The Dune Project

Not quite sure how the whole thing started, but awhile ago I got the idea in my head to make a version of the out-of-print boardgame Dune.

Contributing factors would be:

• Secondhand versions of Dune cost north of $100 
• I loved the book. -I liked the later work of these game designers (particularly Cosmic Encounter, which shares a lot of game elements) 
• I like board games with good bits 
• The internet exists 

Of the items on that list, the last one is key. Any fool could have the idle thought that Hey, I could make my own… but you’d need to know enough about the game to want to even try. You need motivation. Enter this guy:


Seem like a game worth putting in a little effort for? Incidentally, a video like this kinda gives you the idea of the online community that exists for this game.

Next, you’d need access to the rules and a list of all the components to make a complete game.

No interwebs? Good luck.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) there happened to be an online community that was willing to make PDFs of pretty much everything you might want.

The bullet list was:

• Two decks of full-size cards (1 with 33 cards, the other with 21) 
• One deck of half-size cards (30 cards) 
• 120 stackable tokens 
• A large gameboard with a map
• A rulebook 
• Game wheels (two pieces of cardstock pinned together to make something akin to a decoder wheel)

Any one of those items might make a sane person turn back.

How do you make a deck of cards? What do you make them out of? What's the best way to get them printed?

But the online community is there with all sorts of advice, how to's and examples of successfully finished projects.

I managed to cobble together PDFs of all the pieces I wanted save for the map. An Italian guy named Neri had posted a really great design, but it was riddled with mistakes (English was not his first language). So I pulled his map into Photoshop and cleaned up the map the way I wanted it.

Wasn’t entirely satisfied with my efforts (the board surrounding the Map looks like what it was – a late design add) but it was an improvement.

I bought tokens from Fantasy Flight, printed the board and cards at FedExKinkos, spent a truly ridiculous amount of time trimming cards on a paper cutter and presto – I have my own Dune game.

Took forever to finally get a chance to play it. Getting 5 like minded gamers into a room isn’t easy when half of them have small children – but a run through was done and I thought the game showed its worth.

So then I’m going through the interwebs looking for clearer answers to some of the rules questions we came up with and I see a post by this Russian guy.

He’s put together a set of files for print that are just incredible… I mean, I think anyone who started a project like this will think, one day, I’ll get some free time and put together an awesome set of components and post them online and…

Ilya? The Russian Guy? He’s done that, and I think the rest of the Dune home brew crowd feels like Wile E Coyote watching the Road Runner vanish into a vapor trail.

Just look at this stuff

He made all the artwork:

And there are people linking to sites like artscow.com that will print playing cards for you. Hell, uploading preformatted sets of images so you just have to click to buy them. Then they link to shops in Germany where you can buy wooden tokens in bulk.

Want to know how to make a folding board? How about a video of a magnetic, modular game board? The geek out never stops!!

I mean, cripes, the original game didn't look that good:

Ye Gods...

Ilya even formatted a rulebook that was written by this Brit in Manchester who has seriously cleaned up the copy and made some mechanical improvements.

It's like looking for a bit of gum and being gifted a seven-course gourmet meal.

After the first run through of the game I was thinking of searching out a clearer version of the rulebook, now I'm thinking I need to print up some new components.

Not like I need to keep up with the Joneses, but c'mon... a board gamer sees that much concentrated awesomeness and does nothing...?

I think not.