Advanced Bunnies & Burrows (AB&B) - a fan revision

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Advanced Bunnies & Burrows (AB&B) - a fan revision
« on: September 24, 2016, 04:32:37 PM »
Bunnies & Burrows is a game from the late 70's about a world of adventuring intelligent rabbits partially inspired by Watership Down
I was taken by the charm and intricacy of the 1st edition source text and decided to make a fan revision that adapts its systems/mechanics to the AW engine.

These rules are free for anyone who would like to give the game a go. It's easy to run, doesn't require a lot of prep, and easy to learn.
Let me know if you played it and have any thoughts on it - positive or negative feedback always encouraged!

The rules: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rlSfp_flmEYm1KVWExTzZ5SnM/view?usp=sharing

The character sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rlSfp_flmEY0ZlcXJQQmE2ZDg/view?usp=sharing

The herbalist guidebook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rlSfp_flmEdEl1cXBoWGhTQ2s/view?usp=sharing

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Spwack

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Re: Advanced Bunnies & Burrows (AB&B) - a fan revision
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2016, 08:15:54 AM »
REDWALL.

This is 100% perfect for Redwall.

My few bits of feedback on a quick readthrough would be to put the moves that are class-specific in with the classes, rather than scattered throughout the default moves. Stuff that requires Trance Points should go where they are supposed to. Second would be to put the list of herbs (which is an AWESOME idea. These are spells right? Sweeeeet) at the end rather than in the middle. It's a lot of highly specific content that is used rarely, but definitely required.

While it's clear there's a lot of work been done here, the large tables required for constantly (?) varying percentile rolls make me quiver with fear. At the very least, they would need to be printed along with every single character sheet. Messy, but very required.

I would thoroughly recommend having at least a few combat examples being given on the same page, as it was quite a challenge to follow the maths.

My personal opinion (which doesn't mean it's correct) is that percentile dice are excellent for randomly determining loot, location etc. on a d100 table. Combat? Slow, messy, annoying. Just a thought... Oh, and Kick damage being 1/2-1d6+1? Pleas no. 1d6-1. Something. Anything.

That last paragraph was pretty harsh. Overall, I think this game is charming, as you say. I haven't given it a close look as I'm pressed for time, so take everything with a pinch of salt.

EDIT: Herbalists Guidebook is top. Truly excellent. I don't exactly have a full grasp on the herb system, but if I was playing, I would most definitely be the party member wandering around at the back, diligently notating every herb, getting poisoned a bunch, then dumping some toxic concoction on the BBEG so I can get back to work. Keep it up.

Re: Advanced Bunnies & Burrows (AB&B) - a fan revision
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2016, 11:00:49 AM »
Omg redwall! It never even crossed by mind but you could totally use this for that!

Thanks so much for your feedback - it's rare that I get anything so detailed.

I originally thought about putting the class moves in with the classes so I'll definitely change that. And yes good idea about the trance points. The herbs are as close as this world gets to magic! Thanks so much, there was an herb system in the original game but it was highly gamist so I wanted to change the structure of it.

As far as the charts, they are there if you want randomness in your encounters but you should never feel obligated to use them. The GM always knows what encounter would work for the story.

Regarding combat though, the combat system you see is unchanged from the original in all its gory gamist glory. I liked it's intricacy but I will admit that it's pretty convoluted. I'm going to playtest it first and if I don't like it I'm gonna completely change it. (Sorry about that kick damage math, gonna change that lol)

Overall this game definitely isn't done yet - it needs lots more examples of how the systems work so it's more comprehensible for new players, and it's also missing some world related flavor.

Thanks so much for your feedback - I wanted to see if anyone was interested in it first before I went back and revised it :)

Cheers

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Spwack

  • 138
Re: Advanced Bunnies & Burrows (AB&B) - a fan revision
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2016, 02:59:07 AM »
Gory gamist glory is right. It would actually be worthwhile somehow automating that. Spreadsheets anyone? XD

Someone who is better at figuring stuff out than me should took a very close look at that herb list, because it's too good a feature to be mucked up with exploits and drudgery. It deserves better than my untrained eye. Love it.

I feel that Trance points got the short end of the stick. Maybe something to do with creating shrines, zones of control, interesting cosmic devices? Idk. A good start. Maybe they are just really powerful abilities and I haven't looked into it deeply enough.