Or anywhere in the known universe for that matter.
Where are people planning on setting their games?
I assume that there will be a number of games, possibly the majority, will be set on Arrakis but where else are people planning on heading?
I will have a unique home planet that the players House will be from but I will be sending them off world frequently. Arrakis, Geidi Prime and Korona (a moon of Richese) will probably feature.
A vote for Arrakis - looking forward to a smuggler or Atreides advance agent on Dune.
Caladan holds some interest, tracking threats to the Atreides regime. Landsraad for political action would be stellar (you see what I did there?!), although might be light on action/adventure.
Does the Landsraad meet on Kaitain? I don’t recall if that’s ever specified in the books.
I can’t find any reference to the location if the Landsraad in Dune or the Dune Encyclopedia.
Kaitain would make sense, but if you accept the Dune Encyclopedia it seems like it was more flexible than a government body so it may well be a case that you could have ad hoc assemblies of the Landsraad in different places.
I haven’t decided on a setting until my players design a house and characters, as that will inform the direction I take them. I’m undecided how much Arrakis will feature but I’d definitely prefer to set it in a “historical” timeframe so I can mess around more freely. My initial thoughts is to deal with a prior changeover of control of Arrakis, perhaps having the players involved in making their house’s claim to the job.
Leto goes on trial at one point in House Harkonnen for the action in the Heighliner, but I can’t remember if the planet in question is mentioned.
I suspect Kaitain as that is where the action is, and anyone powerful enough to sit representing their House to the Landsraad wouldn’t want to go anywhere without luxury accommodation and facilities.
If you want to take a few steps further back you can use Arrakis when it was under the control of House Richesse. Not quite as unpleasant as the Harkonnen. 
Ad hoc assemblies is pretty much what I’m thinking as well, almost sort of a G-20 like meeting. Carving a planet out just for the Landsraad seems excessive. Perhaps a moon?
I guess it depends on how much need there is permanent administration vs. periodic embassies. I can definitely see the need for a declared and militarily neutral location for the Houses to meet.
On another note, is there a canon answer for what happened to the houses minor attached to the Atreides post-Harkonnen restoration on Arrakis? I’m thinking Herbert time-jumped in Dune and there was no real explanation of what happened politically after the death of Leto.
The glossary at the back says house minors were a “planet-bound entrepreneur class”.
To me that suggests that most of them will have remained on Caladan when the Atreides moved and will be under whichever House Major gets that fief.
There will be some that will have been brought along however. Specialists and house retainers who aren’t fully a part of the Atreides.
Dune doesn’t really talk about what happened to the Atreides affiliated forces after the initial attack other than to say that some retreated to the caves and were being buried alive by the artillery.
When the Baron hands control over to Rabban though he tells him to hold a hostage from each House Minor on the planet to ensure no word of what really happened gets out.
So you would have a hostage situation at least. Possible plot hook for a campaign there. Having to break family members or allies from Harkonnen custody.
It totally does. But that might be a feature rather than a bug. Impractical, ostentatious displays of wealth and power are exactly the kind of thing that Imperial courts are all about.
Landsraad will be meeting in Davos soon. I mean Kaitain.
The Imperium is a tremendously wealthy feudal state held in tightly controlled stagnation and artificial peace. They totally have the time, inclination and resources to carve out a planet for the Landsraad, if only out if boredom!
You know, as realized as Herbert’s Dune Universe is, it is in areas like this that I wish we had an even deeper understanding of the broader context of the Imperium’s government.
Clearly, that was all completely wiped away in the very first book so would have been somewhat wasted and later books make even more radical time jumps so hard to world build across thousands of years.
I do also realize the absurdity of complaining that we don’t have more information for imaginative games, i.e. isn’t this an opportunity to craft your own small addition to Herbert’s lore? I guess it’s an acknowledgement that I’m not sure I trust myself to meet Frank’s high standard.
More on point, I think I’ll take a look at the Holy Roman Empire and its system of Electors. I want to say they would meet in conclave for certain decisions (not least of course, was for the election of a new Holy Roman Emperor). For some reason Aachen or Cologne sticks out as a more or less permanent meeting place (this probably changed over time) although I could completely wrong about that.
I think one of the great things about the first book is the appendices at the end. They give so much evocative information about the universe that you just don’t get in the course of telling a story focused on the characters. (This is a good thing, the extra knowledge would get in the way during the story)
The HRE is a good place to start with how it incorporated so many different power structures within itself. The constant balancing act between, feudal, guild (in the form of the free cities) and church that the ruler had to maintain is a perfect fit for the Imperium.
Does the Landstraad have to be one place - a moving council staying in worlds for periods of time would also make sense
The phrase organisation of thousands of worlds is used in the encyclopaedia
Not to my mind. I can definitely see meetings being held at various locations, and can even see it being desirable in things like mediating disputes or votes on specific issues within the Imperium.
Regarding the Holy Roman Empire, my initial research turned up the following:
“Frankfurt regularly served as the site of the election (of the Emperor) from the fifteenth century on, but elections were also held at Cologne (1531), Regensburg (1575 and 1636), and Augsburg(1653 and 1690).”
I’m equating HRE prince-electors as equivalent to Houses Major in Dune, which is likely much too narrow.
The Wikipedia article indicates that the electors were also members of the Imperial Diet (which is probably more representative of the Landsraad). The Imperial Diet is described as resident in Regensburg in permanent session (at least from 1663 until 1806).
In the original Frank Herbert works there is little shown/described concerning formal proceedings of the Landsraad. The prequel series by Brian and Kevin sheds a bit more light on the matter (the Houses of Dune trilogy), as there was a meeting of the Landsraad where Leto attempts to defend the reputation of a close friend (details excluded from post for spoiler reasons). As I recall it was convened aboard a Guild Heighliner, but it stands to reason that there would be formal chambers on Kaitan as well.
I’d agree a Heighliner is a good call.
Its neutral ground and can instantly move around a vast distance to collect everyone.
I’d imagine such meetings would vary depending on the delegates in question and their needs/motives. Its something we’ll definitely have to get a canon answer on.
In the novel Paul of Dune the text refers to a Hall of the Landsraad on Kaitain and a scene describing a trial is set in it.