 to
mistake, the relationship appropriate Trait
SPICE DIET Cost: 3/5 is a professional one and Score.
if you cease paying the
The character has a regular provider of the Spice bills (whatever that might
and enjoys physical longevity and minor actually entail), they will
resistance to ailments as a result of an soon disappear.
expensive spice diet.
Staff is good because it gives you a team of
At 3 points, the character lightly laces his or her people who can get things done. The downside
daily meals with the spice-drug mlange which is that they have a necessary level of autonomy
confers geriatric benefits including +1d on and you just have to trust that theyll get things
Habitus rolls and +1d on Perception rolls as done the right way. Take Staff if you want a
well as a 25% increase in lifespan. group of people to help you and dont mind
that, occasionally, your requests might not give
At 5 points, the character has a heavy dosage of you the results you want.
the spice-drug. Not only does this confer the
benefits of the 3 point advantage but it also You must pay for the amount of Capability they
increases your lifespan by 50% and allows you can give you and how much Fealty to you they
to utilise the Level 4 and Level 5 Prescient feats. have. Capability is a measure of your staffs
skills and talents. Fealty describes how loyal
The downside to this is that you are Spice they are to your wage.
Addicted: your eyes are blue-in-blue marking
your addiction (unless you wear contact lenses
to mask it).
74
Difficulty Rating
1 EASY: Obtain everyday items. Pick up your

laundry.
2 DEMANDING: Handle an important case.
Poach a rivals clients.
3 CHALLENGING: Steal business secrets. Broker
a sensitive deal.
4 HARD: Burn down a rivals house. Kidnap
someones son.
Into the breach! 5 VERY HARD: Murder a rivals family.
Capability Rating If you fail the roll and the Difficulty is higher
than your Fealty Rating, you receive a -1d
0 You have no one to rely on. penalty for future Staff rolls for 1 week.
1 PERSONAL SECRETARY: Happy to take notes WEALTH Cost: 1 - 10

and arrange meetings.
2 WORKERS: A small team of five, competent This advantage HOUSE
at a specific job. determines your personal TRAIT
3 PROFESSIONALS: A core team of highly wealth beyond that of Treasury
Treasury
professional people. your House.
4 AGENTS: A large team of experts in several Every point
fields. 1pt: Small Finances invested in this
5 PARA-MILITARY: A small force of operational 2pt: Minor Monies advantage
specialists. 3pt: Comfortable Lifestyle counts adds 1 to
4pt: Disposable Income appropriate Trait
Fealty Rating 5pt: Well-Off Score.
6pt: Prosperous
0 Completely indifferent to you. 7pt: Affluent
8pt: Wealthy
1 Employee: They respect that you pay the 9pt: Dirty Rich
bills. 10pt: Mega Rich
2 RESPECTED: Youve proven yourself to them.
3 LIKED: They enjoy working for you. WORLDLY Cost: 3
4 FRIENDLY: You are friends with your staff. The character has spent time in different
5 FAMILY: Your team is one big extended cultures. You must stipulate which culture you
family unit. have experience of but you receive +1d on any
rolls pertaining to their Knowledge, customs etc.
When you need your Staff to do something,
make a Command plus Capability roll with a You also receive +1d on your rolls for etiquette
Difficulty based on what it is you need. The and empathy skills when dealing with those
more challenging the task, the more difficult it persons. This includes any rolls pertaining to
is for them to comply.
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any such rolls on Advantages relating to such

group
76
ELEMENT 03 - SKILLS
BROAD SKILL NARROW SKILLS
ACADEMIA EDUCATION
RESEARCH
ATHLETICS ACROBATICS
POWER
DIPLOMACY ETIQUETTE
NEGOTIATION
DUEL ATTACK
DEFEND
ENGINEERING BUILD
DESIGN
ENTERTAIN ARRANGEMENT
PERFORM
FOCUS PRESCIENCE
WILLPOWER
HABITUS CONTROL
VIGOR
INFILTRATION ACCESS
DISGUISE
INTRIGUE CONVINCE
EMPATHY
LEADERSHIP AUTHORITY
STRATEGY
MARKSMANSHIP BALLISTICS
PROJECTILES
OBSERVE EVALUATE
SEARCHING
PERCEPTION HEARING
SIGHT
PERSONALITY ENTHRALL
INTIMIDATE
PHYSICIAN INFLICTION
REMEDY
PILOT ATMOSPHERE
VOID
SINISTER ASSASSIN
PRESTIDIGITATION
STEALTH HIDING
SNEAKING
SURVIVAL DIRECTION
SUSTENANCE
77
Specialist Skills
DRIVE SHIELD FIGHTING

KNOWLEDGE SWORDMANSHIP
LANGUAGE TRACK
RIDE UNDERWORLD
SAIL WEAPON SKILL
SKILL BREAKDOWN NARROW SKILLS
ACADEMIA ACROBATICS is the ability to perform jumps,

backflips, climb ropes and general gymnastic
Youve picked up a lot of information over the feats. If you want to measure a characters
years but just how much is measured by this ability to dodge, hurdling or some other feat of
skill. This covers General Knowledge about the agility, Acrobatics is probably your port of call.
world(s) around you and covers everything from You can leap 5 feet across or 2 feet high per
fine arts and literature to which clothes are point of Width. A starting run adds 2 die.
currently en vogue.
Nb. Acrobatics is your ability to Dodge!
NARROW SKILLS
POWER determines your skill in general muscle
EDUCATION demarcates your level of general skills. Running, rowing, lifting, you name it,
knowledge and the understanding of the world Power covers it. Cowards run away from fights,
around you. From science to mathematics, to brave men run toward them. In a melee, you
general history and politics, the higher your can run 5m every round automatically. If you
skill rating, the more you know. want to increase that, roll Physique + Power.
Every point of Width adds 3m.
RESEARCH describes how you know all this
information. You not only can go through a DIPLOMACY
library and pick out the exact text you need but
you can rifle through a stack of glossy Your Diplomacy represents how good you are at
magazines and come away with vital data in dealing with people in social situations. Roll
amongst which starlet has just cheated on this when you want to hold your own in a
which star. conversation or avoid showing yourself up in
front of the nobility.
ATHLETICS
NARROW SKILLS
The catch-all skill for most physical tasks. This
involves sports, throwing, swimming, lifting ETIQUETTE measures your manners and ensures
weights, leaping around; essentially, any kind you behave well in company. Its not just the
of physical action where training can assist. obvious stuff like never pinch the hostess
Roll this when you want to swing from a husband in front of her though thats in there
chandelier or make a long drop without too. It also indicates knowledge of exotic
breaking your leg. cultural mores. Take this specialisation if you
78
want to know to dine cordially, dance passably, purchase this skill, you must specify the field
flirt acceptably and accept (or decline) a royal you have studied. Some examples are
gift graciously. Cybernetics, Electronics, Genetics and
Mechanics.
NEGOTIATION represents your talents are coming
to an agreement with another party. It is NARROW SKILLS
finding a mutually convenient, happy medium
after long discussions. Here, your goal is to get BUILD governs your facility to quite literally
the best deal for your team without alienating allows make a new machine or to repair an
the opposition. existing one. This is art of seeing a pile of
components and knowing how they fit together
DUEL to fix or even create a whole new device.
This is your broad-based, untrained, naturally DESIGN allows you to study and create Blue
vicious brawling. Someone with a high Duel Prints for new, more advanced machines and
skill may lack the finesse and technique of components. If you want to re-design a piece of
someone with a sophisticated Weapon Skill but machinery to make it smaller or faster or even
thats rarely a comfort when the fighter is bullet-proof, design is the skill you need.
burying a blade in your ribcage.
ENTERTAIN
Roll this when you want to get out of harms
way or pick up a stick and club someone with Your facility (and understanding of how) to
it. entertain others through a variety of medium.
Roll this when you want to do some sort of
NARROW SKILLS performance intending to impress or entertain.
ATTACK represents your ability to pick something NARROW SKILLS

up and hit someone with it. It can be used with
any hand to hand weapon where it is obvious ARRANGEMENT is your understanding and the act
how you hurt someone with it. of creating entertainment. Its about directing a
performance, about organizing a venue and
DEFEND describes your talents at sticking manufacturing your own original work. If you
something between you and an attack. This want to write a sonnet, remix an old version or
might be your blade, a shield or even a mailed teach people how to dance, then you would use
forearm. As long as you can interpose an object your Arrangement skill.
with an incoming attack, youre fine. Just dont
try parrying with your bare hands. PERFORM demonstrates your skill at entertaining
through some form of medium, be it a musical
ENGINEERING instrument, acting, dancing, sleight of hand or
singing. When purchasing this specialisation,
If you want technical knowledge, then youll you must designate your medium. You may
want this skill. Engineering is the ability to purchase this skill multiple times, each time
understand some form of technology and build choosing a new medium.
machines from the ground up. When you
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FOCUS so this often a good bet for belligerent types. Its

also what you roll to resist sickness and poison.
This talent measures your experience with the
uncanny, unnatural and unwholesome. INFILTRATION
Through training, you learn to develop your
inner strength and mind. Roll this when you are The skill to get access to any area is well sought
exploring your inner self. after in a day and age of legal assassinations.
ACCESS describes your ability to do just that: gain
NARROW SKILLS entry into an area youre not supposed to be. Be
it vaults, chests or warehouse doors, you can
PRESCIENCE governs how in tune you are with break them all open with just the flick of a
your natural instincts and, for those few how wrist.
are able, how much youve trained and
developed your latent prescient abilities. DISGUISE is your ability to obfuscate yourself and
appear as something you are not. And it isnt
WILLPOWER determines your ability to resist just about putting on a different hat, its
temptation and other undue influences. If changing your manner and the way you present
youre being tortured, tempted or ensorcelled, yourself.
your Willpower will generally afford you some
defense. INTRIGUE
HABITUS The art of getting people to what you want

through subterfuge, be it convincing people of
This is the degree of control you have over your the truth or simply getting them to move out
physical body. You have spent time developing of the way. Roll this when you want to convince
your physique and have greater control and a someone that the fools gold you have is real or
hardier constitution that others. Roll this when that the potatoes you have are worth much
you need a steady hand or to avoid throwing more than they are offering or persuade the
up. Prince to give you an honour guard.
NARROW SKILLS NARROW SKILLS
CONTROL denotes your flexibility and muscular CONVINCE is the ability to persuade people that
control. Maybe you want to squeeze through a your way of the world is the right way. This can
tight space or perhaps need to slip your wrists be all the way from begging to confounding
out of handcuffs or if you want to do the splits someone with feats of logic to outright lies
over two rocks, any of these describe perfect and manipulation. Bottom line: whenever you
examples of Control. want to deceive someone or get your own way
without resorting to threats, use Convince.
VIGOR is not so much a talent that is learned or
studied. Instead it represents your stamina and EMPATHY measures your ability to gauge those
how well you overcome injury and illness. You with whom you speak and interact. Use it to see
make Body + Vigor rolls to recover from combat through the lies, detect when people are
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attempting to influence your mood with guile PROJECTILES describes your ability to use any
and spot the envious ex-lover at the wedding. missile weapon that requires physical action, be
it a bow, a spear or a boomerang.
LEADERSHIP
OBSERVE
This is your ability to lead a group of people.
This can be an army, a group of wizards or even Where as Perception deals with your ability to
a team of office workers. Roll this when you spot and hear things, Observe is your talent at
want to lead a unit in to battle, give a rallying uncovering things in a logical and methodical
speech or give a person a dressing down. manner. Roll this when you want to check the
quality of something or figure out that a body
NARROW SKILLS was dragged through a room. If you want to
hunt for something, use Observe. If you want to
AUTHORITY describes your talent to get a group of notice something, use a Perception skill.
people to do what you want. It is the ability to
give commands and have people follow them, NARROW SKILLS
whether it be through inspirational leadership
or with a gun to the head It is also about EVALUATE is the detectives art of looking at a
organisation and knowing that if you dont scene, putting together all the divined facts and
keep your army happy, you might not have one coming to a conclusion. It is also the merchants
tomorrow. art of appraising the quality of something. By
use of Search and Tracking, one can survey a
STRATEGY demonstrates your ability to see the scene and determine events which happened in
bigger picture in a situation, looking beyond the the past.
individual and seeing how they interact to
become an army. Rather than focusing on SEARCH is your ability to do just that. You can
individual salesmen or soldiers, you look at rifle through a room and find what you are
supply lines, bypassing areas and economics. looking for. You can search anything from a
book to a treasure map: if theres something
MARKSMANSHIP there to be found, youll find it.
If you want to shoot someone in the gut with a PERCEPTION

gun or put an arrow in someones eye, this is
the skill you need. Shotguns, pistols, bows, A measure of your general awareness of your
slings: theyre all covered by this skill. surroundings. It determines your visual acuity,
clarity of hearing and overall sensitivity. Roll
NARROW SKILLS this when you need to spot something.
BALLISTICS is
the use of any weapon that requires NARROW SKILLS
you to point and fire one or more shots. This is
the general ability to pick up any gun-like HEARING determines your quality of hearing.
weapon, point it at someone and pull the Youre superb at eavesdropping, hearing
trigger. muffled footsteps in dark alleys and recognizing
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which string on your friends violin is just a less sick and injured is often one that can make
trifle sharp. you very popular with your friends.
SIGHT describes your clarity and keenness of INFLICTION describes how good you are at
vision. This ability improves your chances of applying your beneficial knowledge to the
spotting the trapdoor your about to step on, the detriment of your victims. Your understanding
sail on the horizon or the stealthy assassin of a persons physiology makes you as skilled at
harming as it does as healing. This governs
PERSONALITY torture, chaumas (poison in the food) and
chaumurky (poison in the drink).
Personality is part description, part definition of
your characters demeanor. It is how likeable PILOT
you are and how good at communicating you
are. It is also about the force of your personality This is the broad ability to control a powered
and how much people jump when you bark... vehicle, be it in the air, space, water or on the
land.
ENTHRALL allows you to talk and make someone
want to keep listening to you. It represents your NARROW SKILLS
conversational finesse, your talent for listening
(or for making people think youre listening) ATMOSPHERIC is the talent to pilot most vehicles
and your general ability to help people like within a planetary atmosphere. This is all
you. If you want to charm, speak in public, powered aircraft including jets, microlights and
impress, recruit or simply amuse an individual, helicopters.
roll Enthrall.
VOID is your ability to drive a space-borne vessel.
INTIMIDATE focuses solely on getting your way Shuttles, fighters, monitors, crushers, frigates,
through fear. The nature of the threat you they are all piloted using the Void skill.
represent doesnt matter, anything from
political ruination to magical revenge to a SINISTER
brutal beating is covered by this specialisation.
Youre a villain, plain and simple. You can steal
PHYSICIAN things right out of peoples pockets, you can
open the most secure of locks, you even know
This is knowledge of physiology, the application where to offload any ill-gotten gains. Roll this if
of which can be either be helpful or harmful. you want to steal, break in to things or know
Roll this when you want to assess a persons information about those who would steal or
current state of health or when you want to do break in to things.
something about it.
NARROW SKILLS
NARROW SKILLS
ASSASSIN is your ability to apply poisons, rig
REMEDY is the mundane ability to clean wounds, traps or just plain old stab someone in the back.
apply bandages, prescribe medicine and set It is usually supported by other Sinister skills
bones. The specialisation of helping people get but Stealth is extremely complementary.
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PRESTIDIGITATION measures your talent at tricks of the art of not dying in adverse conditions. If
sleight of hand and even lifting valuables theres food and water to be had, youll find it
straight out of peoples pockets. Any deft and you know that you need salt in hot weather
movement of the hands can be performed with and if the temperature drops much more, youll
this skill. die.
STEALTH
SPECIALIST SKILL BREAKDOWN
The art of stealth is employed whenever one
wants to go undetected. Roll this when you KNOWLEDGE is a specific area of learning that the
want to hide the knife on your person or character has researched. You may purchase
conceal the fact youre a woman. this skill multiple times and each time you must
specify which field this is in.
NARROW SKILLS
Some Knowledge examples are the Arts,
HIDE demarcates your ability to hide yourself Imperial History, History of a specific world, the
and other things. Its about remaining unseen Sciences or an Out-freyn (non-Imperial) Culture.
while the household searches for you or hiding
under the bed when your lovers wife comes DRIVE is your ability to drive land based vehicles
home like cars, motorbikes and the like. Such vehicles
are not common in this day and age of
SNEAK describes your talent at moving quietly. ornithopters and starships.
You are as at home skulking around the city
streets as you are stalking game in the woods. LANGUAGE this is the ability to read and write
another language. You may purchase this skill
SURVIVAL multiple times and each time you must specify
which language this is.
The knack of knowing where you are, where
youre going and how to survive in between. RIDE is the ability to ride and care for a specific
Roll this if you are lost in a network of caves, type of animal. You may purchase this skill
want to catch some fish or want to avoid heat multiple times and each time you must specify
exposure. the type of animal you can ride.
NARROW SKILLS SAIL is the catch-all term to describe a

characters ability to negotiate the waters of the
DIRECTION gives you a general feel for your world via sail, motor or rowing. Roll this when
location. Some part of you is constantly aware navigating by compass and sextant and sailing
of your travel, height, weight and direction. You a schooner. You may purchase this skill
can intuitively find North, retrace your steps multiple times and each time you must specify
easily and guide your ship back to port even the type of vessel you can sail.
under cloudy skies.
SHIELD FIGHTING is the skill used to specifically
SUSTENANCE not only allows you to locate, trap fight wearing a holtzman shield. With this
and prepare food out in the wild but it is also
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training, you may purchase the Shield Fighting Medium Melee, Heavy Melee, Archery, Small
martial feats. Arms (pistols and the like), Long Arms
(shotguns and rifles) and Heavy Weapons
You may utilise any of the following Weapon (rocket launchers and those all important
Specialisations using Shield Fighting: Fencing, Lasguns).
Close-Fighting, Unarmed. Your skill rating is
limited by your Shield Fighting skill.
SWORDMANSHIP is special skill that may only be

purchased by characters with the Ginaz
Training Advantage.
Unique of all the Swordmaster Schools, the

Ginaz train their students in the use of "graceful
application of power". The Swordmanship skill
allows the character to use Medium Blade
Weapons as Low Velocity, therefore enabling
them to make the Slow Attack necessary to
penetrate the Holtzman Shield.
You may not raise your Swordmanship skill

higher than your Duel skill. Swordmanship is a
Weapon Skill and therefore utilises Prowess, not
Physique.
TRACK represents your skill at identifying the

tracks of some thing, be it a person, animal or
vehicle, and then following them to their
destinations end.
UNDERWORLD is the ability to not only know

where to find other criminals but also how they
operate and how to deal with them. Its the art
of knowing how to sell something on the black
market and how to perform a good con.
Underworld is the catch-all skill for fencing
stolen goods, working confidence scams and
knowing all there is to know about the criminal
element.
WEAPON SKILL is the training in a specific type of

weapon. The weapon types are Personal,
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ELEMENT 04 - FEATS
ACADEMIA FEATS You gain a +1d bonus to your Academia
tests when researching for each set of
EDUCATION: EMPIRICAL ERUDITION Key Facts you know about the subject
you are researching.
Research (1 Point):
Point) You add 1d when
you are researching information. Your GM will determine what exactly is a
Key Fact but usually details like period of
Observation (2 Points):
Points) You may add 1d history, area of the world investigating,
to Sight tests when watching something. etc.
Inquiry (3 Points):
Points) You may raise the E.g. A character is hired to investigate
Height of any set to 6 on your Assess another characters family history. The
rolls. investigating character is told that the
immediate family names are Aaronson
Theorize (4 Points):
Points) Whenever you are and Zemeckis and that one branch of the
presented with a situation or family moved from Ireland to Montana in
circumstance you can roll Academia at the 19th Century. The GM deems the
Difficulty 6. The resulting set allows you family names and the place of origin to
to ask the Judge of the Game the Width be two separate Key Facts and gives a
in Yes or No questions about your +2d bonus.
theories of the situation.
Where? (2 Points):
Points) Knowing what to look
You may reduce this Difficulty by 1 per for is one part of the battle, knowing
hard fact you have. where to look for it is another. Your
extensive experience with research
Methodology (5 Points):
Points) Your mind is a projects has given you a good personal
logical and organised machine. index of what information is where.
Whenever you take extra time on a task If you have access to all the relevant
where logic and organisation can assist, texts and information sources, you can
your Height is automatically 10 (raise a halve the time it would normally take to
any lower set). uncover the data.
Trivia Pursuits (3 Points)

Points):
oints) Your
RESEARCH: FACT FINDER
researching talents have made you
knowledgeable of many different
What? (Level 1):1) You have developed a
subjects. You may add a bonus to any
good research regimen and
Academia roll unrelated to research.
consequently, when given enough
information, you can identify what
Bibliophile (4 Points):
Points) You have a
exactly it is you need to find out.
personal collection of texts and papers
that would make a librarian jealous.
85
Choose a Specialist Subject when you Acrobatic Strike (4 Points):

Points) A skilled
purchase this feat: any research tumbler can use his or her talents to
pertaining to your chosen subject adds 1 assist in a fight. If you make an attack
to the Special Die. whilst performing an Athletic action,
perhaps jumping off a wall or swinging
Example subjects might be Starships, from a chandelier, you may Charge
Religion, Cars, Aircraft and so on. without needing to run 15ft.
Expert Bibliophile (5 Points):

Points) As Wuxia Pian (5 Points):
Points) Any set scored on
Bibliophile only you increase your a Close Combat Attack is duplicated and
Special Die by 2. may be used as either a Dodge or an
Acrobatic Strike.
ATHLETIC FEATS
POWER: WORK HORSE
ACROBATICS: WIRED
Sprint (1 Point);
Point) If you perform no other
Through discipline and training, you action save running flat out, you gain a
have developed your acrobatic skills to a 1d bonus to your roll.
level that gives you great freedom of
movement. Run Away!
Away! (2 Points)
Points); You gain a 2d
bonus to your running rolls when
Tumble (1 Point):
Point) You reduce the escaping from a dangerous situation.
difficulty of all Acrobatics (including
Jumping) tests by 1. You may not combine this with Sprint.
Roll Over (2 Points):

Points) You can roll with a Run For Cover (3 Points)
Points);
ints) If you begin a
fall or tumble and instantly get back to run action in cover and end it in cover,
your feet. You lose one die from a set you may use your running roll as
any round you use this technique. This Counter Dice against ranged combat
also negates any throw or trip attacks attacks against you that round.
against you.
Run & Gun (4 Points);
Points) You may twin a
Leaping Dodge (3 Points):
Points) Your skills are set for any action and use it for a Run
now so honed that you have a constant action without penalty.
weaving and ducking motion. This
teaching has been likened to the Endurance (5 Points);
Points) As long as you
movements of snakes (and to the drunk have dice in your pool, you
by some). automatically succeed your Habitus tests
when exerting yourself whilst
You may add a dodge to another action performing a power athletics test.
without declaring a multiple action and
using the larger of the two pools.
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inappropriate of situations, you can

DIPLOMACY FEATS maintain the most austere of
appearances.
ETIQUETTE: SAVOIR FAIRE
Without making a roll, you can remain
Silver Service (1 Point)
Point): You always upright and polite, even if you have been
know which fork to eat with and the given the worst of news.
correct way to tie a bowtie: you are the
very model of class. Furthermore, your example brings others
You never need to roll to know the into line and anyone attempting to make
correct way of doing things in your own things uncivil in a conversation you are
culture. involved in receives -2d to their dice
pool.
Formal Dance (2 Points):
Points) You have
studied the waltz and other such dances Lastly, you add 1 to the Width of all your
for formal occasions. You may roll your Etiquette tests.
Diplomacy skill when dancing.
NEGOTIATION: CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT
You should be aware that this is purely
the ability to get through a formal How Can I Help? (1 Point):
Point) You have a
occasion without looking like a klutz. To helpful and friendly demeanor which
really impress someone with your puts people at ease.
dancing skills, purchase the appropriate
Perform skill. You may use your Charm plus Diplomacy
in place of your Command plus Intrigue
Lasting Impression (3 Points):
Points) you are when attempting to persuade someone.
the soul of civility and culture. People
dont quickly forget you. Gifts & Favours (2 Points):
Points) You may add
1 to 3 dice to your Diplomacy dice pool
You may Squish any Social roll against a when attempting to negotiate with
person whom you have previously made someone by giving them gifts and
a successful roll against. favours.
Faux Pas (4 Points):

Points) A social faux pas is For each gift, bonus or benefit you
nothing for you and can quickly be promise/bestow on that person, you gain
covered up by your sincere demeanor. one bonus die for your immediate rolls.
Once per encounter, if you fail a A gift/favour is defined as some tangible

