DUNE PF1 ACT 2 The Dream of Green

Game Master Johnny_Panic

Wonderful! I'll get the profile updated.

Edit:

For feat I’m going to take extra ability. There are two that I’m struggling to pick from:

Unwavering Skill (Ex) You can always take 10 or 20 on checks using class skills, even if threatened or in a hazardous situation. You cannot use this ability with skill checks that do not normally allow you to take 10 or take 20.

Taking 20 on heal checks means guaranteed 14+1d4 healing. And being able to always take 10 or 20 on stealth checks will be a life saver.

——

This Might Just Work (Ex) You are adept at combining optimistic resourcefulness with natural skill. You can attempt a skill check with a class skill in place of a skill that uses the same ability score modifier. For example, you could attempt an Acrobatics check in place of a Stealth check because both skills are based on Dexterity. You take a –5 penalty on this check and cannot take 10 or 20 on it. The GM can disallow certain uses of this ability when the skill cannot possibly be applied to the task.

-5 hurts. But it means that every skill check can at least be attempted. Right now sense motive is +3. With this? It is +9.

So for the party, which seems more useful? I’m leaning towards the first…

I am going to give the other players 2 days to see how they post, If a player has left, then sadly they will not make the test.
But I will ping anyone before there PCs untimely death.

But we defo have 2 active players.

Just two? Three of us have posted today....

It looks like Borak has passed the test. Keeping in line with the rogue class I will go Trickster from the PFSRD with Surprise Strike as the trickster attack. I'll work more on the particulars in the morning.

Edit: YBD, would the trickster Path Ability Supreme Stealth: tremorsense keep a worm from automatically detecting him?

You all have had a BUSY morning! WOW!
I am certainly here.

Is the father we are talking about Ethan's father?
His Limir father?
I was wondering but didn't ask over the weekend.

After watching first Kasit then Borak do what was required, Ghir shrugged and though while it looked painful surely it can't be that bad. He was nervous yes, you'd have to be a fool not to, but he reminded himself that he had proven himself in battle time and again, this was just another challenge to rise above.

He thrust his hand inside the box and immediately he felt the most excruciating pain, it was like being simultaneously stung by a scorpion, burned and flayed alive. He stifled a cry, tasting blood from his tongue as he willed himself to stay put. To his profound shock, the pain had only begun to ramp up and suddenly he was soaked with sweat and panting and then it ramped up again so badly his vision failed and his heart was beating so hard it might explode. At some point the bloodcurdling scream he'd been holding back escaped and perhaps mercifully he lost consciousness.

[dice=Fort?]1d20+6

Well dicebot says no.

Oh no...that is bad.

Just throwing it out there, but now that we have mythic, maybe you could find a way to get a reroll?

Rally This would give you, and everyone else, the ability to reroll a single d20 this round. It's a basic marshall order. You could also use your second mythic point for the day to get a surge as well for said reroll. However, this would lock you into that mythic hero type...

Marshall and Trickster both have assured skill. It lets you roll a skill check twice.

You can use any skill for this check. Your acrobatics is +11, which could be explained as moving your hand within the box in ways to lessen the pain. And your bluff is +10, which would be gaslighting yourself into thinking this isn't so bad. I could also see the argument being made that endurance should apply here, as you are enduring the box. Thus giving +4 to your con save, bringing it up to +11. But with assured skill, I think an argument could be made on letting you roll again.

Sadly, either option locks you into that mythic path and required making the check.

Edit: Gifted has unwavering skill. Which if you took, the GM might allow you to retcon using it to just pass the skill check. Not the worst mythic ability to have and it would let you use that path if you so wanted.

So...yeah. That's the best I can think of, if you want to try and roll again.

You all have been busy today. First time on the board today and there were 12 in discussion and 5 or so in gameplay.

I may have some names wrong, but basically the new players father is there

I may have some names wrong, but basically the new players father is there

ah, Elta's father, who took Ethan in, got it

Quick note. I dropped human bane. Kasit’s damage is really high already. Having him become an actual nuke felt wrong. I went with distance (This special ability can only be placed on a ranged weapon. A distance weapon has double the range increment of other weapons of its kind. ) instead. It felt more in line with technology and balance.

Also…12L of water = 12k gold. So he had 12,250 gold to spend. 9,000 spent on the dagger. 3,250 left. Buying a Wild Fremen suit for 2,000, so 1,250 left.

Wild Freman Still: Armor/Shield Bonus +4 Maximum Dex Bonus +6 Armor Check Penalty 0 water loss day 0.5% Speed 30' Weight 10lbs

How much can I sell the village suit for?

Re "its any skill or save you can work a story of what your PC dose,"

Well Ghir rolled a 1 which is usually an automatic fail :) Even if it's not, there's no skill modifier he has that could help him reach DC 25.

Maybe he died? That could be the point, perhaps... And only a miracle could save him.

Sorry but going to have to ban mythic vital strike
it is just to powerful team.

How much can I sell the village suit for?
1/2 Litter of water

So this is a simpler test than the one that Paul dose.
The pain level is a LOT lower and you know this is not going to hurt you permanently.

Re "its any skill or save you can work a story of what your PC dose,"

Well Ghir rolled a 1 which is usually an automatic fail :) Even if it's not, there's no skill modifier he has that could help him reach DC 25.

Maybe he died? That could be the point, perhaps... And only a miracle could save him.

Ok so others can help you, and as you see there has been come very creative thinking here.

I have given you one last change, your PCs body failed.
But if you fail this time, I am sorry to say a new PC may be needed.

:(

"Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock."
Emperor Paul Atreides

Ghir sadily is not more, such is the way of dine, I have offered
Ghir player a chance to make a new PC, who as you may have guest is one of her Acolytes. Now with you, name and description to come

So what has been going on
well its like this
The old freman revered mother passed away last night, he had been hoping to meet this off worlder who was spreading the idea that the planet could be made in part green again. Sadily her group was attacked by Harkonnens
and a call went out for the local high presess to come meet her somewhere safe.

