Secret Harkonnen--The Spice of Life

The game can be played with anywhere from 5-10 players. Rules/logistics are in the “Spoiler” below (click the triangle to the side). Note that additional links are provided for those who might like some additional info on key “background” elements used in this version.

Game Rules

The Basics

The setting is 10,192 A.G. on the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. There are two families, the Imperial Family and the Atreides. One of the Imperials Family will be the Secret Harkonnen (the Baron), which will be explained below. The teams will be enumerated as follows:

5 players: 3A, 1I+H
6 players*: 4A, 1I+H
7 players: 4A, 2I+H
8 players*: 5A, 2I+H
9 players: 5A, 3I+H
10 players*: 6A, 3I+H

*When there are an even number of players, the Feyd Rautha Rule (to be explained below) will be in effect.

The Imperial Family wins if 6 CHOAM (C) policies are passed, or if the Baron is elected Governor of Arrakis after 3 C policies are passed. The Atreides win if 5 Landsraad (L) policies are passed, or if the Baron is assassinated.

Feyd Rautha Rule:
With an even number of players, a tie vote is considered a fail UNLESS three (or more) I policies have been passed. In this case, if the Baron is the nominated Governor of Arrakis, a tie vote is considered a passed government and the Imperial Family wins.

Before the Game

You will be assigned one of three roles: Atreides, Imperial Family, or the Baron. If you are an Atreides, that will be all that you know. If you are one of the Imperial Family, you will be told who your Imperial teammates are as well as who is the Baron. If you are the Baron, unless there are only 5-6 players, you will NOT know who your Imperial teammates are.

You will be assigned a seat number as well. Seat 1 will be the first Emperor, and the Imperial Office will be passed down the list one at a time. It will go back to seat 1 if it gets to the bottom of the list and the game isn’t over yet.

The Policy Deck

The policy deck will have 6 Landsraad policies and 11 CHOAM policies at the start of the game. Once there are fewer than 3 cards remaining in the deck, they are immediately placed with the other discarded policies and a new deck is formed and shuffled. (Suggested randomization of at least 6 times to “shuffle” the electronic deck.)

Phases of the Game

There are three phases of the game: The Election, The Legislative Session, and the Executive Power session.

**1. The Election**

Whoever is Emperor may choose whom to nominate as the Governor of Arrakis (GoA). The floor is open for discussion among all players about whom to nominate. Once the Emperor decides who they want to nominate, they should post in the thread, in bold, I nominate ______.

Once that is posted, all players should vote ‘Confirm’ (yes) or ‘Deny’ (no) via PM to me. I will publicly post each players’ vote after all votes are received. If a majority of votes are ‘Confirm’, then the election passes and we will move on to the Legislative Session. If it fails (it does fail on a tie vote, except for the Feyd Rautha Rule exception), then the Imperial Office passes on to the next player and another nomination and election happens. If there are 3 consecutive elections with no successful government formed, then the top policy card of the policy card will be enacted without any further input from the players.

Any player that was in the prior government is not eligible to be the next GoA. If there are 5 or fewer players remaining, then only the last GoA is ineligible.

**2. The Legislative Session**

Once all the votes are in, I will open the legislative session by posting in the thread. Once the legislative session is open, the Emperor and GoA MAY NOT post in the thread until I have closed the legislative session by announcing the result . Other players may continue to have discussions.

Once the legislative session is open, I will PM the Emperor the top three cards of the policy deck. The Emperor will choose 1 to discard by reply to me only in PM. I will then PM the two remaining cards to the GoA, who will choose which one to enact. The GoA will PM me their choice, and I will close the legislative session in the thread by announcing if a Landsraad or CHOAM policy was passed. If a CHOAM policy was passed, we will then have the executive power phase, if necessary.

**3. The Executive Power**

When CHOAM policies are passed, the government becomes more powerful. The CURRENT Emperor (that is, the one that just passed the CHOAM policy) may get to use an executive power, as listed below.

5-6 players

1st I policy: No executive power
2nd I policy: Consult the Spacing Guild
3rd I policy: Emperor will call a Special Election, the Baron may now win by being elected GoA
4th I policy: Choice of Consult the Spacing Guild or employ the Sardaukar on a player
5th I policy: Whichever power was not used after the 4th I policy was passed. Veto power unlocked

7-8 players

1st I policy: Consult the Spacing Guild
2nd I policy: Choice of Consult the Spacing Guild or enter a Spice Trance
3rd I policy: Emperor will call a Special Election, the Baron may now win by being elected GoA
4th I policy: Choice of enter a Spice Trance or employ the Sardaukar on one player.
5th I policy: Choice of Consult the Spacing Guild or employ the Sardaukar on one player. Veto power unlocked.

9-10 players:

1st I policy: Choice of Consult the Spacing Guild or enter a Spice Trance
2nd I policy: Whichever power was not used after the 1st I policy was passed.
3rd I policy: Emperor will call a Special Election, the Baron may now win by being elected GoA
4th I policy: Choice of enter a Spice Trance or employ the Sardaukar on one player.
5th I policy: Employ the Sardaukar on one player. Veto power unlocked.

