Re: [GZG] SG house rules for the Ixx.

Technically, the Ixx might be better described as arthropods  
(includes insects, spiders, scorpions, crabs, lobsters etc.) rather  
than "insectoids". Not everything that has its skeleton on the	
outside is an insect, even on Earth.

The advantages in combat of having your "bones" on the outside	
instead of the inside might be questionable. On the one hand, chitin  
is quite tough (especially if mineralised) and could probably shrug  
off the sort of impacts that might cause cuts, bruises and minor  
wounds to squishy-on-the-outside folk like us. On the other, any hit  
that did penetrate the exoskeleton would be the equivalent of a bone- 
shattering impact, with possible spalling and splinters to complicate  
the wound to the squishy inside.

I'm afraid that I don't know anything about healing mechanisms in  
arthropods, but I have visions of Ixxian medics slapping epoxy resin  
and fibreglass tape over a crack before clicking the equivalent of  
"Next!". Alan Dean Foster's "Humanx Commonwealth" stories, feature a  
race of intelligent arthropods called the Thranx. Commentators and  
reviewers often refer to them as "insectoid" although they actually  
have eight limbs, making them closer to arachnids, but I recall that  
any crack or hole in their exoskeletons was a big deal.

Best regards, Robert Bryett

On 25/11/2008, at 19:58 , Ground Zero Games wrote:

> The insectoid nature of the Ixx is most apparent in their chitinous  
> exoskeleton, which affords them natural protection equivalent to  
> human light combat armour.

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