Then you came along, not only saving the future revered mother but also you know where Pardot Kynes was. So they meet here, the old revived mother died and the new one was proclaimed.

Now the new one talked to Pardot Kynes and she liked what she heard
This then is the start of the dream of a green DUNE.
No other freman know about it yet, but everyone in that room.

But to even try is a massive undertaken that will take generations.
Amd you my dear players will be part of this.

Ghir is dead, and FangDragon is going to be the acolyte joining us? That’s both sad and narratively very fitting.

Also the story sounds great. I did not expect this going into the campaign.

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

So I will give players time to update to mythic and make a new PC.

Sorry Panic, I was contemplating on how to respond to your long post, I'll get Borak 'updated' and post in the morning, Due to a series of events I find myself with less time and need to organize better.

thats fine RL comes 1st, this is also the real start to the game

Players I hope you are happy where the game has gone.

DUNE is a setting of deep faith and belief, a world that is not a kind place. Life is hard for a freman and brutal, your world is a death world where only the strong survive, add to that off worlders who hunt you for sport. One mistake one wrong move or just bad look and you are no more.

I killed a PC, I did it to show you, that your PCs are only one step from death, this is not a fantasy setting where you can just come back. Or magic will save you. This is DUNE, and death is a constant.

---

Freman are a hard people, and at this time they are looking for any hope they can. Along comes an off worlders, possibly the voice of the out world. Who offers to change the very face of Arackus to a lush paradise.

But not everyone wants to hear this, not everyone wants change, and right now DUNE is still a death world, You have proven yourselves shown, you have brains and will to do things. A revered mother looking to forge a new future sees in you tools she can use.

The sleeper must awaken.

Well Sister Julia is almost ready... Will work on her background over the next couple of days.

A mesmerist! I did not see that coming. Awesome.

Also I’ll get a post up tomorrow

GM, rules question:

Unwavering Skill (Ex) You can always take 10 or 20 on checks using class skills, even if threatened or in a hazardous situation. You cannot use this ability with skill checks that do not normally allow you to take 10 or take 20.

I'm actually not sure which skills would not be allowed. I have "Devoted Healer (Whenever you take 20 on a Heal check to treat deadly wounds, you restore an additional 1d4 hit points to those you aid.)" Given that it says taking 20 on a heal check, that means heal can be used with unwavering skill.

https://roll20.net/compendium/pathfinder/Taking%2010%20and%20Taking%2020#co ntent

The rules don't list what it can't be used for. So...as the GM, what would unwavering skill not apply to?

--------------

Third question: I have 2 skill points in ride sandworm. Could I move 1 point to drive? After what the party has been through, it feels right for Kasit to have a skill point in it. If nothing else, he has had plenty of experience now!

I think you can take a 10 or a 20 on a skill check when there is no penalty for failure. So no taking a 10 or 20 on a disable device check for a trap (barring class abilities that let you do so anyway).

And so on,

Sounds fair. I’ll switch it to mythic skill focus heal then. Ensure maximized healing as it wouldn’t work with unwavering skill.

Yes you can move one to drive.
:)

I guess Julia is essentially ready, I assume she is attending the funeral observing the newly minted Fedyakin.

There's still a bit more work to do on her profile, I want flesh out her backstory a bit more, add some gear and answer the questions from the recruitment page.

Then please head over to game play and have say how she knew
Ghir. Then we can rap that little scene, and move onto the next big adventure dear players

Ok if your going to buy things last change, then we move on. I will post start of ACT 2 in 6 hours.

ok, Borak is definitely purchasing the fremen stillsuit, Para-Cumpus 1/3 if a Para-tent.

Before I invest in the BundiRifle and Rounds, I want to inquire about purchasing the ingredients for poison to use with the Hunter seeker. I wasn't sure if I should use the poisons and prices from the pfsrd, or if there were more deadly ones specific to Dune. Panic any ideas?

To my knowledge we didn't sell the two slug throwers we found How much are they worth, what are their stats and is ammunition available for them? I may keep one of them instead of purchasing the rifle if Borak spends too much on poison ingredients.

Edit: Also, the rifle parts we found we repaired and returned I Think Ghir was carrying it. Did we keep it? What are it's stats? Who wants to carry it?

Edit 2: Panic any way to make the chrysknives we carry masterwork?

Edit 3: (Last One, I hope) Do you want Borak to make any rolls in game to see if he can find natural poisons, or locate someone who would sell him the ingredients? Or is there a sign :)

Ghir was carrying the rifle as far as I'm aware.

Buying Wild Freman Para-Cumpus. +2 Survival 1l.

And with that I'm ready to go to Act 2.

ok, Borak is definitely purchasing the fremen stillsuit, Para-Cumpus 1/3 if a Para-tent.
Ok sounds good

Before I invest in the BundiRifle and Rounds, I want to inquire about purchasing the ingredients for poison to use with the Hunter seeker. I wasn't sure if I should use the poisons and prices from the pfsrd, or if there were more deadly ones specific to Dune. Panic any ideas?

It's a fire and forget weapon, one use, the one you have has one round left of 2. For toxin there is the sand scorpion.

To my knowledge we didn't sell the two slug throwers we found How much are they worth, what are their stats and is ammunition available for them? I may keep one of them instead of purchasing the rifle if Borak spends too much on poison ingredients.

yes you can swop them for this This one

Edit: Also, the rifle parts we found we repaired and returned I Think Ghir was carrying it. Did we keep it? What are it's stats? Who wants to carry it?

