Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium

Last updated
Dune, Chronicles of the Imperium.jpg

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is a role-playing game published by Last Unicorn Games in 2000.

Contents

History

Brian Herbert entered into negotiations with Last Unicorn Games (LUG) in 1996 from which LUG acquired the license to the Dune novels, and they designed the Dune Collectible Card Game (1997), which Five Rings Publishing Group developed and published. LUG was able to finish their work on a Dune role-playing game, but the game was not printed due to legal disputes regarding the Herbert license. Wizards of the Coast acquired LUG in July 2000, and as part of the deal Wizards agreed to release LUG's remaining projects, including the Icon system-based Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium (2000); Wizards published 3,000 copies as a limited release, most of which were sold at Gen Con 33 and overseas conventions, but the limited print run did not satisfy the demand for the game. Afterwards, the Frank Herbert estate offered to renegotiate but they asked for much higher fees from Wizards for the license than they had received from LUG; thus Wizards did not retain the Dune license, and a d20 Dune supplement in progress from the Last Unicorn team was also shelved. [1]

Description

The game is set in the Dune universe. [2] Delayed by legal issues and then a corporate buy-out of Last Unicorn by Wizards of the Coast, a "Limited Edition" run of 3000 copies of a core rule-book was initially published, pending Wizards of the Coast's conversion of the game to its d20 role-playing game system and a subsequent wider release. [2] The company later announced that the game would be discontinued. [3]

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium was developed by Last Unicorn Games, but published by Wizards of the Coast after the acquisition. [2]

Val Mayerik did interior art for the game.

Related Research Articles

White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was initially led by Mark Rein-Hagen of the former and Steve Wieck and Stewart Wieck of the latter. White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with CCP Games in 2006. White Wolf Publishing operated as an imprint of CCP hf, but ceased in-house production of any material, instead licensing their properties to other publishers. It was announced in October 2015 that White Wolf had been acquired from CCP by Paradox Interactive. In November 2018, after most of its staff were dismissed for making controversial statements, it was announced that White Wolf would no longer function as an entity separate from Paradox Interactive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Cook</span> American writer and game designer

Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons.

The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, originally developed for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The system is named after the 20-sided dice which are central to the core mechanics of many actions in the game.

Open gaming is a movement within the tabletop role-playing game (RPG) industry with superficial similarities to the open source software movement. The key aspect is that copyright holders license their works under public copyright licenses that permit others to make copies or create derivative works of the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legend of the Five Rings</span> Collectible card game and setting

Legend of the Five Rings is a fictional setting created by John Zinser, Dave Seay, Ryan Dancey, Dave Williams, DJ Trindle, Matt Wilson and John Wick and first published by a joint venture between Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA in 1995. The setting primarily involves the fictional empire of Rokugan, though some additional areas and cultures have been discussed. Rokugan is based roughly on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures such as China, Mongolia and Korea. This setting is the basis for the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game as well as the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game. Legend of the Five Rings was also the "featured campaign setting" of the Oriental Adventures expansion to the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, though this book is now out of print.

The Open Game License (OGL) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast that may be used by tabletop role-playing game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, notably game mechanics. However, they must share-alike copies and derivative works.

Don Perrin is a Canadian writer and former military officer.

<i>d20 Modern</i>

d20 Modern is a modern fantasy role-playing game system designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. The system's core rulebook was published by Wizards of the Coast on November 1, 2002; by 2006, ten additional supplements were released. The game is based on the d20 System and the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition ruleset. It includes various campaign settings along with the tools to build campaigns in modern/contemporary settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guardians of Order</span> Canadian publisher of roleplaying games

Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired Big Eyes, Small Mouth. In 2006 Guardians of Order ceased operations due to overwhelming debt.

The Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG) was formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA.

Kenzer & Company (KenzerCo) is a Waukegan, Illinois based publisher of comic books, role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Ronin Publishing</span>

Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games including multiple Origins, ENnie, Pen & Paper, and Inquest Fan Awards.

<i>Star Trek Roleplaying Game</i> (Decipher)

Star Trek Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game (RPG) set in the Star Trek universe using the CODA System rules and first published by Decipher, Inc. in 2002. When Decipher acquired the rights to create the RPG, they also acquired most of the gaming studio from Last Unicorn Games. However, the Decipher game system is dissimilar to the one that Last Unicorn published. Instead, the system is similar to Wizards of the Coast's d20 System but uses 2D6 to resolve actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Scott Tynes</span> American game designer

John Scott Tynes is an American writer best known for his work on role-playing games such as Unknown Armies, Delta Green, Puppetland, and for his company, Tynes Cowan Corporation. Under its imprint, Pagan Publishing, Tynes Cowan Corp. produces third-party books for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game under license from Chaosium as well as fiction and non-fiction books under its imprint, Armitage House.

<i>Dune</i> (card game) Collectible card game

Dune is an out-of-print collectible card game produced by Last Unicorn Games and Five Rings Publishing Group, and later Wizards of the Coast. Set in the Dune universe based on the books written by Frank Herbert, the game pits two or more players against each other, each in control of a minor house vying for entry in the Landsraad.

Last Unicorn Games (LUG) was a game publisher owned by Christian Moore that was eventually purchased by Wizards of the Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Pramas</span> American game designer

Chris Pramas is an American game designer and writer, as well as a founder of Green Ronin Publishing. He is best known as the designer of the Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and Freeport: The City of Adventure.

James Wallis is a British designer and publisher of tabletop and role-playing games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabletop role-playing game</span> Form of role-playing game using speech

A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

References

  1. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. pp. 315–316. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. 1 2 3 Guder, Derek (April 19, 2001). "Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium Capsule Review". RPG.net. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  3. "D20 Product News: Dune". Wizards.com (Internet Archive). 2000. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001. Retrieved January 24, 2001.