Diplomacy roll for etiquette, you may item or beneficial promise you give to
reroll. that person. How much truth or actual
benefit from your gift there is depends
Cordiality (5 Points):
Points) Nothing can perturb entirely on you (and possibly, your
your cool mien. Even in the face of lies).
overwhelming rudeness or the most
87
Examples of gifts are reasonable Power Attack (3

(3 Points):
Points) You may make
discount, additional goods thrown in, an attack and add 1 to the Width of a
owing a favour and the like. damaging set.
Is That Your Final Answer? (3 Points): Clinch (4 Points):

Points) Make a Physique +
By putting doubts in a persons mind, Duel test. Success indicates you lock
you can undermine their confidence and your weapon with your opponents:
second guess their decision. neither weapon may be used whilst
clinched. You can unclinch your weapon
You can force a character you are as an action requiring no roll. Your
attempting to negotiate with to reroll a opponent must make a skill test to do
single die in one set on any roll resisting the same.
your persuasions. This rerolled die can
form a new set. Decimate (5 Points):
Points) You may make an
attack and add 2 to the Width of a
Im Gonna Make You An Offer You Cant damaging set.
Refuse (4 Points):
Points) So youve tried
charming someone to your way of DEFEND: WEAVE
thinking and that didnt work. Now its
time to just bully them into it. Full Parry (1 Point):
Point) If you take no other
action than Parry this round, you receive
If you can force your victim into a +1d to your roll.
situation which puts them at a
disadvantage (maybe you have secrets Riposte (2 Points):
Points) If you spoil an attack
with which to blackmail them or you with your parry and have a spare set,
have a group of heavies somewhere in you may make an attack this round at
the background), you increase your no penalty.
negotiation Width by 1.
Stop Thrust (3 Points):
Points) You may combine
Selling
Selling Snow To Eskimos (5 Points):
Points) You an attack and parry without penalty and
always add 2 to your Special Die on using the larger of the two pools.
Diplomacy rolls when negotiating.
Prise de Fer (4 Points):
Points) You take control
DUEL FEATS of your opponents blade and let loose
with an appropriate unarmed strike,
ATTACK: POWER ATTACK such as a head-butt or punch. If you
successfully spoil an attack with your
Quarry (1 Point):
Point) If you take an action to parry, you twin your set for an unarmed
mark a target, you receive a +1d bonus combat.
on attacks against them for the rest of
this combat. Web of Steel (5 Points):
Points) When you make
a parry action, as long as you score a
Hammer (2 (2 Points):
Points) If your opponent set, you automatically spoil an
fails to parry your attack, they disarmed.
88
opponents set regardless of your Width SITUATION DIFFICULTY

or Height. FULL RESOURCES 2
SOME MISSING PARTS 3
ENGINEERING FEATS MINIMAL EQUIPMENT 4
NO RESOURCES 5
BUILD: CRAFTWORKER
Success yields the following results;
Builders Eye (1 Point):
Point) You add 1 to the
Width of any Observe test when STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: the device will
appraising objects of your chosen field. work for a few hours before dying.
Craftsman (2 Points):
Points) You can Squash EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: as above but will
your Engineering rolls when building. work for a few days.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: as above but will
Bench-
Bench-Thumping (3 Points):
Points) Although work for a few weeks.
getting something to work properly is
best served with a full repair, by giving DESIGN: APPLIED PROFESSIONAL
the device a good hit, you can make an
Intellect + Engineering test at Difficulty Memory (1 Point):
Point) You add 1d to any
3. Engineering test involving a task you
have previously done.
Success means the device works one
more time than expected. Bamboozle (2 Points):
Points) You can utilise
your advanced knowledge to confound
Repeated use increases the Difficulty by and confuse people: you gain +1d on
1 each time and a failure indicates that Intrigue tests when using Subterfuge
the device is wrecked: only a full repair relating to your field.
will do.
R & D (3 Points):
Points) You conduct the
Master Craftsman (4 Points):
Points) You can research and testing for your design.
Squish and Squish your Engineering
rolls when building. Roll Insight + Engineering and your
success creates Research Notes.
Jury-
Jury-Rig (5 Points):
Points) Whereas Bench-
Thumping gives you a last ditch Anyone working from your Research
attempt to get a failing device to work, Notes can either reduce a Design
Jury-Rig allows you to make a Difficulty by 1 or penalty by -1d. You
temporary repair using minimal must have Research Notes to create an
resources. Expert Blue Print.
Make an Intellect + Engineering test at Expert Blue Print (4 Points):

Points) By working
the following Difficulty; from Research Notes and fully exploring
your design and putting together a
superb template, you can improve your
89
chances to successfully build or repair a I Predict A Riot (3 Points):

Points) You are well
device. known for a particular style of
composition. Choose a Style when you
Make an Insight + Engineering test at purchase this feat. You may Squish
Difficulty 4 to create an Expert Blue when composing a Piece in your Style.
Print.
Example styles might be Hip Hop,
Any time a character has an Expert Blue Satirical Comedy, Epic Drama and so on.
Print to work from, they add 1 to their
Special Dice. Come Together (4 Points):
Points) As I Predict A
Riot, only you may now Squash when
Master Blue Print (5 Points):
Points) As Expert composing a Piece in your Style.
Blue Print only they add 2 to their
Special Dice. Not A Dry Eye In The House (5 Points):
Points)
You can create a Piece or Direct a
ENTERTAIN FEATS performance that is a veritable opus
magnum. The audience are enthralled by
ARRANGEMENT: CONDUCTION
ONDUCTION your work and will attend any
performance of the same, irrespective of
These feats are all about creating a Piece performer!
of entertainment within a respective
field. You may only compose a piece of When creating a Piece, before rolling,
entertainment for which you have the you may choose 1 to 3 Opus dice. Each
appropriate Entertain skill. Opus die you take is a Counter Die to
your Entertain roll to compose.
Were In This Together (1 Point):
Point) You can
create a Piece that makes any audience If you still manage to make a set, every
feels a connection with the performer, as Opus die adds 1 Width to the set of
if the performer truly understands them. anyone performing the piece.
Anyone performing this piece gains a PERFORM: VOICE IN THE DARKNESS

bonus die to Intrigue and Personality
rolls against audience members for an Dont You Know Who I Am?! (1 Point):
Point)
hour per Width of their performance set. You are a Diva or a Divo (or at least you
think you are). Irrespective of whether
Youre So Vain (2 Points):
Points) Although you people know who you are or not, you
may not be important yourself, youve can sometimes get your own way just be
rubbed shoulders with enough people shouting loud enough! And of course,
who are that you can name drop to get everyone lets an artiste get away with
what you want. such terrible behaviour.
You may use your Entertain skill instead You gain a bonus die on your Intrigue
of Intrigue when trying to get your own rolls to influence or bully people.
way with people in your field.
90
Tear Jerker (2 Points):

Points) By tailoring a fan of your work (even if you do not
performance to garner a specific have the Eminence Advantage).
emotion, incurring a -1d penalty to your
roll, you gain a +1d bonus to your next FOCUS FEATS
Intrigue test made against a member of
your audience immediately after the PRESCIENCE: INNER
NNER EYE
performance.
Instinct (1 Point):
Point) Your instincts are
Money Money Money (3 Points):
Points) You are highly developed and youve learned the
well sought after to perform in public. hard way to trust them.
You can command double the usual fee
just by reputation alone! Once per game session, you may use
your Focus rating in place of your
Personal Performance (4 Points):
Points) By Insight statistic for a dice roll.
tailoring your entertainment for an
individual, where you make it obvious to Cognizance (2 Points):
Points) You are an alert
that person you are performing just for person and see a lot more than most do:
them, you can impress them and then you are always the first to notice
charm them to your hearts content. someones new haircut or a minor
alteration to a room.
Roll Insight + Entertain at Difficulty 3;
You may roll your Focus skill instead of
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X; you impress them your Perception skill when noticing
enough that they are friendly and willing things.
to listen to you.
Preconsciousness (3 Points):
Points) Your
Youve won them over this far (+1 die awareness is such that you pick up on
on your immediate Social tests). other peoples nonverbal cues.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X; as above, only they You gain add 1 to your Initiative and to
really like you (+2d on your immediate your Diplomacy rolls when reading their
Social tests). body language.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X; as above, only the Premonition (4 Points)

Points): To utilise this
victim is putty in your hands (add 1 to feat, you must have an Enriched Spice
Special Dice). Diet.
My Reputation Proceeds Me (5 Points):

Points) Your senses and instincts are so finely
You are so well renowned and well tuned that you can sometimes gain a
known that everyone wants to know impression of what is about to happen.
you.
Perhaps it is some latent psychic power
You may add a bonus Master Die to your or maybe you are merely acting on a
Eminence rolls against anyone who is a highly refined preconsciousness.
91
Either way, when something bad is Social Attacks against you receive -1d.
about to happen, your Games Master will
roll a dice pool of your Insight + Intellect Just a Flesh Wound (3 Points):
Points) Pain is
statistics in secret. If you score any set at just a feeling and through discipline, you
all, your Games Master will tell you You can learn to ignore it.
get a bad feeling about this.
You may ignore up to 2 points of either
Furthermore, you are prone to Waking Height and/or Dice Pool penalties
Dreams in which you see random stemming from pain and injury.
visions of the future. These are largely
controlled by the Judge of the Game but Guilty Pleasure (4 Points):
Points) Everyone has
they should give portents of future a weakness they choose to indulge every
events. now and then. Those with enough
mental fortitude have the ability to
Third Eye Open (5 Points):
Points) To utilise this indulge just enough to feel satiated but
feat, you must have an Enriched Spice not enough to over-indulge.
Diet.
Once per session, you can overrule a
Your perception faculties are far beyond decision made for you by the Judge.
that of Joe or Jane Average. In fact, you
can sense things that normal people You may also use this to ignore any
cannot. Craving or Problem you have, but
successfully resisting the lure does not
Once per session, you may completely garner any experience!
undo a scene and replay it from the
beginning, as you received a prescience Indomitable (5 Points):
Points) You have the
vision of the future. strongest of wills and people find it
almost impossible to force you to do
WILLPOWER: IRON MIND something that you have decided
against. Some people call this being
Implacable
Implacable (1 Point):
Point) The strong-willed stubborn while others call this strength
never give anything away: even their of character.
general demeanor reveals nothing. No
matter what buttons a person presses, it You have developed your willpower to
is hard to get a reaction out of them. the point where you reduce any the
Width of any sets to any attempt to
Anyone attempting to use Diplomacy to coerce you by 1 and/or add 1 to your
read your emotions receives a -1d Width to resist.
penalty.
Never Surrender (2 Points):

Points) Your force of
will is such that even faced with
insurmountable odds, you refuse to
kowtow.
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HABITUS FEATS Habitus rating do not lose 1 die from the

impact (if they should lose 2, this is
CONTROL: KINESTHETICS reduced to 1).
Motor Control
Control (1 Point):
Point) You have Example: a character has an Endurance
trained to use your offhand: reduce the rating of 4. He rolls 2x2. An opponents
Offhand Penalty by 1. attack goes off at 3x7. The first character
should lose 1 die from a set from the
Limber (2 Points):
Points) You are extremely impact but is protected by Unflinching.
limber and have a high control over your
body. Performing the splits, bending Quick Healer (4 Points):
Points) Once per
your limbs and the like is little challenge session, after a full nights rest, you may
to you. You gain a +2d bonus on tests remove 1 point of Physical, Mental or
involving balance, gracefulness and Social damage.
being pinned/grappled.
Unbleeding Heart (5 Points):
Points) Once per
Dislocate (3 Points);
Points) You can dislocate session, you may ignore the first point of
your bones and limbs, giving you a +2d damage taken to one of your statistics.
bonus to escaping bonds and fitting in
tight spaces. INFILTRATION FEATS
Bend Like A Reed In The Wind (4 ACCESS: LOCKSMITHS HAND

Points)
Points);
nts) You increase the Width of a
Dodge set by 1. Familiar With The Works Of (1 Point):
Point)
You can examine a lock and see what
Physical Perfection (5 Points);
Points) Your kind of design it is. By making a Intellect
physical motor control is absolute: any + Observe test, Difficulty 3, you may be
time you roll Physique + Athletics, you knowledgeable of the lock makers
can change the Height of one set to 10. trademarks.
VIGOR: IRON CONSTITUTION If you are successful, you gain a bonus

die to your attempt to open the lock.
Cast-
Cast-Iron Stomach (1 Point):
Point) You add 1d
to your dice pool when rolling to resist Hidden Picks (2 Points):
Points) Through
food-based poisons (including really bad experience, youve found the perfect
or very spicy food). place to hide your picks on your person.
May be you have a secret pocket or a
Toxic (2 Points):
Points) You add 1d to your dice false heel.
pool when rolling to resist liquid-based
poisons (and yes, that includes alcohol Regardless, anyone attempting to search
and getting drunk). your person receives a Difficulty equal to
your Infiltration to locate your lock
Unflinching (3 Points):
Points) When you are hit picks.
in combat, sets that are lower than your
93
Signature Tools (3 Points):

Points) Youve had lock, might be able to open any lock.
your lock picks for years and made a Crafting a key is very hard, very intense
number of modifications. work, taking approximately 8 full hours.
You may Squish and Squash on lock When it comes to using the key, roll
picking tests when using them plus you Intellect + Infiltration at Difficulty 5.
can never arbitrarily lose them nor forget Success indicates youve successfully
where youve put them: theyre that opened the lock. Failure breaks the key,
important to you. rendering it unusable.
However, you are so used to them that DISGUISE: GUY INCOGNITO

using someone elses (or even a new set)
feels wrong to you, incurring a -1d Disguise is to present yourself as
penalty and losing the ability of your something your not. Guy Incognito
Signature Tools feat until youve worn represents the art of almost becoming the
them in (3 consecutive successful lock disguise. Through the use of this set of
pick tests). feats, you transcend the act of
pretending to be someone else to actually
Forge Key (4 Points):
Points) By examining a key becoming that person in your own mind.
for only moments, you can craft a
duplicate. You need to be able to touch It is important to note that you must
the key and examine it up close but you purchase Step One, Step Two and Step
only need a few moments before youve Three for each individual alternative
got a general idea. Identity you may have (thus, costing 6
experience per new identity you wish to
It takes an hour to cut a duplicate. When create).
you are using the key for the first time,
make a Intellect + Infiltration test at However, Steps Four and Five can be
Difficulty 6 less the period of study; used with any such ID purchased.
TIME DIFFICULTY Step One: Who Are You? (1 Point):Point) The

AN HOUR 3 first stage in assuming a new identity is
HALF AN HOUR 2 to determine the little details. Things like
MINUTES 1 name, place of birth, date of birth etc.
MOMENTS 0
Once you have determined these pieces
Roll when you come to use the key. of information about alternate identity,
Success indicates that the key is good they become solid facts to you, second
enough to open the lock. If it fails, well, nature.
youre out of luck!
Whenever you assume an alternate
Skeleton Key (5 Points):
Points) The Skeleton identity, you never become confused
Key is a key that has been cut in such a about who you currently are. If quizzed
way that, with some jiggering in the about such details, you never miss a
94
beat: they are no longer even fictitious to new identity. It goes beyond simple
you. acting: for all intents and purposes, you
utterly believe you are this new person.
Step Two: What Do You Know? (2
Points):
Points) As with Step One, but you now So sincere you are in your belief, that
compartmentalize facts about a only magical means could detect you are
personality. other than who you say you are.
You might decide that Klatu of Nikto is This feat allows you to assume an
a farmhand who has been mooning over identity that doesnt require a disguise:
a particular girl since his youth. Once you can present a completely different
this is determined, you can forever face to the world purely by changing
remember this and associate it with a your demeanor and stance. However,
specific personality. this would incur a successful Charm +
Disguise roll to convince someone.
Once youve succeeded in a successful
Charm + Intrigue test about such INTRIGUE FEATS
facts. If quizzed about them later, you
automatically succeed: they are no CONVINCE: SECRETS & LIES
longer even fictitious to you.
Have You Lost Weight? (1 Point):
Point) Little
Step Three: Who Do You Know? (3 white lies come easy to you and most
Points):
Points) As with Step One and Step Two, people think you are 100% serious. You
you are now able to instantly associate add 1d to your Personality rolls to
other people with a personality and impress and fascinate people.
never struggle to remember. If you were
to meet the Contessa while Poker Face (2 Points):
Points) Untruths just roll
masquerading as the Marquis de off your tongue and merge with fact to
Carabou, you could walk right by her misdirect and mislead anyone talking
outside your disguise and they would with you. Your lies blend so well with
never even recognize you. the truth that listeners can start to doubt
even what they know to be fact.
Step Four: Perfected Look (4 Points):
Points) You
can now instantly don your alternative Attempts to see through your
disguise without making a roll. It takes obfuscation or even read your reaction
you only a few moments to change into receive a -1d penalty.
even the most elaborate of costumes, so
practised you are at the transformation. I Didnt Do It (3 Points):
Points) Youve always
got a cover story prepared. If something
Step Five: Perfected Disguise (5 Points):
Points) happens and you need someone to
This is the total package: without even a corroborate you are elsewhere, youve
roll, you can change your stance, voice got it covered.
and even physical presence merely by
taking a few moments to assume your
95
Once per session, you may phone a which reveals a persons true feelings.
friend and get them to corroborate a They can be less than a fraction of a
story you are telling. Your alibi is good second but they can be hard to control
enough to get rid of any casual (in fact, most people dont even know
attention. that they are doing it).
For more serious problems, youll need a You are trained to catch those minor
real alibi expressions and anyone trying to bluff or
otherwise hide their emotions from you
I Dont Have It With Me (4 Points):
Points) You receive a -2d penalty.
may Squish and Squash on your Intrigue
rolls when lying. Lie Detector (4 Points):
Points) You are
extremely skilled on divining whether
Cross My Heart (5 Points):
Points) Sincerity is someone is telling you the truth or lying
your bread and butter. Even when faced through their teeth.
with evidence proving your lies, your
reaction is one of pure innocence. You may Squish or Squash your Intrigue
rolls when attempting to see through
The Height of your Intrigue sets are lies.
always 10 (sets of a lower Height are
raised to 10). Know You Better Than You Know
Yourself (5 Points):
Points) Your sets are always
EMPATHY: LIE TO ME 10 on your Intrigue rolls against anyone
with whom you have a close
Understanding (1 Point):
Point) Most relationship.
behavioural patterns fit into a limited
number of categories. After having a A close relationship is any where there is
conversation with someone in person for a level of intimacy where you have spent
at least an hour, you gain a basic insight in excess of a month as a good friend,
into their behaviour and gain a +1d on working partnership or lover.
your Personality rolls to fascinate when
dealing with them. LEADERSHIP FEATS
Body Language (2 Points):

Points) You have AUTHORITY: THE LOOK OF EAGLES
become adept at reading body language
and can tell a persons subconscious This group of feats is all about
feelings. command, especially of Rank & File. File
Rank & File describes anyone at the
You gain a +1d to your Intrigue rolls bottom of an organisation. Examples are
when understanding someones current Private, Constable, Spice Miners, Military
emotional state. Guard and the like. You may expressly
interchange the term Rank & File with
Micro Expressions (3 Points):
Points) A micro Unworthies.
expression is a small facial expression
96
You There! (1 Point):

Point) As long as you look STRATEGY: PLANS WITHIN PLANS
the part and act the part, most Rank &
File are used to responding without Most of the following feats are used in
thought. connection with an Organisation.
Organisation What
this organisation is depends entirely on
You can issue an order to a Rank & File what advantages you have taken.
person and theyll obey to the best of Organisations are usually referenced in
their ability without even thinking about the Influence and Rank advantages but
it. Just dont give them cause to think may be another advantage (or even a
about it. Company if using REIGN).
I Need OJ, No Pulp, Now! (2 Points):

Points) If Logistics (1 Points):
Points) You always know
you can give a specific, clear instruction where your organisation stands in
to a Rank & File, they receive a 1d bonus relation to competition. You generally
to their first roll to carry out your order. know what resources the organisation
has to deploy and what are currently
For Freedom! (3 Points):
Points) You may issue a being used.
rallying cry or inspiring speech in a
moment of hopelessness or impending At any time, you can request that your
doom. Games Master given you a quick report
on how your organisation is doing
You automatically reduce Morale Attacks compared to the competition (or a
against your Rank & File by 1. specific competitor) in terms of Poorly,
Moderately or Well.
Follow Me! (4 Points):
Points) Any time you are
working alongside a team of You may also request a report on
subordinates, they all receive a 1d bonus whether you have the resources to
to their rolls. deploy a task or when they will become
available.
And yes, this increases the Threat Rating
of Unworthies by 1. All at a moments notice. Your finger is
firmly on the pulse of your organisation.
Come On, We Can Do This! (5 Points):
Points)
You may promote one Rank & Files die Assay (2 Points):
Points) You gain a 2d bonus
to a Special Die for one task each when on your Observe tests to appraise your
your only action is to give inspiring or organisation or another organisation
motivating instruction. within the same field as your own.
The Rank & File must be able to see you New Direction (3 Points):
Points) You may
to receive the benefits of this ability. declare (or suggest to the top brass) a
New Direction for your organisation,
thus changing its goal.
97
This new direction will sweep out the While people are still impressed with
cobwebs of your organisation and shake your efforts, you are the one everyone
things up a bit. wants to know.
You may only suggest one New Direction Make a Charm + Leadership roll. For a
every 4 months but for the first month of number of weeks after making a New
activity after the New Direction is Direction equal to the Height of a set,
implemented, you gain +1d to your add 1 to your Special Dice on your rolls
Leadership skill when making rolls for an appropriate advantage.
connected with this new direction.
MARKSMANSHIP FEATS
Consolidate Power (4 Points):
Points) With the
New Direction may come changes within BALLISTICS: BALLET OF BULLETS
management. You can try to usher in
people a little friendlier to your cause. One In The Chamber (1 Point):
Point) You add 1
to the clip of your ballistic weapons.
When you successfully implement a New
Direction, you may make a Command + Shoot From The Hip (2 Points):
Points) You can
Intrigue roll with a -2d penalty at a draw your firearm and fire in the same
Difficulty equal to the points in an turn without taking a multiple action
appropriate advantage. penalty.
If score a set, you may increase the Snap Shot (3 Points):

Points) You may combine
points in that advantage by 1. a Dodge test with a ballistic test without
taking a multiple action penalty.
E.g. a character has Rank 5 divided in
Station 2 and Sphere 3. She successfully Bi-
Bi-Manual Firearms (4 Points):
Points) Your
implements a New Direction and so Offhand penalty is reduced by -1d
makes an attempt to Consolidate Power. penalty and your second weapon penalty
She rolls her Command + Manipulate is reduced by -1d. You must choose the
dice pool of 7, reduced to 5, at a same mode of fire for both weapons but
Difficulty of 5. She rolls and scores 1, 3, you may attack separate targets!
4, 7 and 7. 2x7 is higher than Difficulty
5, so she may raise her Rank to 6 (either Carnival of Carnage (5 Points):
Points) With
increasing her Station by 1 or Sphere by
almost pinpoint accuracy, you let loose
1).
with a stream of lead which somehow
manages to find its mark: you may take
Golden Boy (5 Points): Points) The New down as many Unworthies as your
Direction for your organisation is Width. You may combine this with Bi-
considered to be a fantastic idea and Manual Firearms.
people wont soon forget who came up
with it (even if it is not as successful as
it was hoped).
98
PROJECTILES: HAWKEYE Judging Eye (2 Points):