Sorry lost

Edit 2: Panic any way to make the chrysknives we carry masterwork?
yes 1/5 L of water

Edit 3: (Last One, I hope) Do you want Borak to make any rolls in game to see if he can find natural poisons, or locate someone who would sell him the ingredients? Or is there a sign :)

Nope at at this time, here you can trade for them

ok, Borak is definitely purchasing the fremen stillsuit, Para-Cumpus 1/3 if a Para-tent.

Ok sounds good

Before I invest in the BundiRifle and Rounds, I want to inquire about purchasing the ingredients for poison to use with the Hunter seeker. I wasn't sure if I should use the poisons and prices from the pfsrd, or if there were more deadly ones specific to Dune. Panic any ideas?

It's a fire and forget weapon, one use, the one you have has one round left of 2. For toxin there is the sand scorpion.

To my knowledge we didn't sell the two slug throwers we found How much are they worth, what are their stats and is ammunition available for them? I may keep one of them instead of purchasing the rifle if Borak spends too much on poison ingredients.

yes you can swop them for this This one

Edit: Also, the rifle parts we found we repaired and returned I Think Ghir was carrying it. Did we keep it? What are it's stats? Who wants to carry it?

Sorry lost

Edit 2: Panic any way to make the chrysknives we carry masterwork?
yes 1/5 L of water

Edit 3: (Last One, I hope) Do you want Borak to make any rolls in game to see if he can find natural poisons, or locate someone who would sell him the ingredients? Or is there a sign :)

Nope at this time, here you can trade for them

In no particular order.

Sadly Ghir did not have his rifle on his equipment list, or Borak would have claimed it. I didn't even think about it until I started looking at the cost of the rifle available.

I didn't realize the Hunter seaker we found with the trash had only one use. It's not worth the cost of the poison for one use. He will return it to the trash where he found it.

The two slug throwers: I don't want to trade them, no one else has claimed them, so Borak will carry them for now. Can I have stats on them and the cost of ammunition. Or should I just use modern revolver rules from the PFSRD?

Borak has 'craft alchemy' and would like to make poison for his four knives (no one has claimed the two knives we found with the slugthrowers, so Borak will keep them as well.) Is there a craft poison method you prefer, I'm assuming he can catch sand scorpions and craft poison, are there stats somewhere or do you want to make them up. Or should the poison use the same stats as the sand scorpions sting:
Desiccation: A sand scorpion’s sting carries a desiccation effect, turning bodily fluids near the wound to dust. Any creature struck by the sand scorpion’s stinger must succeed at a DC 22 Fortitude save or suffer 3d6 points of nonlethal damage and become fatigued. Creatures that are already fatigued become exhausted. A successful save reduces the nonlethal damage to 1d6 and negates the fatigue effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I'll finish getting a list if the remaining items he will purchase. I like the idea of someone having a long range weapon and I like the idea of making his two chrysknives Masterwork, I need to decide how he will spend the water,

Sorry Panic, I realize my last post was wordy, What are the stats on the slug guns we found earlier and how much is the ammunition?

1H pistal Gas
Bunid Pistal 400 gp DMG 1d8 Crity x4 Range 80 ft. Clich1
Clip 5 >1 lbs. B and P —

Re the dune Tarot deck, I found this seems like something we could adopt.

To Use, Player who has skill to read them rolls

1d22 {Card} and 1d2 {Orientation = 1 = right way up BOON 2 = Wrong way up Rotated DRAWBACK}

DUNE TAROT: LESSER DECK ARCANA
22 Cards:
0 THE FOOL: TAKE CARE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:1 - p3:
BOON {GM KEY EVENT to PC in this event}
A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life of Muad'Dib, then, take care that you first place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. And take the most special care that you locate Muad'Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place. --from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The epigraph gives us several admonishments to “take care” and to not be deceived. The Fool of tarot does not know how to take care, he is the essence of carelessness, folly, recklessness, and madness. It also gives us the setting of the desert. The epigraph opens with “A beginning”; an appropriate start for the first card, and for the Fool beginning his journey.
DRAWBACK {GM KEY EVENT to PC in this event}
IMAGE: A foolish, careless, and untested youth (possibly Siona) wanders out into the open desert without proper protection; face mask open and no head covering. They carry an open survival pack (Fremkit), but pay no heed to a wise jumping mouse nor to the dangers (a giant worm) breaching in the distance.

I THE MAGICIAN/JUGGLER: COMPANION-TEACHER
EPIGRAPH: Dune:4 - p28:
BOON {+2 to Kn Arcana { Mystic} until next event}
You have read that Muad'Dib had no playmates his own age on Caladan. The dangers were too great. But Muad'Dib did have wonderful companion-teachers. There was Gurney Halleck, the troubadour-warrior. You will sing some of Gurney's songs as you read along in this book. There was Thufir Hawat, the old Mentat Master of Assassins, who struck fear even into the heart of the Padishah Emperor. There were Duncan Idaho, the Swordmaster of the Ginaz; Dr. Wellington Yueh, a name black in treachery but bright in knowledge; the Lady Jessica, who guided her son in the Bene Gesserit Way, and--of course--the Duke Leto, whose qualities as a father have long been overlooked. --from "A Child's History of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: This epigraph lists several companion-teachers, but first and foremost is Gurney Halleck. The Magician card in tarot can represent a teacher, mentor, or skilled professional. And in older tarot traditions, the card was called “The Juggler”, a lowly slight-of-hand street performer. Gurney is a teacher, but also a skilled tactician, as well as a troubadour performer. He is introduced in the first book by dumping weapons onto a practice table not unlike the table seen on The Magician/Juggler card. The flower represents his dead sister.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Kn Arcana { Mystic} until next event}
IMAGE: The valorous Warmaster (Gurney) juggles his duties as court troubadour, trusted advisor, teacher, and companion. He plays his nine-string zithra over a table of implements representing the four minor suits and the four major factions. A daisy blooms below.

