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Dune is my favorite book. Gaming is my favorite hobby.

During more than a decade of role playing, I (and nearly every gamer I know) have tried to combine these two facts into something workable. Any game system we could get our hands on has been pillaged and plundered in an effort to re-create Frank Herbert's world. Most were abysmal failures.

Then, a little over two years ago, it happened. Last Unicorn Games was releasing Dune. My husband and I were ecstatic. Not only were we getting Dune, but it was coming from the company who had done Star Trek real justice. Beautiful books…excellent research…a simple system. More than we could have hoped. We couldn't wait.

Or then again, maybe we could. Time after time, release dates were pushed back. Amazon.com arrogantly kept our shipping date as August 1998, despite the fact that it was well into 1999. The LUG website was quiet. "Coming Soon" was all they had to say. Then we discovered why. Wizards of the Coast had bought them out.

I won't rant about WOTC here. That's for another page, and a day when I'm feeling particularly nasty.

Although I watched for updates, I was too busy and too disenchanted to surf all the rumor pages and mailing lists. So the release of the mythical 3000 copies of LUG's version of the game came as a surprise. I actually discovered it on the day WOTC sold the last of the copies on its website. At about 5pm. They had sold out at 4:30. But they were promising a d20 version with support soon. Not being that patient, we bought the book off of Ebay.

It is fantastic. For those who cannot get their hands on a copy, I am truly sorry. LUG did an excellent job. But there are glaring holes meant to be filled with support material. No Fremen. Little Guild. Only the necessities for Mentats or Bene Gesserit. So, we relented…and began following the WOTC site for news of the release of their version of the game.

For those of you that have ridden this roller coaster with us, you know the rest of the story. The announcement on their website of the May 2001 release date coincided with the rather substantiated rumor that they had laid off the people working on the project. Which was quickly followed by the news that they had actually lost the license back in August and neglected to tell anyone. (I promised I wouldn't rant…I promised I wouldn't rant…I promised I wouldn't rant.)

So here we are. A lucky (or foolish) few have the game. Most at great expense. But the system it was created in is dead. And most who want it will never even read the book, much less own a copy.

I wish I could do what WOTC should do and post the book in PDF format for download. But although no one has the time or inclination to serve the loyal gamers by doing that, I am sure they have all the time in the world to sue me for copyright infringement. So, instead, my family and I have decided to start this website. We will support this game.

But Dune is not the only game to fall victim to this kind of thing. There are games whose creators couldn't afford to keep them going. Games ended by company buyouts. Games that have support trickling out at a maddeningly slow pace. Games that companies insist have no audience even though you and everyone you know loves them. And finally because the small game shops that are the lifeblood of most gamers simply cannot compete with the new megaliths that are forming. So it may be out there, but you can't get your hands on it.

This page is for all those games. Many or most of the game links may be titles you've never heard of. Or they may be for games you've only seen once. Or games you loved in the original version that have changed systems or companies. Or (and this is our hope) they may be for your favorite game. The one you've played until you've exhausted what resources are available.

We'll post our own work. We'll accept your submissions. We'll review obscure games to give you some idea of what they are. And we'll link to anyone we can that supports these games.

It's a big project, and we're just getting started. But with some time and some effort, we hope to help you enjoy all those games that are lost in the stacks.

Sherry

PS. We're gonna rant too.