Points) You can examine
an object and determine its quality in
Notch (1 Point)
Point):
oint) If you take at least 1 full terms of Poor, Moderate or Good
round loading your weapon and perform without making a roll.
no other action, you may add 2d to your
subsequent attack. Valuing Eye (3 Points):
Points) You can examine
an object and determine its approximate
Deflect (2 Points):
Points) As long as it is hafted value in terms of Inexpensive,
in some fashion, you may parry with Moderately Expensive or Highly
your ranged weapon as if it were a melee Expensive without making a roll.
weapon at no penalty.
Assessing Eye (4 Points):
Points) If you can
Dead Eye (3 Points):
Points) You may Squish spend a round watching someone use a
your projectile attacks. Skill you possess, you can determine
whether they are Worse Than You (two
Fletcher (4 Points):
Points) As long as you have points or more lower than you), About
the tools to hand, you can construct a The Same (within 1 point either way of
makeshift archaic weapon or ammo your pool) or Better Than You (two
using Intellect + Engineering. points or more than you) without
making a roll.
WEAPON DIFFICULTY
DART 1 Exploiting Eye (5 Points):
Points) You can
ARROW/BOLT 2 appraise someones combat style and
BOLA 3 exploit a weakness in it. By spending a
BOW 4 round sizing up your opponent, on
CROSSBOW 5 your next attack against them, you may
add 2 to the Special Die of your next
Dead Shot
Shot (5 Points):
Points) If you Aim, the attack.
Height of your attack is automatically 10
on your next attack. You may only use Exploiting Eye against
a person once per encounter.
OBSERVE FEATS
SEARCH: RIGOROUS INSPECTION
EVALUATE: ASSAYING EYE
Methodical (1 Points):
Points) If you take Double
Remembering Eye (1 Point):
Point) If you re- Time to search somewhere, you gain a
examine something that you have +2d bonus instead of the usual +1d.
personally previously examined, you You may not take Extra Double Time.
automatically know if it has changed or
been altered in any way. You dont know Browse (2 Points):
Points) You can look through
for certain what that change may be a bulk of things, be it looking for a
without a roll but you know for certain specific paragraph in a book or a single
that it no longer is the same. person in a crowd, and as long as you
99
have a basic idea of what you are relevant. This works for most Diplomacy
looking for, you receive no penalty. rolls to seduce or fascinate, most Intrigue
rolls and some Leadership rolls.
Identify (3 Points):
Points) Your searching skills
are so tightly honed that you Bats Ear (4 Points):
Points) Not only is your
automatically register the best places to hearing sensitive and well trained but
hide things as soon as you enter a room. you dont quickly forget what youve
You halve the time it takes to search a heard. You can acutely identify which
location. direction a sound emanated from
without rolling (even an echo or
Teamwork (4 Points):
Points) If you have a amongst other sound) and can Squish
group of people willing to follow your your hearing rolls.
directions in a search, you add 1 to your
Special Die on your Observe tests when Perfect Pitch (5 Points):
Points) Your ear for
searching. sound is so well developed that you
could detect a single bad note in an
Hunch (5 Points):
Points) You have developed orchestra. You add 2 to your Special Dice
your senses to the point where you can of your sets on Perception rolls for
feel when something is hidden. Once per hearing.
session, you can reroll any failed
Observe test made to search. SIGHT: SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT
PERCEPTION FEATS Cats Eye (1 Point):

Point) Your night vision is
better than most: you reduce a dice pool
HEARING: INSECT IN THE WIND penalty from poor illumination by 1.
Appreciation (1 Point):
Point) You know when Staring Contest (2 Points):
Points) When you sit
something sounds good and definitely and watch a subject, be it a specific
when it sounds bad. You gain a +1d location, an object or person, you may
bonus to Observe rolls when appraising Squash your rolls to notice any changes
a sound quality including music. in status of that watched subject.
Pin Drop (2 Points):

Points) Your hearing is more Quick Eye (3 Points):
Points) Movement catches
sensitive than the average person and your eye and you tend to notice even the
you can pick out a single sound amongst most discrete of twitches. You add 1 to
a hubbub with little difficulty. You may your Initiative.
reduce any hearing Difficulty or Penalty
by 1. Eagles Eye (4 Points):
Points) Your distance
vision is acute. You may treat a target at
Vocal Modulation (3 Points):
Points) Having medium range at short range.
trained your own ear to recognise tones
and pitch, you have a measure of control Recall (5 Points):
Points) Your memories are
over how your own voice sounds. You viscerally visual and this affects the way
gain +1d on any roll where your voice is your memory works, so much so that
100
you can always tell if something is Roguish Charm (3 Points):Points) You can
different to what you remember. definitely talk the talk and if your friends
didnt know better, theyd swear your
This is a useful skill and shows keen tongue was made of silver.
observation: youre the first to recognise
a new haircut or that someone has If you fail a Personality roll when
redecorated. enthralling someone, instead of causing
an awkward situation, you can reroll a
Of course, this has further reaching number of dice equal to your Personality
applications: you will also notice if skill.
someone has moved something
belonging to you or perhaps even that Hearty Laugh (4 Points):
Points) Sometimes,
the fungus youve been growing has things dont go according to plan or
multiplied. someone says something they shouldnt
have. Perhaps they revealed something
You may change the Height of a set on that should have been secret or asked
your sight-based Perception rolls to 10. the Senators wife where she dyed her
hair.
PERSONALITY FEATS
Without making a roll, you make a big
ENTHRALL: WINNING SMILE resounding laugh which glosses over the
fact that your friend just called the
Firm Handshake (1 Point): Point) When Kings daughter an ugly pig. This is a
meeting someone for the first time and social do-over but it will only work once
give them your Firm Handshake, you per encounter.
get +1d on your Personality rolls to
impress and fascinate for a number of The Kiss (5 Points):
Points) You are that good at
rolls equal to your Personality skill. kissing that you can make a person who
finds you attractive melt into your arms,
Disarming Wink (2 Points):
Points) If you are in despite how inappropriate it might be.
a heated or otherwise tense situation,
you can just give someone your Make a Charm + Personality roll with a
Disarming Wink to ease the tension. penalty based on the situation.
Once per encounter, you may use this The more inappropriate it is, the bigger
feat to trigger another person to start the penalty (laying one on your superior
attempting to placate the situation and at a meeting would probably be -2d,
discuss things rationally. kissing your Lords wife in front of him
might be -4d but grabbing that guy
This wont change anyones mind (so if youve been flirting with for days would
they are that intent on gutting you, wink probably give you a bonus). A failed roll
at them all you like) but it does give you earns you a slap.
an ally for trying to resolve things
peacefully.
101
If you are successful, the person This will only work once per scene.
subjected to your Kiss is suddenly much
more favourable toward you: not only Dont Even Think About It! (3 Points):
Points) As
are they more inclined to side with you I Wouldnt Do That If I Were You only
but you can Squish and Squash your roll 2 dice as Counter Dice.
Personality and Intrigue rolls against
them. Im Your Worst Nightmare (4 Points):
Points)
You may Squash or Squish on a
This is a powerful feat when used right Threaten Action and may even use it
and will almost guarantee you a night during combat! See the next chapter for
with company if you wish it. But it isnt more on the Threaten Action.
a mind control ability: if you upset your
target at a later date, this feat is Ill Crush You And Everything You Hold
cancelled. Dear! (5 Points):
Points) As threats go, you
couldnt be more serious. The only
You can only use The Kiss once per people this feat has no effect on are
session. those that have absolutely no friends or
family.
INTIMIDATE: RATTLE OF THE SNAKE
You may invoke this threat once per
I Wouldnt Do That If I Were You (1 session. Roll Command plus Personality
Point):
Point) Before combat starts (or with -1d. Everyone with a lower Speed
otherwise dangerous circumstances than yours simply stops and looks at
commence) you may issue a threatening you.
warning to someone about to take an
action. Anyone who later decides to attack you
after being affected by this threat loses 1
If they then go ahead, roll a single die as die from their fastest set.
a free Counter Die. If this spoils a set,
they think twice and decide not to cross PILOT FEATS
you. Otherwise, you merely put them off.
ATMOSTPHERE: AEROBATICS
Stop Right There! (2 Points):
Points) If someone
isnt fleeing for their life (or in otherwise Barrel Roll (1 Points):
Points) You can make a
dangerous circumstances) you can stop quick roll to evade a target or object. Add
someone dead in their tracks. 1d to your Jink rolls.
Roll Command plus Personality. If your Afterburner (2 Points):

Points) You gain +1d on
Width is greater than their Intellect or attempts to Chase a target.
Threat Rating, they freeze.
Feel The Gees! (3 Points):
Points) You add 1 to
They may still defend themselves but your Body when subjected to G-Force.
wont otherwise move or make an
offensive action.
102
Aerobrake (4 Points):
Points) You can slow your PHYSICIAN FEATS
aircraft putting yourself instantly behind
another without stalling. INFLICTION: THE HARROW
Add 1 Width to your Manoeuvre Heartless (1 Point):

Point) You are used to
Actions. attempts at persuasion (well, screams for
help). You receive a +1d bonus to resist
Redline (5 Points):
Points) You can squeeze that anyone attempting to influence or sway
extra little bit of speed out of your you.
aircraft and add 1 to the Speed of your
vehicle for a round. The Right Tools For The Job (2 Points):
Points)
Having honed your powers of
Every round you use this ability before persuasion, you are now able to
allowing the engine to cool down, roll an perform great works without the need for
additional die. If you ever score a set, tools.
you damage your vehicle: reduce
Handling or Speed by 1 (your choice). You waive the usual penalty for torture
without the adequate tools.
VOID: VOIDRUNNER
No Marks (3 Points):
Points) Any attempt to
Zero-
Zero-G (1 Point);
Point) you add 1d to your detect your use of torture is made at a
Athletics tests when in Zero-G. Difficulty of your Physician skill.
Space Legs (2 Points);

Points) you never get sick Forceful Grip (4 Points):
Points) By twisting
due to Zero-G manoeuvres and add 1 to someones arm or even gripping them
the Width of any Habitus tests in space. tightly on the shoulder or neck, you can
inflict enough pain to make them weak
Space Jockey (3 Points);
Points) you add 1 to at the knees.
your Physique when subjected to G-
Force. They lose 2 dice when attempting to
resist Intrigue tests whilst suffering. Of
Space Cowboy (4 Points);
Points) you add 1 to course, they may not be too fond of you
the Handling of your space vehicle. after you release them
Astrogation (5 Points);
Points) youve spent a lot Mind Games (5 Points):
Points) Your skill as a
of time in space and you know the stars torturer has now progressed to the level
like the back of your hand. Just by where you no longer need to inflict pain
examining the local constellations, you on someone to break them. Through
can automatically identify any star threats, blackmail, rationing and other
system you have previously visited. forms of inflictions, you can condition
someone to give them what you want or
Further, you add 1 to the Width of any even get them to sympathise with you.
attempt to plot a course through any
such system.
103
Through prolonged use of this feat, you SINISTER FEATS

could potentially convince someone that
the sky is green. ASSASSIN: BLACK HAND
EEMEDY: FIRST AID From out of the Shadows (1 Point):

The skilled assassin knows that the
Kit (1 Point):
Point) You always have a well attack is only the end result and that the
stocked First Aid kit to hand. Bandages, ambush itself is where the skill lies.
antiseptic cream, cleaning alcohol,
painkillers, you name it, youve got it. Accordingly, when making an attack
Anyone using your kit adds 1d to their against a surprised opponent, you may
Remedy rolls. use your Stealth skill in place of a
combat skill.
Staunch (2 Points):
Points) Using your First Aid
kit, you can halt the bleeding from a Surreptitious Strike (2 Points): Even in
wound without making a roll. the midst of combat, there are often
opportunities presented for a sinister
If you attend a person shortly after blow.
receiving an injury and spend 10
minutes helping them, you can As long as your opponent is unaware of
immediately reduce a Complication by 1 your attack, you may take advantage of
level. their ignorance and use a Surreptitious
Strike.
Cleaning (3 Points):
Points) Using your various
pieces of kit, you can even go some way You add 2d to your attack roll against an
to removing any dirt or foreign matter opponent engaged by another person.
from that injury.
Unseen Blade (3 Points): As From out of
As Staunch, only you can reduce two the Shadows, but this is the true
Complications by 1. assassins strike: launching your assault
against an unwitting opponent, you
Dressing (4 Points):
Points) As Cleaning, only attempt to bury your blade in their back.
any further Medicine sets made on that
wound have a minimum Height of 5 You add 2 to Physical damage of your
(raise any lower set to 5). weapon when making an attack against
a surprised opponent.
Resuscitate (5 Points):
Points) If someone is
killed, you have a number of rounds You may not use this during combat.
equal to their Physique statistic to
attempt to resuscitate them. Sinister Assault (4 Points): You are
skilled enough now to combine your
Roll Intellect + Physician at Difficulty 7. unseen blade with that of your
If you are successful, they 1 damage to surreptitious strike, allowing you to truly
every location currently at zero.
104
devastate an unknowing opponent even Palm (2 Points):

Points) You can pick up or hold
in the midst of battle. a small object in an apparently empty
hand. Any attempts to spot you do so
When making an attack against an have a Difficulty of your Sinister.
opponent who is engaged by another
character and has lower Initiative Score Load (3 Points)
Points): You can secretly move
than you, you add 2 Physical Damage to an object from one place to another, say
your attack against that character. from one hand to the other or from a
table to your pocket. Any attempts to
Heartseeker
Heartseeker (5 Points): As From out of spot you do so are at a Difficulty of your
the Shadows. The Heartseeker Sinister skill.
technique is the most powerful training
any would-be assassin can learn. Ditch (4 Points):
Points) You can drop an object
Realising that it is better not just to (or stash an object on someone else) and
attack your opponent but to strike where any attempts to spot you do so are at a
they are most vulnerable, you attempt to Difficulty of your Sinister skill.
cut your victims vitals.
Simulation (5 Points):
Points) You can convince
You may not combine this with Unseen someone that you or someone else has
Blade. used Palm, Load or Ditch when no such
thing has been done by making a
PENALTY: Roll Prowess + Stealth at a Command + Sinister test at a Difficulty
Difficulty equal to your opponents of the technique used, i.e. Palm is
Physique statistic. Difficulty 2, Load is Difficulty 3 and
Ditch is Difficulty 4.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: Your victim takes
1 Physical Damage which cannot be STEALTH FEATS
converted into a Complication and you
may choose which statistic you affect. HIDING: SHADOW DANCE
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: As above but 2 Bolt Hole (1 Point):

Point) Whenever you first
Physical Damage. enter a room, you automatically scope
out what may be the best places to hide.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: As above but 3 Of course, youll need to actually
Physical Damage. investigate them to see if they are any
good but youve a head start over your
PRESTIDIGITATION: QUICKER THAN THE EYE peers.
Sleight of Hand (1 Points):

Points) You can If you take Extra Time to hide, you gain
combine your art of prestidigitation and +2d instead of +1d. You may not take
thievery to pick someones pocket with Double Extra Time.
+1d.
Hidey Hole (2 Points):
Points) As Bolt Hole,
only you gain +2d to your search rolls if
105
you take Extra Time to locate hidden On Silent Wing (5 Points):

Points) You dont so
things. much walk as glide over the ground,
such is the precision of your footfall.
Camouflage (3 Points):
Points) As Bolt Hole,
only if you take Extra Time to hide, you You may add 1 to the Width of your
can also arrange things to make it more Stealth rolls or ignore any penalty for
difficult to find your article, imposing a - running while sneaking or sneaking
1d penalty to anyones search rolls. through stealth-adverse terrain or reduce
the Difficulty of any sneaking roll by 2.
One With The Shadows (4 Points):
Points) As
Camouflage, only if you take Extra SURVIVAL FEATS
Time to hide, you can also Squash and
Squish your rolls. DIRECTION: PATH OF THE WAYFINDER
Shinobi (5 Points):
Points) This is the art of North (1 Point):
Point) If you take a moment to
invisibility through stealth. By utilising orientate yourself, you can innately
quick moves followed by absolute detect which direction is North without
stillness, minimising lines of sight to making a roll. This adds +1 Height to
yourself and reducing light sources, you your Survival tests when navigating.
can virtually vanish from sight.
Flow Like Water (2 Points):
Points) You
You gain all the benefits of Bolt Hole, automatically pick out the best, easiest
Camouflage and One With The paths to take, thereby reducing
Shadows without taking Extra Time. movement penalties by 2.
However, you cannot then gain the
benefits of Extra Time or Double Extra Reading The Signs (3 Points):
Points) You
Time. instinctively take in your surroundings
wherever you go, sensing if youve been
SNEAKING: SILENT WALK somewhere before. Furthermore, you
may Squish or Squash when traversing
A Serene Breeze (1 Point):
Point) Your footfalls an area youve travelling through within
are practised and sure. The Height of the past month.
your Stealth sets when moving quietly
are at least 3 (raise any lower set to 3). Dead Reckoning (4 Points):
Points) You can
identify where you are in the world and
Shallow Breath (2 Points):
Points) You may how to reach your destination, purely by
Squash your Stealth rolls when moving calculating the distance youve travelled
silently. and speed you travelled it at. All you
need are a few points of reference.
Rivulet Of Rain (3 Points):
Points) As Shallow
Breath but you may also Squish. Roll Intellect + Survival at a Difficulty
based on the information available;
Falls The Snow (4 Points):
Points) As Serene
Breeze, only the Height is now 6.
106
TYPE DIFFICULTY
IFFICULTY another part of life for you. Youve even
CELESTIAL NAVIGATION 6 become quite adept at making your
GOOD DESCRIPTION 5 ingredients actually have something
POINT OF REFERENCE 4 approaching taste.
FAMILIAR LANDMARK 3
MULTIPLE LANDMARKS 2 You may roll your Survival in place of
Cookery. Lets be straight, whatever you
The Long Way Home (5 Points):
Points) You produce wont be Cordon Bleu (unless
instinctively know your back to your caterpillar and fungus Stew counts)
starting point without making a roll, but it will be a bit more satisfying.
even in the most labyrinthine cave
systems and thickest of forests. Combined with Survivor, as long as you
dont tell your friends what theyre
SUSTENANCE: DOWN & OUT eating, theyll be quite happy with
whatever you produce.
Weather Watching (1 Point):
Point) Youve lived
in the outdoors long enough to know Gimme Shelter (4 Points):
Points) Being
when the weather is about to turn. outdoors most of your life, youve
You can forecast the weather for a learned that sometimes you need at least
number of hours equal to your Survival one wall at your back.
rating without making a roll.
You can spend an hour looking for
Survivor (2 Points):
Points) You are adept at shelter and locate something without
locating food in the most unlikely of making a roll. At best, it might be a
places: if there is food to be found, youll small cave, at worst, a cardboard box.
find it. While it may only be wild berries, The only guarantee is that it will shield
nettles and cockroaches for dinner, at you from the worst of the weather for a
least youll eat. night.
You can spend 30 minutes scavenging Refuse Collector (5 Points):

Points) Youve
and ensure that you feed a number of trained your stomach to accept whatever
people equal to your Survival rating goes in it and not to complain. Training
without making a roll. Be warned, what was hard but you managed it.
you bring back wont be pretty but it will
stave off hunger until the next meal. Now, you have no problems eating
anything. The thought of eating the most
More delicate people might need to make hideous of things doesnt even faze you.
a Intellect + Focus roll to eat your Things that a dog wouldnt touch, youll
offering and then perhaps a Physique + quite happily chow down.
Habitus roll to keep it down. Thats up to
the GM. You never suffer indigestion nor get food
poisoning: you can eat rotten meat and
Its All In The Preparation (3 Points):
Points) think yourself lucky for the protein.
Finding your next meal has become just
107
This wont protect you from anything The area of interest that your Lore skill
truly poisonous but it will help (add 1 to is for (i.e. Zoology or Heraldic Lore) is
the Width of your Habitus sets). called the Field.
Field
Fellow Student (1 Points)

Points): You gain +1d
SPECIALIST SKILLS on your Personality and Intrigue rolls
against people in your Field of study.
DRIVE: JOYRIDER
Scintillating Conversation (2 Points):
Points) You
180 AMF (1 Point):
Point) You can swap the car may roll your Knowledge skill in place of
end-for-end (either direction) without your Personality skill when attempting
losing speed. to impress or fascinate someone.
The Bridge is Out (2 Points):

Points) Using the Fascinating Facts (3 Points):
Points) You have
nearby terrain, you can make studied your Field for many years and
considerable jumps in your vehicle while can recall many facts with clarity.
minimizing damage. Halve all damage to You can Squash your Knowledge rolls.
your vehicle from falling from a height
(or landing from a jump). Area Of Expertise (4 Points):
Points) When you
purchase this feat, choose an area Area
That's Why They're Called Bumpers (3 Of Expertise. This must be something
Points):
Points) as The Bridge is Out, but you specific like Ships Of The Line for a
can also halve all damage to your vehicle Imperial Heraldy skill or Caladan
from impacts with other vehicles. Wildlife for a Fauna Lore skill (but
not so specific to be unusable).
Powerslide (4 Points):
Points) you can reduce
any handling Difficulty incurred due to You gain add 1 to your Special Dice on
your speed by your Pilot skill. rolls pertaining to your Area of
Expertise.
Trading Paint (5 Points):
Points) when you
perform a Sideswipe action on an Know-
Know-It-All (5 Points):
Points) The Height of
opponent's vehicle, you impose a your Knowledge rolls is 10 (raise any
Difficulty of your Width on their next lower set to 10).
Drive roll. If your opponent fails their
next roll, they lose control completely LANGUAGE: FLUENCY
and crash into the nearest hard thing.
The Language skill is purchased
KNOWLEDGE: KNOW-IT-ALL individually for each different language.
However, once purchased, you may
The Lore skill is purchased individually utilise any Fluency feat with any
for each area of study. However, once Language skill you may have.
purchased, you may utilise any Know-It-
All feat with any Lore skill you may Impress (1 point): You gain +1d to your
have. Personality rolls to impress or fascinate
108
someone who understands less You halve the experience cost (rounding
languages than you. up) when purchasing new language
skills.
Regional Dialects (2 Points):
Points) You have
learned to recognise the differences in RIDE: HORSE WHISPERER
accent to identify which region of a
country a person speaking a language Horsekeeper (1 Point):
Point) You gain 1d on
you speak comes from. your Observe rolls to determine the
quality of an animal.
Native Tongue (3 Points):
Points) You are so
studied in this language that your accent Verbal Command (2 Points):
Points) You have a
is indistinguishable from a native close tie with your animal and can give
speaker. Natives of the country of origin it basic verbal commands without
will automatically assume you are one of making a roll. This only works on an
them. animal that youve spent time training.
You can combine this with Regional Your animal understands simple things
Dialects to convince people you are like Stop that! or Come over here.
from a specific area of that country.
Non-
Non-verbal Command (3 Points):
Points) You
Dialect Continuum (4 Points):
Points) Some can communicate commands through
areas of the world seem almost as if they the use of your legs, controlling your
have multiple languages. In reality, it is mounts direction without using your
one language with a range of dialects hands. This only works on an animal
spoken across a large geographical area, that youve spent time training.
differing only slightly between areas that
are geographically close but gradually You may combine another action with
widening the difference in intelligibility Ride without taking a multiple action
as the distances become greater. penalty.
Your linguistic knowledge in a specific Overrun (4 Points):

Points) You can force your
region of the world is such that you mount to ride someone down. Your
know all the local dialects. animal must be at a gallop to use this
ability.
With this feat, you could travel from end
of China to another and have no Roll your beasts Physique + your Ride
difficulty communicating. skill. Damage is equal to Width but you
utilise any second set as if you had made
Polyglot (5 Points):
Points) You have studied a Charge action at no penalty.
language to an extent that you can learn
new languages exceptionally easily. This is your only action in a round.
Kick (5 Points):
Points) You can get your mount
to strike as an additional Close Combat
109
attack without taking a multiple action age. Such combat is now ingrained into
penalty. your very nerves and musculature.
Your mount rolls Physique + its Attack Your weapon skills are no longer limited
(which is 1 for a mount untrained at by your Shield Fighting skill and you do
kicking things) and damage is based on not incur the -2d penalty when making a
your mount (a riding horse is receives no Slow Attack.
bonus, a warhorse adds 1 to Physical
Damage). However, your training is so ingrained
that you always fight as if you were
SHIELD FIGHTING Shield Fighting: all your attacks are
automatically slow and incur a -2d
Shields Up (1 Point): The Holtzman penalty when fighting against a non-
Shield is a powerful defensive tool, shielded opponent.
however, it is useless if not switched on.
Bi-
Bi-Manual Fighting (4 Points): You are
You have trained with shields to the trained to utilise your off-hand in
extent that it has become instinct for you combat, either using a second weapon or
to reach for the button at the first sign of allowing you to move your weapon to a
trouble. to your off-hand, allowing you to attack
from an expected direction.
It does not cost you an action to activate
your shield. You may either reduce the penalty for
using your Off-Hand by 2.
Fast on Defense (2 Points): The
Holtzman Shield prohibits any fast Alternatively, if not fighting Bi-
moving object. The trained fighter knows Manually, when you take a Feint action,
that by making their own movements you not only add 1d to your dice pool
fast, they can add to the velocity of but also reduce an opponents die pool
incoming strikes and thereby increasing by 1d.
the resistance of the shield.
Attack Sinister (5 Points): Shield
When you make a parry, your sets ignore Fighting is as much about misdirection,
the Height of any attack they might setting up an opponent until you can
block. deliver the final strike. If done correctly,
your opponent will never see the Attack
E.g. An opponent comes at you with a Sinister coming
2x7 attack. You roll your parry and score
2x4. Using your Fast on Defense, your Every time you take a Feint action,
ignore your opponents Height and thus instead of adding +1d, you receive +1
can block his 2x7 with your 2x4. Special Die.
Shield Conditioned (3 Points): You have You may expressly combine this feat
trained in Shield Fighting since an early with Bi-Manual Fighting.
110
TRACK: TRAILBLAZER The Thiefs Eye (1 Point):

