"[2] David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men, commented that Bunnies & Burrows "pushed setting even farther" than other early RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and En Garde!, as the "player characters were intelligent rabbits and had to compete for food, avoid predators, and deal with internal warren politics".

[1] The setting also had an unofficial conversion in 2004 to be used in Risus: The Anything RPG by Boyd Mayberry,[13] under their "Rules for Free Fan-Supplements and Articles".

Not only could you play non-humanoids for the first time, but it was the first role-playing game to have detailed martial arts rules, the first attempt at a skill system, and the first RPG to appeal as widely to women as to men.

[2][16] In addition, it was also the first role-playing game to have detailed martial arts rules (renamed "Bun Fu" in GURPS Bunnies & Burrows)[17] and the first attempt at a skill system.

[19] Bunnies & Burrows has the advantage of offering players an intuitive grasp of relative dangers and appropriate actions not possible in game worlds that are substantially fictional.

Since player characters are substantially weaker than many of the dangers they face, the game is one of the first to encourage problem solving and outwitting obstacles, rather than out-fighting them.

[19] The mechanics of the role-playing game system were created specifically for Bunnies & Burrows, common at the time of its original publishing.

The writing style is intelligent, lucid, and occasionally witty; the rules are workable [...] the art, as I think I pointed out, is so bad it's great; and the whole idea is appealing.

"[22] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "B&B is the first game to push beyond the fantasy battle boundaries established by Dungeons & Dragons.

This step [helped] the hobby arrive at the sort of indie games that focus on collaborative storytelling and lightweight, intuitive rules.