Dune Predictions

Anyone care to express an opinion on how Dune will be received when it comes out? I've been watching a thread talking about replacing the cardboard components with upgrades, and I'm wondering how many people are aware that this is a broody, long game best with six.

People are aware it's a classic, but are they aware of what it is?

I expect that the one and done crowd will not waste time decrying it.

I am absolutely buying a copy, and if it only comes out once a year, so be it.

I’mma punch a fool in the jaw when I hear “I’m not sure why I would play this over superior modern games like Blood Rage”.

And I’ll DDT the first person that complains that there are only chits and no miniatures.

That's a good question. Because the same folks who carped endlessly for decades about wanting (nay, NEEDING) it to return are now the old-man crowd who hate everything except their own increasingly diminished niche (whatever that may be for each old codger.) And I agree that the younger crowd likely has no idea what the fuss is about, and they very well may not care.

At any rate, I predict salty vibes!

Michael Barnes wrote: And I’ll DDT the first person that complains that there are only chits and no miniatures.

Yeah, that guy already exists and lives up I-85 from you in Greer. You could day-trip it with a comfortable stop for lunch. He's talking about replacing the cardboard components in the game which, best I can tell, is more or less the whole doggone thing.

I think the more recent boardgame fans view everything through a Kickstarter lens where bigger is better and things like miniatures are simply a standard part of the base package. The game is more of a noun than a verb to that kind of buyer.

There's always lovers and haters for any package, but I'm curious what the 80% in the middle are going to think of Dune. It's really a great game, but you have to be willing to invest in it to get your money's worth, even at it's remarkably low price.

I'll also pay a bounty for the first citing of someone wanting GF9 to Kickstart a deluxe version with superior components.

My prediction is that it’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna come out, some will see the brilliance some won’t, but the game’s legacy will go on regardless. Space Hulk and Fury of Dracula go through this every once in awhile, Dune will be just fine.

I'm just waiting for the tons of cheap copies floating around that I can buy for pennies on the dollar.

Yeah, that's a fair point. It'll sell well initially off of reputation and license alone, but I don't think it'll blow up a second time. Also I bet a lot of people will play at 4 and that's it.

Personally I'm just really glad to get a chance to play it. It's one of very few Eon games I'm missing.

I predict copies of Rex will price drop by 90%.

Also that nobody I know will buy Dune so I will still never get to play it.

I own a very worn copy of the original and have played it several (note: not "many") times. I'm going to pick up GF9's version for a couple of reasons:

1. They said they're tweaking things. Believe it or not, Dune is not a perfect game. It's a good game and it's even better when you know the story. But there are many other games that would come off the shelf before it these days because they lack things like blank cards that do nothing, which simply aren't that exciting from a modern perspective. "Tweaking" in order to reflect the 40+ years of design and development (and, yes, improvements) is a positive thing, IMO.

2. My copy is worn. Yes, you can get the same game of canasta out of a deck of beat-up, old cards as you can with a crisp, new one right out of the box. But board gaming has a tactile element to its experiential nature, too. I wouldn't mind having newer cards and combat wheels and tokens(!) that don't carry the decades of age that mine do and are more visually appealing in that respect.

I'm part of a Meetup group that is mostly oriented around gaming, but also has an associated book club. The guy who started it had a stack of books that we've worked through (the two most recent were Redshirts and The Stars Are Legion) and while there are two left in the stack, he always throws the floor open for suggestions. Last week, I looked up and said: "How many of you have read 'Dune'?" Of the 8 people at the table, only me and one woman raised our hands. I said that it might be convenient timing, since the date of our discussion will be right around the release date of GF9's version. So, we're (re-)reading Dune and I'm thinking it should entice a couple people in the gaming group that have also never played the game. In that respect, it'll be nice to have a fresh, new copy on hand to introduce them to it, so I don't have to make excuses about the yellowing wheels or the scuffed cards or the crushed tokens, and so on.

I have an old copy in great condition so I'm holding off. I'll get the new rules though and play them on the set. I may need to adjust cards.

P.S. On occasion, an empty card is hilarious.

Will there be a solo option?

I love the do-nothing cards. They are a bluff, and they usually wind up causing some laughs or quotes from the Lynch film. Who doesn’t love dropping Trip to Gaumont on somebody?

ChristopherMD wrote: I predict copies of Rex will price drop by 90%.

That’s still too much.

Michael Barnes wrote: I love the do-nothing cards. They are a bluff, and they usually wind up causing some laughs or quotes from the Lynch film. Who doesn’t love dropping Trip to Gaumont on somebody?

There’s nothing better than, as Atreides, getting someone to bid way too much for a worthless card.

Also, here are the quick start rules:

gf9games.com/dune/wp-content/uploads/DUNE-Quick-start-Guide.pdf

Most everything seems to be the same, except you can get CHOAM Charity with 0 or 1 spice instead of just 0. Or maybe it was always that way?