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Bunnies & Burrows facts for kids
Original Bunnies & Burrows cover
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| Designer(s) | B. Dennis Sustare, Scott Robinson |
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| Publisher(s) | Fantasy Games Unlimited |
| Publication date | 1976 |
| Genre(s) | Animal fantasy |
| System(s) | Original |
Bunnies & Burrows (often called B&B) is a special role-playing game (RPG). It was inspired by the famous book Watership Down, which is about a group of rabbits. This game lets you play as intelligent rabbits!
B&B was first published in 1976 by Fantasy Games Unlimited. It brought many new ideas to RPGs. For example, it was the first game where players could be non-humanoid characters. This means you didn't have to play as a person or a human-like creature. It also had very detailed rules for martial arts and a new kind of skill system.
Later, a second edition came out in 1982. A revised third edition was published in 2019 by Frog God Games. The game was even changed to fit into the popular GURPS game system in 1992.
As rabbits, your characters face dangers found in the real world. The only true "monsters" in the game are humans. But there are many other dangers like predators and natural hazards. Because rabbits are not at the top of the food chain, players must focus on thinking and solving problems. Fighting is not usually the best option.
Playing as Rabbits
Bunnies & Burrows was the first RPG where you could play as an animal. This was a very new idea when it first came out. It also had detailed rules for martial arts, which were called "Bun Fu" in the GURPS version. It was also one of the first games to have a detailed skill system. Many people thought it was far more advanced than other games of its time, like the first Dungeons & Dragons.
When you play Bunnies & Burrows, you become a rabbit. Your character interacts with many different kinds of animals. Humans are the only "monsters" you might meet. Their ways of thinking are completely different from a rabbit's.
One cool thing about Bunnies & Burrows is that you already understand the dangers. For example, if your rabbit character meets a fox, you instantly know how much danger they are in. This is different from games with made-up creatures. Since your rabbit character is usually weaker than the dangers they face, the game encourages you to be smart. You need to solve problems and outwit obstacles, instead of just fighting them.
How the Game Works
The rules for Bunnies & Burrows were made just for this game. This was common when the game first came out. Each rabbit character has eight different abilities. There are also eight different classes or types of rabbits you can play.
To decide if an action succeeds, players roll percentile dice. These dice help figure out if your rabbit can do something, like sneak past a fox or dig a tunnel. Even though newer games have more modern rules, the ideas in Bunnies & Burrows helped create the basic rules for many modern role-playing games.