Dune game dares you to defy an evil Timothée Chalamet

Most tabletop role-playing games place their epic storylines more or less entirely in the hands of the players at the table. Their choices open up a myriad of opportunities and branching paths for their own private games, each presenting a unique experience that changes at every turn. Dune: Fall of the Imperium takes a different approach. Just as in Frank Herbert’s novels — and in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film, Dune: Part Two — House Atreides will fall. Muad’dib will rise, bringing the Jihad with him. The only question asked in Modiphius’ lavishly illustrated new expansion is if you and your house will weather the storm and come out on the other side as a major player in the new galactic regime, or if you will misplay your hand and fall into ruin like so many houses before you.

Built on the excellent Dune: Adventures in the Imperium TTRPG, Fall of the Imperium will take your players through just about every major plot point in the first few Dune books. However, rather than a front-row seat to the unfolding chaos, players will mostly be dealing with the political buildup and fallout of major canonical events. You might have a front-row seat to see Paul and the Bene Gesserit meet, but it won’t be the interaction that’s important; it will be the information gained and how you use it.

Split across four acts, each with three distinct adventures, players will lie, cheat, make and break alliances, and generally do whatever it takes to keep their legacy alive. Whispering in the ear of Baron Harkonnen may not be the most enticing of ideas, but it just might keep your loved ones alive for one more year. Besides, you could always throw the Harkonnens under the bus tomorrow, swearing that you were actually, truly, for realsies always loyal to the Atreides. Of course, three acts and years of in-game time in the future, the remnants of the Harkonnens may throw you under that same exact bus.

Act 1 runs through — approximately — the first of Villeneuve’s films and lays a lot of the groundwork going forward in the adventure. The focus is in setting up player allegiances, with the Ecaz House (a house from Brian Herbert’s prequel books) serving as the catalyst, looking for revenge against the Harkonnens. Whether players run to the Harkonnens with this information or try to use it as leverage to gain favor with the Atreides, alliances and enemies will be made.

After the fall of the Atreides, Acts 2 and 3 serve as the remainder of the first book and pick up where the second movie begins. The Atreides have fallen and Paul has fled to the Fremen. As players investigate discrepancies in spice production numbers, they’ll uncover secrets and plots that can shake the Imperium to its very core, building their network of contacts and hopefully strengthening their house so that when all hell breaks loose in Act 3 they have the connections to stand tall.

Image: Eren Arik/Modiphius Entertainment

As dominoes fall and new emperors rise, Act 4 asks if players have done enough to secure their future. Here they can cash in on favors and allies gained throughout the adventure, or revel in the chaos, looting and pillaging for the funds to keep themselves afloat. But, at the end of the day, it still might not be enough to satiate Muad’dib and the Fremen Jihad.

Keeping the major plot points of Dune at arm’s length gives DMs a bit more freedom to build out the stories that their players want to engage with and discourages meta-gaming. When everyone at the table knows how the story ends, the conversation becomes less about “What can we do to stop it?” and more “How can we survive?” If players are noticeably disinterested in the nuances of spice production and CHOAM, it’s easy for a DM to pivot back to the cities and political espionage of Arrakis. The story will continue on regardless, and the next adventure or act will pick up with little change needed.

Image: Eren Arik/Modiphius Entertainment

This laissez-faire attitude graciously extends to combat as well. There’s nothing wrong with the combat of Adventures in the Imperium, but it might not be what your group plays TTRPGs for. While the core rulebook established in-depth rules for interpersonal combat, small skirmishes between troops, and all-out wars, combat feels a bit more like a side dish rather than the main course. Fall of the Imperium calls this out in the same breath as adventures, noting that anything from combat to whole chapters can be skipped if the party loses interest in any facet of the story. This helps keep the pace breezy for players and take some of the “this has to be fun” weight off of the DM.

If you’ve just stepped out of Dune: Part Two and want nothing more than to dive back into the world of Arrakis, Fall of the Imperium is an accessible, flexible TTRPG for newcomers with enough depth and crunch to keep even the most seasoned of players engaged.

Dune: Fall of the Imperium was reviewed with a PDF of the final retail version provided by Modiphius Entertainment. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.