Rabbits

When you make rabbits, choose a player to go first. Go around the table clockwise with each player picking one character move each. No one may take a move that is already spoken for. Then, starting with the last player to choose, go around the table counter-clockwise picking a second character move. Next, assign each of the numbers +2, +1, +0, and -1 to a stat. Your panic starts at 0, write that in. Finally, choose a name and looks.

Names

Hops, Barley, Lily, Honey, Holly, Pumpkin, Thorn, Dusty, Midnight, Patches, Poppy, Snow, Bine, Floppy, Basil, Misty, Nutmeg, Charcoal, Sandy, Truffle, Olive, Ash, Chestnut, Ivy, Meadow, Jack, Parsley, Foxglove, Cutter, Lightning

Looks

Coat: Self, Ticked, Broken, Brindle, Shaded Colors: Brown, Grey, Black, Tan, Gold, White Ears: Long, Short, Floppy, Ragged Parts: Buck, Doe ( Pregnant)

Stats (min: -1, max: +3)

Strong: ____ Swift: ____ Shrewd: ____ Steady: ____

Panic: ____ [Max: ____ = 5 + Steady]

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When you have to keep your head, roll+Steady. On a 10+, you keep it together. On a 7-9, do what you set out to, barely - take +1 panic. On a miss, take +1 panic as you cower, hesitate, or flee - the MC can offer you a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice.

When you give your full attention, roll+Shrewd. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. Holds may be spent, 1 for 1, to name the sense and ask the MC one of the questions below. The MC will tell you what your sense reveals; take +1 forward when acting on the answers. What is the greatest danger to me? What will happen if I stay very still? Where can I flee to? Are they telling the truth? What do they intend to do? What do they wish I'd do? How could I get them to _____?

When you speak your mind, tell it like you see it and say what you think should be done, roll+Shrewd. On a 10+, non-player animals will go along with your plan given the proper assurances. On a 7-9, they will go along with your plans as long as you meet one of their demands now. Your words may only help/hinder other player rabbits.

When you make a run for it, roll+Swift. On a 10+, you run like the wind. On a 7-9, you run fast enough but choose 1: You dont end up exactly where you intended. It takes more out of you than you would have thought, take -1 forward. Its much closer than you care for, take +1 panic.

When you try to wriggle free, roll+Strong. You may then take panic, 1 for 1, to increase your roll. On a 10+ you manage to wriggle free. On a 7-9, you can wriggle free if you are willing to get hurt. On a miss you cant and you are hurt anyway.

When you help/hinder another rabbit, roll and add whichever stat the MC deems appropriate. On a 7+, give +1 or -1 to that player's roll or panic. On a 9 or less, you commit to sharing in their fate.

Basic Moves Things all rabbits can do

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Rabbits are herbivores that live on 6 continents. Rabbits are crepuscular or nocturnal depending on predation. Rabbits weigh 1-4lbs and can run up to 18mph.

Special Moves Things rabbits occasionally do

When you play or laze about in relative safety, subtract 1 from your panic.

When you dig in the earth, roll+Strong. On a 10+, you scratch out a simple run or burrow as quickly as possible. On a 7-9, choose 1: You can only dig enough space to squeeze into. You take significantly longer than expected.

When you mate with another rabbit, take +1 ongoing to help/hinder that rabbit until you mate with someone else. If you are a buck and doe, both of you hide zero or one die in your fist. On the count of three, open your hands - two dice means the doe is pregnant.

When you birth a litter, rollpanic. On a 10+, take max panic. On a 7-9, take +2 panic. Add that many kits' names to the warren list. By the next session, they'll be out on their own.

When you do something unheard of, say the trigger for the move you would write and the stat you would roll and then make the roll. On a hit, work with the MC to write the move - the move is now part of the game and your roll stands. On a miss, it's not something rabbits can ever do.

When give up the ghost or the spotlight forever, retire your rabbit and make a new rabbit.

When the MC tells you to take an advance, take an additional character move. You can take any move you like, even if someone else already has it.

Seer When you have a vision of things to come, ask everyone at the table to contribute a single word about your vision. Describe your vision, taking care to include those words. The MC may ask you additional questions about it and then they will write the associated world.

Leadership When you take charge and give orders, others take +1 forward when they do as they're told.

Tooth & Claw When you put up a fight, roll+Strong. On a 10+, they are wounded if they don't flee. On a 7-9, you are both wounded if they don't flee.

Storyteller When you tell a tale, tell them the tale about one or more of the Storied Characters, then roll+Shrewd. On a 10+, reduce their panic by 3. On a 7-9, reduce panic by 1.

Composed When you laze about, subtract your steady from your panic instead of just 1.

Cocky When you're faced with a predator, roll+Strong when you have to keep your head.

Quite the Pair You may play an additional rabbit.

Squirmy When you are smaller than what holds you, roll+Swift when you try to wriggle free.

Circles of Life When you speak your mind before a _______, they have reason to consider that which you say. When you take this move, choose another type of animal with which you have rapport.

