I’m trying to ignore the headlines, the doom and gloom, and the political turmoil around us as I work on a chapter to be included in a book celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Watership Down, by Richard Adams. The book will include contributions from various participants in a conference hosted in 2022ContinueContinue reading “Choose Hazel”
Author Archives: Scott R Robinson
A Mongoose Creation Myth
In the beginning, before the first rising sun in an age simply known as First Time, there was only Ixco, the speaking earth. Ixco dreamed of life, and life stirred in her belly deep underground. But Ixco had no clear vision of what life should look like, so all manner of creatures, with features that were entirelyContinueContinue reading “A Mongoose Creation Myth”
True Lies
A friend of mine recently asked about the nature of lying and whether animals can lie. It is an interesting question that has generated quite a lot of speculation over the years among animal behavior researchers. It also is a challenging question, with a lot to unpack. First and foremost, lying requires a communication system.ContinueContinue reading “True Lies”
What Ellies Know
We passed a solemn and terrible benchmark this past week: more than 200,000 fellow Americans have died from COVID-19. The number probably is closer to a quarter million, given that many who died in their homes were never tested, and therefore never received a confirmed diagnosis of COVID. I have not wanted to inject politicsContinueContinue reading “What Ellies Know”
Imponderable Pachyderms
I have a love-hate relationship with elephants. Well, to be truthful, it isn’t really hate. More like abject fear. If you’ve never watched elephants in the wild, you probably have no idea what elephants are really like. They are nothing like the creatures you see in a zoo, or in a drive-through animal park, orContinueContinue reading “Imponderable Pachyderms”
The Fingered and the Unfingered
A common trope in both fantasy literature and fantasy gaming features animals that possess human cognitive abilities. Classic books, including The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling, The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame, the Peter Rabbit books (1902 and subsequent) by Beatrix Potter, Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell, and Charlotte’s WebContinueContinue reading “The Fingered and the Unfingered”
Editions of Bunnies and Burrows
The first edition of Bunnies & Burrows was published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, with art by Charlie Loving. It was noteworthy for its time by being the first roleplay game with non-humanoid player characters, and also the first in which characters could level-up in different skill categories (based on the eight attributes). Now,ContinueContinue reading “Editions of Bunnies and Burrows”
A Brief History of the Creation of the Original Bunnies & Burrows
In the fall of 1974, Scott entered the graduate program in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and joined the same animal behavior laboratory where Dennis already was working on his doctorate. In addition to learning a lot about ethology (the biological study of animal behavior), Scott also was introduced to three newContinueContinue reading “A Brief History of the Creation of the Original Bunnies & Burrows”
Bunnies & Burrows
Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) about rabbits contending with enemies and hazards in a world of nature. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game features intelligent animals as characters in lieu of the humans and allied races of conventional RPGs. B&B introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being theContinueContinue reading “Bunnies & Burrows”
Scott R. Robinson 