Imagine a small RPG world, set in a swampy area. There is one main location with surrounding wild areas. In this place there are all sorts of swamp creatures, many of which are giant insects. My question is this: What do you guys think of having armour be made of chitin (the hard shells of insects)? To make new armour the player would have to go hunt some giant bugs and collect the raw material which would then be shaped and such into the armour. Would this add new interesting aspects to the game, style-wise? Or would it be no more interesting than interesting looking metal armour?

Chitin armor is perfectly fine, depending on what kinds of weapons the enemy has. Chitin wouldn't be good protection if the enemy has giant magnifying lenses, for instance, or steel weapons, or lead bullets.

Sounds cool to me. I'm a fan of crafting in general, and crafting that fits logically in the world while still having a unique fantasy or science fictiony feel, and being visually pretty on top of that, is excellent.

I figure I can take artistic license and say the chitin armour is hardened with resins and such to withstand steel weapons, the real problem is that chitin doesn't make an edged weapon very well no matter how you sell it. So if I added in steel somehow then I have edged weapons but I need to figure out why there might be steel swords but chitin armour. This is mainly why I ask if chitin is an interesting inclusion in the first place. If it isn't then I might as well go with all steel, if it isn't then I still have some thinking.


So, if the armour is chitin, what do you make a sword from? If I allow a small iron works in my swamp (there is a logical basis for ore supply, wiki "bog ore") then why might there still be chitin armour?

Good idea JasRonq.

Why not remove metal entirely?

Make ropes and nets from liana, carve spears and shields from wood, construct chitin and bone cuiraces from the carcasses of giant insects, or of other humans for that matter. We are human, right?

As the offensive value of weapons decreases, the protective value of armor increases.

I think you should stay on that track, it's a great idea.

Quote: Original post by JasRonq
So, if the armour is chitin, what do you make a sword from?

Thorns. Obsidian.

While thorns and such are great for spears and arrows, they make poor swords and axes. (speaking of which, axes in a swamp might be useful in non-combative ways as well...) Obsidian is an option, but one I had initially been wary of as it places constrictions on the geography. Where in a swamp are you going to find volcanic glass??

PS. I am also now a bit hesitant to scrap metal all together. Pattern welded weaponry is beautiful.

Through some outside discussion I have come to realize that chitin armour could definitely withstand some hits from steel weapons. More importantly I can give the impression that they are good armour against steel. Chitin hardened with resins and structured well could take hits from short bows and jabs from swords and pikes, and hardened resins and hard studs could deflect sword blows. Also, within the game world, this would make sense as steel, while available, is not nearly as easy to find or process as chitin would be, so even if there was enough steel available to make armour from, it would still be advantageous to build from other materials that could work.

Your idea inspired this :



[Edited by - cih on August 31, 2008 10:58:40 AM]

Have to us html here, specifically you want an img src tag.