II THE POPESS/HIGH PRIESTESS: THE LADY/WISDOM
EPIGRAPH: Dune:7 - p47:
BOON {+2 to Kn religion until next event}
With the Lady Jessica and Arrakis, the Bene Gesserit system of sowing implant-legends through the Missionaria Protectiva came to its full fruition. The wisdom of seeding the known universe with a prophecy pattern for the protection of B.G. personnel has long been appreciated, but never have we seen a condition-ut-extremis with more ideal mating of person and preparation. The prophetic legends had taken on Arrakis even to the extent of adopted labels (including Reverend Mother, canto and respondu, and most of the Shari-a panoplia propheticus). And it is generally accepted now that the Lady Jessica's latent abilities were grossly underestimated. --from "Analysis: The Arrakeen Crisis" by the Princess Irulan [private circulation: B.G. file number AR-81088587]
RATIONALE: The card of the Popess or High Priestess represents Occult science and wisdom, secrecy and hidden motives, patience, fidelity, and purity: the spiritual Mother or Bride. No character in Dune fits this image better than the Lady Jessica, who is both mother of Paul and Alia, but also the spiritual mother of his Empire. As the highest Fremen Reverend Mother, she is truly a spiritual leader and holder of great mysteries. The epigraph concludes that she has been underestimated and is more powerful than anyone had previously imagined.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Kn religion until next event}
IMAGE: The Mother Goddess (Jessica) sits upon an ovoid pillar base surrounded by sand. She wears the black veils of a desert priestess and holds a water bag in her lap, covering her belly. Two motes swirl on the bag. She wears no jewelry, only a three-tiered tiara over her bronze hair, representing her station. Behind her, contrasting colored columns shaped like female faces recede into the past.

III THE EMPRESS: PRINCESS-DAUGHTER
EPIGRAPH: Dune:15 - p105:
BOON {+2 to Diplomacy rolls until next event}
My father, the Padishah Emperor, took me by the hand one day and I sensed in the ways my mother had taught me that he was disturbed. He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides. I marked the strong resemblance between them--my father and this man in the portrait--both with thin, elegant faces and sharp features dominated by cold eyes. "Princess-daughter," my father said, "I would that you'd been older when it came time for this man to choose a woman." My father was 71 at the time and looking no older than the man in the portrait, and I was but 14, yet I remember deducing in that instant that my father secretly wished the Duke had been his son, and disliked the political necessities that made them enemies. --"In My Father's House" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The Empress card is creativity, seduction, desire, expression, youthful beauty, action, and marriage. She represents the physical and the exoteric compared to the Popess's spiritual and esoteric nature. She can also represent clandestine actions and a feminine violence, a character who knows what she wants and takes action to get it. Some interpretations note that while she is seductive, she has no children of her own. Putting this all together, there is no better character in Dune than the wife of the Emperor Paul herself, Princess Irulan. The author of Paul's history books, but also a conspirator in his downfall, she is both creative and dangerous. The epigraph describes a young lady who other people attempted to craft a future for, but who ultimately carved her own path.
DRAWBACK {+2 to Diplomacy rolls until next event}
IMAGE: A beautiful but haughty figure, the Princess and wife of the Prophet (Irulan) sits upon a crystal throne in blue finery within a palace. A blue hat rests on lovely blonde locks. She writes in a book displaying the (hawk) sigil with a stylus like a great Scepter.

IIII THE EMPEROR: THE DUKE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:11 - p77:
BOON {+2 to Kn Nobility until next event}
It is said that the Duke Leto blinded himself to the perils of Arrakis, that he walked heedlessly into the pit. Would it not be more likely to suggest he had lived so long in the presence of extreme danger he misjudged a change in its intensity? Or is it possible he deliberately sacrificed himself that his son might find a better life? All evidence indicates the Duke was a man not easily hoodwinked. --from "Muad'Dib: Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The Emperor is the divine Father figure and master of Will. He is stoic, protective, authoritative, just, noble, unyielding and logical. The epigraph describes a man who is neither a coward, nor a fool who has made the ultimate sacrifice for his family. The Duke Leto's famous phrase, "Here I am and here I remain" really sums up the card.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Kn Nobility until next event}
IMAGE: The just, noble, stoic and brave Patriarch (Leto) broods on his stone throne pondering the probabilities of success. This popular man wears a sheathed sword, and beside him lay a discarded shield displaying his (hawk) sigil.

V THE POPE/HIEROPHANT: THE LEARNED
EPIGRAPH: Dune:9 - p65:
BOON {+2 to Kn Local until next event}
Many have marked the speed with which Muad'Dib learned the necessities of Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit, of course, know the basis of this speed. For the others, we can say that Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson. --from "The Humanity of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The Pope is Religion compared to the Popess who is Spirituality. He represents the merger of Religion and Law. He is Righteousness and Salvation. He is considered the greatest Teacher of the cards... the Magician is a teacher, but the Pope is the Teacher. While the epigraph describes a young Paul as an avid learner, we can derive from this that the greatest teacher must by necessity also be the greatest learner.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Kn Local until next event}
IMAGE: The Prophet (Paul Muad’dib) stretches atop an emerald throne on a stepped-pyramid dias. He wears the golden robes and multi-tiered crown of his station, while making a sign of peaceable blessing with blue hands. Two sacred palms flank him as supplicants petition from below.