Point) You cant kid
a kidder, as the saying goes. The
Recognition (1 Point):
Point) By quickly experienced thief knows all the tricks
examining a set of tracks, you can and can more readily spot when
identify the approximate size, mass and someone is attempting to use them
source of a set of tracks without making against him.
a roll.
You gain a +1d bonus to detect Sinister
Examples might be a A small dog, A attempts on you.
heavy man with medium sized feet or
Very heavy motorbike. The Mark (2 Points):
Points) Knowledge is a
powerful tool and a good thief knows
Trailing (2 Points):
Points) You gain a bonus when something is likely to land them in
+1d to follow a set of tracks that were hot water. Casing a joint, keeping an eye
within the last hour. on a prospective victimthe Mark is the
skill of knowing your target.
Interpretation (3 Points):
Points) You are trained
at interpreting the signs of activity at a By making a Insight + Underworld test,
site. you can attempt to discern details about
your intended victim. It takes 30 minutes
You gain a +1d bonus to your Observe of observation to make a roll using The
rolls when appraising a situation of Mark.
what may have happened
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: You observe your
Shadowing (4 Points):
Points) You may combine target and discern the Difficulty of the
a Stealth roll with your tracking task in terms of Easy (Difficulty 1 to 2),
attempts without taking a multiple Difficult (3 to 4) or Hard (5+).
action penalty.
Alternatively, you can discern the
Obfuscation (5 Points):
Points) As long as you victims Sense + Sight or Hearing pool
take the time to do so, you have become in terms of Easy (less than 5), Difficult (5
adept at hiding your own tracks and to 7) or Hard (8+).
anyone attempting to track you receives
a -3d penalty. EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: As above, but you
know the exact die pool or Difficulty.
Using this ability requires no roll but
doubles your travel time. MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: As above, and you
gain a +1d on the Crime attempt.
UNDERWORLD
NDERWORLD: ILL-GOTTEN MIENS
Trained Professional (3 Points):
Points) When
This feat represents a thieves learning in you purchase Trained Professional,
the art of doing less than lawful choose an area of Crime;
activities above and beyond the basics.
111
GRIFTER: You have worked a lot of scams However, some thieves have a last
over the years and know them all. You chance: just acting naturally. Whatever
receive a +1 die bonus on any scam you failed to do, by acting with
attempts including any related Intrigue confidence and gusto, you can attempt to
rolls you may need to make. convince everyone that you are exactly
where you are supposed to be. And
LEGEDERMAIN: Your prestidigitation certainly not doing anything you
knows no bounds. You receive a +1 die shouldnt.
bonus on all rolls involving pick
pocketing, including detection. If you fail a Sinister test or are detected
performing an illegal act, you can make
LOCKSMITH: You are an expert on locks a Charm + Sinister test at a Difficulty
and can wax lyrical on their design for based upon situation.
hours. You receive a +1 die bonus on all
rolls involving locks, including lock SITUATION DIFFICULTY
picking. CAUGHT RED HANDED 6
HEAVILY IMPLICATED IN THE CRIME 5
MIDDLEMAN: You receive a +1 die bonus HEAVILY SUSPECTED OF THE CRIME 4
REASONABLY SUSPECTED 3
on any tests involving the black market.
SUSPECTED OF THE CRIME 2
This includes sales, location and general
knowledge of the streets.
If the victim has no way of knowing you
were responsible, then you can get away
Accomplice in Arms (4 Points):
Points) A thief
with the failure without making a roll.
can get by on her own but thievery is
always better if you can get a friend to
Nb. This does not work on Assassin
distract the MarkI mean help you out.
attempts!
You and an accomplice can work
However, if the victim knows full well
together on a criminal act. Your
you are responsible (typically by
compatriot must have at least one level
someone else witnessing the event), then
of Sinister to assist you or you must
no matter how well you roll, you better
spend 30 minutes explaining what they
start running!
must do.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: You convince
While they assist, you may Squish or
anyone interested that, while perhaps
Squash your Sinister rolls.
you may have been possibly but not
quite behaving somewhat perhaps not
Confidence (5 Points):
Points) May be it is
above board, you certainly werent doing
destiny or just plain old bad luck but
anything directly illegal. Sir. You better
sometimes, even the greatest thieves
move along quickly
have a moment of failure. This is
normally when the guards are called and
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: You put on a
what a thief really needs now is a good
convincing show and no one but the
pair of running boots
112
most interested parties remain Hack (3 Points):

Points) You ignore 1 point of
suspicious. armour with your Axe attacks.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: Youre performance Lop (4 Points):

Points) If you successfully hit an
is so convincing that others will actually Unworthy, you can lop off a limb of your
defend your right to be where you are. choice (the head counts as a limb in this
Well done, you cur. instance).
This has the side effect of automatically

WEAPON SPECIALISATIONS taking that Unworthy out of the fight,
irrespective of Width or Height.
ARCHERY: ARCHERS EYE
Cleave (5 Points):
Points) You can make a
Fast Eye (1 Points):
Points) You add 1 to your Cleave action. You twirl your axe
Initiative. impressively and then strike your
opponent with startling ferocity.
Sharp Eye (2 Points):
Points) You may add 1 to
or subtract 1 from your Height on your Roll Prowess + Axe at -1d and reduce
Missile rolls. the Speed of your attack by 2.
Piercing Eye (3 Points):

Points) You reduce the If you hit, you double your Width for the
armour of your target by 1 for your purposes of determining damage.
Missile attacks.
HEAVY WEAPONS: BFG
Hunters Eye (4 Points):
Points) If you spend a
round Aiming at a target, you add 1 to Thats (1 Point):
Point) If youve got a heavy
your Special Dice on an attack instead of weapon in your hands, you can
the usual Aim bonus. substitute your Heavy Weapons skill for
Intrigue for intimidating people.
Killers Eye (5 Points):
Points) As Hunters
Eye, only you add 2 to your Special One (2 Points):
Points) Anyone hit by your heavy
Dice. weapon loses 2d instead of 1.
HEAVY MELEE
ELEE: BROADCUTTER Big (3 Points):
Points) If you successfully cause
damage, your target is knocked down.
Bite (1 Point):
Point) If you successfully
damage your opponent, you gain +1d Frakkin (4 Points):
Points) When you make an
against them on your next attack. attack, you can affect a number of
Unworthies equal to your Width,
Chop (2 Points):
Points) You may select whether twinning your set against each of them.
your damage Physique or Prowess with
damage from your Axe. E.g. You score 3x5. You can attack 3
Unworthies each with a 3x5.
113
Gun (5 Points):
Points) Any damage prevented Parry (2 Points):
Points) You may combine a
by armour is immediately destroyed. parry action with an attack action
without taking a multiple action penalty.
LONG ARMS: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL
Balance (3 Points):
Points) If you are hit, you do
Sniper Breathing (1 point):
point) Accomplished not lose dice from sets used for sword
shooters learn to slow down their attacks. You can lose dice from any other
breathing (and heartbeat), thereby set however.
reducing gun shake. When you spend a
round Aiming, you add +2d to your pool Measure Twice, Strike Once (4
(4 Points):
Points)
rather than the normal +1d. You add 1 to your Width against
opponents with a lower Initiative than
You may not take a second aim action. you.
Under Fire (2 points):

points) If you kill an Flow Of Battle (5 Points):
Points) If you take no
unaware Unworthy with an Aimed other action this round, the Height of a
attack, the shot creates a Morale Attack set is 10 for the purposes of counter dice.
equal to the Width of your set.
PERSONAL: STEEL WEB
Pinpoint Accuracy (3 points):
points) You are an
expert in targeting weak spots. Your Parry (1 Point)
Point):
t) You gain +1d when
Aimed attacks ignore 1 point of Armour. making a parry.
Stay on Target (4 points): points) The Entrapment (2 Points):

Points) The Height of
distractions of battle do not faze you: your set on a Disarm manoeuvre cannot
youre Aim is not interrupted even if you be less than 5. If it is lower, immediately
take damage. raise the Height to 5.
One Shot, One Kill (5 points):

points) As
A Sniper Cutting Strike (3 Points):
Points) If you deal
Breathing but you may take additional damage, your opponent must take it as a
Aim actions equal to your Insight Complication.
statistic. You first Aim action adds 2d
and each additional action adds 1d. Sword Breaker (4 Points):
Points) If the Height
of your set on a successful Disarm
You may expressly roll more than 10d in manoeuvre is equal to or greater than
this manner. your opponents skill, their weapon is
immediately destroyed.
MEDIUM MELEE: BLADEMASTER
Killing Strike (5
(5 Points):
Points) If you deal
Battokiri (1 Point):
Point) As long as you take damage, your opponent cannot take it as
no other actions, you may draw your a Complication.
weapon and strike in the same round
without penalty.
114
SMALL ARMS: CQB Double Tap (4 points):

points): A successful
attack deals damage as if the target were
Close Quarters Battle, or CQB, training struck by two identical attack sets.
is all about taking the initiative,
surprising the enemy, and moving CQB Specialist (5 points):
points) As Breach &
quickly while applying overwhelming Clear but the operator may add 2 to the
force in a short period of time. Width to all their attacks within close
range. The bonus afforded by CQB
All CQB techniques are only usable Specialist does affect Unworthies
within close range. targeted by Tango Down.
Pistol Transition (1 point): in the event UNARMED: KICK MURDER

of a malfunction of the primary weapon
or if the primary runs out of ammo, once Cobra Strike (1 Point):
Point) You gain +1
per turn, you can switch sidearm Speed when making an Unarmed Strike.
without penalty.
Flesh Of Steel (2 Points):
Points) You can parry
Breach & Clear (2 points): you're trained weapon attacks without taking damage.
to be quick, decisive and deadly when
engaging the enemy in close quarters: to Spin The Wheel (3 Points)
Points):
ts) You add 1 to
explode into a room with overwhelming the Width of your Trip actions.
force and take down your targets with
lightning speed. Axe Kick (4 Points):
Points) You may Squash
and Squish your Unarmed rolls.
You may add +1 Width to your attacks
in the first round of any combat. Death Strike (5 Points):
Points) Also known as
The Iron Middle Finger, roll Prowess +
Tango Down
Down (3 points): your intense Unarmed Combat at -1d. Damage is
training allows you to attack with Width ignoring armour.
pinpoint accuracy in the heat of battle.
When you apply an attack set to an
Unworthy, you affect a number of
Unworthies equal to the Width of your
set.
Breach & Clear may be used to augment

the speed and damage of your set, but it
does not affect the number of
Unworthies killed by your attack set.
E.g. A natural 2x9 attack might act as a

3x9 for damage when combined with
Breach & Clear but it will only kill 2
Unworthires.
115
Sisters can control their arousal, whether

Secret Feats they conceive or not, their menstrual
cycle, the gender of any child they
BENE GESSERIT FEATS conceive, they can also control their
metabolism, putting on or shedding
WEIRDING WAY weight as they require.
Muscle Training (1 Point): The Bene It is through Prana-Bindu Conditioning

Gesserit train their adepts to control that Adepts can enter Bindu Suspension,
every individual muscle, making them slowing their heartbeat to a fraction of
uniquely aware of all their movements. its normal rate to assume a semblance of
Their physical control is beyond compare death. In the suspended metabolic state,
making them equally as good at the Adept requires one tenth of the
performing a graceful dance or a water, food and oxygen normally needed
backflip. to survive. This also slows the progress
of contaminants in the blood (such as
Add 1d to any roll pertaining to narcotics and poisons) to one fifth their
acrobatics, dancing, gymnastics or normal rate.
contortions as long as that is the only
action they take that round. Whipcord Reflexes
Reflexes (4 Points): There is no
difference between thought and action
Petit Perception (2 Points): Adepts are for you, your reflexes are that
trained to exercise petit perception at all disciplined. Your Height in combat is
times, noticing to a terrifying degree always a minimum of your Prowess +
minutiae that others miss. Slight Habitus and you always win Initiative
differences in air currents or the design on a tie.
of a room will allow a BG to detect
hidden portals and spy-holes, It is Weirding Way (5 Points): You are
development of this talent which trained to fight with lethal precision and
ultimately permits their Truthsaying accuracy, fighting at lightning speed. A
abilities. user of the weirding way only has to
decide the action he or she wants to
Add 1d to the characters Perception rolls perform and it has already been
as long as they are not performing any performed. For example, to imagine
other action. oneself behind an opponent at the
current moment in time; when trained
Prana-
Prana-Bindu Conditioning (3 Points): The well, this knowledge will place you at
Sister has developed her physiological the spot desired.
control to such an extent that she can
completely control many facets of her As the art's prana bindu incorporation
biology. Male trainees may not find such allows even small attacks to do massive
conditioning quite as useful. damage, weirding way combat is to the
death
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Before you roll your dice in combat, you Petit Betrayal (3 Points): The secret
add 1 to your Special Dice for all dice teachings of the Bene Gesserit confer
rolls in combat. superior observational powers to
practicing adepts. Using the BG Way,
BG WAY you can read a person, learning
personality traits, mannerisms,
Litany Against Fear (1 Point): One of the demeanor all from the things they say,
earliest lessons for a BG Adept is that all the way they say them and their body
things are a state of mind. Pain, fear, language.
anger, they are all temporary and the
disciplined mind can tune them out. Roll Insight + Observe to Register a
person. The resulting Width becomes
To help focus the mind against external your Register Rating: all further uses of
influences, the BG are taught the BG Way utilize this in some fashion.
following mantra;
I must not fear: fear is the mind-killer, When you have registered a person, you
Fear is the little-death which brings total may Squash and Squish on Diplomacy,
obliteration, Intrigue and Personality rolls against
I will face my fear: I will permit it to pass that individual.
over me and through me,
And when it has gone past, I will turn Once trained in this ability, you also
the inner eye to its path, learn some measure of control. Anyone
Where the fear has gone there be attempting to read your emotions or
nothing, indeed register you, receives a -2d
Only I will remain. penalty.
They add 1d to their Focus rolls when Truth Saying

Saying (4 Points): Those trained to
reciting the litany. If they are performing pick up on Petit Betrayals are able to
an action while using the Litany Against detect whether someone is lying by
Fear, they lose 1 Height. detecting inflection and change in a
subject's voice, observing and
Simulflow (2 Points): Bene Gesserit interpreting their body language and
sisters develop their mental powers as analyzing physical signs like pulse and
well as their physical capabilities. In heart rate. Such perception of someone
doing so, they gain the talent of else's veracity is an ability that all
Simulflow, literally the simultaneous humans have, in principle, but that
flow of several threads of consciousness requires extensive training to develop to
at any given time. the point of usefulness. The BG are just
that good.
The Adept can add an Intellect-based
action each round without incurring a To use Truth saying, you must have
multiple action penalty. registered a person first. Roll Insight +
Intrigue countered by your targets
Command + Intrigue. You receive a
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bonus to your Width equal to your STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: Your target obeys
Register Rating. If you are successful, with some reluctance. If your command
you can tell whether or not your target is is distinctly counter to their nature, they
lying. remain inactive this round and you must
make another Voice roll.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: Your target obeys as

if everything were normal. If your
command is harmful to themselves or
someone they truly care about (not an
employer), they remain inactive this
round and you must make another Voice
roll.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: Your target obeys

Voice with some urgency. They will even go so
far to hurt others, even loved ones.
Voice (5 Points): Bene Gesserit are
trained in what they call "the Voice" - a REVEREND MOTHER FEATS
means "to control others merely by
selected tone shadings of the voice. TRUTHSAYER
By modulating the subtleties of her Velvet
Velvet Glove (1 Point): The Bene Gesserit
voice, a Bene Gesserit can issue are trained never to overtly seek power
commands on a subconscious level, for themselves, for to do so would bring
compelling obedience in others that they too much attention to their kind.
cannot resist, whether they are
consciously aware of the attempt or not. However, instead, they have become
supremely adept at manipulating others.
You may use the Voice to issue absolute
commands by pitching your voice to The Reverend Mother may add 1d to
register on the subjects subconscious their Intrigue rolls to influence other
mind, driving them to action even people.
against their own, conscious will.
Truthtrance (2
(2 Points): Induced by one of
You must first register your target. Then several awareness spectrum narcotics,
roll Command + Personality countered truthtrance enables the Reverend Mother
by a targets Command + Focus. Your to enter a semi-hypnotic state during
Width is limited by your Register Rating, which the petit betrayals of falsehood
however it takes the target an action to become more readily apparent.
resist the Voice.
You may Squash and Squish on your
Your resulting Width determines your Truth Saying rolls.
targets capitulation.
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Superior Voice (3 Points): Your command Especially when the Mother Superior
over the Voice is such that, while you perishes, it is important to take her
still need to register a subject. ego/memory so that her plans and
strategies may continue uninterrupted.
You may Squash and Squish on your
Voice rolls. Once per session, the Reverend Mother
may gain +1 Special Die on any roll. For
Ancestral Memory (4 Points): One of the each additional set of memories she
powers of a Bene Gesserit Reverend absorbs, she may use this bonus an
Mother is her Ancestral Memory: the additional time per session.
combined ego and memories of all her
female ancestors, passed on through E.g. A Reverend Mother has three Other
genetic memory, and thus, up to the Personalities stored. Three times per
point where each following ancestor was session, she gain +1 Special Die on a
born and the physical contact with the roll.
mother broken.
MENTAT FEATS
The ego/memory combination remains a
distinct identity within the Reverend COMPUTATION
Mother's mind, and is able to inject itself
into her awareness at appropriate or Mentat Awareness (1 Point): Mentats
emotional moments, though the instinctively know when something
Reverend Mother's ego is always deserves their attention. Like one wrong
dominant. note in an orchestra, they can see that
something, someone or even some event
This allows a Reverend Mother to draw is out of place. Whether the Mentat
upon her ancestors memories to help properly responses to this information
her. Once per session, roll Insight + will depend on their other deductive
Focus. You may add the result as a die powers.
bonus to your next roll.
During the course of a session, the Judge
Other Memory (5 Points): Reverend may inform you that sense that
Mothers may also pass their own something is amiss. He or she is under
ego/memory combination to other no obligation to tell you what is
Reverend Mothers at will, merely by troubling you, however.
touching foreheads.
Machine Logic (2 Points): The Mentat
When a Reverend Mother dies in the can perform an additional Intellect-based
presence of another Reverend Mother, action each round without incurring a
the second will accept the ego/memory of multiple action penalty.
the first to prevent the loss of the dying
Reverend Mother's experience and Furthermore, he or she can perform
ancestral memories. sophisticated acts of mathematics in
their head.
119
Mnemonic Conditioning
Conditioning (3 Points): Your Strategy adds 1d to any rolls which take
mind is a storehouse of knowledge and advantage of this Strategy.
you can recall everything you perceive,
peoples names, facts read in books etc A Master Success on a Computation roll
with little difficulty. is called a Straight-Line Computation,
otherwise defined as an easy or obvious
You can only remember minute details result (Data A + Data B = Result C).
for 12 hours per level of Intellect, after
which, you must either discard the E.g. A mentat makes a computation in
memory or transfer it to long term respect of the best way to gain entry to a
memory, which in turn loses much of the secure building. She has been provided
fine details. with useful Data detailing the Guards
Movements, the nature of the Security
Mentat Trance (4 Points): The Mentat System, the skill of the insurgency
Trance is a mnemonic process by which agents, who created the security system
you organize data, sort facts and and who trained them.
memorises information. By entering a
Mentat Trance, the Mentat can recall all The Judge gives that 5 pieces of useful
data within his or her Short Term Data, reducing the Difficulty to 5. The
memory and review it, establishing Data. Mentat rolls Intellect + Observe and
Not only does this allow the Mentat to scores 2x6. The Width is 2, making this
examine things he or she has seen, operation a Strategy 2: anyone
heard or otherwise experienced exactly attempting to break into the building
as he or she saw them but he or she can gains 2d on their rolls.
pause, rewind and closely examine Data.
Be careful, however. For Strategies built
Of course, the Mentats examination of a on incorrect data can be used against
thing is limited by his or her memory of you, converting the die bonus of a
it. They cannot examine something in Strategy to a die penalty! And it might be
detail if they didnt actually see it or too late before you realise!
were too far away!
PROJECTION
Computation (5 Points): By utilising Data
learned from either external sources or Analysis (1 Point): A Mentat requires
internal sources (such as from a Mentat useful and accurate Data on which to
Trance), the Mentat can calculate a base his or her Computations and
Strategy. Projections. Analysis allows you to
examine, cross-reference and ultimately
Roll Intellect + Observe at Difficulty 10. appraise whether Data is accurate or
Each piece of useful Data reduces the inaccurate.
Difficulty by 1. If the Mentat generates a
set, the resulting Width determines how Roll Insight + Observe at Difficulty 10.
effective the Strategy is. Each point of Reduce the Difficulty by 2 per other
Datum that can be used to cross-
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reference. Any resulting set determines Extrapolation (3 Points): As Evaluation,

how accurate you think the information but where Evaluation gives you
is. information about a given scenario,
Extrapolation allows you make educated
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: Simply guesses based on available data.This
inconsistent or inaccurate data stands reveals possibilities like motivations,
out to you and approximately tell how past activities, current activities, likely
inaccurate data is. direction of attack, immediate reaction
and course of action. Basically, they can
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: Incorrect data divine the truth behind a person or
becomes obvious and you know to persons recent activities and actions.
discount it and not rely on it.
Forecast (4 Points): By taking available
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: Carefully concealed information about an individual or body,
truths and outright lies can be discerned. you can give a immediate forecast as to
And if you are familiar with the persons likely occurrences, problems and trouble.
behind it, you can actually see the hand
of the person feeding you false data. Once per month, the Mentat can select a
House venture and add 1 to Special Dice
Evaluation (2 Points): Using available on the roll.
data, you can evaluate a situation or
scenario, highlight difficulties, Projection (5 Points): Mentats are not
hindrances, weaknesses, strengths and simply human calculators. The
the like. exceptional cognitive abilities of memory
and perception are the foundations for
Roll Insight + Observe at Difficulty 10. supra-logical hypothesizing.
Reduce the Difficulty by 2 per piece of
Data relating to the scenario/situation. Mentats are able to sift large volumes of
data and devise concise analyses in a
For each point of Width, the Judge has to process that goes far beyond logical
reveal one fact or complication about the deduction: Mentats cultivate "the nave
evaluated scenario/situation. In all cases, mind", the mind without preconception
these are facts about what is, not what or prejudice, similar to the contemporary
may be. This can also reveal the practice of Zen that can extract the
difficulty of a task and any penalties that essential patterns or logic of data, and
might be incurred. deliver useful conclusions with varying
degrees of certainty.
E.g. A mentat might evaluate a
hazardous trip through a dangerous part By utilising the data available, they can
of the world and each revealed fact might perform supreme acts of logic, projecting
reveal what sort of weapons the enemy the likely outcome of events and the
might have, where they are likely to minutiae required to make it happen.
attack from, what their motivation is etc.
121
Roll Insight + Observe with a Difficulty school conditions graceful, perfectly timed
of 10. Reduce this by 2 for each piece of swordplay both with shield and without. This
useful data pertaining to the Projection. provides a basis of flexibility incomparable by
rival schools.
The results of Projection are largely left
up to the Judge of the Game. Essentially, Slow Attacks only incur a -1d penalty. However,
what the Mentat is doing is predicting unless other schools, they receive no penalty for
the future utilising data and thus, the fighting non-shielded opponents.
applications of this can be outstanding.
Eye On The Blade (3 Points): Misdirection and
For example, you can determine what a the attack sinister are the tools of most
rival house is going to do (specifically swordplay. The Ginaz are no exception,
revealing their likely House ventures) or however, they are extensively trained to watch
perhaps you could attempt to predict where their opponent's blade is and not where
assassination attempts against your the opponent would have you believe it to be.
household or an individual.
If your Swordmanship Rating is equal to or
The implications of a mentat projection higher than your opponent's Swordmanship or
are far reaching and a reliable projection Duel Rating, you ignore the effects of any Feint
can appear to be almost supernatural in actions against you.
its accuracy.
The Invisible Enemy (4 Points): Ginaz are
SWORDMANSHIP SECRET FEATS: SWORDMASTER OF conditioned to pick up on subtle cues and to
THE GINAZ assess every situation. They see potential
enemies and avenues of attack, calculating all
Advantage, Mine (1 Point): The Ginaz teach that manner of permutations, allowing them to see a
one must utilise every advantage to their flow of events that others cannot. In any given
benefit. A person's height and length of arm, situation, a Ginaz Swordmaster may have
fighting left handed against a right handed already been attacked and have defeated a
opponent, a heavy blade against a lighter blade, dozen potential attacks that may never arise.
a longer blade against a shorter, anything
which might give the Ginaz Swordmaster that You can never be ambushed by a melee attack
slight edge is exploited. As every other school and always get a defense, either a parry or a
trains in the use of short or light blades, it is dodge.
not uncommon for the Ginaz to have plenty of
advantages to exploit... True Strike (5 Points): The ultimate teaching of
the Ginaz Swordmaster School is the "blow to
Non-Ginaz trained opponent's receive -1d to end all blows", the coupe de grace which ends
their Duel actions. his opponent in one fell strike. The
Swordmaster measures and assesses his
Sweeping Grace (2 Points): The premier opponent's swordstrokes, learning their style,
swordmaster school in the Known Universe their strength, their bad habits and how to
instructs that power and is temporary and will exploit them all until they are able to launch
always be defeated by skill in the long run. The that final fatal strike.
122
Every time you roll your Swordmanship against Round six, he makes a True Strike with an
an opponent, you may take the result of any automatic 4x9 attack, his opponent is unable to
one die and store it. defend against it and is mortally wounded.
At any point, you may make a True Strike melee

attack: instead of rolling your Swordmanship
dice pool, you may utilise any stored dice to
make a set.
You must use all your stored dice. Stored

numbers can be of any value but you may not
store more dice than your Observe rating.
You may not use any special dice.
E.g. A Ginaz Swordmaster faces off against a

Moritani opponent. He has a Swordmanship
dice pool of 7 and an Observe skill of 4.
Round one, he rolls 9, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3, 3. He

decides to store the 9 and use his 2x7 for an
attack.
The next round he rolls 10, 9, 8, 6, 6, 3, 1. He

could decide to store any of the numbers but
since he has already has a 9, he decides stores
another one.
Round three, he rolls 9, 9, 8, 7, 7, 5, and 4. He

decides to break up the 2x9 and stores one of
the 9s. He uses the 2x7 for a parry.
Round four, he rolls 10, 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 2.

