Knights are often depicted fighting armed rabbits in medieval marginalia.
How might one portray monstrous or anthropomorphic rabbits as a credible threat?
Sure, quote Monty Python's and the Holy Grail, but I'm being serious. Would you just show your players Watership Down and work from there? Start a horrifying bunny marathon with Donnie Darko followed by David Lynch's Rabbits? Decorate your home with badly taxidermied rabbits and use these for props? Friedman tests gone horribly wrong?
Use Gamma World's Hoops as a baseline? They were pretty damn threatening.
Reskin Bullywugs as a stand-in for doe, and Ettercap as a buck. Replace marsh-dwelling with field-dwelling, and voilà - you now have giant rabbits to throw against your party.
Ah- the Hoops! I remember those. I have a special affinity for rabbits thanks to Watership Down. Remember reading Dragon magazine when I was a kid and them reviewing Bunnies & Burrows and always wanting it.
The burrow structure from WD could be used as a baseline. The Owsla was their police/fighting force if I recall right.
I did a bunch of pics for Basic Fantasy, one of which was a rabbit prince.
(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af71/AlinCT/RabbitPrince_zps5549b418.jpg)
TMNT: And other strangeness did a good job of building a fierce mutant rabbit.
Quote from: Cave BearHow might one portray monstrous or anthropomorphic rabbits as a credible threat?
Being serious for a moment, the creepy taxidermy idea is good. Ever seen Alice by Jan Svankmajer?
[video=youtube_share;-1rRN0z3hUQ]https://youtu.be/-1rRN0z3hUQ?t=1m2s[/youtube]
Now, being goofy for a moment, the topic immediately made me think of a favorite video game boss battle:
[video=youtube_share;21lqdQ7hlEA]https://youtu.be/21lqdQ7hlEA?t=12m55s[/youtube]
Quote from: Cave Bear;940161Knights are often depicted fighting armed rabbits in medieval marginalia.
How might one portray monstrous or anthropomorphic rabbits as a credible threat?
Sure, quote Monty Python's and the Holy Grail, but I'm being serious. Would you just show your players Watership Down and work from there? Start a horrifying bunny marathon with Donnie Darko followed by David Lynch's Rabbits? Decorate your home with badly taxidermied rabbits and use these for props? Friedman tests gone horribly wrong?
Look No Further! (http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/)
From my old Kickstarter campaign for Corporia...
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(http://orig02.deviantart.net/66b0/f/2015/111/b/d/creepy_rabbit_gif_by_nymla-d8qigr5.gif)
(https://img1.etsystatic.com/061/1/6914381/il_570xN.759756209_qvy0.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2f/6f/ee/2f6fee198ccab3b556806a985832404d.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/da/09/25/da09253d8975e897318227d2dcdb8ac4.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/dd/c6/b7/ddc6b7accc1e6b7ded7ef666d0246be5.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/90/85/a0/9085a02711873962ac2ad88d659e2365.jpg)
Cloaked rabbitmen in the woods for the win! Gah! Frikkin creepy....
Quote from: K Peterson;940162Use Gamma World's Hoops as a baseline? They were pretty damn threatening.
Nailed it in one.
Quote from: RunningLaser;940164(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af71/AlinCT/RabbitPrince_zps5549b418.jpg)
His ears need to shine slightly.
Quote from: Tristram Evans;940223(http://orig02.deviantart.net/66b0/f/2015/111/b/d/creepy_rabbit_gif_by_nymla-d8qigr5.gif)
I may never sleep again.
Thanks a fuckton for that.
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Zzarchow Kowolski's LotFP adventure The Pale Lady has these guys:
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Albedo has the ILR (Independant Lapine Republic). Xenophobic rabbits with an expansionist totalitarian government. Entire planetary populations have been shipped off to death camp worlds to work until they die. Whats left of the population that is. Any non-ILR Rabbits either live under suspicion of being spies. Or are facing capture and "re-education" if the ILR get them. WWII and Nam as an ongoing war being fought with mostly 80s era military tech groundside. Bleak is an understatement.
In an old BX campaign the DM re-themed gnomes as a hostile lapine race. I know another DM did the same with goblins.
All these images are good, but the scariest rabbit is the one you never see. Just make the BBEG a dead ringer for James Stewart, with an invisible rabbit assassin henchman named Harvey.
