DUNE

Adventure Seeds

1. The Courtesy Seat — A rival House leaves one chair empty at every negotiation. The characters learn it represents an absent claimant whose consent may be required for the treaty to stand.

2. The Third Signature — A minor trade agreement bears a third signature that neither signatory recognizes. Removing it voids years of profitable contracts; honoring it gives an unknown party a claim on the player House.

3. A Name Beneath the Wax — Restoring an old House banner reveals the name of a family deliberately removed from its lineage. Their descendants want recognition before an imminent succession ceremony.

4. The Ambassador’s Shadow — Two diplomatic delegations insist they represent the same House, each carrying valid credentials issued weeks apart. The characters must host both while determining which authority changed.

5. The Quiet Vote — A Landsraad delegate promises support, then requests that the player House publicly vote against their proposal. Their explanation depends on a private agreement the House has never seen.

6. Inheritance of Ash — A distant holding passes to the player House on the death of its owner. Its revenue is real, but so is an obligation to support hundreds of people the previous owner kept off every census.

7. The Uninvited Witness — A servant present at a historic treaty signing comes forward to correct one sentence in the official account. Several Houses agree the servant is telling the truth and still want the testimony buried.

8. A Favor in Mourning — A noble family asks the characters to carry out a favor promised by someone who died before naming its recipient. Three people arrive with convincing claims and incompatible needs.

9. The Borrowed Crest — An isolated settlement has displayed the player House’s crest for a generation, believing itself under House protection. A rival arrives to collect taxes the settlement cannot pay.

10. The Last Hostage — A peace settlement calls for the release of its final political hostage. The hostage, now an adult with a life inside the captor House, refuses to return.

11. The Succession Tutor — A tutor privately admits that the designated heir cannot perform a duty essential to governing the House. The tutor can prepare a replacement, but revealing the problem may trigger the succession crisis immediately.

12. Guests Until Dawn — Two enemies accept hospitality under the player House’s roof. At dawn one will accuse the other publicly; during the night, both seek the characters’ help in proving a different version of the same event.

13. The Price of a Seat — A House Minor offers the player House influence on its council in exchange for settling a labor dispute. The council seat is valuable precisely because no one can resolve the dispute fairly without losing support.

14. The Marriage Clause — An old alliance promises aid upon a marriage that was quietly annulled. War preparations are underway, and both families now disagree over whether the alliance survived.

15. The Mapmaker’s Dowry — A marriage contract transfers rights to a series of surveyed routes. The mapmaker who drew them says the routes were seasonal warnings, never property to be conveyed.

16. The Pilgrim’s Ledger — A transport official records passengers under the names of people who died years ago. The travelers are real; the identities conceal a lawful migration that powerful employers are trying to prevent.

17. One Cargo, Two Holds — A shipment reaches its destination with twice the space its manifest allows. Investigating the impossible accounting exposes a long-running arrangement that keeps a remote community supplied.

18. The Unloaded Vessel — A merchant vessel arrives empty, though witnesses watched valuable cargo loaded. Its captain insists the delivery was completed and asks the characters to confirm receipt.

19. Passage for the Living — A passenger pays for transport under a deceased relative’s name to satisfy an inheritance condition. Exposing the deception could strand a household; accepting it may invalidate the player House’s claim to payment.

20. The Counting House — An accountant proves that every spice shipment from a particular depot has been weighed correctly. The fraud lies in who is legally entitled to the loss between weighings.

21. The Harvest Without Workers — A profitable agricultural estate reports steady production despite having dismissed most of its workforce. Its new methods are mundane, but the displaced workers are being prevented from leaving the planet.

22. The Orchard at the Border — Two neighboring Houses claim an orchard planted across their disputed boundary. Its fruit is modestly valuable; the irrigation records would settle ownership of far more important land.

23. The Cistern Covenant — A village shares a cistern under an agreement older than either governing House. New boundary markers place its access points in separate jurisdictions, and both governments demand control of the keys.

24. Salt in the Survey — A land survey marks a fertile valley as unusable. The mistake was deliberate, but correcting it would erase the only legal protection its residents have from annexation.

25. The Seed Vault — A conservator asks the characters to move a collection of crop seeds before its patron sells them. The buyer can preserve them; the people who developed them will lose all access.

26. The Physician’s Census — A doctor’s patient records reveal an illness concentrated among one employer’s workers. The employer offers immediate treatment if the House keeps the cause out of the public record.