**Explanations of Powers:**

Consult the Spacing Guild: The Emperor will be told via PM what the next three policies in the deck are, including their order.

Enter a Spice Trance: The Emperor should publicly post in the thread, in bold, I will enter a Spice Trance to learn more about ______. I will reply via PM if the player is Atreides or Imperial. If the investigated player is the Baron, you will only be told that they are Imperial.

Special Election: The Emperor selects the next Emperor by posting in the thread, in bold, I choose ________ to be the next Emperor. The current Emperor is not eligible to be the Special Election Emperor. After that single election, the Imperial Office goes back to where it would have been otherwise and the game continues on normally.

Employ the Sardaukar: The Emperor should publicly post in the thread, in bold, I order the Sardaukar to kill ________. The assassinated player should have no further part in the discussion. Assassinated players do not have their loyalty revealed unless they are the Baron in which case the Atreides have won.

People may discuss openly in the thread about the best use of these powers, but ultimately, once the Emperor posts the bold statement, it can not be taken back.

Veto Power: Here, the Emperor and the GoA have the opportunity to veto the agenda. If the Emperor AND the GoA choose to veto, then all 3 cards are discarded and the Imperial Office passes. The failed election counter does go up by 1 as well, bring it closer to a forced policy enactment.

After the Executive Power phase, if the game is not won, we go to the next election phase with the new Emperor in power.

ALL GAME COMMUNICATION, UNLESS STATED IN THE RULES ABOVE, SHOULD BE IN THIS THREAD. THERE SHOULD BE NO GAME RELATED PM BETWEEN PLAYERS.

Players signed up

Player Abbr
BruteForce BF
Arthuritas AI
YankeeTripper YT
A_Student AS
J0EBL0W JB

Richese Hecklers

  1. Doctor_Who
  2. Kenny
  3. IPD
  4. colonelsmoothie
  5. NerdAlert
  6. Lucy

Player Order

Seat # Player Game Abbrev Nickname
1 A_Student AS Posh
2 YankeeTripper YT Ginger
3 ArthurItas AI Scary
4 J0EBL0W JB Sporty
5 BruteForce BF Baby

Game Status

Landsraad Policies Passed 5
Imperial Policies Passed 4

Atreides won on policies

. . . . . 01 02 03 04 05
Rnd Elect Emp GoA L / I AS YT AI JB BF
01 01 01 04 L C C C C C
02 01 02 05 I C C C C C
03 01 03 01 L C C C C C
04 01 04 03 I C C C C C
05 01 05 01 L C C C C C
06 01 01 05 L C C C C C
07 01 02 01 I D C C D C
08 01 05 04 D D D C C
08 02 03 02 D C C D D
08 03 04 05 I C C D C C
09 01 05 01 L C D C C
Executive Power Power/Player Using the Power Claimed Result
1st I policy None ---
2nd I policy J0EBL0W Consulted the Spacing Guild L I I
3rd I policy Special Election – YankeeTripper chose: BruteForce
4th I policy J0EBL0W chose to Send the Sardaukar to ArthurItas Not The Baron

Universe Infrastructure Under Over Construction

Role PMs have been sent.

May Shai-Hulud have mercy on all y’all.

:joy:

1 Like

Players:
Scary Spice
Baby Spice
Sporty Spice
Posh Spice
Ginger Spice

3 Likes

A_Student is now emperor. Please post your nomination for the Governor of Arrakis.

Secret Harkonnen = ArthurItis

I will nominate JB for whatever the position is called.

I will accept this format, droll as it may be.

We have a valid nomination. Everyone cast your votes for the proposed government.

I’ll vote yes on the Posh/Sporty ticket

Just a reminder that you can say whatever you like about your voting preferences in the game thread; but it’s not official until you send a PM to me with your vote.

Remember that these elections are highly influenced by what was the Conservative Party (or whatever they were called back then) on Old Terra.

I’ll also vote to join up with Posh!

image

2 Likes

I’m here, and I plan on reading the rules today so I can understand what’s going on.

Why play differently than you have any other game?

Votes are . . . NOT OUT but IN!!

. . . . . 01 02 03 04 05
Rnd Elect Emp GoA L / I AS YT AI JB BF
01 01 01 04 ?? C C C C C

A_Student and J0EBL0W should not post in this thread until the result of their policy has been announced.

I said plan to… we’ll see what actually happens.

POLICY ENACTED!!

summary

Will A_Student get to be the one to waste the non-acting Executive Action?

but wait! THERE'S MORE!!

Or will the Atreides start off with a policy count lead?

the answer

after a brief word from our sponsors

brief word

Landsraad

Atreides pull ahead in the count 1-0

YankeeTripper is now the Emperor. Please post your nomination for the Governor of Arrakis.

Note that for a 5-player game, only J0EBL0W is ineligible to be nominated.

And you can’t nominate yourself. This isn’t Geidi Prime.