The Swordmaster hasnt rolled a 9 and decides
that putting any other number would be a
waste.
Round five, he rolls 10, 9, 9, 9, 8, 7 and 3. He

decides to break up the 3x9 and store one of
them. He makes an attack at 2x9 and now has
four 9s stored. His Observe skill is 4, so he
cannot store any further dice.
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Step 04 - House Service
Now you can see what all the different elements
are, it is time to actually put together a Choose one
character.
ACADEMIC ADVISOR
CHOAM ECONOMIST
Step 01 - statistics DIPLOMATIC SPOKESPERSON
HOUSE PHYSICIAN
All characters start with 1 in all their Statistics. MASTER OF ASSASSINS
PERSONAL CONFIDANTE
Step 02 - early life SECUND ELECT
SECURITY COMMANDER
Choose one SPYMASTER
TECHNOLOGIST
ACADEMIC EDUCATION WARMASTER
BENE GESSERIT TEACHING WEAPONS MASTER
COMMONER UPBRINGING
CRIME SYNDICATE Step 05 - Personal Calling
DUELING INSTRUCTION
MERCANTILE FAMILY ACADEMIC
MENTAT PRIMING ADVOCATE
NOBLE HOUSEHOLD ARENA FIGHTER
ORPHANED ARTISAN
OUT-FREYN UPBRINGING BREEDER
RELIGIOUS HOUSEHOLD CAROUSER
SLAVE PITS COURTESAN
CRIMINAL
Step 03 - vocational conditioning EXILE/FUGITIVE
IMPERIAL SERVANT
Choose one MERCHANT
OFF-WORLD EDUCATION
ASSASSIN PRIVATEER
BENE GESSERIT ADEPT SLEEPER AGENT
CHOAM ADVISOR UMMA
DELEGATE
INTELLIGENCE AGENT Step 06 - extras
MASTER STRATEGIST
MENTAT Spend 10 Character Points to round off your
NOBLE character. You may only improve a statistic by 1
SUK PHYSICIAN point at this stage and may not purchase a skill
SWORDMASTER above 3.
124
However, at this stage, where you have a Broad There are five castes but player characters will
Skill and a Narrow Skill, you can have the only be from the highest three. These are Regis
Narrow Skill and increase the Broad Skill by 1. Familia (the noble families of the Known
Universe), the Na-
Na-Familia (being house family
E.g. A character has the Broad Skill of Athletics members, high ranking officers/advisors and
on 1. They receive the Acrobatics Narrow Skill merchant gentry) and the Bondsmen (these are
on 2. They decide to convert the Narrow Skill, so the free peoples, artisans, etc).
halve the Acrobatics from 2 to 1 and add it to
the Athletics skill, raising it to 2.
Step 08 - finishing touches
If the Narrow Skill is an odd number, you may
Here is where you breathe life into your
pay 1 Character Point beforehand, otherwise it
character. Who were his or her parents? What
is lost.
were their names? How did you end up a
member of the Minor House?
E.g. A character has Intrigue on 3 and Empathy
on 3. They decide to convert Empathy. This is
All the little details are filled in here.
halved to 1.5. The 0.5 is wasted unless the
character pays 1 Character Point.
Describe what your character looks like. How
they normally dress. What sort of equipment do
Costs are;
they usually carry with them?
Statistic 5pts
Advantage variable
Broad Skill 2pts
Special Dice 2pts
Narrow Skill 1pts
Special Dice 1pt
Feats 1 per level
Step 07 - caste
Imperial society is divided into Castes. Your
Caste determines your social standing, the
higher the Caste, the more important you are. It
confers a starting point for how people deal
with one another. It also determines things like
marriage, employment and the like.
For instance, it is unlikely that a member of the

Regis Familia would marry a Pyon (at least, not
without controversy). However, marriage to a
member of the Na-Familia would be acceptable
and even a Bondsmen, though unusual,
wouldnt be too frowned upon.
125
early life
ACADEMIC EDUCATION
Attack +1
The character learned about the universe Listen +1
around him or her from volumes of filmbooks Perform +1
and solido projections. Gain: Prestidigitation +1
Sight +1
+1 Intellect Sneaking +1
Academia +1
CRIME SYNDICATE
Choose two Knowledge Skills at Rank 1
and the Level 1 Knowledge Feat Your family are privateers of some kind,
perhaps they run a protection racket or are
smugglers. Gain:
BENE GESSERIT TEACHING
Choose one of the following:
Whether a commissioned proctor or renegade
sister trained the character he or she received +1 Command
preliminary training in the secret witching +1 Insight
ways of the Bene Gesserit. Gain:
Sinister +1
+1 Insight
Choose any three of the following:
Habitus +1
Convince +1
Empathy +1 Hiding +1
Intimidation +1
Both Bene Gesserit Level 1 Secret Feats Negotiation +1
Sneaking +1
Underworld +1
COMMONER
OMMONER UPBRINGING
You were either raised by Pyons or were a Pyon DUELING INSTRUCTION

yourself. Gain:
Under the tutelage of a rogue blade master or
+1 Physique family Weapons Master, the character trained in
the art of dueling over a period of many years.
Survival +1 Gain:
Choose any three of the following: Choose one of the following:
126
MENTAT PRIMING
+1 Physique
+1 Prowess Recognised for his or her mental prowess
during infancy, the character was primed as a
Duel +1 potential mentat until reaching the age at which
a voluntary decision was required to continue
Acrobatics +1
with his or her education. Gain:
Shield Fighting Skill at 1 and the Level 1
+1 Intellect
Shield Fighting Feat
Observe +1
Research +1
Both Level 1 Mentat Secret Feats
NOBLE HOUSEHOLD
The character was reared under the auspices of

a noble household, where he learned by
observing the skills of statecraft. Gain:
Commercial Upbringing
MERCANTILE FAMILY
+1 Charm
You were raised as part of a family who made a +1 Command
living buying and selling. Gain:
Diplomacy +1
Enthrall +1
+1 Command
+1 Intellect Choose 1 of the following Advantages:
Diplomacy +1 ALLIES 2
BENEFACTOR 2
Choose any two of the following: HONORARIUM FAMILIA 2
Convince +1
Empathy +1
ORPHANED
Evaluate +1
Intimidation +1
A family tragedy left the character orphaned at
Negotiation +1
an early age. The character survived on the
Underworld +1
streets until a patron came to his or her rescue.
127
RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING
Raised in a religious household, the character
+1 Insight first learned about the universe through the
+1 Physique eyes of a believer.
Survival +1 Choose one of the following:
Gain the BENEFACTOR Advantage at 2pts +1 Command

+1 Intellect
WORLDLY (Orange Catholicism) Advantage
Convince +1
Stealth +1 Knowledge (Religion) +1
Underworld +1
OUT-FREYN UPBRINGING Enthrall +1

Perform (Oration) +1
The character spent his or her early childhood Willpower +1
as the ward of a foreign, non-Imperial culture,
such as the Fremen, Tleilaxu or Spacing Guild.
SLAVE PITS
Incarcerated within the slave pits of a rival
+1 Intellect household, the character survived a long period
+1 Prowess of torment and hard labor before escaping his
captors.
WORLDLY Advantage
Choose any two of the following:
+1 Physique
Convince +1 +1 Prowess
Direction +1
Disguise +1 Athletics +1
Education +1
Knowledge (Culture) +1 Choose any two of the following:
Underworld +1
Intimidation +1
Sight +1
Sneaking +1
Sustenance +1
Vigor +1
Willpower +1
128
Vocational conditioning
ASSASSIN (STARTING CASTE 3)
Choose a Level 1 Feat from one group of
In a culture where warfare is highly frowned Feats and the Level 1 and the Level 2
upon and indiscriminate destruction is actually Feats from another group. Choose from
illegal, the Assassin provides a refined solution. any of the following groups of Feats;
The assassin follows a deeply ingrained Code of INFILTRATION FEATS

Ethics (amazingly enough called the Assassins
Code) and considered highly honourable, in Access: Locksmiths Hand
spite of the fact they are hired killers. Disguise: Guy Incognito
+1 Insight OBSERVE FEATS
+1 Prowess Evaluate: Assaying Eye

Search: Rigorous Inspection
+2 Infiltration
SINISTER FEATS
+2 Observe
Assassin: Black Hand
+2 Sinister Prestidigitation: Sleight of Hand
Choose two of the following:
+1 Observe
+1 Sinister
+1 Stealth
+1 Special Dice (Observe)
+1 Special Dice (Sinister)
+1 Special Dice (Stealth)
Choose six of the following (no more

than three of any single selection):
Bene Gesserit Sister
Acrobatics +1
Convince +1 BENE GESSERIT ADEPT (STARTING CASTE 4)
Empathy +1
Infliction +1 All adepts are women who come from at least
Intimidate +1 the Bondsmen caste. They are trained in the
Remedy +1 arts of conversation and manners, able to
Sneaking +1 conduct themselves in cultured environments.
Weapon Skill +1
Bene Gesserit trained women are highly sought
129
after as consorts and companions. CHOAM ADVISOR (STARTING CASTE 3)
+1 Insight CHOAM is the most important company in the

Known Universe. Every export and service
+1 Prowess worth anything is bought and sold through the
Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles.
+2 Habitus
The CHOAM Advisor is specifically trained to
+2 Intrigue work with (and occasionally manipulate) the
laws and regulations of that financial
+2 Personality institution.
Choose two of the following: +1 Insight
+1 Habitus +1 Intellect
+1 Intrigue
+1 Personality +2 Academia
+1 Special Dice (Habitus)
+1 Special Dice (Intrigue) +2 Diplomacy
+1 Special Dice (Personality)
+2 Knowledge (Economics)
than three of any single selection): +2 Strategy
Acrobatics +1 Choose two of the following:

Etiquette +1
Evaluate +1 +1 Academia
Knowledge (Religion) +1 +1 Diplomacy
Listen +1 +1 Knowledge / Strategy
Sight +1 +1 Special Dice (Academia)
Perform +1 +1 Special Dice (Diplomacy)
Weapon Skill +1 +1 Special Dice (Knowledge / Strategy)
Choose one of the following: Choose six of the following (no more
Both Bene Gesserit Level 1 Feats and a
Level 2 Bene Gesserit Feat Authority +1
Convince +1
Both Bene Gesserit Level 2 Feats Etiquette +1
Evaluate +1
You may learn additional Bene Gesserit Intimidate +1
Secret Feats without further limitation. Knowledge +1
Language +1
Willpower +1
130
Choose one of the following: Choose two of the following:
Choose 4 Level 1 Feats from the +1 Diplomacy

following Feat groups +1 Intrigue
+1 Special Dice (Diplomacy)
Choose a Level 1 Feat from one group of +1 Special Dice (Intrigue)
Feats and the Level 1 and the Level 2
Feats from another group. Choose from Choose six of the following (no more
any of the following groups of Feats; than three of any single selection):
ACADEMIA FEATS Authority +1

Convince +1
Education: Empirical Erudition Enthrall +1
Research: Fact Finder Evaluate +1
Intimidate +1
DIPLOMACY FEATS Knowledge +1
Language +1
Etiquette: Savoir Faire Strategy +1
Negotiation: Salesman
Strategy: Plans Within Plans
Choose 4 Level 1 Feats from the
Knowledge: Know-It-All following Feat groups
Choose a Level 1 Feat from a group of

DELEGATE (STARTING CASTE 4) Feats and the Level 1 and the Level 2
Feats from the following groups of Feats
The delegates main function is to represent the
house in whatever capacity maybe required. DIPLOMACY FEATS
Critical contract negotiations, labour disputes,
legal matters, anything and everything, the Etiquette: Savoir Faire
delegate should be able to handle tense social Negotiation: Salesman
situations.
INTRIGUE FEATS
+1 Charm
Convince: Secrets & Lies
+1 Command Empathy: Lie to Me
+3 Diplomacy
MASTER STRATEGIST (STARTING CASTE 4)
+3 Intrigue
Military battles are uncommon but small
skirmishes, house security and raids are not.
131
The Master Strategist is trained in organising

groups of people for the protection and defense LEADERSHIP FEATS
of the house (even if that sometimes means
going on the attack). Authority: Look of Eagles
Strategy: Plans Within Plans
+1 Prowess
OBSERVE FEATS
+1 Command
Evaluate: Assaying Eye
+3 Leadership Search: Rigorous Inspection
+3 Observe
+1 Leadership
+1 Observe
+1 Special Dice (Leadership)
+1 Special Dice (Observe)

Superior Planning
Attack +1
Ballistics +1 MENTAT (STARTING CASTE 4)
Defend +1
Empathy +1 The Mentat is one of the most simultaneously
Intimidate +1 auspicious and difficult trainings one can go
Knowledge +1 through. Only a very small fraction of the
Language (Battle Language) +1 population has the right mental framework to
Research +1 achieve the mental state required. Those that do
are highly employable individuals.
+1 Insight
following Feat groups +1 Intellect
Choose a Level 1 Feat from one group of +2 Academia
Feats from another group. +2 Observe
Choose from any of the following +2 Perception
groups of Feats;
132
NOBLE (STARTING
TARTING CASTE 4)
The nobility are really the people in charge and
+1 Academia thats what they do. They are those of noble
+1 Observe birth, those who lead by example and the rulers
+1 Perception of people and commerce.
+1 Special Dice (Leadership)
+1 Special Dice (Observe) +1 Prowess
+1 Special Dice (Perception)
+1 Charm
than three of any single selection): +2 Diplomacy
Build +1 +2 Duel
Design +1
Empathy +1 +2 Leadership
Knowledge +1
Language +1 Choose two of the following:
Negotiation +1
Prescience +1 +1 Diplomacy
Willpower +1 +1 Duel
+1 Leadership
Choose one of the following: +1 Special Dice (Diplomacy)
+1 Special Dice (Duel)
Both Mentat Level 1 Feats and a Level 2 +1 Special Dice (Leadership)
Mentat Feat
Both Level 2 Mentat Feats than three of any single selection):
You may learn additional Mentat Secret Convince +1

Feats without further limitation. Education +1
Empathy +1
Enthrall +1
Evaluate +1
Intimidate +1
Language (Battle Language) +1
Shield Fighting +1
HONORARIUM FAMILIA Advantage
EMINENCE Advantage at 2pts

Courtly Training
133
Choose 2 Level 1 Feats from the Choose two of the following:

following Feat groups
+1 Diplomacy
DIPLOMACY FEATS +1 Observe
+1 Perception
Etiquette: Savoir Faire +1 Special Dice (Diplomacy)
Negotiation: Salesman +1 Special Dice (Observe)
+1 Special Dice (Perception)
DUEL FEATS
Attack: Power Attack than three of any single selection):
Defend: Weave
Access +1
LEADERSHIP FEATS Empathy +1
Enthrall +1
Authority: Look of Eagles Evaluate +1
Strategy: Plans Within Plans Hiding +1
Language (Battle Language) +1
Shield Fighting: Swordmaster Sneaking +1
Strategy +1
SPYMASTER (STARTING CASTE 3) Choose one of the following:
One of the most important roles in the Known Choose a Level 1 Feat from one group of
Universe is Intelligence. And no, not Feats and the Level 1 and the Level 2
intelligence, but the gathering of information. Feats from another group. Choose from
Good, quality information is vital for accurate any of the following groups of Feats;
strategy and for any mentat you might employ.
DIPLOMACY FEATS
The Spymaster is skilled at the gathering of this
intelligence and also the sowing of Etiquette: Savoir Faire
misinformation. Negotiation: Salesman
+1 Insight BSERVE FEATS

OBSERVE
+1 Command Evaluate: Assaying Eye

Search: Rigorous Inspection
+2 Diplomacy
PERCEPTION FEATS
+2 Observe
Hearing: Pet Sounds
+2 Perception Sight: Sight Beyond Sight
134
+1 Special Dice (Physician)

Control +1
Empathy +1
Etiquette +1
Knowledge +1
Suk Doctor Prescience +1
Sustenance +1
SUK PHYSICIAN (STARTING CASTE 4) Vigor +1
Willpower +1
In an age of paranoia, where that trusted
employee or servant might be a sleeper agent or IMPERIAL CONDITIONING Advantage
assassin, people who you can truly trust are
rare.
SWORDMASTER (STARTING CASTE 3)
The Doctors of the Imperial Suk School are
deeply conditioned so they literally cannot harm The House Swordmaster is a vital role for any
another individual. And this is their worth: a household of Imperial society. They are trained
Suk can be trusted absolutely to do their best to from a very young age to duel, armed only with
save your life. A trait worth a lot of money in holtzman shield and kindjal blade.
this age.
They are best of the best and any household
+1 Insight worth its salt would be remiss to not have one
on hand.
+1 Intellect
The Swordmasters duties are usually as Secund
+2 Academia Elect, requiring them to settle matters by a legal
duel on behalf of the house, but also act as
+2 Perception bodyguards and teachers for the noble heirs.
+2 Physician +1 Physique
Choose two of the following: +1 Prowess
+1 Academia +2 Athletics
+1 Perception
+1 Physician +2 Duel
+1 Special Dice (Academia)
+1 Special Dice (Perception) +2 Marksmanship
135
Choose two of the following: MARKSMANSHIP FEATS
+1 Athletics Ballistics: Bullet Man

+1 Duel Projectiles: Hawkeye
+1 Marksmanship
+1 Special Dice (Athletics) Shield Fighting: Swordmaster
+1 Special Dice (Duel)
+1 Special Dice (Marksmanship) Optional: You may spend 6 of your 10
Character Points to become a Ginaz
Choose six of the following (no more Swordmaster. You gain:
GINAZ TRAINING Advantage
Atmospheric +1
Control +1 Swordmanship Skill +1
Direction +1
Shield Fighting +1 Ginaz Swordmanship Level 1 Secret Feat
Void +1
Vigor +1 You may learn additional Ginaz
Weapon Skill +1 Swordmanship Secret Feats without
Willpower +1 further limitation

following Feat groups
Choose a Level 1 Feat from one group of

Feats from another group. Choose from
any of the following groups of Feats;
ATHLETIC FEATS
Acrobatics: Wired
Running: Marathon Man
DUEL FEATS
Attack: Power Attack

Defend: Weave
136
House service
All characters gain the elements detailed under
each section. Additionally, every House Service Choose five of the following (no more
receives the following: than two of any one selection);
Choose from the following options for Atmospheric +1

any of the skills you possess: Build +1
Design +1
One Feat group at Level 1, Level Two Direction +1
and Level 3 Etiquette +1
Language +1
Two Feat groups at Level 1 and Level 2 Remedy +1
Void +1
Three Feat groups at Level 1 and one
Feat group at Level 1 and Level 2
CHOAM ECONOMIST
If possible, two Feat groups at Level 3
The character has served the House as a
If possible, 1 Feat group at Level 4 and financial officer, supervising various economic,
either two Feat groups at Level 1 or the financial and mercantile ventures. Having
Level 2 Feat to another group served as a corporate officer, treasury exchequer
or financial officer, the character aspires to the
ACADEMIC ADVISOR rank of CHOAM Advisor.
The character has served as an academic Choose one of the following:

specialist, consultant or tutelary. Having
specialised in religious, historical or cultural +1 Insight
lessons, the character aspires to the post of +1 Intellect
Academic Advisor, counseling his liege in
addition to educating the noble heirs. Choose two of the following:
Choose one of the following: Academia +1 Skill or Special Die

Diplomacy +1 Skill or Special Die
+1 Insight Knowledge (Economics)
+1 Intellect +2 Skill or Special Dice
Choose two of the following: Choose five of the following (no more
than two of any one selection);
Academia +1 Skill or Special Die
Knowledge +2 Skill or Special Die Authority +1
Observe +1 Skill or Special Die Convince +1
137
Empathy +1 Attack +1
Evaluate +1 Defend +1
Knowledge +1 Knowledge +1
Language +1 Language +1
Search +1 Listen +1
Strategy +1 Sight +1
Underworld +1
Willpower +1
HOUSE PHYSICIAN
The character has operated as a chief medic,

House paramedic or staff surgeon, having
served in a military hospital or household
infirmary. The character aspires one day to the
rank of House Physician.
Diplomatic Emissary Choose one of the following:
DIPLOMATIC
IPLOMATIC SPOKESPERSON +1 Charm
+1 Intellect
The character has served his or her House as a
member of the Sysselraad delegation or Choose two of the following:
Landsraad Embassy. The character may have
served as a liaison, representative or counsel Academia +1 Skill or Special Die
aspiring to the rank of Diplomatic Diplomacy +1 Skill or Special Die
Spokesperson. Physician +1 Skill or Special Die
Choose one of the following: Choose five of the following (no more
+1 Charm
+1 Command Evaluate +1
Knowledge +1
Choose two of the following: Language +1
Listen +1
Diplomacy +1 Skill or Special Die Prescience +1
Intrigue +1 Skill or Special Die Search +1
Personality +1 Skill or Special Die Sight +1
Willpower +1
Choose five of the following (no more
138
MASTER OF ASSASSINS
Diplomacy +1 Skill or Special Die
The character has served as a House Agent, Intrigue +1 Skill or Special Die
counter-insurgent or assassin. The character Personality +1 Skill or Special Die
hopes to reach the rank of Master of Assassins.
Choose one of the following: than two of any one selection);
+1 Insight Arrangement +1
+1 Prowess Atmospheric +1
Knowledge +1
Choose two of the following: Language +1
Perform +1
Intrigue +1 Skill or Special Die Prescience +1
Leadership +1 Skill or Special Die Remedy +1
Sinister +1 Skill or Special Die Void +1
Willpower +1
Acrobatics +1
Direction +1
Etiquette +1
Hide +1
Infliction +1
Intimidate +1
Sneak +1
Sustenance +1
Kanly Duel
PERSONAL CONFIDANTE
SECUND ELECT
The character has served as a personal
confidante to a family noble, providing The character has served as a bodyguard or
companionship, entertainment and advice man at arms for a House. The character hopes
commensurate with his or her role. to one day achieve the rank of Secund Elect, the
personal bodyguard to the liege.
+1 Charm
+1 Command +1 Physique
+1 Prowess
139
Choose two of the following: Access +1

Atmospheric +1
Athletics +1 Skill or Special Die Direction +1
Diplomacy +1 Skill or Special Die Etiquette +1
Duel +1 Skill or Special Die Language +1
Shield Fighting +1
Choose five of the following (no more Sneak +1
than two of any one selection); Void +1
Atmospheric +1
Convince +1 SPYMASTER
Direction +1
Empathy +1 The character served as a covert agent within
Language +1 the House intelligence arm. The character may
Listen +1 have performed as an informant, spy or
Shield Fighting +1 provocateur, hoping to one day secure the
Sight +1 position of House Spymaster.

SECURITY COMMANDER
+1 Insight
The character operated as a House security +1 Prowess
agent, serving as a member of the elite guard,
brute squad or secret police. The character Choose two of the following:
aspires to the hold the rank of Security
Commander. Intrigue +1 Skill or Special Die
Perception +1 Skill or Special Die
Choose one of the following: Stealth +1 Skill or Special Die
+1 Command Choose five of the following (no more

+1 Physique than two of any one selection);
Choose two of the following: Access +1

Disguise+1
Duel +1 Skill or Special Die Etiquette +1
Leadership +1 Skill or Special Die Evaluate +1
Marksmanship +1 Skill or Special Die Infliction +1
Language +1
Choose five of the following (no more Search +1
than two of any one selection); Void +1
140
WARMASTER
The character has fulfilled one or more tours of

duty serving as a junior officer in the House
military. The character may have served as a
troop leader, elite commando or military
advisor, seeking the heights of House
Warmaster.

