I think they are just going to be NPC’s mostly. Maybe they could sort of be like slightly more sophisticated and less antagonistic Kobolds from Dwarf Fortress? (I particularly think of the “Cutebold” characterization that they get from some fans.) They would possibly be somewhat technically unsophisticated, but have other talents, and things to give you. Like, maybe not even ore, per se. They might be a source of rare underground crops and mushrooms and things. Or they could indeed sell you nice things like “worthless” rocks for tasty carrots and grains. But I can’t imagine them being a steady and large scale source. I imagine them as digging as they need to for their warrens, and not systematically mining the way Dwarves would. They are just too footloose and fancy free for that. Too busy partying and frolicking and all that.
Well I find the rabbits could very well bring a fresh contrast to the dwarves.
The way elves contrast the humans in being much more close to nature, this could play out very similar.
Also now elves would have a possible mountain dwelling ally, breaking up this old fashioned triangle, between elves, dwarves and humans, where for whatever reason the humans mostly come out on top making the other two races to something like “sidekick” races.
With a square pointed relation setting now the elves would have much more natural allies in the lagomorphs putting conflict scenarios to a much more equal footing.
Im not saying that im necessarily “anti dwarf” but I like the uniqueness of the bunny man race.
I think that it would be very interesting and unique art direction to go. We all know exactly what to expect from a race of dwarves, but rabbits are a blank slate.
I think the distinction is for gameplay reasons. When you design a playable race, you have to think about them in a very different way than if you were designing an NPC faction. Separating Bunnies from dwarves allows Radiant the freedom to design the Bunnies as a very interesting NPC faction without worrying about how the player might control them.
In addition, Dwarves are… well, let’s face it, dwarf-management is practically an indie genre of its own. There’s a lot less design decisions that have to go into making the gameplay of a dwarf faction because countless previous games have already made good decisions in that area.
well said… when we meet the lagomorphs in-game, they will be above ground, and while they will likely display mannerisms of subterranean creatures, they wont be in their natural habitat…
dwarves will be an entirely different prospect… we’ll be interacting with them both above and below ground when they are introduced…
Balance and playability are HUGE issues in making a playable class, there is so much more that needs to be taken into account in order for a race to be playable. If they leave the rabbits as a NPC class, they just have to worry about how the race interacts with players, not whether or not there are enough classes or how feasible it is for the rabbits to be able to take down a titan, etc. In short, making the rabbits or any other otherwise NPC race into a playable race is a MASSIVE undertaking, that’s why they are currently only talking about humans and dwarves, that’s why dwarves were at 750,000 and not at 650,000 or 550,000 or some lower less significant goal.
It was cold in the mines of prohibilia,
as the dwarves feel the wind in their beards,
unnowing of the danger that’s in the ground benieth them.
"it’s an earthquake"screams one of the dwarves but then
the rabbits come out of the ground attacking the
dwarves from all sides.
(epic fight)
-pixel
so, i see that there are pros and cons for both dwarves and bunnies in game. on of the reasons i am so excited about dwarves though, is that there are almost no games relating to them. Seriously. I cant think of a single game other than dwarf fortress of BFME where you control dwarves. This is a terrible deficiency in the game industry people!
I think both these races must be included, because bunnies HAVE to be in there, and many people would be angry if there weren’t dwarves. It would be interesting to have a rivalry between them, so you could go save the bunnies from the dwarves attack… or something…
I find the bunnies as being a wonderful breath of fresh air, at least aesthetically, and sufficiently different from the bogstandard dwarves and elves. (Not that I have anything against dwarves and elves) I do see them rather similar to halflings or cutebolds in their implementation with burrows in the soil layer and small surface farms of various root vegetables.
Now as for legendary depictions of bunnies in myth, you need only look at the Celtic púca, (pooka, phooka) for inspiration who could either help or hinder men and are known for being tricksters. According to wiki, púca are known to be fantastic chefs but only in their own village, giving wild rides, advice and leading people from harm. What a great and original neutral to benevolent addition to this genre.
I think much like the cutebolds, playing them is easier said than done, given their limitations. Perhaps they’d make a better challenging to play race in later implementations where the difficulty would be increased because of their limitations and relative weakness. As for now, though, Radiant has enough on their plate and they’ve got dwarves on the horizon after release.
Totally agree with you here - I mean early on they said there was some inspiration from Final Fantasy Tactics; you only need to look at the variety and type of races found in Final Fantasy to see that you don’t need to go down the road of stereotypical fantasy races.
Welcome aboard @Averest! 
Excellent inaugural post, and as @Geoffers747 mentioned, agreed wholeheartedly…
Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
All Dwarfists Unite Down with Rabbits and Elves! (except Snow Elves)
I think it would be cool to keep both because I love dwarves and I think that bunny people are cool too
I personally don’t remember seeing the Bunny people as playable but I think it would be cool as a more conservationist race, living off the land instead of changing it. Using crops for food, and maybe grasses as a building material (thatching), etc.
I still would be equally excited about playing either race still.
Dwarves>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any fantasy race
i’m pro dwarf myself but i think it will be interesting to see how the bunny-men (people?) become part of the world
i think they will end up being similar to hobbits, half-lings, in design.
side not: is that picture from warhammer?