Dune Rights & Wrongs
Dune angel. Envelop me. As my fascination with Dune texts grows to clinical proportions, I thought I would take a moment so showcase the history various games that have blossomed out of the original Dune text. Games are particularly fascinating as the degree of “user” input fluctuates greatly. Not only is there imagination. There are also rules. Bittersweet dangerous rules.
Before Lynch’s movie the British game studio Avalon Hill published <i>Frank Herbert’s Dune</i>, a six player war strategy game in 1979. This was golden game complex war-based strategy games, and Dune was a worthy edition to Avalon Hill’s storied roster. Its most characteristic feature was element of political intrigue that manifested itself in the bluffing you’d have to pull off in order to win. Supposedly too, it is impossible to with without forming an alliance with another player. The game was originally written with a Roman theme, but after Avalon Hill acquired Dune rights (oh fuck me that is great phrase) they rebranded it and added gameplay elements from their Cosmic Encou
nters game. (I’ve had a lot of cosmic encounters, who’d of thought to make a game out of them?) The game has a good reputation amongst game enthusiasts and Dune fans. Complete boxes often go for $100s on auction sites. There is this guy (one of many) who built his own custom board for the game. That is ‘core.
To coincide with the release of Lynch’s film Avalon Hill released a special edition box with “Sting” as Feyd on the cover, and two expansion kits Spice Harvest and The Duel to extend certain aspects of gameplay. The “Sting” cover is now highly collectible. A French version with included contents of both expansion sets was also released. A revamped edition this game was supposed to be released by Fantasy Flight Games, but they could not attain Dune rights so they worked the game into one of their previously existing game worlds.
The release of the Lynch’s film also ushered the release of a Parker Bros. “Ameritrash” movie tie-in board game. These types of games are called “Ameritrash” due to their simplistic, unoriginal gameplay as opposed to more complex European stratedy games like Avalon Hill’s Dune. Sadly, most American board games are little more than variations on Chutes-n-Ladders. Roll a die, fall in a hole, sorry, Sorry, this is as fun as banging my head against a wall (which can be fun btw). I wish I had a copy of Parker Bros.’ Dune for my collection, but I would rather play the full version of Avalon Hill’s Dune with expansion sets. Ameritrash Dune goes for around $50 depending on condition. 
Defunct game studio Last Unicorn created a Dune-themed collectible card game, ala Magic: The Gathering (bah) in 1997. I despise collectible card games, but what is important here is the studio had Dune rights, and after the card game they released Dune-themed role playing game, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, in 2000. The provenance of this game is as interesting as the story behind the creation of Lynch’s Dune. As final touches were completed on the game Last Unicorn were bought out by Borg-like Wizards of the Coast game studio. A limited-run hardcover core rulebook was sold at GenCon Indianapolis (the premier annual gaming convention) with publishing credits even to both Last Unicorn and Wizards. Wizards said their plan was to convert Last Unicorn’s ICON rule system to their widely popular d20 system. Wizards’ version of what happens next is that they lost Dune rights after they bought out Last Unicorn and therefore Dune was discontinued. This made the Dune hardcover core rulebook highly collectable and it often fetches prices over $300 on auction sites. Conspiracy theorists claim Wizards squashed Dune because at the same GenCon they were launching their d20 version of the Star Wars role playing game which they had just acquired from West End Games. The studio didn’t want two fan obsessed universes competing against one another. Obviously Star Wars is a bigger cash cow. Lynch should have put Sean Young in a metal bikini. (That just pissed some geeks off). My theory is that Wizards wanted Last Unicorn because Last Unicorn had the Star Trek role playing game. Paramount Pictures eventually sold the Star Trek rights to Decipher Games and I think the Dune game was just a casuality. I’m not sure how Last Unicorn got rights to two of the biggest franchises in SF fandom. Owning the Star Trek name guarantees signifigant sales, and the their original Star Trek core rulebook was critical praised when initially released. The Dune game never faired so well. I haven’t read anything good about ICON rule system (I’ve never played it myself) and many Herbert fans lamented the focus of the game was your typical interstellar intrigue as experienced by the minor royal houses in the Dune universe. The planet Arrakis, aka Dune, wasn’t central and game was written so you wouldn’t be playing any of Herbert’s named characters. 
