So we come to an end of what I like to think was one of my more epic campaigns.
17 sessions in Season 1 and 17 in Season 2 (pure coincidence they were the same).
So 34 sessions over about 18 months. Roughly 1 a fortnight. Not bad for our group.
My players created a Minor House with just a name and a few plot points. They ended as a Major House with a detailed and rich history.
For how things went there are a few aspects I think worked really well:
-
The Family Tree and House Hierarchy.
These were probably at the heart of the whole game. In the first season the family connections were all important. They were integral to the plot and gave the players characters to interact with not just names or positions.
In Season 2 almost all the characters were tied into NPCs who were descended from those in the original season. The Kinnards, the Ashfanis, the Sindri themselves. They were connected into the world they had built previously. An entire branch of the House, The Complicated, came about from actions they had done previously. The House was Alive. -
The Multiple Seasons
Partially for the aforementioned connections, but also it allowed the players to retire their characters and bring in new ones. Simply put, they got to play with more of the toys.
I went for a century long gap, but a shorter period with the PCs becoming more senior members of the House would also work. Possibly making them DPCs (Directed Player Characters, sort of part way between PCs and NPCs) where the players would have some input in their actions could be a possibility.
Dune works well with a Pendragon style campaign. The scale being measured not just in weeks and months, but decades and centuries. -
The Artwork
I have never used as much art and handouts as I have in this game. Some I commissioned (PC portraits, the map of Cheruf), some I made myself (The sealed letters, reports from the Intelligence chief) and others I modified from what I found online (Character images, maps of locations).
Some things require a table. A wax sealed letter can’t be passed around online, but a lot of the rest are able to be used IRL or digitally. While theatre of the mind is a key element of RP, sometimes it helps to have a springboard.
As with all campaigns there are areas I would alter, maybe change or approach differently.
Duels: I run combat light at the best of times, but I did try a duel early on. It didn’t really work and I ditched it pretty fast to switch to Skirmish. Just not a section that clicked for me.
Overly complex plots: In my first season I think I tried to be too clever. I wanted to set up a hard choice for the players between taking down the Brother who was the one who murdered the Warmaster or backing him as he was trying to prevent the Wife from taking over the House in the name of Solis.
In the end I think I buried the plot too deep with interwoven strings and my players decided to just take down the Wife without actually working out that the Brother had been behind the murder. It was all just pinned on the Wife.
Season 2 went better for this. They identified the treasonous House Minor fairly early on. After that it was just a case of how do they exploit it.
I will create somewhere to House 
everything to do with this campaign. The Artwork, the Characters, the Houses, the History, etc. Everything in one place.
Anyone can use any of it. I would love if you did.
Maybe let my players and I know what House Sindri gets up to in the wider Imperium. They all agree that they are the bad guys in someone else’s story. 