Quote:Original post by JasRonq the real problem is that chitin doesn't make an edged weapon very well no matter how you sell it.
Why would edged weapons be important anyway? Real insects don't need them when they fight each other. And if the PCs are to hunt the insects it would seem that it would require some specific tactical strikes against weak points to take a big bug down, rather than chopping and hacking away at it.
But if edged weapons are still important. Then take a walk through a corn field on a hot dry afternoon. The leaves on corn can slice you to ribbins if you arn't carefull!
If you could use resins to help with the chitin armor, why not use the same to harden dried plant leaves, turning them into swords and knives? Sure they won't be as strong as steel...but you shouldn't be useing a lot of edged weapons anyway. Its not like the human race had to develop axes and swords inorder to hunt giant mastodons ... we took them down with simple spears and pack hunting tactics.
Well, edged weapons are important for a few reason. First, though this topic is centered around these insects and their chitin, the game is not. In the game they are as important as the trees and the variety of mushrooms growing at there base. They have ingame uses, they are part of the environment and style, but they are not the point of the game.
Second, axes are still needed to fell trees and hue them. Other carpentry tools would be needed as well. Knives are needed in cooking and skinning non-insect animals. Swords are still useful in interpersonal combat.
Third, and one of the biggest, swords are fun weapons. Telling players they can only use spears and bow & arrow because they are in the swamp may seem logical enough, but id earn for a sword and I feel as the designer I have an obligation to allow the player to enjoy the game in the face of realism. Ergo, I find a way to add in the classic fun edged weapons people expect, then add in new things based on the culture to add flavour.
It also seems there is a large array of ways that I could create hard, sharp edges using the resins, shells, alternate biology, etc.
If your game has magic, then I'd imagine that in places like swamps, steppes, and other less resource-plentiful places, mages/wizards/sorcerers would have important roles to play not only on the battlefield, temples, or laboratories, but also in the extracting of resources. Again, this depends on how your magic works in your game (if you are using any at all). No axes? Get a mage to cast a spell to fell a couple of trees for you, or enchant a blade of swamp grass into a hardened edge like mentioned before. No swords? Get a mage to summon a magic broadsword for you. Again, it entirely depends on how you want your magic to work in your game/setting.
There is also the issue of trade, which depends on how interconnected your cultures are in your setting. If there are intercultural exchanges in your setting, I'd imagine that iron, steel, or etc broadswords can be made plentiful in a swamp civilization as long as that civilization is exporting one of its own native goods out in exchange (such as the chitin armour plates) .
Iron, steel, and etc can also be acquired by the direct opposite mentality of trade, which is by raiding caravans. Your swamp culture might employ bannerless bandits and pirates to raid on caravans to supply their civilization with iron and steel.
Metal to a swamp civilization can easily be the desert civilization's water, and the novel Dune comes into mind as an example of how a culture can cope with such unique environments.
[Edited by - Tangireon on April 17, 2009 11:43:57 AM]
Quote:Original post by JasRonq @cih: I meant to say this in my last post but got distracted. I think that is the coolest thing that I inspired some ones art. I really like the picture, you should keep going with it and refine it. It definitely gives a cool mood that I will remember when I am working on visuals for my game. I think I will add the pic to my folder of reference images I have been building for later. Thank you for sharing it.
yup. I use to pronounce it the second (not having heard it before, just read) then I looked it up and now I have to stop myself sometimes and mentally kick myself.