VI THE LOVERS/TWO PATHS: ABIDING LOVE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:6 - p41:
BOON {+2 to Sence motive rolls until next event}
How do we approach the study of Muad'Dib's father? A man of surpassing warmth and surprising coldness was the Duke Leto Atreides. Yet, many facts open the way to this Duke: his abiding love for his Bene Gesserit lady; the dreams he held for his son; the devotion with which men served him. You see him there--a man snared by Destiny, a lonely figure with his light dimmed behind the glory of his son. Still, one must ask: What is the son but an extension of the father? --from "Muad'Dib, Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The Lovers card obviously deals with issues of love, romance, union, the trials of love, and marriage. But in some systems it is called "The Two Paths" representing choices, temptation, discipline, and careful decisions. The epigraph describes a man torn between Duty and Family, capable of both warmth and coldness. For this card I decided to illustrate the Duke as dutiful Joseph in a nativity scene with Madonna and child.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Sence motive rolls until next event}
IMAGE: An intimate scene of the Holy Family embracing one another with the surpassing warmth of abiding love. Under the watch of winged Destiny- who aims his bow at the infant child bound for Glory, the father is cloaked in the stark uniform of Duty, the mother in an opulent dress of Passion.

VII THE CHARIOT: THE WAY
EPIGRAPH: Dune:13 - p97:
BOON {+2 on Survival checks to know direction until next event}
On that first day when Muad'Dib rode through the streets of Arrakeen with his family, some of the people along the way recalled the legends and the prophecy and they ventured to shout: "Mahdi!" But their shout was more a question than a statement, for as yet they could only hope he was the one foretold as the Lisan al-Gaib, the Voice from the Outer World. Their attention was focused, too, on the mother, because they had heard she was a Bene Gesserit and it was obvious to them that she was like the other Lisan al-Gaib. --from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The image of Paul in the parade in Arrakeen clearly evokes the image of The Chariot in a victory parade. Leto and Jessica represent Politics and Religion as in the quote:
DRAWBACK {-2 on Survival checks to know direction until next event}
When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.
IMAGE: The triumphal Holy Family ride headlong through dusty streets astride a racing groundcar. The father wrapped in white diplomatic attire, and the mother in sanctified black veils both steer, while the young master in his grandfather’s armor waves just as the fluttering familial pennants of Victory along the way.

VIII JUSTICE/BALANCE: PRICE OF VIOLENCE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:17 - p146:
BOON {+2 on Acrobatics checks until next event}
"There is no escape–we pay for the violence of our ancestors." --from "The Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The tarot card depicts Justice as the victory of Law over chaos. The sword she holds is Reason cutting through nonsense or poor arguments, or the cutting away of the unnecessary. Unlike some images of Justice, she is not blindfolded, but staring at us in challenge. In some traditions this card is known as "The Balance" representing equilibrium, moderation, and action and reaction.
DRAWBACK {-2 on Acrobatics checks until next event}
The epigraph alludes to the idea of ancestral fault, or generational sin, "the sins of the father revisited upon the sons"... a major theme of Dune. It is most obviously present in the Curse of the House of Atreus, aka the Atreides Curse, but also in the feud between Atreides and Harkonnen, as well as the idea of Abomination, and in the folly that is the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program. The idea of ancestral sin is a kind of karmic justice. I have chosen the moment when Reverend Mother Giaus Helen Mohiam administers the Gom Jabbar test to Paul to represent these ideas for two reasons: Most obviously because she represents the idea of judgement: filtering between logical humans and violent animals with finality. But also because this moment is the fulcrum point, the tipping point where the the Price of all of these ancestral sins: the Atreides curse, the Atreides/Harkonnen feud, the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program, are all about to come to fruition.
IMAGE: Her Reverence– that ancient crone, that ancient fount of wisdom, (Reverend Mother Mohiam) ensconced in robes of black spider’s lace, the unadorned square upon her mantle, brandishes her implements of Justice and Brutal Necessity– the high-handed poisoned Needle and the Box of Pain.

VIIII THE HERMIT/TIME: ENLIGHTENMENT
EPIGRAPH: Dune:14 - p102:
BOON {+2 Kn History checks until next event}
"There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man--with human flesh." --from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The epigraph discusses the kind of wisdom or enlightenment gained by the knowledge of Mortality. The Hermit card can hold either the lamp of enlightenment, or the hourglass of Father Time, a symbol of mortality, a reminder that all things must die. While the epigraph specifically refers to Paul and his father the Duke Leto, we can also extend it to Chani and her father Liet. The Hermit card is also sometimes said to represent treason, corruption, or deception... traits that also apply to Leit Kynes. Some versions of the card show a serpent at his feet, which I have replaced with a sandtrout... foreshadowing his death.
DRAWBACK {-2 Kn History checks until next event}
IMAGE: One of the brotherhood of the learned, the self-reliant Scientist (Kynes) steps timorously over white sands in long robes. He is armed with the blades of his two masters, Prudence and Truth. Like an ancient genius, he holds aloft a great seed and carries the pole and ring, implements of his planteological pilgrimage. A glowing light hovers above his sandy head enlightening the path, whilst a thirsty creature (sandtrout) emerges from the sand near his feet.

X THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE: TO REPEAT
EPIGRAPH: Dune:12 - p82:
BOON {+10’ to range Attacks until next event}
Over the exit of the Arrakeen landing field, crudely carved as though with a poor instrument, there was an inscription that Muad'Dib was to repeat many times. He saw it that first night on Arrakis, having been brought to the ducal command post to participate in his father's first full staff conference. The words of the inscription were a plea to those leaving Arrakis, but they fell with dark import on the eyes of a boy who had just escaped a close brush with death. They said: "O you who know what we suffer here, do not forget us in your prayers." --from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: The image on tarot cards is the Wheel of "Fortuna", the Roman goddess. It is both the wheel of the Zodiac (and thus the fortunes the signs represent) and a wheel that she spins as a kind of game of chance with people’s lives. Cosmic roulette. The wheel can bring the mighty down low, and the meek up high. It is a reminder that even kings and emperors fall. The Dune epigraph reminds us that the wealth of the Empire is built upon ignoring the suffering of those who maintain that wealth. That inscription from the landing field exit is a counterpoint to the favorite maxim of the Faufreluches; “Business makes progress. Fortune passes everywhere!” As we have already established… fortune can be both wealth and ruin. Both the epigraph and the image of the Wheel of Fortune remind me of the Buddhist/Hindu concept of the Wheel of Samsara… the endless cycle of existence, suffering, karma and reincarnation. In that case, the goal of Enlightenment is to break the cycle of Samsara.
DRAWBACK {-10’ to range Attacks until next event}
IMAGE: An inscription in the semi-circular exitway of a dusty landing-field reminds us of how Fortunes can change– a thing written in salt. To one side a rabbit cowers and digs, to the other a desert fox leaps, both trapped in the endless cycle of Fate. An aircraft like a winged scarab rises over the arch, and the jets cast its shadow onto the ground completing the circle, even as it attempts to escape the cycle.

XI STRENGTH/FORCE: TIME OF TRIAL
EPIGRAPH: Dune:10 - p69:
BOON {+2 DMG to Unarmed Attacks until next event}
What had the Lady Jessica to sustain her in her time of trial? Think you carefully on this Bene Gesserit proverb and perhaps you will see: "Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain." --from "Muad'Dib: Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: This epigraph describes the qualities of Fortitude and Perseverance, both types of Strength commonly associated with this tarot card. It also describes a mountain like the one which appears in the distance of the Waite Rider Smith Strength card. The ultimate Trial of Jessica is obviously the spice ordeal. And the Sayyadina drowning the stunted worm to obtain the Water of Life and oversee the ritual will need strength as well.
DRAWBACK {-2 DMG to Unarmed Attacks until next event}
IMAGE: Before a distant steep mountain peak– a young woman of surprising strength wrestles two great black beasties (worms) enbowed– sparkling violet bile oozing from their mouths into a basin. A master of animals– she is sustained in these trials by Fortitude and Perseverance.

XII THE HANGED MAN/TRAITOR: THE BETRAYAL
EPIGRAPH: Dune:5 - p37:
BOON {+2 Douge Bonus AC Vs traps until next event}
YUEH (yu'e), Wellington (weling-tun), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd Stdrd 10,112); md: Wanna Marcus, B.G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides. (Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII [Imperial conditioning] and Betrayal, The.) --from "Dictionary of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: In older tarot traditions, the Hanged Man is sometimes known as “The Traitor”. Supposedly traitors in medieval Italy were hung from one foot, from the beam of a gallows; as depicted in tarot cards. From Epigraph 4 we get this about him: “Dr. Wellington Yueh, a name black in treachery but bright in knowledge”.
DRAWBACK {-2 Douge Bonus AC Vs traps until next event}
IMAGE: The treacherous traitor (Dr. Yueh) with purple lips, hangs inverted by one foot from the Tripod of Executions. From his pocket drops a small book of knowledge, a token of his devotion to causes he deems worthy of Betrayal.

XIII DEATH: A MILLION DEATHS
EPIGRAPH: Dune:8 - p57:
BOON {+2 to saves Vs Death effects until next event}
"Yueh! Yueh! Yueh!" goes the refrain. "A million deaths were not enough for Yueh!" --from "A Child's History of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The tarot card image of Death is typically of a skeletal figure with a scythe, tilling a field of human remains. Often a hand is seen rising in the field. It represents transformation, change, revolution, and the promise of life after death. For this image I have chosen a dessicated hand like the one The Prophet carries around in his pocket. Could this be the hand of Dr. Yueh? The hand that delivered Paul at birth, the hand that delivered Leto to his doom, and the hand that delivered Paul and Jessica to the desert? Poetically, this card follows his appearance as The Traitor in the previous card. I am equating this card to the Desolate Sand card mentioned in Dune Messiah.
DRAWBACK {-2 to saves Vs Death effects until next event}
IMAGE: A dessicated twisted hand missing the ring finger rises from a dune against a foreboding sky like a cultic Icon from antiquity. A bone and a skull are half-buried in the Desolate Sand below.

XIIII TEMPERANCE/ART: IN TENSION
EPIGRAPH: Dune:3 - p21:
BOON {+2 to Appraise until next event}
Thus spoke St. Alia-of-the-Knife: "The Reverend Mother must combine the seductive wiles of a courtesan with the untouchable majesty of a virgin goddess, holding these attributes in tension so long as the powers of her youth endure. For when youth and beauty have gone, she will find that the place-between, once occupied by tension, has become a wellspring of cunning and resourcefulness." --from "Muad'Dib, Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan.
RATIONALE: This epigraph describes Alia at a balance point between purity and profanity, between temperance and temptation. She is in a state of tension and restraint, just as in the tarot card Temperance. This card is also known as "Art" and can represent the skills of an alchemist in transmuting metals. In this capacity, Alia transmutes the deadly poisonous sandworm bile into the harmless narcotic of the tao orgy. She is also constantly balancing her own self against the voices within to try to prevent Abomination. The image on tarot cards is traditionally a "spirit" or angel with wings. I am hiding her wings in the shape of two arched windows as foreshadowing to her eventual demise.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Appraise until next event}
IMAGE: The Saint (Alia) stands on her balcony in braids and yellow robes. She pours the transmuted blue-violet Catalyst from a silver chalice into a golden one containing the Water of Life. She wears a fish symbol as well as a curved knife. The arches of two stained-glass windows behind her resemble folded wings.

