Overview

This chapter introduces the core rules for playing Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. As the rest of the rules in the other chapters build on the mechanics found here, it’s valuable to have a decent understanding on how all this works. Each section within this chapter starts with a brief primer on what that section describes, which is then elaborated upon and described in full.

Dice

Dune: Adventures in the Imperium uses a single type of dice to resolve the actions a character may attempt and the situations they may face: twenty-sided dice, often referred to as a d20. Most of the time more than one die is rolled at once: these dice are collectively referred to as a dice pool. The number of dice being rolled are noted as Xd20, where X is the number of dice being rolled, so 2d20 means two twenty-sided dice are rolled.

Re-rolls

Some situations or abilities allow a character to re-roll one or more dice. When re-rolling dice, you choose the dice you wish to re-roll. You then roll those dice again, and the new results replace the old ones, even if the new result is worse.

Some situations allow you to re-roll a specific number of dice, while others allow an entire dice pool to be re-rolled. You may always choose how many dice you wish to re-roll, up to the maximum listed—in essence, you can always choose not to re-roll a die if you wish to keep that result.

Once you’ve re-rolled a die, you may not re-roll it again: the second result stands, even if you have another ability that lets you re-roll.

Characters

This chapter will refer to abilities and details which are described fully across this chapter, but in order to avoid too much page-flipping, we’ve provided a basic Overview here:

• Traits: A character has two or more traits, which serve as basic descriptions of who the character is. These interact with the rules in the same way as other traits.
• Skills: A character has scores in five broad skills—Battle, Communicate, Discipline, Move, and Understand—ranging from 4 to 8. These determine how capable a character is at a certain type of activity and are used as part of a character’s target number when they make a skill test.
• Focuses: A character has Focuses for several of their Skills. Focuses describe areas of specialization and expertise within each skill. If a focus applies to what a character is doing, it increases the chances of scoring critical successes when making a skill test.
• Drives: A character has scores in five drives—Duty, Faith, Justice, Power, and Truth—ranging from 4 to 8. These show how strongly a character believes in these facets of life and are used as part of a character’s target number when they make a skill test.
• Drive Statements: A character’s highest Drives also have statements associated with them. When a character wishes to use a drive as part of a skill test, they must check to see if the statement agrees or conflicts with the action being taken. If a character’s Drives agree with their actions, they receive bonuses, while if their Drives conflict with their actions, they may be hindered.
• Talents: A character’s Talents are distinctive special abilities setting them apart from other people. The distinctive powers of the Bene Gesserit and the accelerated thought processes of Mentats are both types of Talents.
• Assets: Described fully in Chapter 6: Conflict and Chapter 7: Assets, a character’s Assets represent the Tools and Resources they have at their disposal, which can be invaluable in overcoming adversity.