Today we’re going to take a dive into the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune Deluxe Starter Set, a comprehensive adventure set which provides a uniquely detailed resource for Gamemasters running Dune campaigns who do not wish to write the entirety of their own content. This is basically a complete starter set for Dune and even comes with a digital copy of the Core Rulebook, meaning that you can pick up Agents of Dune and essentially be ready to play the game right out of the box!
Let’s talk about what’s in here first. In addition to the main adventure book, you’ll get detailed character folios, allowing you to entirely skip or significantly streamline the character-building process. You’ll also get tracker sheets and tokens for Momentum, Threat, Determination, and Spice Harvesting. There are five Dune-themed D20 dice included in the set as well, neat swirly orange-yellow ones that fit well with the theme of the game. Custom maps and folio inserts add some dimension to the combat and gameplay of this set too, and to round out the campaign, there are 100 cards that show assets, traits, NPCs, and even story elements, helping to provide reminders to players and Gamemasters alike. It’s a rather impressive package for just under $60 US and reminiscent of an upgraded version of the old Dungeons & Dragons campaign boxes from the ‘90s.
Much more impressive is the Agents of Dune Adventure book itself, the focal point of the Starter Set. The Adventure Book is only 116 pages but it is an incredibly focused and useful compendium, leading you through three complex Acts of a starter Dune campaign. The key word there is ‘leading’. This is a set that is designed from the ground up for new Gamemasters or Gamemasters that are new to Dune. The intent here is to guide you in detail through the first Act of the campaign, then loosen the reins a bit in Act II and pull back to let the Gamemaster do a fair bit of heavy lifting in Act III. Mechanics and situations are designed to be scaled to experience levels, both with Dune – Adventures in the Imperium itself and with the modified 2D20 system that Dune uses.
This is an elegant campaign book that really brings the potential of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium into clear focus. There are sections to read aloud, key points and background materials that Gamemasters may need, and suggestions for how to proceed depending on player responses. There is even a helpful guide to layout an iconography at the beginning, making the Agents of Dune adventure a snap for even the freshest of Gamemasters to preside over. There are even breakdowns of NPC character stats in helpful areas. Naturally, the concern here is that the power and control of the Gamemaster is superceded by the adventure itself but not to worry. The entire campaign can be used word for word or as a guideline for how to structure your narrative or proceed. There are even suggestions on how to re-scale and change the adventure for experienced Gamemasters in order to allow them the creative freedom that typically comes with the role.
Whether you are an experienced Gamemaster or not is irrelevant to Agents of Dune because the game is wide open for you and your players. Each Act is broken up into disparate parts and each part is broken up into scenes, sometimes as many as six scenes per part. This rich narrative is a treasure trove of Dune storytelling and inspiration that can accommodate a variety of play and narrative styles. The level of detail and accounting for player idiosyncrasies means that one part of one act or even in some cases one scene could be a whole play session for a group. That means that there are potentially weeks or months of play here depending on how regular your group is.
Regardless of how experienced or efficient your party is, this is definitely not an adventure that will take a single play session and the gradual incorporation of more and more complex actions, rules, and plot is extremely well laid out. Starting off from a relatively innocuous training exercise, the plot slowly builds and expands, giving players a wonderful sampling of the various political entities and power structures in the Imperium and eventually leading of course to Dune. There’s no need to break down the actual story here as any Gamemaster worth their salt is going to read it in its entirety. What is more important to talk about though is the direct guidance for Gamemasters within the guide.
While there are general and specific instructions to follow in order to maximize the adventure for players, they are all recommendations. In addition, the margins are filled with suggestions on when and how to implement actions and activities, when to provide cards provided within the kit, and even helpful data or gameplay mechanics tips based on what’s going on during the campaign at any given time. Sure, it’s more than a bit of handholding but at the same time, it provides a valuable resource for new and old Gamemasters in improving their storytelling and techniques and incorporating NPCs, facts, and information in a way that feels organic and lets players feel like they are in control of the narrative. Agents of Dune is a master class in adventure structure that teaches as you play, an approach that is both rare and well-executed.
The rest of the components in the game are just as well-done as the Adventure Book. There’s a welcome letter from the player’s house which includes a quick reference guide for conflict and attack sequences and use of determination. There are five folio-style character sheets with pictures, background, talents, drives, and skills inside. The folios also have a quick breakdown of skill tests, difficulty, and more information on skills, drives, and traits on the back page. Negotiation and dueling maps are included, as well as combat maps of a couple of different areas. Handwritten (not really but they look like it) notes and printed operative reports are in full color and look excellent. Also in full color are a spice harvesting tracker and a momentum tracker. There’s even a full color brochure to introduce potential visitors to the planet of Arrakis!
That’s a lot of high quality components but there’s still a bit more. A number of cardboard tokens are included but the final showpiece here is the cards. A large stack of item cards are included, saving players the trouble of writing down the information on their character sheets and containing valuable information and even usage data about each item. A number of varied influence cards and other status cards (injury, shaken, etc) also provide a variety of quick reference details making gameplay easier for both players and the Gamemaster. The real standouts here though are the NPC cards. The game includes a stack of card standees, allowing the Gamemaster to place the cards in various locations, showing the players what characters look like and providing stat information for combat, diplomacy, and other attributes for each NPC. Not only are they very nice-looking cards but they are easy to read as well, though the print is a bit small, especially if you need glasses!
All in all, this is one heck of a package that will allow players to have a robust campaign within Dune, introduce a variety of mechanics in a slow and measured manner, and familiarize them and the Gamemaster with the world of Dune. It doesn’t end there either. Once you eventually complete Agents of Dune, Modiphius has a follow-up campaign available as well called Masters of Dune which continues the story. That means that all this gear will serve to keep you going well into the next campaign! Everything required for play is included in the Agents of Dune Deluxe Starter set and you even get a digital copy of the Core Rulebook (which is $23 separately) so you’re really only paying a bit under $40 for the rest of the gear. In this day and age with prices quite high on most TTRPGs, that’s a bargain! The Agents of Dune Deluxe Starter Set is unquestionably an excellent deal and a great way to get your gaming group started in the world of Dune!
This review is based on a physical copy of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune Deluxe Starter Set provided by the publisher. It is available on the Modiphius website here and at select fine gaming and bookstores.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.