Dominant When you make a show of power, roll+Strong when you speak your mind to other rabbits.

Eye for Detail When you dig after scouting around, say what feature of the earth you incorporate into the warren and what advantage it confers.

Not Scared of You When you encounter a _______, you dont have to keep your head. When you take this move, choose a predator who you have bested in the past.

Conviction You may roll+Steady when you speak your mind.

Wise Increase your shrewd by 1 (+3 max).

Large Increase your Strong by 1 (+3 max).

Blinding Increase your swift by 1 (+3 max).

Unwavering Increase your steady by 1 (+3 max).

Unflappable Increase your max panic by 1.

Character Moves Things only certain rabbits can do

Rabbits are born blind and nude, weaned at 1mo, and reproduce at 3mo. Doe average 5 litters of 1-12 kits per year. Expect 95% mortality by 1 year.

Lapins & Lairs is a game about intelligent rabbits trying to make the best of a world filled with hazards, predators and, worst of all, other rabbits. While the rabbits in your games will solve some of their problems and discover things they never thought to try before, they are still bound by their basic physiology and nature.

Being the MC

When you run a game of Lapins & Lairs, it is your job, as Master of Ceremonies (MC), to help tell the tales that are told. You do that by crafting worlds, predators, and non-player animals and playing them according to your principles and agendas. You also describe the environment at large.

Principles Make the world seem real using all

senses. Build a bigger world through play. Create interesting situations, not plots. Address yourself to the rabbits not the

players. Make your move but never speak its

name. Look at your non-player animals and ideas

through crosshairs. Name every animal. Ask provocative questions, build on the

answers. Be a fan of the rabbits. Think off-screen, too. Sometimes, reflect a question back upon

the players. Tell players what humans do but interpret

their actions for the rabbits.

Lapins & LairsLapins & LairsLapins & LairsLapins & Lairs Agendas Make the rabbits lives not boring. Play to find out what happens to the

rabbits. Play to find out what rabbits can be.

MC Moves Separate them. Put them together. Pin them down. Put someone in a high-stakes

situation. Introduce a predator Cause them to panic. Announce off-screen badness. Announce future badness. Give them a difficult decision to

make. Tell them the possible

consequences and ask. Turn their move back on them. Advance one of the worlds

Predators When you make a predator, name it. Next, give it moves appropriate to its species and nature. If a predator is wounded, mark off one move. If a predator has no moves, it is at the mercy of all.

Dog Bark and bark and bark Give chase Bite and shake Sniff out a trail

Humans Humans wear many hats in Lapins & Lairs. Some times humans will be worlds, sometimes predators, and sometimes non-player animals. A farmer plowing his fields for harvest might be a world, a farmer's wife with a rifle might be a predator, and their curious daughter might be a non-player animal.

Panic Rabbits are anxious creatures by nature and, as such, the central struggle for all rabbits is fighting the rising panic within themselves. When threatened or stressed, rabbits have to keep their head. This could mean crossing an open area, entering a hostile warren, facing a more important or dangerous rabbit, or when encountering a predator. Rabbits take panic when they fail to keep their head or when they get hurt. When a player rabbit maxes out their panic, they freeze in terror. Without help, they are prone and at everyone's mercy - no one needs roll to act against them.

Hurt and Death Player rabbits may be hurt when they are at the mercy of other animals or when a move calls for them to be hurt. Non-player animals may be hurt when a players move calls for it and/or may be slain when the fiction dictates. When a player's rabbit is hurt, they must pick one basic or character move that they may no longer make, based on the nature of the injury, and take +1 panic. If they are hurt again, they should pick two more moves and take +2 panic, and so on. Once a move is lost in this way, whenever that move would normally be triggered, treat it as though they rolled a 6-. The only way player rabbits die is if their player chooses to retire the rabbit and make a new one.

Largest rabbit: 50lbs. Highest jump: 3.28ft. Longest jump: 9.84ft. Biggest litter: 24/26 survived. Oldest: 18.88y. Longest ears: 31in. Most ears: 4.

Worlds

In Lapins and Lairs, a world represents the foreseeable future as it relates to some aspect of your tales setting. Worlds represent things that will likely come to pass and the ways in which that change will likely manifest. Your game might have a World of Harvest, World of Haystack Warren, World of Cottontails Ascendancy or any other aspect of your tales that is moving in an obvious and important direction.

Making Worlds

When you make a world, start with a blank world card or just write it out on a note card. Give the world a name, be descriptive. Write down its current state, as established in the fiction, in the space marked 'first.' Then, write down where that world is heading if nothing changes in the space marked and so it came to pass. This outcome should represent an irrevocable change in the tale's plot or setting. Sometimes this will be something that player rabbits can and will want to change, other times it is simply something that will come to be. Once you know what may come to pass, write down the events that will occur leading up to the realization of that worlds ultimate state in the spaces marked Next, And then, and Finally. These are events that will happen along the way. Lastly, put the world card in the middle of the table for all to see.

