While Paul Atreides is certainly more pleasant and decent than Vladimir Harkonnen, neither of them are good guys nor bad guys. While Vladimir is selfish, greedy, and hungry for power, Paul still starts a brutal and bloody religious war. Both are the leaders of noble Houses who profit to an extortionate level from the work of their population.
While the people of Caladan live far more pleasant lives than those of the people of Giedi Prime, none live even close to the same luxury as the nobility who rule them.
Throughout this campaign, the player characters must decide who to side with, as their peers will judge them for it. But make no mistake: there are no clearly correct moral choices. There is darkness and light everywhere you look, and the player characters will have to develop their moral compass and decide on which path it leads to.
I love that the Dune roleplaying isn’t afraid to grapple with the moral ambiguity of the protagonist unleashing a holy war to have his revenge on those that tried to wipe his family out.
I also love that the sequel to the first book isn’t afraid to start exploring what that act does to Paul.
The quote is from the new Fall of the Imperium sourcebook which looks fantastic on an initial skim.
25 March 2024
Update 2 April 2024: I’ve now reviewed the book here on the blog.
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