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;940184Being serious for a moment, the creepy taxidermy idea is good. Ever seen Alice by Jan Svankmajer?
Gah! This is giving me flashbacks to the old Clocktower game for the SNES. Fucking Scissors-Man!
[video=youtube_share;g-A1BwH1Apw]https://youtu.be/g-A1BwH1Apw[/youtube]
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;940185Now, being goofy for a moment, the topic immediately made me think of a favorite video game boss battle:
I still have that game! I just wish I could find my old Gameboy Color...
Quote from: Tristram Evans;940223(http://orig02.deviantart.net/66b0/f/2015/111/b/d/creepy_rabbit_gif_by_nymla-d8qigr5.gif)
(https://img1.etsystatic.com/061/1/6914381/il_570xN.759756209_qvy0.jpg)
Well, there goes 1d8 SAN points I'm never getting back again.
So, yeah, black hooded cloaks and Ak-47s should do it for most fantasy worlds.
Quote from: David Johansen;940336So, yeah, black hooded cloaks and Ak-47s should do it for most fantasy worlds.
[video=youtube_share;lk_-ALRP1ak]https://youtu.be/lk_-ALRP1ak[/youtube]
(Nightmare rabbits were real popular in early 2000's cinema, weren't they?)
Hmmm, for making rabbits creepy:
-They're so freaking quiet. That's because their voices are too high pitched for adults to hear. Kids can hear them fine though. That why they wake up screaming at night and why the rabbits keep human kids as slave interpreters until they get old enough that they can't hear the rabbits anymore.
-They breed so freaking fast. Their leaders are able to employ tactics that show total disregard for casualties. Not human wave attacks, that's boring and rabbits aren't brave enough for that anyway. But stuff like the owsla throwing a bunch of low on the totem pole rabbits down your well alive in the middle of night to foul your well water.
-When they get nervous their eat their own babies. They eat their own shit regularly. Fucking rabbits.
Anyone remember Donnie Darko?
(http://img09.deviantart.net/94e0/i/2010/323/d/f/frank_the_rabbit_mask4_by_braindeadmystuff-d336s4h.jpg)
Rabbits are not unlike goblins, are they?
They live in holes in the ground.
They reproduce rapidly.
They raid farms.
Individuals pose little threat, but as a group they become a problem if allowed to spread unchecked.
Hunters may be employed to cull their numbers.
Quote from: Cave Bear;940161Knights are often depicted fighting armed rabbits in medieval marginalia.
What was the origin & reason for this?
Was it English or does is show up in other countries of the era?
Quote from: Spinachcat;940361What was the origin & reason for this?
Was it English or does is show up in other countries of the era?
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War-bunnies show up in French manuscripts as well.
Scholars have been speculating on the meaning of this imagery for years, but its possible the monks just thought it was funny. It's basically the pre-modern equivalent of a meme.
Quote from: Cave Bear;940354Rabbits are not unlike goblins, are they?
They live in holes in the ground.
They reproduce rapidly.
They raid farms.
Individuals pose little threat, but as a group they become a problem if allowed to spread unchecked.
Hunters may be employed to cull their numbers.
Good call there. Something to think about.
Quote from: Spinachcat;940361What was the origin & reason for this?
Was it English or does is show up in other countries of the era?
As monks authored the majority of manuscripts, it was a way for them to embed satire into their work.
For instance, both snails and hares were portrayed in marginalia fighting knights (who were supposed to be the Lombards). Most of northern Europe despised the Lombards, as they were notorious pawnbrokers and money lenders.
Other medieval depictions illustrate murderous rabbits killing dogs and people, connoting the willful sexuality of peasants, and their propensity for violence and procreation.
To be called a 'stickhare', for instance, was a word that meant you were a coward.
Medieval marginalia is utterly fascinating and very, very weird.
Quote from: Cave Bear;940335Gah! This is giving me flashbacks to the old Clocktower game for the SNES. Fucking Scissors-Man!
Huh, never seen this game before. I'll look into it, thanks.
Quote from: Cave Bear;940161Knights are often depicted fighting armed rabbits in medieval marginalia.
How might one portray monstrous or anthropomorphic rabbits as a credible threat?
