Retrospective: Bunnies & Burrows

Looking back on my early introduction to the hobby of roleplaying, one of the things that strikes me is how many RPGs available at the time of which I'd never heard, let alone had the chance to play. 1976's Bunnies & Burrows by B. Dennis Sustare and Scott Robinson, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited, is a very good example of a game utterly unknown to me at the time. I think the very first time I ever came across a reference to it was in an editorial or article by Roger E. Moore (in either Dragon or Polyhedron), where he describes an AD&D session he ran in which the characters were all transported to the world of Bunnies & Burrows and he presented each of his players with a miniature rabbit painted to look like their characters. Sometime afterwards, I was able to confirm that B&B did in fact exist and was not a joke or a parody but quite serious, though it would be many more years before I ever laid eyes on a copy of the game (though I did read GURPS Bunnies & Burrows in 1992).

Subtitled "the fantasy world of intelligent rabbits," B&B states, in its introduction, that "a currently popular novel has demonstrated that rabbits are suitable subjects for fantasy games." The novel in question, I assume, is the 1972 novel, Watership Down, by Richard Adams, a book I knew only vaguely from having seen stills from the the 1978 animated film in the pages of Starlog or a similar magazine. It's also worth noting that the term "fantasy game" is, at this early date, a synonym for "roleplaying game" and doesn't necessarily mean that the game in question will include typical fantasy elements, like magic or monsters. Bunnies & Burrows strictly contains neither, though both appear after a fashion, at least from the limited perspective of rabbits. That said, the idea that rabbits have a society of their own, right down to having distinct professions (character classes) one might take up, is quite fantastical and is the primary conceit on which B&B is built. 

As one might of a RPG published just two years after OD&D, Bunnies & Burrows show a lot of influence from its illustrious predecessor. Rabbit characters have eight ability scores, consisting of D&D's six plus Speed and Smell. Again, like OD&D, they are generated by the roll of three six-sided dice. Unlike OD&D, these ability scores can increase over time through successful use. There eight professions, one corresponding to each of the ability scores: Fighter (Strength), Runner (Speed), Herbalist (Smell), Scout (Intelligence), Seer (Wisdom), Maverick (Dexterity), Empath (Constitution), and Storyteller (Charisma). Each profession offers a variety of skills unique to it, from the fairly straightforward (a Fighter's combat talents) to the more peculiar (a Seer's improved ability to see the future). There's quite a lot of fascinating stuff to be found here. I was simultaneously amazed at the comparative sophistication of the rules, despite their early date, and intrigued by the world implied by some of the sub-systems introduced.

The implied world has many elements that I like. The combat rules, for example, are explicitly presented as applying primarily to fights between rabbits. That's because almost every predator in the game is vastly more potent than a rabbit and any fight involving them will inevitably lead to the rabbit's demise unless he is very clever (or fast!). Likewise, there are extensive rules for locating and using beneficial herbs (hence the importance of the Smell ability score). Sustare and Robinson clearly put a great deal of thought into B&B, attempting to model what the world might look like from the perspective of a rabbit while at the same time presenting it in a way that might hold the attention of someone more used to Dungeons & Dragons.

If Bunnies & Burrows has a real flaw, it's that its audience is very small indeed. Even after reading the rules and admiring its designers' ingenuity, I nevertheless found myself wondering what one does in a B&B campaign. There is a section in the rulebook on running the game but it's brief and ultimately comes down to "use your imagination," which, while fair, isn't helpful to those of us who haven't read Watership Down and similar books. There are rules for creating, mapping, and maintaining a rabbit warren, which are interesting, but I'm not sure they're sufficient to hold one's attention long-term. Likewise, rules for mating and reproduction (the first in a RPG?) are included and genuinely necessary but, unlike similar rules in, say, Pendragon, they don't seem to have a clear use in the game beyond color. 

At the same time, I can't help but admire Bunnies & Burrows. Even today, it stands out as an oddity, a genuinely unusual subject for a roleplaying game likely aimed at a very specific group of players. In 1976, it was revolutionary – evidence that this strange new hobby had potential beyond the world of dungeons and dragons, potential that has been proved again and again in the decades since and shows no signs of running dry.