Borderlands’ fictional tabletop RPG, Bunkers and Badasses, will soon be a real thing
by Brad Lang
The best questline in Borderlands 2, a game that certainly had no shortage of memorable quests to complete, was one saved for a chunk of DLC called Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep. It’s a fun, quirky twist on the usual Borderlands setting that places characters in Dungeons and Dragons inspired scenarios, with the titular Tiny Tina running the whole game as a DM.
Mechanically, it’s identical to the base game but there’s just something special about the expansion. It’s clearly written by people that both have a fondness and an appreciation for tabletop RPGs, while actually delivering a surprisingly emotional conclusion to the Borderlands 2 saga. Its taken Gearbox a long time to see the merchandising opportunities sitting right there in front of them, but fortunately someone figured out how lucrative an actual version of Bunkers and Badasses would be, leading us to where we are now.
Produced and developed by Nerdvana Games, Bunkers and Badasses will sound familiar to anyone who’s played anything vaguely reminiscent of DnD. Players will be able to make a Vault Hunter from one of ten classes and go on quests to find loot and kill plenty of baddies while another player runs the game as a Bunker Master. As with any DnD-inspired game, it comes with a 200 page book which features a guide on how to play, character building, encounter structure and three adventures to get players started.
Bunkers and Badasses is currently available to pre-order but be warned: It’s pretty pricey. The gamebook can be bought for a flat $60 but doesn’t come with all the fancy doodads of the $100 deluxe version which includes a Bunker Master screen, Gun Cards, a grid to play on, miniatures of the playable characters, and “weighted Badass Die”. Sure, that sounds like a pretty typical DnD experience. Considering how popular tabletop RPGs have become in recent years, it’s wild that it took this long for the game to be made in the first place. You can pre-order Bunkers and Badasses from the Nerdvana Games website.
Just don’t forget to punch the initiative.