Sure, quote Monty Python's and the Holy Grail, but I'm being serious. Would you just show your players Watership Down and work from there? Start a horrifying bunny marathon with Donnie Darko followed by David Lynch's Rabbits? Decorate your home with badly taxidermied rabbits and use these for props? Friedman tests gone horribly wrong?
I've got a hobbit lancer riding a huge al-mi-raj in one of my GURPS games. Turns people to stone when it strikes with its horn. Completely terrifying.
Quote from: Cave Bear;940335Gah! This is giving me flashbacks to the old Clocktower game for the SNES. Fucking Scissors-Man!
[video=youtube;Ib6dBiMyORU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib6dBiMyORU[/youtube]
Warhammer Fantasy even had rabbits in the early days of the game
(http://www.bluemule.co.uk/bluemule2_i00023a.jpg)
As did Ral PArtha...
(http://thumbs3.picclick.com/d/l400/pict/111918604526_/1x-rabbit-thumper-With-Sword-ral-partha-metal.jpg)
(http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/MrUAAOSwHsRYDpMC/s-l225.jpg)
(http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/ARAAAOSwIgNXvdRg/s-l225.jpg)
Quote from: CRKrueger;940352Anyone remember Donnie Darko?
Yes, lol, it was mentioned in the OP
Quote from: CRKrueger;940352Anyone remember Donnie Darko?
I fucking hate you so much right now.
. . . can't sleep . . . rabbits will eat me . . . can't sleep . . . rabbits will eat me . . . can't sleep . . . rabbits will eat me . . .
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;940401Huh, never seen this game before. I'll look into it, thanks.
Goblins even have long ears in many depictions...
To be honest, I hadn't seen any medieval rabbit illustrations.
Having read the above, rabbits are creepy as fuck. I am with Black Vulmea here ...
(http://extrafabulouscomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1071.jpg)
http://extrafabulouscomics.com/comic/107/
Quote from: ZWEIHÄNDER;940163Reskin Bullywugs as a stand-in for doe, and Ettercap as a buck. Replace marsh-dwelling with field-dwelling, and voilà - you now have giant rabbits to throw against your party.
I quite like this idea. Well done.
Agent Green - It is a thing for Bureau 13 and could easily be adapted to any conspiracy/ supernatural investigation games.
Agent Green is a mysterious substance that is part of a supposedly government sponsored project. It has been stashed in 30 gallon drums (or smaller containers) in secret storage areas all around the country. These stashes have properly been forgotten by what ever organization was watching them (and then was repurposed, then reorged under some other agency). Agent Green depending how it uses has mutagentic properties, usually of the psionic nature.
The scenario usually plays out is that some of the goo leaks into the local water table or somehow gets into the food chain. Smart Rats (who get to be more humanoid with thumbs) are a common event. Another common event is a sort of mass mind that telepathically links every animal in an area (and sometimes the mass mind adopts some human kids).
The only time players were scared of a Agent Green outbreak was in a brushy near desert part of Nevada. Near an old mine. The characters had investigated and wondered what to do... retired for the night (as rule 7 goes, anything that can be investigated at midnight can be investigated twice as safely at high noon).
They woke up to the RV ringed with rabbits and jack rabbits. Someone was going to go out shooting, but someone else noticed something odd around the RV. They opened the door... and a few of the rabbits lit wooden matches, holding them up like torches. Guess who had ringed the RV with explosives (and taken out all the tires/ partially burried the RV). (It was one of the few times that the players realized their characters were probably gonners and were running scared.)
It was time for negotiation from strength. The telepathic mass mind touched a few humans... they took damage if they were in contact too long. Everytime the humans were perceived as dangerous or threatening, more rabbits lit a match. As they Human were being cooperative, they put the matches out. It was a way for us to gauge the response of the mass mind.
Then we explained a nuclear weapon (protocol for stopping an Agent Green Mass Mind... last time used for the giant ants in the 50s). So they set up a native wildlife preserve by expanding the military base parimited near by. The massmind said it would not longer expand. (The agents found the leaking agent green and burned it off.)
The play group had the phrase "Damm Rabbits" or "it's a rabbit" for everything exceedingly dangerous.
A few years later, the rabbits contacted the team to tell the military to let them tap the electrical grid of the base and that they wanted cable.