Master Artisan
+1 Command
TECHNOLOGIST +1 Physique
The character has served as a technology Choose two of the following:

consultant, engineer or mechanic, possibly for
the military. The character hopes to be one day Duel +1 Skill or Special Die
recognised as a Master Craftsman. Leadership +1 Skill or Special Die
Observe +1 Skill or Special Die
+1 Insight than two of any one selection);
+1 Intellect
Atmospheric +1
Ballistics +1
Academia +1 Skill or Special Die Etiquette +1
Engineering +1 Skill or Special Die Language +1
Observe +1 Skill or Special Die Projectiles +1
Shield Fighting +1
Choose five of the following (no more Void +1
than two of any one selection); Willpower +1
Atmospheric +1
Direction +1
WEAPONSMASTER
Etiquette +1
Knowledge +1
The character has served as a weapons
Language +1
instructor for the family nobility, House guard
Negotiation +1
or military elite. In time, the character may
Remedy +1
achieve the rank of Weapons Master presiding
Void +1
over all House-sponsored combat training
programs.
141
+1 Charm
+1 Prowess
Duel +1 Skill or Special Die

Engineering +1 Skill or Special Die
Marksmanship +1 Skill or Special Die

Acrobatics +1
Atmospheric +1
Control +1
Etiquette +1
Language +1
Shield Fighting +1
Vigor +1
Void +1
142
Personal calling
ACADEMIC ARENA FIGHTER
You enjoy learning and spend your spare time The character demonstrates remarkable skill
researching and reading film books. and valor in the arena, fighting beats or trained
gladiators to create a spectacle for the adoring
Choose one of the following: public.
+1 Insight Choose one of the following:

+1 Intellect
+1 Physique
Academia +1 +1 Prowess
Evaluate +1 Duel +1
Knowledge (any) +1 Acrobatics +1
Knowledge (any) +1 Enthrall +1
Vigor +1
ADVOCATE
Gifted in verbal communication, the character ARTISAN

excels as an advocate or spokesman for some
political organization such as household, school You have a talent for the artistic and have great
or combine. skill in design and creation. This could be a
technology, a piece of art or jewellery.
+1 Charm
+1 Command +1 Charm
+1 Insight
Diplomacy +1
Empathy +1
Engineering +1
Enthrall +1
Entertain +1
Language (any) +1
Etiquette +1
Evaluate +1
143
Knowledge +1 Choose one of the following:
+1 Charm
BREEDER +1 Prowess
Because of some extraordinary quality in her BEAUTY Advantage

genetic makeup, the BG Sisterhood grooms the
character to become a participant in its selective Enthrall +1
breeding program.
Choose one of the following: CRIMINAL

RIMINAL
+1 Command You are an out and out criminal. You spend a

+1 Intellect lot of time stealing or otherwise breaking the
law. Its how you pass the time.
PRIZED BLOODLINE Advantage
CAROUSER +1 Insight
+1 Prowess
You spend your spare time drinking and being
entertained. Your life goes by in a haze of Infiltration +1
semuta music and other stimulants.
Convince +1
Sneak +1
+1 Charm
Underworld +1
+1 Insight
Personality +1
EXILE/FUGITIVE
Etiquette +1
As a result of criminal exile or fugitive flight,
the character has survived as a renegade before
Knowledge (Gambling) +1
enlisting with his or her current House under
bonded servitude.
Underworld +1
COURTESAN +1 Insight
+1 Physique
You are an extraordinary person to be around, a
delight to spend an evening with and you find Perception +1
yourself often called upon to entertain.
144
Sustenance +1 Intrigue +2
Underworld +1 Etiquette +1
Vigor +1
OFF-WORLD EDUCATION
IMPERIAL SERVANT The character received her vocational

conditioning on another homeworld, learning
The character serves the Emperor as an official about the planet and its rulers.
observer and cultural attach to the House
Entourage. Though obligated to perform certain Choose one of the following:
Imperial functions, the character is free to serve
his patron House in any number of official +1 Insight
capacities. +1 Physique
Choose one of the following: WORLDLY Advantage
+1 Command Direction +1
+1 Intellect
Etiquette +1
EMINENCE Advantage +2pts
Sustenance +1
Negotiation +1
Enthrall +1
PRIVATEER
Etiquette +1
Before enlisting with his or her current House,
the character survived as an enterprising
smuggler or mercenary.
MERCHANT
The character has made major investments and
developed his or her talents at buying and +1 Command
selling either before joining the Household or as +1 Prowess
a part of her past-times.
CONTACTS Advantage +2pts
Convince +1
+1 Charm
+1 Command
Sneak +1
WEALTH Advantage +2pts
Underworld +1
145
SPICE DIET Advantage at 3pts
Focus +1
Prescient Waking Dream
SLEEPER AGENT
For years the character has been serving as a

secret mole, on assignment from another
House. The character must designate her
original faction, homeworld and purpose.
+1 Charm
+1 Command
BENEFACTOR Advantage +2pts
Intrigue +1
Disguise +1
UMMA
Gifted with prescient ability, the character

possesses the natural talent to glimpse or even
predict future events. Because prophets are
often mocked and scorned, the character may
choose to keep his or predictive talents secret.
+1 Command
+1 Insight
146
Gear
Roleplaying in the DUNE universe is not really If successful, subtract the resulting Width from
about having lots of equipment. Given that the 6 to determine the Time Factor. Combine the
players are part of a powerful noble house, a Time Factor and the Time Trait to determine
character can pretty much gain access to how long it will take for the item to arrive.
anything they need.
E.g. Width 3 subtracted from 6 is 3. This is the
Cost for an individual item then is virtually Time Factor. The Time Trait is Days. Combined,
irrelevant. The only real concerns we have then it will take 3 Days for the item to arrive.
are how difficult the items are to obtain, the
cost for a bulk order and the length of time it After the roll, look at the Cost Trait. There are
takes to obtain. two values, the first is the value for one item
and the second is the value for a bulk item.
So each piece of gear is can be said to have the Reduce the Wealth rating by the first for a week
following traits: or reduce the Treasury rating by the second for
a month.
GAME EFFECT - what the gear actually does
The number in brackets under Cost is the
DIFFICULTY - how hard it is to obtain number of items received for a bulk order.
COST - how much treasury does it require

Manufacturing
TIME - how quickly you can expect to receive it
Mass production in the Known Universe is
This book will detail some of the things that nothing like what one would expect of the
appear in the books and some suggestions for future. The proscription on any machine made
other things, but really, when it comes to in the image of a mans mind is pretty far-
characters wanting things, the Judge only really reaching.
has to concern him or herself about the game
effect and the aforementioned gear traits. This basically prohibits any item or piece of
machinery which might be considered to think
When a character decides to obtain some gear, for itself. Thats anything remotely like a
they can either do it using their own personal computer, microchips and the like.
connections or as a House Venture.
So, mass production is either through crews of
The former, requires a Charm + Contacts roll at artisans toiling round the clock or through
a Difficulty equal to the Gear Trait. Servok.
Servok
If the latter, roll Charm + Influence Quality. The Servok is a clock-set mechanism created to
perform simple tasks. It was one of the limited
147
"automatic" devices permitted after the HOUSE RICHESSE are a Great House of the
Butlerian Jihad. Landsraad who deal in manufacturing high
technology. While not as able or skilled as the
A Servok then is an ornate clockwork machine Ixians, the Richesses goods are still in
used to mass produce parts which are then circulation if only because they are a pivotal
assembled by artisans. member of the Landsraad and not some
tolerated Out-freyn faction.
Technological factions The Richese possess large shipyards and it is
from them that the bulk of starships are
Although there are many artisans that purchased.
specialize in manufacturing specific
technologies, there are three factions who in the IX is a planet ruled by the IXIAN CONFEDERACY. It
Known Universe who are well known for is noted that Ix is classed with the Richese as
production of technology. "supreme in machine culture,"[1] and that Ixian
solido projectors "are commonly considered the
These are; best."
BENE TLEILAX The name Ix comes from the planet's name (a

HOUSE RICHESE spelling pronunciation of the Roman numeral
IX IX) is derived from the fact that it is the ninth
planet of its sun.
The BENE TLEILAX or Tleilaxu are an extremely
xenophobic and isolationist, non-Imperial Ixian devices are commonplace and considered
society. The Bene Tleilax are genetic essential throughout the Known Univese,
manipulators, equivalent in power to a major though they sometimes test the limits of the
house in the Imperium. anti-technology proscriptions of the Butlerian
Jihad, mankind's crusade against computers,
They exclusively control a number of planets in thinking machines and conscious robots
the Imperium but they are originally connected
with the planet Tleilax, the sole planet of the Ix is the leader in providing technology to the
star Thalim. Imperium, more so than Richese.
Not organized along feudal lines, the Tleilaxu The machines from Ix are far superior to that of
are secretive and very little is known about Richese, however, Ix has the same status as the
them; however we learn their society is said to Bene Tleilax: tolerated rather than accepted.
be a meritocracy.
The Ixians and Tleilax both walk a fine line
They are chiefly known for their biological with their barely acceptable technologies.
products, such as artificial eyes, gholas, and
Face Dancers. Because they deal in morally- The Ix commonly use cybernetic replacements
questionable but highly desired products, the and this immediately sets people of the
Tleilaxu are universally distrusted but still Imperium on edge.
influential.
148
The Tleilaxu, commonly referred to as the Dirty insulation gear that keeps the body temperature
Tleilax, trade in biological entities and twisted up but without overheating This technology
creations. has enable humanity to spread across the
galaxy and live in places that we today
Ix cybernetics are obvious and are designed to wouldnt even dream of it.
be shown off. They are typically superior to the
replacement, perhaps adding a die to any You are encouraged to devise your own
appropriate rolls. environments and technology, to detail the
environment of your domains as much as
E.g. a cybernetic eye might add 1d to Perception possible. The attention to detail of the world
rolls when using Sight. you live is a key part to conjuring up the
experience of DUNE, separating it from other
Tleilax cloned limbs are indistinguishable from science fiction games.
the original, however, the perception is that
youre literally buying tainted goods and the
replacement is a dirty Tleilax stain on your soul.
In game terms, any technology you can think of

is available from at least one of these factions.
The problem is that there are always
repercussions.
Goods from the Tleilax are tainted by their very

name. Goods from Ix are considered to be a
necessary evil. Goods from Richese just arent
as good as either of the other two factions but
they are more acceptable.
Environmental technology
The peoples of the Known Universe have
colonized every habitable planet, no matter how
harsh the environment. From arid wastelands to
worlds of frozen ice, you will find humanity
everywhere.
They have developed significant technologies to

enable life in these hostile environments. The
Stillsuit, aiding life in a waterless desert, and
the Zerosuit, granting life in the lethal depths of
space, are two such technologies.
All manner of wonderful technologies have been

developed, from special tents, heating devices,
149
uncommon and rarely used, they

armaments are more difficult to obtain in
the Known Universe.
ITEM Personal Armaments
DIFFICULTY 1 Small Arms do Width Physical
COST 1/1 (1,000) Damage and have a Short Range
TIME Hours of 30m, Medium Range 90m and
GAME EFFECT These are small or light blades. a Long Range of 150m.
Kindjals, rapiers, daggers and
slip tips. High Velocity.
They do Width in Physical ITEM Long Arms

Damage during combat. DIFFICULTY 5
COST 2/1 (250)
Low Velocity. TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT Long Arms are ballistic
ITEM Medium Armaments Shotguns, Assault Rifles and
DIFFICULTY 2 Sniper Rifles.
COST 2/1 (1,000)
TIME Hours Long Arms do Width +1
GAME EFFECT This cover heavier weight Physical Damage.
weapons like broadswords,
machetes, gladius and the like. Shotguns add 2d at Short
They do Width +1 Physical Range. Their Short Range is
Damage in combat. 15m, Medium Range is 45m and
Long Range is 75m.
High Velocity.
Assault Rifles allow automatic
ITEM Heavy Armaments fire and have a Short Range of
DIFFICULTY 3 95m, a Medium Range of 275m
COST 3/1 (500) and a Long Range of 460m.
TIME Hours
GAME EFFECT This covers large and heavy A Sniper Rifle can only fire once
weapons like two handed a round but has a Short Range
swords, halberds and battle of 1,000m, a Medium Range of
axes. 3,000m and a Long Range of
5,000m.
High Velocity.
High Velocity.
ITEM Small Arms
DIFFICULTY 4
COST 1/1 (500)
TIME Days
GAME EFFECT This covers ballistic handguns,
150
ITEM Heavy Arms darts can either be envenomed

DIFFICULTY 6 or come with an electrical
COST 3/2 (100) charge.
TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT These are rocket launchers, Envenomed weapons are darts
mortars and grenade launchers. loaded with a type of poison (see
Any weapon which can damage the poisons later in this section).
or decimate a vehicle. Envenomed darts are useless
against armoured opponents but
Heavy Weapons do Width +2 can penetrate a shield.
Physical Damage and their range
is effective for a great distance. Electrically charged darts incur
Width Physical Damage which
High Velocity. ignores armour and cannot be
bought off as a complication.
However the damage fades at 1
PD a round.
Slow Pellet Stunners can

penetrate a static holtzman
shield, however, if the target
dodges or is otherwise moving
fast, the dart will not penetrate.
So the Slow Pellet Stunners are

Lasgun best employed on an unaware
target.
ITEM Lasguns
DIFFICULTY 7 Small Arms do Width Physical
COST 2/1 (100) Damage and have a Short Range
TIME Weeks of 20m, Medium Range 60m and
GAME EFFECT The lasgun is the most a Long Range of 100m.
devastating weapon personal
weapon available. It can cut a
swathe through an unshielded
vehicle like a knife through hot
butter.
ITEM Slow Pellet Stunners

DIFFICULTY 4
COST 1/1 (500)
TIME Days
GAME EFFECT The slow pellet stunner is a
Hunter Seeker
spring-loaded dart launcher. The
151
ITEM Hunter Seeker and cannot be roused for 12

DIFFICULTY 7 hours less Physique Rating.
COST 7/1 (5)
TIME Weeks STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: The
GAME EFFECT The hunter seeker is one of the victim remains awake but is
assassins most powerful and lethargic and extremely drowsy
yet most difficult tool to use. for 8 hours less Physique Rating.
It is a small sliver of suspensor- EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: The victim

bouyed equipment which is remains awake but receives a -2
remote-guided from near Height penalty to their dice rolls
location. for 4 hours less Physique Rating.
Due to their small size, their MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: The victim
visual capacity is limited and the is unaffected.
assassin must rely on sensing
movement. ITEM Poison, Sickness
DIFFICULTY 3
To use a hunter seeker, roll COST 1/1 (1000 doses)
Insight + Sinister, difficulty 8 to TIME Days
attack a stationary target, GAME EFFECT This Potency 7 and takes effect
difficulty 5 against a moving after a number of hours equal to
target. the victims Physique.
The attack does Width + 3 The victim rolls Physique +

Physical Damage ignoring Habitus at a Difficulty equal to
armour. Shields are effective but the Potency.
the hunter seeker usually takes
the victim by surprise, while FAILURE: The victim is violently
their shield is down. ill and cannot keep any food
down for 12 hours less Physique
ITEM
TEM Poison, Sedative Rating. They receive -2 Height
DIFFICULTY 1 and -1 Dice Pool while they
COST 1/1 (100 doses) suffer the effects.
TIME Hours
GAME EFFECT This Potency 5 and takes effect STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: The
after a number of hours equal to victim is unwell and feels very
the victims Physique. nauseous. They receive -1 Height
for 12 hours less Physique
The victim rolls Physique + Rating.
Habitus at a Difficulty equal to
the Potency. EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: The victim
feels green and suffers -1 Height
FAILURE: The victim falls asleep for a number of hours equal to 6
152
less their Physique Rating ITEM Battle Dress, Medium

DIFFICULTY 4
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: The victim COST 3/1 (50)
is unaffected. TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT Medium armour, consisting of
ITEM Poison, Lethal reinforced Plasteel Plates
DIFFICULTY 5 (Armour Rating 2).
COST 3/1 (100 doses)
TIME Weeks ITEM Battle Dress, Heavy
GAME EFFECT This Potency 3 and takes effect DIFFICULTY 5
after a number of hours equal to COST 4/2 (25)
the victims Physique. TIME Months
GAME EFFECT Heavy armour, consisting of
The victim rolls Physique + environmentally enclosed
Habitus at a Difficulty equal to Plasteel Armour (Armour Rating
the Potency. 3).
FAILURE: The victim dies a

horrible death.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: The

victim is comatose and out for
the count for 8 weeks less their
Physique Rating.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: The victim

is bed-ridden but conscious for 4
weeks less their Physique Holtzman Shield Belt
Rating.
ITEM Holtzman Shield
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: The victim DIFFICULTY 3
is violently ill for a few days but COST 4/2 (50)
is otherwise unaffected. TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT Personal Holtzman Shield, built
into an ornate belt.
Defenses
ITEM Vehicle Shield
ITEM Battle Dress, Light
DIFFICULTY 5
DIFFICULTY 3
COST 6/2 (5)
COST 2/1 (100)
TIME Weeks
TIME Days
GAME EFFECT The Holtzman Shield large
GAME EFFECT This is light armour, made up of
enough to fit on a vehicle.
Plasteel Plates and flexible parts
Adjustable from a personal
(Armour Rating 1).
153
vehicle (such as a ground car

and ornithopter up to starships
and the like).
ITEM Prudence Door

DIFFICULTY 6
COST 7/1 (3)
TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT The Prudence Door (or Penta-
Shield) is an internal five-layer
holtzman shield generator that Poison Snooper
provides tight security around
an area. Access rolls on a ITEM Poison Snooper
Prudence Door are Difficulty 9. DIFFICULTY 1 x Rating
COST 1 x Rating/Rating/3 (500)
Each Prudence Door adds 1 to TIME Hours
the Espionage Score of your GAME EFFECT The Poison Snooper allows the
House. user to make an Insight +
Rating roll to counter a Prowess
+ Assassin roll when attempting
Chaumas or Chaumurky.
ITEM Respirator
DIFFICULTY 2
COST 2/1 (500)
TIME Hours
GAME EFFECT The Respirator allows the wearer
to survive in adverse
atmospheres. This includes gas
House Shield attacks and harsh conditions. It
does not allow one to survive in
ITEM House Shield a vacuum.
DIFFICULTY 7
COST -/3 (1) ITEM Zero Suit
TIME Months DIFFICULTY 6
GAME EFFECT The most powerful shield COST 5/2 (50)
generator. This is a large TIME Months
holtzman field that surrounds a GAME EFFECT The Zero Suit is used in a zero
building. Adds 10 to the Defense survivability atmosphere. This is
Score of the House. places like the void, underwater
and other such harsh conditions.
Also counts as Armour Rating 1.
154
ITEM Communinet Interceptor

communication DIFFICULTY Rating
COST Rating x 2/Rating/2 (5)
ITEM Communinet Transmitter TIME Weeks
DIFFICULTY Rating GAME EFFECT A powerful tool utilised to
COST Rating / Rating/3 (100) intercept Communinent
TIME Days tranmissions. Roll Intellect +
GAME EFFECT A Personal Transceiver. Rating with a Difficulty of the
Comparable to a modern day Rating of the Communinet
radio. The rating becomes a Transmitter to intercept a
difficulty to intercept transmission.
transmissions. However, given the prevalence of
interceptors, Battle Language is
ITEM Distrans often used, so theres no
DIFFICULTY 4 guarantee you can decode the
COST 3/1 (10) transmission once received.
TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT This is a technology by which
information is implanted in Vehicles
animals for storage and
retrieval. ITEM Ground Vehicle, Personal
DIFFICULTY 3
The information is stored COST 4/1 (10)
subliminally by voice. The TIME Days
message can be retrieved from GAME EFFECT This is two-person car. It may be
the animal by uttering a word or wheeled, tracked or hovers like a
phrase. The message is usually landspeeder. It can be as ornate
be repeated by the animal as a or as practical as you like it.
series of words uttered through
vibrations. The sound was ITEM Ground Vehicle, Carrier
likened to words connected by a DIFFICULTY 4
series of hums. COST 5/1 (10)
TIME Weeks
Assassins use distrans animals GAME EFFECT As a personal vehicle but this is
extensively as a form of covert a six person people carrier.
communication.
ITEM Ground Vehicle, Transport
Typically, birds are the most DIFFICULTY 5
common form of distrans COST 6/2 (10)
employed are they are better TIME Weeks
flyers but bats are especially GAME EFFECT As a personal vehicle but this is
useful, as they could travel a large goods transporter.
under the cover of night.
155
ITEM Ground Vehicle, APC GAME EFFECT The ornithopter is the most
DIFFICULTY 6 common form of personal
COST 7/2 (5) transport in the Known
TIME Weeks Universe. They are basically
GAME EFFECT As a personal vehicle but this is aerial vehicles that use a
an Armoured Personnel Carrier. combination of jets and beating
Each APC adds 1 to the Warfare wings that give a recognizable
Score of your House. Thwok-thwok sound.
ITEM Ground Vehicle, AFV The powered wings allow all

DIFFICULTY 7 movement you expect from a
COST 8/2 (5) helicopter but without the
TIME Months difficulties associated with said
GAME EFFECT As a personal vehicle but this is vehicle.
an Armoured Fighting Vehicle.
Each AFV adds 2 to the Warfare ITEM Air Vehicle, Carrier Ornithopter
Score of your House. DIFFICULTY 3
COST 6/2(5)
ITEM Ground Vehicle, Battle TIME Weeks
DIFFICULTY 8 GAME EFFECT As a Personal Ornithopter, but a
COST 9/3 (5) six person carrier.
TIME Months
GAME EFFECT As a personal vehicle but this is
a Battle Tank or Launcher
vehicle. Each APC adds 3 to the
Warfare Score of your House.
Transport Ornithopter
ITEM Air Vehicle, Transport Ornithopter

DIFFICULTY 4
COST 7/2 (5)
Personal Ornithopter TIME Months
GAME EFFECT As a Personal Ornithopter but a
ITEM Air Vehicle, Personal Ornithopter large goods transporter
DIFFICULTY 2
COST 5/1 (5)
TIME Days
156
ITEM Void, House Frigate

DIFFICULTY 7
COST 9/2 (3)
TIME Months
GAME EFFECT A large, battle ready spacecraft.
Used for transport through
hostile areas. The House Frigate
is effective in atmospheric and
void travel.
Battle Ornithopter Each House Frigate adds 3 to the
Warfare Score.
ITEM Air Vehicle, Battle Ornithopter
DIFFICULTY 5
COST 8/2 (5)
TIME Weeks
GAME EFFECT As a Personal Ornithopter but
designed for aerial combat. Come
fitted with a holtzman shield.
They are designed for controlled
collisions against other shielded
vehicles.
Each Battle Ornithopter adds 2 House Frigate

to the Warfare Score.
ITEM Void, House Transporter
ITEM Void, Personal DIFFICULTY 7
DIFFICULTY 4 COST 9/2 (6)
COST 6/1 (5) TIME Months
TIME Weeks GAME EFFECT A large transport spacecraft.
GAME EFFECT A large shuttle for traveling Used for carrying massive loads
through space. Carries four from planet to planet. The House
people. Effective in atmospheric Transporter is effective in
and void travel. atmospheric and void travel.
ITEM Void, Carrier ITEM Void, Crusher

DIFFICULTY 5 DIFFICULTY 10
COST 7/1 (5) COST --/3 (3)
TIME Weeks TIME Months
GAME EFFECT A very large space-faring vehicle. GAME EFFECT A Crusher a very large
Can carry about 10 people in battlecruiser that is used to drop
luxury. Effective in atmospheric from orbit to ground targets.
and void travel Used primarily in shielded
engagements. Effective in
157
atmospheric and void travel.
Each Crusher adds 4 to the

