''Bunnies & Burrows'' (''B&B'') is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

(RPG) inspired by the 1972 novel ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural ...

''.'' GURPS Bunnies & Burrows'' (1992),

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

, Published by

Fantasy Games Unlimited Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent. History Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York b ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, the game centered on intelligent

rabbits Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...

. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the first game to encourage players to have non-

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

roles, and the first to have detailed

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

and skill systems. Fantasy Games Unlimited published a similar second edition in 1982. Frog God Games published a revised third edition in 2019 from the original authors. The game was also modified and published by

as an official ''GURPS'' supplement in 1992. As

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s are faced with dangers mirroring those in the real world. The only true "

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

s" in the game are humans, but there are many predators and natural hazards. The characters' position in the food chain promotes an emphasis on role-playing and problem solving over combat.

History

Originally published by

in 1976, only two years after the first role-playing game '' Dungeons & Dragons'' was published; this edition is now long out of print. The game was inspired by

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...

' fantasy novel ''

'', and the players were given the opportunity to take on the role of rabbits. As such, the game emphasized role-playing over combat for, according to

Steffan O'Sullivan Steffan O'Sullivan is the author of several role-playing game books. Career Steffan O'Sullivan was a ''GURPS'' writer whose projects included ''GURPS Swashbucklers'' (1990) and '' GURPS Bunnies & Burrows'' (1992). He designed the ''FUDGE'' role-p ...

, "You're playing a rabbit, after all – how much combat do you want to do?"

David M. Ewalt David M. Ewalt (born 1976) is an American journalist and author. Ewalt is the author of the books ''Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It'' (2013) and ''Defying Reality: The Inside Story of the Virtual Reali ...

, in his book ''Of Dice and Men'', commented that ''Bunnies & Burrows'' "pushed setting even farther" than other early RPGs like ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and '' En Garde!'', as the "player characters were intelligent rabbits and had to compete for food, avoid predators, and deal with internal warren politics". Building on this first edition, in 1979, B. Dennis Sustare wrote ''"Different Worlds Present the World of Druid's Valley: A Bunnies & Burrows Campaign"'' in '' Different Worlds'', a magazine published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

. It detailed how to combine the world of ''Bunnies & Burrows'' with other fantasy worlds. This was followed by the mini-adventure ''"The Jackrabbits' Lair"'', written by Daniel J. Maxfield, in ''

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

'', a magazine published by

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials, but became best known during the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the leadin ...

. A second edition of ''Bunnies & Burrows'' was printed in 1982 by Fantasy Games Unlimited, although the continuing popularity of the first edition is evidenced by how it was still being actively played in 2008. During a rise of "retro" games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Steve Jackson Games entered negotiations with Dennis Sustare and Scott Robinson, the current owners of the ''Bunnies & Burrows'' copyright, to publish an official ''GURPS'' supplement. In 1988, O'Sullivan wrote an unofficial conversion of ''Bunnies & Burrows'' to '' GURPS'' while the negotiations continued. He indicated that he hoped to one day work on the official supplement. '' GURPS Bunnies & Burrows'' was published in 1992. The setting also had an unofficial conversion in 2004 to be used in '' Risus: The Anything RPG'' by Boyd Mayberry under their "Rules for Free Fan-Supplements and Articles". In 2019, Frog God Games released a 3rd edition of the game after a successful kickstarter campaign.

Gameplay

''Bunnies & Burrows'' was the first role-playing game to allow for non-humanoid play. In addition, it was also the first role-playing game to have detailed martial arts rules (renamed "''Bun Fu''" in GURPS Bunnies & Burrows) and the first attempt at a skill system. For its time, the game was considered by some "light years" ahead of the Original ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

Players Players may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Players'' (1979 film), a film starring Ali MacGraw * ''Players'' (2012 film), a Bollywood film * ''Players'' (Dicks novel), a novel by Terrance Dicks, based on the television series ''Doc ...

of ''Bunnies & Burrows'' take the role of

s as their player characters. Interaction with many different animal species is part of normal gameplay.

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

s, whose thought processes and motivations are completely alien, are the only monster to be encountered. ''Bunnies & Burrows'' has the advantage of offering players an intuitive grasp of relative dangers and appropriate actions not possible in game worlds that are substantially fictional. For example, a player is told their character is confronted with a

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. There is an immediate intuition on the amount of peril a rabbit is facing. Since player characters are substantially weaker than many of the dangers they face, the game is one of the first to encourage problem solving and outwitting obstacles, rather than out-fighting them. The mechanics of the role-playing game system were created specifically for ''Bunnies & Burrows'', common at the time of its original publishing. It features eight abilities and eight classes. The task resolution system is based on rolls of

percentile dice Dice notation (also known as dice algebra, common dice notation, RPG dice notation, and several other titles) is a system to represent different combinations of dice in wargames and tabletop role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation such ...

. Although newer systems have updated game mechanics significantly, the ideas presented in ''Bunnies & Burrows'' created the framework for modern role-playing games.

Reception

Steve Jackson reviewed ''Bunnies & Burrows'' in '' The Space Gamer'' No. 10. Jackson concluded that "''B & B'' is probably worth the retail price ..at least to a FRP fan. The writing style is intelligent, lucid, and occasionally witty; the rules are workable ..the art, as I think I pointed out, is so bad it's great; and the whole idea is appealing." Although the game had "incredible role-playing potential", the concept of role-playing rabbits can be viewed as bizarre, and as such at least one commentator believes that most people thought it was stupid when it was first released. This view is mirrored by Lev Lafayette, who, when describing his first exposure to the game, says "You can't do anything!'".

Reviews

*''

Fantastic Science Fiction ''Fantastic'' was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by the publishing company Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to ''Amazing Stories''. Early sales were good, and the com ...

'' v27 n10Fantastic v27n10 [1980-07
(Daisy Chainsaw)">980-07">Fantastic v27n10 [1980-07
(Daisy Chainsaw)Retrieved March 26, 2023

Publications

Books

*''Bunnies & Burrows'' (1976),

*''Bunnies & Burrows'' (Second edition) (1982), Fantasy Games Unlimited *''Bunnies & Burrows'' (Third edition) (2019), Frog God Games

Articles

*''Different Worlds Present the World of Druid's Valley: A Bunnies & Burrows Campaign'' (B. Dennis Sustare, 1979). ''Different Worlds'',

*''The Jackrabbits' Lair'' (Daniel J. Maxfield). Pegasus,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunnies and Burrows Fantasy role-playing games Watership Down Fantasy Games Unlimited games Rabbits and hares in popular culture Role-playing games introduced in 1976