Oh, and just to clarify something I read... the original Spacemaster was not designed to sell as a DUNE game (though after we were well into producing the game, I think that ICE did try to get the license), but we had already started developing the Imperium background. We'd created several houses and groups; and yeah, there was some Dune influence.
But in the beginning, Kevin Barrett sent us the concept as 'Tech Law' unsolicited as this little bound proposal, and we loved it so much that we though it might be worthwhile to do an entire new genre. So they sent me (why me, I don't remember) and my KAYPRO to meet Barrett in Toronto, and on that tiny 9" screen we developed the attack tables and the original Tech Law and Future Law. How's that for backstory?