Warfare Score.
Crushers
ITEM Void, Monitor

DIFFICULTY 10
COST --/4 (1)
TIME Years
GAME EFFECT A Monitor is huge battleship
which can break into 10 smaller
destroyers. Each Monitor adds
10 to the Warfare Score. The
Monitor is only effective in Void
travel.
158
DOMAIN Creation
Unlike character creation, House creation is a Defense that details their defensive and security
cooperative process in which each player has capabilities.
equal say about the salient features pertaining
to the house. House creation involves making Espionage demarcates the intelligence/counter-
important decisions, rolling dice, and applying intelligence and assassination abilities of the
the results. House.
Most importantly, you and your fellow players Influence which measures the amount of sway
will work together to attach stories to the House has within the system.
mechanical developments in the house creation
process. You will use the broad descriptions and Dominion describes the morale and faith of the
details generated from these decisions and people who work for the House.
transform them into a living, breathing house
with a history, future, and interesting family to Territory measures the extent and production of
engender the same sorts of investment that all the lands held by the House.
players have for their particular characters.
Treasury details the amount of money and
Ideally, your group should create their noble economic clout the House has.
house before creating their characters. Doing so
provides a good basis from which each player Each of the seven Traits consists is rated from 1
can build his or her personas. Some groups may to 6 and is often used as a dice pool for house
find that creating their characters beforehand activities (or Ventures). A Trait Rating is made
helps guide their choices about the house and up of a Trait Score which is anywhere from 0 to
its historical developments. Theres no wrong 60. The Trait Score reflects specific things which
order, so follow whatever approach works best make up the Trait Rating. For example, well
for you. trained troops might be 3 points of the Score for
Warfare.
Houses a made up of the Fiefs they control. A
Fief can be anything, a good or service but is To determine the Trait Rating, divide the Trait
general land from which they gain power, Score by 10 and round off.
prestige and wealth.
Within the context of this game, each Trait
A House has seven House Traits which sum up Rating represents these approximate features.
their temporal power, influence, military might
gained from all its holdings and fiefs. These are; WARFARE LEVEL
1 TWO BASIC COMPANIES,
Warfare which measures the military power of WELL TRAINED SQUADS,
the House.
2 A BASIC BATTALION
TWO WELL-EQUIPPED
159
COMPANIES ASSASSIN INTO THE

3 A BASIC BRIGADE, LORDS BEDCHAMBERS
A WELL-EQUIPPED 5 YOUR ASSASSINS / SPIES
BATTALION NEVER LEAVE A TRACE
4 A BASIC DIVISION,
A WELL-EQUIPPED 6 KNOW YOUR RIVALS
BRIGADE EVERY MOVE
5 A BASIC ARMY,
A WELL-EQUIPPED
DIVISION INFLUENCE LEVEL
6 A BASIC ARMY GROUP, 1 PEOPLE BARLY REMEMBER
A WELL-EQUIPPED ARMY THE HOUSE EXISTS
2 A POLITICAL
DEFENSE LEVEL CONSIDERATION
1 SECURITY OUTPOSTS,
BASIC GUARDS, 3 OTHER HOUSES WORRY
BACKGROUND CHECKS ABOUT YOUR OPINION
2 GARRISONS,
SHIELDED OUTPOSTS, 4 CAN JUST AS EASILY CAUSE
SECURITY PATROLS OR CEASE RIOTS
3 BUNKERS,
SHIELDED GARRISONS, 5 OTHER PARTIES ASK YOUR
TIGHT SECURITY SWEEPS PERMISSION BEFORE ACTING
4 FORTS,
SHIELDED BUNKERS, 6 CAN SWAY WHOLE GROUPS
SECURITY CORDONS WITH BUT A WORD
5 CASTLES,
SHIELDED FORTS,
PRU-DOORS DOMINION LEVEL
6 FORTRESSES, 1 THE LOWER CASTES ARE
SHIELDED CASTLES, ON THE VERGE OF REVOLT
PRU-DOORS ALL OVER
2 THE PEOPLE ARE
ESPIONAGE LEVEL APATHETIC
1 IVORY TOWER / CLUELESS
3 THE HOUSE IS POPULAR
2 AWARE OF CURRENT
EVENTS / CAN MAKE PYONS 4 HAVE A STRONG BELIEF IN
DISAPPEAR THE HOUSE
3 FINGER ON THE PULSE,
EYES EVERYWHERE 5 WOULD FIGHT FOR THE
4 YOU COULD GET AN HOUSE
160
6 WOULD DIE FOR THE

STEP ONE: Siridar fief
HOUSE
Siridar is a title which denotes that a thing is
pertaining to a House Major.
TERRITORY LEVEL
1 FEW PEOPLE AND LITTLE
A Fief is a thing of value, such as an office,
RESOURCES
right of exploitation or some other type of
revenue-producing property which is granted by
2 YOUR PEOPLES ARE
a lord to a vassal in return for allegiance
NUMEROUS AND THERE
(usually by homage and fealty).
ARE SOME RESOURCES
3 YOU HAVE MILLIONS OF
A Siridar Fief, then, is a thing of value granted
PEOPLE & REASONABLE
to a House Major by the Padishar Emperor in
RESOURCES
return for allegiance to the Throne. Given the
4 YOUR DOMAIN IS DENSELY
scope of such a thing, such a fief is generally a
POPULATED / EXTENSIVE
planetary system and all that comes with it.
RESOURCES
5 YOUR FIEFS AND FEES HAVE
A planetary system would be far too large for a
MANY SKILLED PEOPLES AND single noble family to effectively run. And as the
RESOURCES Siridar Fief is granted to a House Major, the
6 YOU HAVE COPIOUS Siridar Fief is broken down into smaller fiefs
POPULATION & which are then granted to Houses Minor.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
Within the scope of this DUNE RPG, the players
TREASURY LEVEL take the roles of the household of one such
1 THE HOUSE IS POOR & THE
House Minor. Said House Minor has a fief
PYONS POORER
which belongs to them. All such fiefs are
determined as part of creating the Siridar Fief.
2 THE HOUSE AND PYONS
GET BY
This is done by rolling a dice pool of 11d and
the resulting Set(s) and Waste Dice determine
3 LIFE IS COMFORTABLE FOR
different aspects of the system.
ALL / FEW PROBLEMS
4 HIGH LIFESTYLE FOR THE 2X1 STELLAR ARCOLOGY
HOUSE, PYONS NEVER WANT An arcology is an artificial self-enclosed habitat.
5 HOUSE IS AFFLUENT / It could be a hollowed out asteroid or a massive
ARTISANS ARE RICH disk orbiting a star or an artificial hive-like
structure or anything else you might imagine.
6 HOUSE IS STINKING RICH /
PYONS ARE COMFORTABLE Each arcology counts as a single Territory.
Territory
161
3X1 TWO STELLAR ARCOLOGIES 2X6 SMALL SIZE, POOR PLANET

As above but with two such structures. This is a small habitable planet with few
minerals or metals. Has two Territories.
Territories
4X1 THREE STELLAR ARCOLOGIES
As above but with three such structures. 3X6 MEDIUM SIZE, POOR PLANET
As above, but has three Territories.
Territories
5X1 FOUR STELLAR ARCOLOGIES
As above but with four such structures. 4X6 LARGE SIZE, POOR PLANET
As above, but with four Territories
5X6 GREATER SIZE, POOR PLANET

2X2 GAS GIANT WITH STELLAR ARCOLOGY As above, but with five Territories.
Territories
Has an artificial habitat orbiting or within a Gas
Giant. The Gas Giant is mined for resources
adding 5 to the Treasury Score of each Territory.
2X7 SMALL SIZE, MODERATE WEALTH PLANET
3X2 GAS GIANT WITH TWO STELLAR ARCOLOGIES This is a small habitable planet with reasonable
As above but with two such structures. minerals or metals. Has a two Territories.
Territories
4X2 GAS GIANT WITH THREE STELLAR ARCOLOGIES 3X7 MEDIUM SIZE, MODERATE WEALTH PLANET
As above but with three such structures. As above, but with has a three Territories.
Territories
5X2 GAS GIANT WITH FOUR STELLAR ARCOLOGIES 4X7 LARGE SIZE, MODERATE WEALTH PLANET
As above but with four such structures. As above, but has a four Territories
5X7 GREATER SIZE, MODERATE WEALTH PLANET

As above, but has a five Territories
2X3, 4 OR 5 SMALL MOON
A small habitable moon which has one
Territory.
Territory
2X8 SMALL SIZE, AFFLUENT PLANET
3X3, 4 OR 5 MEDIUM MOON This is a small habitable planet with many
As above but with two Territories.
Territories minerals or metals. Has two Territories.
Territories
4X3, 4 OR 5 LARGE MOON 3X8 MEDIUM SIZE, AFFLUENT PLANET

As above but with three Territories.
Territories As above, but with has three Territories.
Territories
5X3, 4 OR 5 GREATER MOON 4X8 LARGE SIZE, AFFLUENT PLANET

As above but with four Territories.
Territories As above, but with four Territories.
Territories
5X8 GREATER SIZE, AFFLUENT PLANET

As above, but with five Territories.
Territories
162
2X9 SMALL SIZE, WEALTHY PLANET 2 Uninhabitable Moon,

Moon, Small:
Small: The system
This is a small habitable planet with great has a moon with no biosphere or an
Territories inhospitable biosphere. It orbits one of
the systems planets. This moon is
3X9 MEDIUM SIZE, WEALTHY PLANET mined for resources and features an
As above, but with three Territories.
Territories Arcology.
Arcology Adds 10 to the Treasury Score
and 5 to the Influence Score of the
4X9 LARGE SIZE, WEALTHY PLANET controlling House.
As above, but with four Territories.
Territories
3 Uninhabitable Moon,
Moon, Large:
Large: The system
5X9 GREATER SIZE, WEALTHY PLANET has a moon with no biosphere or an
As above, but has five Territories.
Territories inhospitable biosphere. It orbits one of
the systems planets. This moon is
mined for resources and features an
Arcology.
Arcology Adds 5 to the Treasury Score,
2X10 SMALL SIZE, OPULENT PLANET the Influence Score and the Territory
Score of the controlling House.
This is a small habitable planet with dense
Territories
4 Uninhabitable Planet, Small: The system
has a small inhospitable or otherwise
3X10 MEDIUM SIZE, OPULENT PLANET
uninhabitable planet which orbits the
As above, but with three Territories
Territories. system star. Adds 5 to the Treasury
Score, 5 to the Territory Score and 5 to
4X10 LARGE SIZE, OPULENT PLANET the Influence Score of the controlling
As above, but has four Territories.
Territories House.
5X10 GREATER SIZE, OPULENT PLANET 5 Uninhabitable Planet, Medium: The

As above, but has five Territories.
Territories system has a medium sized inhospitable
or otherwise uninhabitable planet which
Table A - Solar System Features orbits the system star. Adds 5 to the
Treasury Score and 10 to the Territory
1 Asteroid Field: Theres an Asteroid Field Score of the controlling House.
somewhere in the system. Mining
operations will have begun long ago and 6 Uninhabitable Planet, Large: The system
provides a source of minerals and metals has a large sized inhospitable or
for the Siridar Fief. One of the Houses otherwise uninhabitable planet which
Minor will be responsible for this orbits the system star. Adds 6 to the
operation (adds 10 to their Treasury Treasury Score, 6 to the Territory Score
Score and 5 to their Territory Score). and 3 to the Influence Score of the
There is an Arcology which controls said controlling House.
operation.
7 Uninhabitable Planet, Greater: The
system has a huge sized inhospitable or
otherwise uninhabitable planet which
163
orbits the system star. Adds 7 to the An Arcology is a self-enclosed artificial habitat.
Treasury Score, 7 to the Territory Score A Stellar Arcology is a large, space-borne
and 1 to the Influence Score of the version of an Arcology.
controlling House.
A Moon is a planetary body which orbits a
8 Harsh Condition World, Large:Large: The larger planetary body. May or may not have a
planet is habitable but mostly arid or life sustaining biosphere.
arctic tundra making living conditions
harsh. Has four Territories.
Territories The Harsh A Planet is a planetary body which orbits a star.
Conditions feature stacks with any other May or may not have a life sustaining
features chosen. biosphere.
9 Extreme Condition World, Greater:

Greater: The There are four different sizes of Territory and
planet is habitable but mostly desert or each has different characteristics;
frozen wastes making life extremely
difficult. Has five Territories.
Territories The A Small Territory is an area of land
Extreme Conditions feature stacks with approximately the size of the United Kingdom
any other features chosen. (93,000 miles2).
10 Planetary Ring: There is a large ring of A Medium Territory is an area of land

dust, debris and asteroids circling a approximately the size of Alaska (586,400
moon or planet. Adds 5 to Treasury miles2).
Score of all Territories on the planet.
A Large Territory is an area of land
approximately the size of India (1,269,338
miles2).
STEP two: Territory
A Huge Territory is an area of land
The world you live on is a vast land, having approximately the size of China (3,696,100
nearly every type of terrain and climate miles2).
imaginable. From frozen mountains and frigid
to the arid plains, people carve out their homes All Territories start off as Huge and can have up
in a variety of regions, each with their own to eight Features.
eatures A Feature is predominant type
advantages and disadvantages. of terrain. For example, you might think of
Russia as predominantly a Tundra terrain. That
The habitable areas of the planet are called would be its main feature. Arrakis is mostly
Territories.
Territories Arid desert. That too is a feature.
There are three basic types of Territory The players and Judge work together to decide
determined by the type of planetary body they how many features to take and what they are.
inhabit; No feature is better than any other. This may
not be realistic but the point here is to tell a
story and to create an interesting world in
which to tell that story: arguing over who gets
164
to live in the best spot on the planet doesnt get Such rare exotics prove difficult to defend.
the game off to a good start (though it might Further, much of the land is dominated by the
make for a good story during play). industry of this product or service.
E.g. The players decide that a territory called Worse, the independent harvesters/craftsmen of
Amsford is mostly Forests and Grasslands. the product have little need of the controlling
However, they then decide to give it Lakelands. House.
So Amsford is mostly Lakelands with some
Grasslands and Forests. Extreme Conditions is some state of weather or
terrain that makes living in the territory very
difficult. Deserts or Arctic conditions are good
The Features available are; examples of Extreme Conditions.
Arable Land While it makes it difficult to maintain morale

Exotic Deposits and belief in the state, it does produce a people
Extreme Conditions hardier than those who have it easy.
Forest
Grasslands Forest is an area packed with dense woodlands
Harsh Conditions or jungle, depending on the climate. Such wilds
Lakelands provide an easily defendable position and a
Mineral Deposits plethora of wild game available for locals.
Mountainous
Like Arable Land, however, the economy is
Resource Deposits
somewhat poor and the exports provide little
Wetlands
influence.
Arable Land is any healthy and fertile soils with
Grasslands are large open plains or prairies
plenty of sunlight and good precipitation.
which great tracts of habitable areas and
Arable Lands are difficult to defend but food is
equally great numbers of grazing animals. Such
readily available and the land is picturesque.
open terrain is difficult to defend and there are
People are therefore happier with the controlling
little real exports, providing small influence and
House. Lands are also more open, giving rise to
a poor economy. However, the sheer open land
a large population.
gives rise to huge populations.
However, the economy does not produce
Harsh Environment is a state of weather or
anything of real value.
terrain that makes living in the territory harder
than the average. Arid locations or frozen
Exotic Deposits is a thing unique to that
Tundra are examples of harsh environs.
territory and cannot be found anywhere else in
It is more difficult to invade such territories, not
the Known Universe. This then becomes a
only because of the conditions but the peoples
highly sought after commodity yielding
are used to adversity. The downside is that they
Influence and great economic boon.
pay little heed of the commands of the House.
165
Lakelands is a fertile region with many large You may choose from any of the Territories
bodies of fresh water lakes and rivers. Nearly generated by your roll for the Siridar Fief. Your
always picturesque and with readily available Territory is important because it has a great
foods, the natives always have a high morale. deal of influence on other factors, including
The major drawbacks to Lakelands are the sheer your houses starting resources, history (both
lack of habitable land and a poor economy. ancient and recent) and a number of other
elements that shape its final form.
Mineral Deposits describe a region which has
many seams of metals and other precious You can place any and all houses wherever the
minerals. Mining of these provides a fantastic group decides, having as many houses in one
economy, however, work conditions are usually territory as you like. There are just a few things
poor and the blame is fairly placed at the feet of to consider:
the ruling House.
1) A shared Territory is split up into smaller
Mountainous territories describe those that Territories: a Territory of one size is split
have many high peaked mountains or otherwise into two of the size below.
very hilly terrains. Defending such a territory is
relatively easy for the natives, however, finding E.g. A Huge Territory is shared, which
places to live and expand is challenging. becomes two Large Territories.
Resources denotes any territory that is given 2) If you share a Territory with another House,
over to the harvesting of various highly sought you gain +5 Influence but receive -5
after miscellaneous resources. Oil, clay, precious Dominion.
gems and the like are all such resources. 3) If you are the sole House on a planetary
body, you gain +5 Dominion, -5 Influence.
Much of the land is devoted to the harvest and
procurement of said resource, yielding poor 4) If you are the sole occupant of a Territory
defense and few places to live. Conversely, there but share the rest of the planetary body with
are good exports and influence. one or more other Houses, you receive no
bonuses or penalties.
Wetlands are any territory which is marshy or
boggy. Such areas give rise to a very diverse 5) Once youve selected where you are
biosphere but living conditions can be poor situated, you choose one feature in that
giving rise to traitorous thoughts and economy territory as the predominant feature of
somewhat low. your lands. So even if one territory has
seven different features, you only need
Your next step, then, is to place your noble to select one.
house in one of areas of the world
There may only be one Territory in a system

with several Houses fighting over land or there
may be more land than people, every Siridar
Fief is different.
166
BASE SCORES
DOMAIN WARFARE DEFENSE ESPIONAGE INFLUENCE DOMINION TERRITORY TREASURY
TYPE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE
ARCOLOGY 10 20 10 10 10 10 10
MOON 10 10 10 10 20 10 10
PLANET 10 10 10 10 10 20 10
WEALTH MODIFIER
POOR +0 +0 +0 +0 +5 +0 -5
MODERATE +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0
AFFLUENT +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 -5 +5
WEALTHY +0 +0 +0 +0 -5 -5 +10
OPULENT +0 +0 +0 -5 -5 -5 +15
ARCOLOGY MODIFER
BOTANICAL -5 -5 +0 +0 +5 +5 +0
DOMES
ENERGY +0 +0 -5 +5 +0 -5 +5
COLLECTION
MINERAL +0 +0 +0 +0 -10 +5 +5
DEPOSITS
EXOTIC +0 +0 +0 +0 +5 -10 +10
DEPOSITS
DOMAIN MODIFIERS
DOMAIN WARFARE DEFENSE ESPIONAGE INFLUENCE DOMINION
OMINION TERRITORY TREASURY
ARABLE +0 -5 -5 +0 +5 +5 +0
EXOTIC +0 -5 +5 +10 -5 -5 +5
EXTREME +0 +10 +0 +0 -10 +0 +0
FOREST +0 +5 +0 -5 +5 +0 -5
GRASSLAND +0 -5 -5 +0 +5 +10 -5
HARSH +0 +5 +5 +0 -5 -5 +0
LAKELAND +0 +5 +0 +0 +10 -10 -5
MINERALS +0 +0 +0 +0 -10 +0 +10
MOUNTAIN +0 +10 +0 +0 +0 -10 +0
RESOURCES +0 -5 +5 +5 -5 -5 +5
WETLAND +0 +5 +0 +0 -5 +5 -5
167
Once youve generated your own House, you

STEP THREE: HOUSE history must then determine the histories of all the
other Houses. In addition to the players House,
The next step is to determine your houses there is one additional Minor House for every 2
historical events, which is done by 11d10 and habitable planets. There is a minimum of 2
comparing the results with the following additional houses, meaning the most basic
sections. system is 3 Minor Houses.
When your house was founded determines the 2X1 VENGEANCE
number of historical events that can influence
the final shape your house takes at the start of The House was subject to a terrible
the game. Older houses have more historical rivalry leading to a grudge which
events, while younger houses have fewer. festered into revenge. The revenge was
enacted and your House came out
Each house has a history, a chronicle of deeds victorious. Someone, somewhere still
and crimes that shape its identity. remembers this long burning vendetta
Great deeds might elevate a house to greater If Vengeance was your first historical
heights, while scandal and tragedy can shatter event, your House came into existence
a houses foundation, forcing it to fall into after the fall of another House. Perhaps
obscurity. one of the ancestors was the last
surviving member or an ally of the
Historical events provide important winning House who was granted lands.
developments in your familys history, either
adding to your fortunes or diminishing them. Choose one:
Each event modifies your scores, increasing or +10 Territory, +10 Influence, -5 Warfare
decreasing them by the indicated value. +10 Treasury, +10 Espionage, -5 Defense
Record them in the order that you rolled them. 3x1 As above but choose:
Historical events can reduce a Trait Score to 5
but no lower. +15 Territory, +10 Influence, -5 Warfare
+15 Treasury, +10 Espionage, -5 Defense
Sets describe truly momentous events in your
houses history. You must choose one set as 4x1 As above but choose:
your Founding Set, this describes the
circumstances of your houses origins, defining +15 Territory, +15 Influence, -5 Warfare
+15 Treasury, +15 Espionage, -5 Defense
what sort of event elevated your family to
nobility.
5x1 As above but choose:
Waste Dice describe random events which have +20 Territory, +10 Influence, -5 Warfare
occurred in their history. +20 Treasury, +10 Espionage, -5 Defense
168
2 X2 CONQUEST Revelations as a first historical event

means your group learned a great secret
Your family fought and defeated an or information that caused them to rise
enemy, perhaps a powerful smuggler to power.
cartel or merchant family, annexing their
territory and holdings to their own. Choose one:
With such a victory comes the trouble of +10 Influence, +5 Espionage

old loyalties, weakening your houses +10 Treasury, +5 Espionage
hold and influence over the pyons.
If conquest is your first historical event,
you gained your noble status by +10 Influence, +10 Espionage
+10 Treasury, +10 Espionage
defeating another lord.
Choose one:
+15 Influence, +10 Treasury
+10 Territory, +10 Treasury, -5 Dominion
+15 Espionage, +10 Treasury
+10 Influence, +10 Territory, -5 Dominion

+15 Influence, +15 Espionage
+15 Territory, +10 Treasury, -5 Influence
+15 Treasury, +15 Espionage
+15 Dominion, +10 Territory, -5 Espionage
4x2 As above but choose: 2X4 CHANGE
+15 Territory, +15 Treasury, -5 Influence The Great House which rules the Siridar
+15 Dominion, +15 Territory, -5 Espionage Fief had a change of structure. Perhaps
the old lord died and his son took over or
5x2 As above but choose: perhaps a new family have replaced
them, at the behest of the Padishar
+20 Territory, +15 Treasury, -5 Influence Emperor.
+20 Dominion, +15 Territory, -5 Espionage
If Change is your first roll, this indicates
2 X3 REVELATIONS that the new lord instigated sweeping
changes and your houses rise to power
Your faction either discovered a great was one of them.
secret or laid one to rest. This may have
led to blackmail, created huge Choose one:
embarrassment for another faction
(which might not be forgotten) or +10 Dominion, +10 Influence, -5 Treasury
perhaps even saved a House from a great +10 Influence, +10 Territory, -5 Treasury
scandal.
169
3x4 As above but choose: from the Bondsman caste by marriage or

through some great act that warranted
+15 Dominion, +10 Influence, -5 Treasury your elevation to a noble house.
+15 Influence, +10 Territory, -5 Treasury
Otherwise, ascent indicates that your
4x4 As above but choose: house participated in some key historical
event that improved their fortunes.
Choose one:
5 x4 As above but choose: +10 Influence, +5 Treasury
+10 Territory, +5 Treasury
2X5-6 INFRASTRUCTURE +10 Influence, +10 Treasury
Infrastructure describes a period of peace
and prosperity, a moment in your 4x7 As above but choose:
houses history remembered for growth
and expansion. +15 Influence, +10 Treasury
If infrastructure is your first result, your
house was born during a period of 5x7 As above but choose:
expansion under your lord or kings rule.
+15 Influence, +15 Treasury
Choose 1 Trait Score and add 10.
3x5-
3x5-6 Choose 2 Trait Scores and add 10 one 2X8 VICTORY
and 5 to the other.
You family achieved an important
4x5-
4x5-6 Choose 2 Trait Scores, add 10 to both. victory over their enemies. Foes could
include a rival house, terrorists or
5x5-
5x5-6 Choose 2 Trait Scores and add 15 to one Outfreyn smugglers. In any event, your
and 10 to the other. family rose in prominence and power
because of their victory.
2 X7 ASCENT
As an initial historical event roll, this
victory was so great that your family
An advantageous marriage, a great deed
was raised to nobility.
for a liege lord, or heroism in a decisive
battle can all improve the fortunes of a
Choose one:
noble house.
+10 Warfare, +5 Territory
If this is your first historical event, it +10 Defense, +5 Treasury
indicates that your house was raised
170
3x8
3x8 As above but choose: 5x9 As above but choose:
+10 Warfare, +10 Territory +15 Treasury, +15 Warfare

+10 Defense, +10 Treasury +15 Treasury, +15 Defense
4x8 As above but choose: 2X10 PATRONAGE