27. The Healer’s Quota — A community’s medical supplies depend on reporting a fixed number of workers fit for duty. Its healers have hidden injuries to keep the shipments coming, and an inspection is days away.

28. The Apprentices’ Petition — Guild-trained artisans seek permission to teach skills their contract reserves for a single workshop. Their instruction could save a failing settlement and destroy the workshop’s political protection.

29. The Machine That Outlived Its Maker — A vital refinery control still works, but no living technician understands every repair its creator made. A rival offers expertise in exchange for inspecting the full installation.

30. The Replacement Part — A missing component can be made locally or bought through an approved supplier. The local version works; using it would let an insurer deny every future claim involving the facility.

31. A Perfect Inventory — An estate’s accounts reconcile to the last item, even as tools vanish from its workers’ hands. The characters must discover what the records count as property and what they count as people.

32. The Night Shift’s Oath — Workers at a remote installation maintain an unauthorized overnight watch. Management calls it insubordination; the watch has prevented accidents that official procedures do not acknowledge.

33. The Silent Auctioneer — An auctioneer stops speaking midway through a sale and continues by gesture. Bidders claim different final prices, while the auctioneer refuses to explain what made speech dangerous.

34. The Artist’s Patron — A celebrated performer accepts a commission from the player House, then asks that their patron remain unnamed. Revealing who paid for the performance would change its political meaning.

35. The Feast of Absence — A provincial festival honors everyone lost in an old disaster. This year its organizers remove one name, prompting the person’s descendants to demand an investigation.

36. The Scholar’s Correction — A historian finds a small error in a widely taught account of an Imperial campaign. Correcting it would leave the great victory intact but expose who supplied its troops.

37. The Forbidden Footnote — A legal scholar cites a judgment that no archive admits holding. The citation is authentic; someone has spent decades ensuring the ruling cannot be used as precedent.

38. Lessons for an Enemy — A captured specialist offers to teach the player House a valuable technique. Their own House wants them returned, while their former students claim the lessons belong to them.

39. The Interpreter’s Choice — During delicate talks, an interpreter changes one word to keep the parties from walking out. The resulting agreement succeeds, and the interpreter confesses before anyone signs it.

40. The Message in Plain Speech — A courier delivers an ordinary family greeting that causes its recipient to abandon a profitable alliance. The characters must learn what shared history gives the message its force.

41. The Prisoner’s Calendar — A political prisoner has marked a future date on the wall of their cell for years. As it approaches, people with no apparent connection begin making arrangements around it.

42. The Gaoler’s Guest — An official prison houses someone who was never sentenced or charged. The gaoler insists the person may leave at any time; the prisoner insists departure would endanger others.

43. The Duel That Never Was — Two Houses cite an old duel as the basis of their present peace. Evidence suggests neither champion fought, and the people who arranged the fiction may have prevented a massacre.

44. The Second Champion — A noble appoints a champion for a public challenge. A second warrior presents an earlier, valid appointment and says the noble is being coerced.

45. The Captain’s Apology — A military captain publicly accepts blame for a disastrous order they never received. Their confession protects a superior, but it also conceals a decision the captain made independently.

46. Orders After Surrender — A garrison has surrendered, yet a delayed command orders it to attack. The characters have hours to establish whose authority governs before both sides treat the movement as treachery.

47. The Empty Muster — A House pays and equips an entire defensive company that never appears at inspection. Its commander says every soldier is exactly where the House ordered them to be.

48. The Boundary Bell — A remote outpost rings its warning bell each night, though it reports no intrusion. Silencing the bell would reassure nearby settlements; following its signal reveals who has been quietly crossing the frontier.

49. The Refugee’s Title — A displaced family carries proof of ownership to land already settled by others. Both claims are valid under different Imperial decisions, and neither family has anywhere else to go.

50. A Future Already Promised — The player House receives an offer to fund a generation-long public works project. Its benefactor has already promised the project’s eventual benefits to another House, whose agents arrive to enforce the bargain.

Notice

These unofficial adventure ideas are offered for anyone who wishes to use or adapt them for their own Dune: Adventures in the Imperium campaign.

This is an independent, fan-created collection and is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or approved by Modiphius Entertainment, Legendary Entertainment, the Herbert Estate, or any other rights holder associated with Dune.

The material is provided freely for personal, noncommercial use, and I receive no money or other compensation from its creation, distribution, or use.

Notice

Currently, these are nothing more than conceived thoughts on exploring the world of Dune. As I consider them further, they will be expanded with more detail.