Cost
Nothing in Dune is truly free. Every action, card, or ability comes with a price—sometimes in spice, sometimes in opportunity.
For example, the Emperor can fund an ally during bidding, effectively letting them buy “free” Treachery cards. But this comes at a cost: every card they win is one the Emperor is denied spice from an opponent. Likewise, the Fremen ship forces without spice, but only into limited areas; the Bene Gesserit place units for free, but with delayed combat effectiveness.
Even powerful cards like Karamas carry steep opportunity costs: using one now means forfeiting its ability to cancel another faction’s power later. The principle is simple: in Dune, every gain demands a trade-off.
Scarcity
Scarcity is the engine of conflict. Limited resources force players to clash, scheme, and take risks.
Revival caps make every battle costly, leaders cannot return until all are dead, and only a handful of Treachery cards enter circulation each turn. With just five Strongholds and a few spice blows on the board, players are pushed into direct competition.
If resources were plentiful—if revivals were unlimited or the map had many more valuable territories—conflict would evaporate, and Dune would stop being a war game. Scarcity ensures the struggle remains urgent.
Minimums
Scarcity alone would make Dune punishing to the point of collapse. Minimums act as safety nets, keeping players viable even after setbacks.
Ensuring roughly one Treachery card per eligible player prevents bidding rounds from stalling and keeps opportunities for upsets alive. CHOAM Charity and a neutral zone allow bankrupt players to re-enter the game. Force reserves and the Polar Sink give fallen factions a chance to rebuild.
These minimums prevent snowball effects and death spirals. They don’t eliminate scarcity; they simply guarantee that everyone has just enough to keep playing—and therefore keep threatening victory.
Deduction
Deduction is what transforms tension into strategy. Players must be able to predict outcomes, weigh risks, and make informed decisions.
Treachery and Traitor cards are hidden information, but they follow consistent patterns that allow players to reason about possibilities. The battle wheels let players narrow outcomes and anticipate bluffs. This creates variance—uncertainty that can be managed and influenced—rather than pure luck, where planning is irrelevant.
If Traitors were reshuffled mid-game or Treachery cards appeared randomly, the ability to make deductions would vanish. Battles would devolve into dice rolls. What Dune needs is variance with structure, not chaos.