At the start of the game, you should make a world for whoever is unhappy with the way things are in the warren and also one for the greatest threat to the warren. Create additional worlds throughout the story so that everyone is on the same page.

When worlds change, update the world card. Worlds change when the fiction demands that details of the world must change. During play, it is possible that the foreseeable future of a world will change. Perhaps the rabbit trying to overthrow the warrens leading class is killed before he can take action but there is someone else to take his place, perhaps the wounded dog outside the warrens entrance can be rolled down the hill before the farmer comes looking for it. At any point, players and/or the MC may call for an update to a world and the MC should make any changes to the world that they deem necessary. The players may offer suggestions or make the case for certain outcomes or manifestations but ultimately it is the MCs decision.

Worlds can also change when the MC advances a world. When the players make a move and roll less than 6 or when the players look blankly to the MC to see what happens next, the MC may advance a world as one of his MC moves. When this happens, the MC should mark off the next available box on a world card. This event has now come to pass and the MC should narrate accordingly, it may no longer be changed when updating that world.

Worlds resolve when all the events listed have been ticked off or when that future is no longer a likely outcome in the fiction.

World of Summer First: May brings rain and fresh growth Next: June brings pleasant days and calm breezes And then: July brings sweltering days and baking

nights Finally: August arrives ...and so it came to pass: that summer ended

World of Highway First: Men arrive to survey the land Next: Machines ravage the pasture And then: A river of concrete snakes across the land Finally: Cars whiz by at blinding speeds ...and so it came to pass: that the highway was

completed

Thanks & Acknowledgements People Christopher Stone-Bush, Joe Mcdaldno, Jason Morningstar, Jonathan Walton, Sage LaTorra, Meguey Baker

Works Watership Down, Bunnies & Burrows, Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Simple World, The Works of Beatrix Potter

Rabbits are not hares but jackrabbits are. Rabbits mark territory with droppings, spray, and scent glands on their chins. Rabbits teeth dont ever stop growing.

1st Session Questions

To begin a game of Lapins & Lairs, the MC should ask these questions of the players. Address them to the group or individual rabbits. Prompt them for additional details until you are satisfied with the answer to each question and can picture it vividly.

1. If you were a human, when and where would you say your warren is located?

2. What directions would a rabbit give to locate your warren?

3. What do each of your senses tell you about the warren? (...or is it a hutch?)

4. How are decisions made in the warren?

5. Who's unhappy about the way things are in the warren?

6. What is your place in the warren? 7. What threat will destroy the warren if

left unchecked? 8. What is the hardest thing for rabbits in

the warren to obtain? 9. Is it day or night or somewhere

between? 10. Why are you all away from the warren? 11. What predator has just revealed itself? 12. What do you do?

Senses 1. Sight 2. Smell 3. Sound 4. Touch 5. Taste 6.

Some Pastoral Places Stream Tall grass Shorn grass Pond Stone wall Large rock Lone tree Road Ditch Hilltop

Some Farmyard Places Parked truck or wagon Farmhouse Barn Shed Outhouse Coops and hutches Windmill

Young rabbits are submissive and docile. Adults form competitive hierarchies within their own gender. Rabbits groom warren members and thump to warn of danger.

Lists and Appendices

Some Park Places Jogging trail Streets Gutters and drains Streams and bridges Fountains Sports field Street light Statue or memorial Parked cars Sidewalks Public restrooms

Some Underground Places Stone and boulders Pipes or buried wires Concrete slab Roots Tunnels and dens

Some Storied Characters Moon Rabbit First Man and First Woman The Dog and the Fox Old Crow and Scarecrow The Lost Warrens

Some unheard of things Swimming Systems of writing Carrying objects Using a raft Fighting as a group Defeating a snare Manipulating fire Kicking open a latch Chewing out of a burlap sack Diverting the flow of water Planting and sprouting seeds Having a sance or dream walking Communicating with a human

Some Predators Alligator Cat Cougar Coyotes Crocodile Dingo Dog Eagle Ghost Goblin Hare(s) Hawk Human(s) Hyena Lizard Lynx Machines Owls Poison Rabbit(s) Raccoon Snake Snares Stoats Weasels

Some Soil Types Sandy Silty Clay Peaty Rocky Frozen Snow Damp Dry Contaminated Flooded Ash

Warren: _________________

Location: _________________

Features: _________________

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Rabbits

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World of: _______________________

First: __________________________

Next: ________________________

And then: ____________________

Finally: ______________________

...and so it came to pass that:

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World of: _______________________

First: __________________________

Next: ________________________

And then: ____________________

Finally: ______________________

...and so it came to pass that:

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World of: _______________________

First: __________________________

Next: ________________________

And then: ____________________

Finally: ______________________

...and so it came to pass that:

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World of: _______________________

First: __________________________

Next: ________________________

And then: ____________________

Finally: ______________________

...and so it came to pass that:

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