XV THE DEVIL: MORTAL ENEMY
EPIGRAPH: Dune:2 - p13:
BOON {+2 to saves Vs Poison/Diseases until next event}
To attempt an understanding of Muad'Dib without understanding his mortal enemies, the Harkonnens, is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood. It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness. It cannot be. --from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The Devil of tarot represents his role as the Great Tempter, the Prince of Lies. Passions, taboos, darkness, obscene wealth, pride, and obsession. No character in Dune better represents these ideas than the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, a man who had completely succumbed to temptation, consumed by his own appetites, obsessed with sadistic pleasures, and who was constantly plotting deceptions and intrigues. Gurney compares him to one of the Beasts of the Orange Catholic Bible, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea . . . and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." There is also a very nice symmetry in having the Baron paired with Alia. In the book, we are introduced to the Baron gloating behind a jeweled globe of Arrakis.
DRAWBACK {-2 to saves Vs Poison/Diseases until next event}
IMAGE: A Blasphemous figure (Baron Harkonnen) in gemstone studded robes, floats on suspensors, swinging a mace. Two captives; one a woman covered in Bene Gesserit robes, the other an almost naked slave boy are bound by vines (krimskell fibers) to a pedestal supporting the bejeweled globe of a planet (Arrakis). He is protected by a glowing pentagonal shield.

XVI THE TOWER/HOUSE OF GOD: CITADEL
EPIGRAPH: Dune:22 - p187:
O Seas of Caladan, O people of Duke Leto-- Citadel of Leto fallen, Fallen forever… --from "Songs of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
BOON {+2 to Gather information rolls until next event}
RATIONALE: The imagein the epigraph of a falling Citadel has obvious parallels with the image on The Tower card. In Tarot de Marseilles the card is sometimes known as The House of God, and indeed the Atreides citadel on Caladan was the literal house where Paul Muad’dib was born and grew up, but it also represents the fall of his familial House; his royal heritage and peerage.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Gather information rolls until next event}
IMAGE: The Ancestral Palace (Castle Caladan) is struck by energy beams from above. People fall with the stones and embers. Below, a raging river floods its banks.

XVII THE STAR/HOPE: A METEOR
EPIGRAPH: Dune:21 - p175:
There is a legend that the instant the Duke Leto Atreides died a meteor streaked across the skies above his ancestral palace on Caladan. --the Princess Irulan: "Introduction to A Child's History of Muad'Dib"
BOON {+2 to Heal until next event}
RATIONALE: The meteor over Caladan is a sign of hope tinged with deep sorrow. The Star tarot card is also sometimes known as Hope… but not just any hope, the hope experienced after great pain, loss and sorrow. It is the glimmer of brightness after the dark downfall of The Tower. The meteor over fallen Castle Caladan is a perfect parallel to The Star following The Tower. And Chani is Paul’s ‘desert spring’, his hope after the fall of his House and the death of his father. Likewise, Paul is Chani’s hope after the death of her father.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Heal until next event}
IMAGE: A bright Meteor streaks across the sky over the ruins of a stone palace. A desert bride (Chani) in lavish blue-green robes and water rings kneels at the shore of a calm sea with water bags. An owl watches in a flowering garden.

XVIII THE MOON: WITH DREAMS
EPIGRAPH: Dune:18 - p158
BOON {+2 to escape artist until next event}
Do you wrestle with dreams? Do you contend with shadows? Do you move in a kind of sleep? Time has slipped away. Your life is stolen. You tarried with trifles, Victim of your folly. --Dirge for Jamis on the Funeral Plain, from "Songs of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The Moon card in tarot represents the moon and its cycles, but also the night, the realm of dreams, intuition, attraction, as well as deceptions and delusions. We see all of those alluded to the epigraph. I've kept the imagery of the card traditional to the tarot except for the bat and the coffee pot which alludes to Jamis's funeral.
DRAWBACK {-2 to escape artist until next event}
IMAGE: Two moons hang in the night sky over a qanat. The larger one shines silver like a coin embossed with the image of a human fist, while the smaller one glows dusky red with the image of a mouse. A predator fish surfaces from rippling water. Two steep cliffs rise on either side, one with a window, the other with steps. A ceilago bat calls out near a silver coffee pot with an emerald knob.

XVIIII THE SUN: GREATNESS
EPIGRAPH: Dune:16 - p126:
BOON {-2 Luck Bonus to one skill until the next event, Player to apply}
Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man. --from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The Sun card is happiness, optimism, success and mastery. In other words: greatness. And the greatest of all creatures is the giant sandworm of Arrakis! I am equating this card to the Great Worm card from Dune Messiah. This card also reminds us of the transitory nature of those things… just as the sun rises, it must also set…. only to rise again. In Marseilles tarot cards, below the sun two youths dance in a circle and the card is said to represent marriage.
DARWBACK {-2 Luck Bonus to one skill until the next event, GM to apply}
IMAGE: A Great Worm rises like a stone wall under a radiant solar disk. Twins in desert robes (possibly Leto II and Ghanima) smile and dance in a circle around a single solar ray like a May Pole.

XX JUDGEMENT: THE ATTITUDE OF THE KNIFE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:20 - p172:
BOON {+2 to COUP DE GRÂCE attempts until next event}
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife--chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now, it's complete because it's ended here." --from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: We have already established that blades can represent judgement and a cutting intellect. But this epigraph also shows us that they also represent finality and the resolution of outcomes. The image of the tarot card Judgement is that of Final Judgement, The Day of Judgement, the end-of-the-world when the dead rise from their graves at the trumpeting of the angels in the clouds, before they are Judged by God. The most obvious parallel in Dune are the end-of-the-world scenarios of Kralizec, "the Typhoon Struggle" which appears to be Herbert's version of Armageddon, "the War in Heaven"... and Arafel "the Cloud Darkness of Holy Judgement" which is clearly his Day of Judgement. Children of Dune mentions both Arafel and the City of Tombs, and this passage from the epigraph on p320 ties Kralizec to the "knife-edged approach":
Drawback {-2 to COUP DE GRÂCE attempts until next event}
... They say: 'We know there is no summa of all attainable knowledge; that is the preserve of God. But whatever men can learn, men can contain.' Out of this knife-edged approach to the universe they carve a fantastic belief in signs and omens and in their own destiny. This is an origin of their Kralizec legend: the war at the end of the universe." --Bene Gesserit Private Reports/folio 800881.
IMAGE: A typhoon spiral (Kralizec) of ships emerge from dark clouds (Arafel) over the City of Tombs (Thatta). A chorus of the dead cry out.