+15 Warfare, +10 Territory Your family gained the favor of the
Siridar Lord, the Bene Gesserit, the
Spacing Guild or from some other
powerful body. As a result, their fortunes
+15 Warfare, +15 Territory improved, and they climbed in standing.
This favor might also result from a
2 X9 GLORY family member becoming a personal Aide
to the ruling House or becoming an
A family wins glory through a military Imperial Doctor or a Mentat.
victory, personal achievement, or by a
great act of heroism. Glory is similar to Should favor be your first historical
ascent, but it focuses on one figure in result, your house came to power
your familys past. The result of this through the influence of some external
individuals deeds advances your body.
familys standing in the eyes of its peers.
Generally, glory as a first historical event Choose one:
should imply that your house was
formed as a reward for the great acts of +10 Treasury, +5 Territory
their founder.
Choose one:
+10 Treasury, +10 Territory
+10 Treasury, +5 Warfare +10 Territory, +10 Treasury
+10 Treasury, +5 Defense
+10 Treasury, +10 Warfare +15 Territory, +10 Treasury
+15 Treasury, +10 Warfare, +15 Territory, +15 Treasury
171
WASTE DICE - TABLE A Perhaps your family may have gained

status through dubious or tragic means,
1 DOOM perhaps replacing the previous lords who
were wiped out during the catastrophe or
Easily the worst possible result, your were a lesser branch that rose in station
house suffered a terrible series of as they inherited the holdings of their
mishaps, disasters, and tragedies that kin.
nearly erased your family.
Choose one:
Doom might be a series of natural events
sent by God to test you or you might -5 Defense, +5 Dominion, +5 Warfare
have been the target of a rival House, or -5 Warfare, +5 Dominion, +5 Defense
a combination of events the results of
which combine into one catastrophic 4 DESCENT
setback.
Whether from a poor marriage, a
Choose any 2 Trait Scores and reduce downturn in trade, or a series of tragic
them both by 5. losses in a conflict, your house entered a
period of decline.
2 DEFEAT
Perhaps a desperate lord wedding his
Your family fought a war or smaller daughter to a merchant prince-or of a
conflict but was defeated, losing status, major branch becoming extinct, leaving
precious resources and influence. the holdings to a lesser branch to rule.
Choose a Trait Score and reduce it by 5
Perhaps your family might have been but add 5 to any other.
swallowed up by another house and
forced to marry into a lesser branch until 5 SCANDAL
your original bloodline became all but
extinct. Your family was involved in some
disaster, a scandal that haunts them
Choose one: still. Good options include spawning a
bastard, incest, failed conspiracies, and
-5 Treasury, +5 Defense, +5 Dominion so on.
-5 Dominion, +5 Defense, +5 Treasury
Choose one:
3 CATASTROPHE
-5 Espionage, +5 Territory, +5 Dominion
A result of catastrophe usually indicates -5 Dominion, +5 Territory, +5 Espionage
a natural disaster, such as an outbreak
of plague, blight, or drought, any of 6 MADNESS
which can diminish your population and
ability to control your lands. Inbreeding, fell secrets, disease, or
mental defects can produce derangement
and madness among any peoples,
172
including its rulers. You also gain a duty to help and assist
your allies. Woe betide the day your
A madness historical event indicates that alliance shatters
a particular figure suffered from some
insanity, producing unpredictable 9 DIVISION
results, with positive or negative
outcomes. At some point in your houses history,
one or more parties within the
Roll a d10 for each Trait Score and household came to disagree. This
modify the Score based on the result; disagreement grew into a full blown
split. Perhaps they left and formed their
1: -5 2: -4 3: -3 4: -2 5: -1 own house or maybe the disagreement
6: +1 7: +2 8: +3 9: +4 10: +5 came to blows.
7 INVASION/REVOLT Out in the world, there is a rival party

that views your House as an enemy.
An invasion or revolt marks a period of
collapse, destruction, and ruin. Most of Choose one:
these results come from an external
invasion, either from a rival house, -5 Territory, +5 Defense, +5 Warfare
raiders, or an Offworld conflict, or -5 Territory, +5 Dominion, +5 Influence
perhaps even the ruling house, but it can
also stem from a period of inept rule that 10 WINDFALL
led to a widespread Pyon revolt.
A windfall is a stroke of luck, a blessing
Choose one: that catapults your family into fame (or
infamy). Possible results could be an
-5 Territory, +5 Warfare, +5 Dominion advantageous marriage, a gift from the
-5 Dominion, +5 Warfare, +5 Territory king, discovery of new resources on
ones lands, and more.
8 ALLIANCE
Choose a Trait Score and raise it by 5.
The House has a close allegiance with a
powerful family, another House Minor or
possibly even the ruling House Major.
Perhaps overtime, your house has
merged or may merge with its allies but
certainly, for now, their fortunes affect
your own.
Choose one:
+5 Territory, -5 Influence, +5 Espionage

+5 Treasury, -5 Dominion, +5 Warfare
173
WASTE DICE - TABLE B 4 DISHONOUR
1 TREACHERY A member of your house took a stand or

took some cause of action which proved
Either you suffered the results of to be the wrong choice. This led to the
treachery or you were involved in faction being given a black mark or
committing a treacherous act. In either otherwise treated with disdain.
case, the historical event stains your
familys name. Choose one:
Choose any 1 Trait and reduce it by 10. -5 Influence, +5 Espionage, +5 Warfare

-5 Dominion, +5 Espionage, +5 Defense
2 VILLAIN
5 AID
Your family produced a character of
unspeakable cruelty and wickedness, a The family lands or fees suffer some
villain whose name is still whispered setback or disaster that requires your
with dread. House to beg for assistance. Another
faction answers the call, leaving your
Such a character might have committed faction in their debt.
terrible crimes in his home, killed guests
under his roof, or was simply just a bad A debt that has still to be called in
person.
Choose one:
Choose one:
+5 Territory, +5 Warfare
-5 Influence, +5 Defense, +5 Espionage
-5 Dominion, +5 Warfare, +5 Espionage
6 FOLLY
3 DEATH
During its history, one of Houses
A prominent member of your family died ancestors or employees did something
under suspicious or otherwise tragic extraordinarily stupid. They might have
circumstances causing great setbacks made an agreement to something that
and diplomatic problems. was completely unrealistic, ordered
something grandiose and utterly useless
Perhaps it was during a critical time or or perhaps caused some minor disaster
the family member was highly respected through recklessness.
or they left no heir or replacement.
Regardless, the idiotic decision made by
Choose one: House Bonehead has not been
forgotten.
-5 Influence, +5 Dominion, +5 Territory
-5 Treasury, +5 Dominion, +5 Espionage
174
Choose one: great at that thing. This continues to be

their duty and responsibility. Dont let
-5 Espionage, +5 Territory, +5 Defense your House down
-5 Defense, +5 Treasury, +5 Warfare
Once per Month, one of your Household
7 CALLOUSNESS may add 1d to a dice roll related to your
duty or reputation.
Some faction, a rival house or perhaps
even your own houses pyons needed 10 BOON
help, begged for it, but you turned it
down. You didnt listen, didnt care, and Another house, a faction or some other
now that haunts your family (or perhaps group owes you. For whatever reason,
just your familys name). perhaps they needed money or
assistance or you had some other thing
Choose one: they needed, you provided the solution
and now they owe you a debt.
-5 Territory, +5 Warfare, +5 Defense
-5 Treasury, +5 Dominion, +5 Espionage
You may cash this debt in once against
that faction and once it used, it is gone,
8 INVESTMENT
but what you can get out of them can be
spectacular
The House sponsored an artisan, some
new development or otherwise invested
time and effort into some person, project
or building.
That sponsorship turned out to be a a

wise investment and the returns won
you much standing.
Choose one:
+5 Influence
+5 Territory
+5 Treasury
9 REPUTATION
Your house has performed admirably at

some duty or task that was assigned to
them. They won the respect and
admiration of their peers and their lords
for their activities.
And now your house is known for being
175
DOMAIN Management
Once youve got your domain all worked out, then that the players are always High
you probably want to know what to do with Householders.
it
THE YEAR
The House domain is the focal point of each
faction: it represents their strengths and So now that is cleared up, we need to discuss
weaknesses as a group and is ultimately their what sort of things the Household can do with
home and defense. this Domain and how that feeds the narrative.
If the domain falls, then the House is sure to The events of game take place over Years.
Years A
follow Year is a standard measure of 12 months of a
Guild Year.
So really, even if you arent interested in
playing politics, the very least you will want to Each month, the Householders and the Domain
do is protect your borders. For if a House looks get to do stuff. This stuff can be anything
weak, it is certain that its peers will drop on from holding a party to building a new barracks
them like a pack of wolves. to spying on a rivals habits. A list of what
exactly you can do follows, but it is important
THE HOUSEHOLD to note that although you have many options,
you only have enough time in a month to do
Each House consists of a House Domain and a certain stuff.
Household:
Household if the House Domain is the lands
and fees owned by the House, then the To represent this limited time, each High
Household is the family, friends and employees Householder can only do four things for
which run it. themselves in a month (each thing is called an
Operation)
Operation in between their regular duties,
The Household consists of two types of person, training and the like. They can also do one
High Householders and Low Householders.
Householders The thing for the Domain each month (which is
former are the important people who make the called a Venture).
Venture
decisions whereas the latter are the servants,
guards, cooks, cleaners, drivers and the like. Operations are things that an individual
character can do, like spying on a specific
Traditionally, most High Householders are at person, making special pains to get to know
least of the Bondsmen caste. Rarely are Pyons someone or even assassinating an enemy.
and lower more than Low Householders.
Ventures are big events and orchestrations
High Householders are the movers and shakers, performed by all the House itself. These are
the people that attend the Sysselraad meetings directed by a High Householder (that is, they
and generally get the House into and out of are in charge of the Venture) and can include
problems. It should come as no surprise to you
176
things like a raid on a rivals silos, building a DEFENDER: the House has decided to tighten
dam and organising a big procession. security, close the borders and lock the domain
down. This grants +1d to Defense rolls.
To put this in perspective, we shall just repeat
an important phrase: NEUTRAL: the House has not taken an official
stance on anything and thus gains no bonuses.
EACH HIGH HOUSEHOLDER CAN MAKE 4 OPERATIONS
AND 1 VENTURE EACH MONTH PROLETARIAN: the House is focusing on its own
internal politics, breaking up house holdings
HOUSE STRATEGY and giving great benefit to the people who work
for them. This yields +1d to Dominion rolls.
A House Strategy is a general attitude and
direction that the House is taking. A House can NETWORKER: the House is sends out its spies,
only have one House Strategy at a time and this infiltrating the companies and organisations at
yields a bonus to certain House Ventures. all levels. This grants +1d to Espionage rolls.
The Household decides what the House Strategy TOCKPILER: the House has curbed spending,
STOCKPILER
is and it takes a full month to implement. In limited development and counting its coins.
game terms, the Household decides to change This yields +1d to Treasury rolls.
the Strategy in one month and it takes the next
full month to implement it. WARMONGER: the Houses resources and tactics
are generally on the offense, in a state of
E.g. On Month 3, a House currently has the combat readiness, yielding +1d to Warfare
Neutral House Strategy. It decides to change the rolls.
Strategy. The decision is made in month 3, it
takes the entirety of Month 4 to implement the OUSE VENTURES
HOUSE
changes and they gain the benefits of the
Strategy in Month 5. As previously mentioned, the House as a whole
can do stuff to advance its plans and goals.
The House Strategies are: When a House works together as a living
organism, this is called a Venture.
Venture
BUILDER: the House is cultivating its lands,
encouraging people to sign up with them, Examples of House Ventures are building a new
building useful infrastructure like power Agora for the market traders or a new
stations and dams and slowly expanding its spaceport.
borders to free (and sometimes not so free)
lands. This gives the House +1d to Territory At the beginning of a Month, each Householder
rolls. can take a House Venture.
COURTESAN: the House has an open territory, Not every Householder needs to take a House
allowing people to come and go as they please. Venture (and there are some reasons for only a
The House welcomes people with open arms. small number of Householders to take Ventures)
This grants +1d to Influence rolls. but generally, the more a House does, the more
effective it can be.
177
A Householder who declares a House Venture is Depending on the size and power of the House,
said to be Directing that Venture. this can mean dice pools are relatively low. Do
not be dissuaded by dice pools of 4 to 6, as
When a Householder is directing, they are there is assistance to be had.
spending most of the month making
arrangements, negotiations and otherwise The individual actions and activities of the
organising the Venture. Householders can increase the dice pools
through the use of the previously mentioned
The rest of their time is spent undertaking their Operations.
general duties and their hobbies. This leaves
them with enough time to undertake one So a Household performing several Ventures
personal endeavour for the House each week. that reduces its Traits to relatively low dice
pools can be increased by appropriate and well
Such endeavours are called Operations and will performed personal activities.
be discussed in the next section.
The House Ventures are:
Ventures require a dice roll to resolve and take
two House Traits and add them together to form APPROPRIATE: The House either steals, annexes or
a dice pool. otherwise plunders another Houses resources.
One of the downsides for making Ventures (and Target a rival Houses Warfare, Defense,
one of the reasons why you may not want every Territory or Treasury.
Householder undertaking a Venture each
Month) is that you must reduce a House Trait Roll your Warfare + Territory countered by their
by 1 each time it is being employed in a given Defense + Territory.
Month. This cannot reduce the Trait below 1.
You reduce your opponents targeted Trait Score
E.g. A House makes three Ventures that all by double your resulting Width and gain that
utilise the Treasury Trait. The Treasury Trait is amount.
3 and is reduced by 1 for each Venture it is used
by. This reduces the trait by 3 to 1d for each ATTACK: The House goes on the offensive and
roll. attempts to reduce the Trait of an opposing
House through aggressive action.
At the beginning of the next Month, each Trait
suffers Degradation.
Degradation Each time a trait is used in Attacks target a rival Houses Warfare, Defense,
a Month, reduce its Trait Score by 1. Then use Territory or Treasury.
the modified Trait Rating for this Month.
Roll Warfare + Territory against Defense +
E.g. a House has an Espionage Trait Score of Territory.
33. This yields a Trait Rating of 3. The House
uses the Espionage Trait twice in one Month. Reduce their appropriate Trait Score by double
This degrades Trait Score by 2 at the beginning the resulting Width.
of the next Month to 31.
178
E.g. Your House decides to attack a rival Your House makes a list of fake Ventures that it
Houses Influence. You roll Espionage + is undertaking and a fake House Strategy.
Treasury countered by their Defense + Influence.
You roll 3x6 and they roll 2x7, reducing your You roll your Espionage + Influence. Your
Width to 1. You reduce their Influence Score by 2 Width doubled creates a Difficulty for your
(Width 1 x 2). opponents Surveillance and Investigate
ventures.
DEVELOP: The House decides to improve its
domain by building, cultivating and training. Rivals arent aware of whether they pass or fail.
All they know is that they receive results: either
Roll your Territory + Treasury at a Difficulty of the truth (if they do indeed pass) or your
the Trait you want to improve. Raise the misinformation (if they fail).
appropriate Trait Score by your resulting Width.
PROPAGANDA: The House makes an attack
E.g. Your House has an Espionage Trait of 4. against the hearts and minds of the people of
You take a Develop venture to raise your the target House.
Espionage. You roll Territory + Treasury at
Difficulty 4 and score 3x5. You raise your This is an Attack which targets a Houses
Espionage Score by 3. Dominion, Espionage and Influence.
INVESTIGATE: The House monitors a rival Houses Roll Espionage + Influence against Defense +
activities, the movement of their troops and its Dominion.
bondsmens activities.
Reduce their appropriate Trait Score by double
You roll Espionage + Influence countered by the resulting Width.
your targets Espionage + Defense. If you are
successful, you discover the target Houses SUBVERT: Similar to an Appropriation venture,
current House Strategy. the House decides to bribe, brainwash or
otherwise poach another Houses people.
MAINTAIN: The House puts some efforts into
upkeeping its lands, repairing broken Target a rival Houses Dominion, Espionage or
machinery, upgrading power stations and Influence.
providing new tools for the Pyons.
Roll your Espionage + Influence countered by
Roll Territory + Treasury. Choose one Trait per their Espionage + Dominion.
point of Width. Those traits dont suffer
Degradation this month. You reduce your opponents targeted Trait Score
by double your resulting Width and gain that
MISINFORM: The House deliberately goes out of amount.
its way to distribute lies and false trails to its
rivals. This is different to merely countering SURVEILLANCE: The House looks into the
other Houses Surveillance ventures. activities of rival House. Choose a rival House
and a House Trait. Roll your Espionage + the
179
chosen House Trait. This is countered by their the Game or some other bonus to a House
Defense + Espionage. Venture.
MINIMAL SUCCESS - 1X: Reveals if any House The House Operations are;
Ventures are being undertaken which utilise the
target Trait. ASSASSINATE: The Householder attempts to take
out the agent of a rival House, this can be
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: Reveals how many anywhere from a daring commando raid or a
Ventures are being undertaken using the target lone assassin striking from the darkness. You
Trait. can target a High Householder or a Low
Householder.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: Reveals what Ventures are
being undertaken using the target Trait. Against a High Householder, this is best
resolved through an Encounter. The goal is to
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: Reveals the current Trait outright kill the target Householder. This has
Level. far reaching ramifications and if you want it to
be legal, you must ensure that your House is
HOUSEHOLDER OPERATIONS either in a War of Assassins or in Kanly.
As previously discussed, each Month a character Against a Low Householder, roll Intellect +
in a Household can undertake four personal Sinister countered by the Houses Defense +
activities for the House. Espionage.
Where Ventures involve a Householder directing Success knocks a die out of one of the target
teams of people working toward a specific goal Householders Venture sets for that Month.
for the House, an Operation is the Householder
going out on their own and performing some INTELLIGENCE: The Householder goes looking for
task for their own reasons. information on the activities and resources.
When a character undertakes an Operation, it You can either hunt for some specific
can either be resolved by a dice roll or by an information (such as a characters most prized
Encounter, depending on the situation. possession) or gain Intelligence on the House.
This basically comes down to whether the If the latter, target a rival House.
player and/or Judge decide whether the result of
the Operation is either dangerous (such as with Roll Insight + Observe countered by the target
an Assassination) or a good opportunity for Houses Defense + Espionage.
role-playing (such as with a Socialise
operation). Success either reveals the appropriate
information or if Intelligence, you may gain a
When it comes to a dice roll, the Operation lists bonus of either +1d, +2d or +1 Special Die to
the roll necessary. A resulting set either yields an appropriate House Venture..
an abstract result determined by the Judge of
180
INTERROGATE: The Householder attempts to glean Against a Low Householder, you can hold a die
information from a rival Householder. This can ransom from one the target Houses dice pools
be anything from torture to a revealing this Month.
conversation.
The House can either yield (returning the die to
You can either Interrogate a Low Householder their pool but giving you a bonus die to one of
or a High Householder. your die pools) or refuse and lose the die for
this Month.
Against a High Householder, this is resolved
through an Encounter. The results can yield MISLEAD: The Householder lays down
either +1d, +2d or +1 Special Die to an misdirection and lies to its rivals.
appropriate House Venture.
You make a list of fake Operations and a fake
Against a Low Householder, either roll Intellect Venture that you are undertaking this Month.
+ Physician or Insight + Intrigue. This
countered by Command + Focus, if the former, You roll your Intellect + Intrigue. Your Width
or Command + Intrigue if the latter. doubled creates a Difficulty for your opponents
Spy and Interrogate operations against you.
The information revealed from a High
Householder very much depends on the results Rivals arent aware of whether they pass or fail.
of the Encounter. All they know is that they receive results: either
the truth (if they do indeed pass) or your
If against a Low Householder, you may choose misinformation (if they fail).
one High Householder per Width. For each High
Householder chosen in this fashion, you learn PROTECT: You watch over the Operations and
one of their Operations and whether or not they Ventures of another Householder of your House.
are taking a Venture this Month.
Choose another High Householder. Roll your
KIDNAP: The Householder appropriates a Low or Insight + Perception. Your Width doubled
High Householder from a rival House. creates a Difficulty for any opposing Operation
against the chosen High Householder.
Against a High Householder, again, this is
resolved by an Encounter. Householders performing Operations against
the target are disrupted if they fail the test.
Against a Low Householder, roll Intellect +
Sinister countered by a Houses Defense + SABOTAGE: The Householder either targets a rival
Espionage. House or a Householder, attempting to disrupt
their activities.
The result of kidnapping a High Householder
effectively neutralizes their Ventures and Roll Prowess + Sinister. This is countered by
Operations this Month. But has further reaching the Houses Defense + Espionage (if targeting a
consequences (read: the target House will rival House) or by Insight + Perception (if
probably not be too happy about it!). targeting a rival Householder).
181
When targeting a House, choose a Venture. STEAL: The Householder steals something of
Reduce the Height of the Venture dice roll by important from a rival House.
your Width.
This is resolved as an Encounter and can have
If targeting a Householder, choose one of their great ramifications, based upon what is being
Operations. Reduce the Height of the Operation stolen.
dice roll by your Width.
Stealing a fabulous piece of art from a rival
SOCIALISE: The Householder meets with a House will probably cause upset and
member of a rival House and engenders a embarrassment, especially if performed at the
relationship, whatever the nature of that right time. However, stealing the command
relationship might be. codes to deactivate the houses defenses is
another matter entirely.
Choose a rival High Householder or Low
Householder. The specific results can yield either +1d, +2d
or +1 Special Die to an appropriate House
If the former, this is resolved by an Encounter. Venture, as determined by the Judge of the
The results of which are largely left up to the Game.
Judge of the Game but typically involve the
target becoming friendlier to the operator.
If the latter, you roll Charm + Personality.

Success adds 1d to one of your Houses
Ventures against the target House.
SPY: The Householder shadows a rival

Householder, observing their activities.
Target a High Householder. Roll your Insight +

Perception countered by the Houses Defense +
Espionage.
MINIMAL SUCCESS - 1X: Reveal one of the

Householders Operations.
STANDARD SUCCESS - 2X: As above, but reveal two

of the Householders Operations.
EXPERT SUCCESS - 3X: As above, but reveal four of

the Householders Operations.
MASTER SUCCESS - 4X: As above, but reveal four

of the Householders Operations and any House
Venture they are undertaking this Month.

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2

Hya Hya Chouhada!

Dorian Thomas Hawkins

the known universe

weapons and practices, as outlined in the

The Great Convention is a huge legal document The second is Kanly,

For example, shortly after the assassination of

The faufreluche system is meant to provide

However, it attempted to minimise alienation of

The theory behind the Faufreluche system's

Its principle flaw is that the Faufreluches is a

The caste system is divided into levels. The

There are schools of learning devoted to the

Sisters who survived a ritualized poisoning

It is noted that Houses of the Imperium may

As the only party able to transport goods in an

Ultimately, the Guild's only concern is that the

Thus, the mining operation essentially consists

Extensive use of the drug tints the sclera,

On other planets, the addicted often use tinted

When aerosolized and used as an inhalant in

The Spice is also key to conferring the more

COMPLICATIONS scoring a success a challenge but also reduces

MULTIPLE ACTIONS E.g. You decide to disarm an opponent and stab

COMPETITIVE TESTS As usual, Width represents how well you

EXAMPLES OF COMPETITIVE TESTS

COOPERATIVE TESTS The most basic and obvious opposed test is

changes the pool to 1, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 9. Yielding

The Seventh Principle of Special Dice is that

E.g.7. A character has a Special Die Rating of 4.

Waste Dice (also known as Loose Dice) are any

FINISH HIM! Combat awareness is the deciding factor here:

That is worth repeating; E.g. A character shoots at someone else. The

Ad infinitum. 3. Damage always comes in one of three

Physical Damage represents attacks Having a statistic reduced by damage causes

If to the face, this might be to a social GORE (5 POINT COMPLICATION)

The character has a broken hand, limb, Mental Complications

The characters primary limb or a leg is

ERRATIC BEHAVIOUR (2 POINT COMPLICATION) bizarre and as do the decisions you

TRAUMATIC STRESS (3 POINT COMPLICATION) Social Complications

You develop a severe phobia related to SULLENNESS (2 POINT COMPLICATION)

PARIAH (3 POINT COMPLICATION) reputation and dealings will be affected:

OUTCAST (5 POINT COMPLICATION) Alternatively, a physician can make a medicine

been employed as a generic defense mechanism 4. Slow Pellet Stunners,

On a roll of 4, 5 or 6, the holtzman shield A character may purchase a specific weapon

You can, however, Dive For Cover.

To reflect this, when a character is wielding two COMBAT ACTIONS

EXAMPLE VEHICLES AIR TRAVEL

The Categories are; VOID SPACE TRAVEL

Consult the following System Chart for VEHICLE WEAPONS

STEP ONE - INITIALISATION

Here you are determining Position,

ATTACK JINK Escape: if you are at Visual Range, make a

G-FORCES It is important to note that every set generated

They also have a number of Gunners to fire STEP THREE - RESOLUTION

E.g. A battleship has a Firepower rating of 6 DAMAGE TO CREW

To begin with, this kind of campaign might be

Plus the scope of the campaign suddenly

It is decided that there is a common phrase

One of the players decided it would be cool if the

2x9 Glory Soon after, the Zelonan invasion petered out.

9 Division And yet, House Commander Heinrick Banthet,

Resulting Quality Scores: +10 Influence, +5 Treasury