Any discussion of Dune role playing games would be incomplete without mention of Fading Suns a dark space opera role playing game which “is strongly reminiscent of Frank Herbert’s Dune. In gaming forums I’ve read posts by the authors of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium describing Fading Suns as “Dune the serial numbers filed off.” Fading Suns designers Andrew Greenberg and Bill Bridges mention everything from Lovecraft, to Jung, to Lem, to Jesus, but not Dune. They might just be being cute and covering their legal asses in the process. Greenberg and Bridges were part of initial design teams for Vampire and Werewolf respectively at White Wolf Studios, two games that revolutionized and rejuvenated the gaming world. Being a critics favorite, if not a bestseller, Fading Suns has been the de facto Dune role playing game since 1996.
This is not to overlook the many homegrown Dune based games like TWURPS Dune, Dune: Quest for Arrakis (a text based online game), and Dune: A Dream of Rain, just to name a few. Most of these exist in nebulous copyright zones. And that is why we love them. AND overlook the even more homegrown games that were publically published anywhere, either entirely authored from scratch or ported from a generic game system like GURPS or FUDGE.
The video games are their own universe and I’m not going there. Or maybe it is the fact I just don’t like to play them. But it would me a criminal act for me not to mention Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty or its title for Sega Mega Drive Dune II: Battle for Arrakis. Dune II set the template for real time strategy games like Command and Conquer: Red Alert, Warcraft, and Starcraft, which exploded in popularity during 1990s. Dune II has become a classic in the genre and lives on in open source clones like Dune II: The Golden Path and Dunelegacy/Doonlunacy. Ironically, this game is based on the plot of Lynch’s film not Herbert’s novel.
Furt
her down the slippery slope of games is the first Dune computer game, titled appropriately enough Dune, was released in 1992, the same year as Dune II. The soundtrack was considered a triumph for the technology of the time and was released by Virgin as the stand alone album Dune: Spice Opera. The album has become of the most highly collectable Dune related items. Stephan Picq, composer of the tracks, has leaked the tracks to the internet in bitterness at Virgin not releasing the rights to the music. I guess Virgin is waiting for the pop culture Dune renaissance this blog will spark before re-releasing the album and making even more millions of dollars than they already have.
I’m not sure I know where to start as far as my analysis of this proliferation of Dune texts. What sparked my interest is the eerie symmetry between the reverence given to Herbert’s novel, a work created with zero expectation, and the vehemence towards Lynch’s Dune, a work created with copious expectations. I find synchronous parallels between the production of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium and Lynch’s Dune, especially if you buy into Harlan Ellison’s theory that Lynch’s Dune was intentionally squashed by a new regime of studio execs to make the regime of studio execs they replaced look bad. And what about the ironies of Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty becoming on the most influential video games of all time, but based on one of the most hated incarnations of the Dune text? There’s a book in here somewhere. I just have to ferret out the structure and then start with the interviews. Am I talking to myself?
I was going to site sources but Piter de Vries told me not to.
I must admit I have never played any these games. I have played some of the mid-90s computer games that were based on the Dune II template and they were very addictive. I would love to play Avalon Hill’s Dune with full expansion packs. That would be a serious evening of ‘core geekdom. It is interesting to note that Avalon Hill’s version is the only game mentioned here that can’t found illegally or semi-legally in the form a slightly altered clone with a few internet searches. There is something to be said for physical parts people. I would also love to play some Fading Suns d20. I’ve heard the native crunch is hard, so why not stick with what I know. I also want to read up on Last Unicorn’s ICON system which I think died when they were bought out. It seems to have split gaming forums and I’d like to see what it is about.