XXI THE WORLD/UNIVERSE: A PSYCHIC SCIENCE
EPIGRAPH: Dune:19 - p162:
BOON {+2 to Kn Eng until the next event}
There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles. --from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
RATIONALE: The World card represents completion, accomplishment, the end of a cycle, or travel. The epigraph quote is a prescription for both the coming Jihad, and for Leto II’s reign. The Kwisatz Haderach(es) bring this completion. And the term translates literally as "the shortening of the Way". The imagery of my card recalls the inner chorus, the time nexus, the nets of prescience, the alam al mithal, the Bene Gesserit breeding program, and the ecological transformation of Arrakis.
DRAWBACK {-2 to Kn Eng until the next event}
IMAGE: The face of the sibyl, the Kwisatz Haderach, composed of many faces, all with the blue within blue eyes. Patterns of male and female faces recede in both directions. A green planet with a patch of desert (Rakis) forms the third eye between a mandorla shape within the faces. Nets sweep across the rivers of Time. A hawk, griffon, lion, and worm reside in each corner representing the four planets and the four factions.

"That was the only sand-truck we had, we do have the three Sand bikes, and no means to get them past the shield wall. I will have to leave you with the details of getting back inside. "

Just double checking, the shield wall is not an electric high tech 'shield' but a series of large rocky outcrops that keep worms out (and had to be blown up so works could get through in the books) Right?

That is my understanding too.

The Shield Wall was a mountainous, rocky geographic feature in the northern reaches of Arrakis. It protected a small area from the full force of the planet's coriolis storms. Its height was said to be great, reaching up to 4500 meters in certain places. It was formed 100s of millions of years ago when a large asteroid hit the planet. The shield wall is the lip of the massive crater.

Although the Shield Wall was not man-made, it kept out the force of coriolis storms and kept the sandworms away from human settlements.

GM_Panic wrote:

Ok if your going to buy things last change, then we move on. I will post start of ACT 2 in 6 hours.

ok, Borak is definitely purchasing the fremen stillsuit, Para-Cumpus 1/3 if a Para-tent.

ok, having not talked to anyone else about it, Borak will just purchase the para tent and pass on purchasing any actual weapons and purcase amunition for the two pistols he has.

Cool

New maps up

So are we going to do a DUNE TARRO reading before you set off,

Borak:
You get DRAWBACK {-2 to saves Vs Poison/Diseases until next event}
Fates say be careful of Poison/Diseases

Elta:
You get BOON {+2 DMG to Unarmed Attacks until next event}
There will come a time when you will need strength

Ethan:
DRAWBACK {-2 Kn History checks until next event}
Something truth hids deep in history if only you could remember it.When the time comes you may.

Kasit: BOON/DRAWBACK {GM KEY EVENT to PC in this event}
Our lives hang but on a thread, This event will hold a life or death moment for you.

Ok everyone, the Freman are deeply superstitious and religious, why, because The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness.
They may not know it but every freman has a tiny bit of presence.
They 'feel' when there time has come, or they know some one can not be trusted. The reading and the cards brings that out a little more.
Which of you knows that you will at some point in the near future need to act in instinct. I will give you a chance in game to use the things you have been forwarded about.

Its up to you dear players what your PC dose at that moment.
May "Shai-Hulud" show you the way.

PS: A freman who is not killed by the Environment, the ecosystem, the off worlders, and each other can expect to live into the 100s. Very few do, the last revered mother was 182 years old.

You know that they Smugglers pay house House Jarrlo in spice to keep the roots to the Smuggler town safe and for it to traide, House Jarrlo givens this town and everyone pays local taxes to them. Gangs run the city with in this robbing stealing, killing off worlders for their water. But its a critical root for off world goods to get into arakus. Its a shadowy place known for rasiem to wildfreman who are seen as little more than savages.

Dang if I'd known all that I may have brought all the weapons. No worries though just need to make sure I avoid any poison for a bit.

Will get a post up soon, still working on my first cup of coffee.

HEy Panic, the spoiler in game is cool and all, and I will use the information momentarily, but I was looking for information about our vehicle and the other guards. How many other guards are there and how are they armed?

Is there some sort of ridge line to the north?

There are 4 Gaurds 4 drives
The have short swords, and Air-guns, looks like a shotgun
2 barrels shoots ball skatter rounds. Like a large blundabus low powered shotgun powered with compressed air shells.

Drivers all have blades.

Yes a long one some 15' high.

Borak can I assume you told us about the figure, or perhaps you want to make a gameplay post?

Borak can I assume you told us about the figure, or perhaps you want to make a gameplay post?

You can assume if you want, I wouldn't retcon you or anything, but I will be getting a post up soon. I just wanted more information on our allies so as not to make any assumptions myself.

Panic, are there radios in the trucks?

Edit: I did want to add that I've cut back how many games I'm in and my time on the computer. I check games in the morning then again around noon. And again in the evening, only posting in the evening if the pace of the game warrants it, if not I wait to post in the morning. If my posting rate is slowing this game down, I'm willing to step away so as not to ruin anyone else's fun.

Yes the trucks have comms but the drivers are the ones in control of them. It seems the drivers are not use to having guards. You gaurd are from the wheelhouse the goods were in.