How would one stat out a swarm of bitey, stabby insects? Are there any examples in the texts anywhere?

Beyond the Rim has a swarm of insects in the middle act.

I don't recall. I think there may have been something in Genesys, but I'm not sure where I saw them (Edit: nevermind, 2P51 has the answer).

Don't stat it out at all? It gives Setback and Wounds per round? Treat it as an environmental affect instead with notes on how players might get rid of it - fire, repellents, area damage weapons.

If these are sizable insects (large rats or larger) that could be targeted singly, then I would go with making them Minion swarms. Give them Brawl as a skill, but also give them very low health. Then, instead of the usual 5 or 6 cap on a minion group, make them into something like 10 insect groups. You can easily dispatch them, but it will take a while to have much affect on their attack upgrades.

Edit: And now I'm curious of what Beyond the Rim did.

1 hour ago, Sturn said:

I don't recall. I think there may have been something in Genesys, but I'm not sure where I saw them (Edit: nevermind, 2P51 has the answer).

Don't stat it out at all? It gives Setback and Wounds per round? Treat it as an environmental affect instead with notes on how players might get rid of it - fire, repellents, area damage weapons.

If these are sizable insects (large rats or larger) that could be targeted singly, then I would go with making them Minion swarms. Give them Brawl as a skill, but also give them very low health. Then, instead of the usual 5 or 6 cap on a minion group, make them into something like 10 insect groups. You can easily dispatch them, but it will take a while to have much affect on their attack upgrades.

Edit: And now I'm curious of what Beyond the Rim did.

It's at the life pod, if you are looking for it.

5 hours ago, Sturn said:

Edit: And now I'm curious of what Beyond the Rim did.

http://swa.stoogoff.com/#green-bug-swarm

Halve damage from non-Burn or Blast weapons. Might make more sense to implement as a minion group instead of a single high-WT rival so it can diminish over time.

Swarm ability from the Genesys Expanded Player's Guode: Halve the damage dealt to this adversary before applying soak, unless the attack has the Blast or Burn quality (regardless of whether the quality is activated).

I was underwhelmed by the bug swarm. It's a Rival with Brawn of 1, and its attack is Melee with a skill of 2, damage of 1. Chance of a hit is < 50%, and if they hit they are unlikely to do any damage. That's barely annoying even in a t-shirt. I gave them the ability to bypass Defense, Soak from armour (because they just crawl under), etc, but had to add another swarm to make it interesting.

One idea, besides ignoring (non-sealed) armor, would be to give them the Burn quality. Once they're on you, it's hard to get them off.

Here's how I statted a particularly vicious swarm of insects, minus the species-specific abilities:

341211 Soak 1, WT 30, Melee/Ranged Defense 1/1.
Skills: Coordination 4, Stealth 3, Brawl 5 (because they can't really miss).
Talents: None.
Abilities: Insect Swarm (Halve the damage dealt to the swarm before applying Soak unless the weapon has the Blast or Stun quality, regardless of whether or not the quality was activated. Explosives with the Blast quality deal twice as much damage to the swarm, and Blast can be triggered against the swarm, dealing double damage again), Overwhelming Numbers (the swarm inflicts an additional 3 damage against immobilized targets, the swarm loses 1 Brawn for every 10 wounds they take), Flyer.
Equipment: Razor Wings and Jaws: (+0; 3; Engaged; Blast 3, Breach 1, Ensnare 2, Stun 2).

In this case, their tactics were not to stick around, they'd hit you and fly back away carrying bits of flesh in their mandibles, but I added Breach as a way of saying "they ignore Soak." Saying they ignore non-sealed armor is probably a better way of going about it, though.

They may be a bit overstatted for a standard insect swarm, however, as these were controlled by a questionably sentient hivemind and were well coordinated. High Brawn is for damage and so it can be reduced over time, high Agility/Coordination is because the swarm is able to react very quickly and is able to very easily ignore obstacles etc. High Stealth is because the swarm can disperse and lie in wait, extremely high Brawl is because they can't really miss and so that they can either generate a lot of Success and do significant amounts of damage as they swarm a single target, or so they generate lots of Advantage and Triumph and can trigger their qualities and/or crits.

Watching, as I roll around ideas for the stone mites from the original Marvel Star Wars #28....

On 1/11/2021 at 4:04 PM, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

One idea, besides ignoring (non-sealed) armor, would be to give them the Burn quality. Once they're on you, it's hard to get them off.

Here's how I statted a particularly vicious swarm of insects, minus the species-specific abilities:

341211 Soak 1, WT 30, Melee/Ranged Defense 1/1.
Skills: Coordination 4, Stealth 3, Brawl 5 (because they can't really miss).
Talents: None.
Abilities: Insect Swarm (Halve the damage dealt to the swarm before applying Soak unless the weapon has the Blast or Stun quality, regardless of whether or not the quality was activated. Explosives with the Blast quality deal twice as much damage to the swarm, and Blast can be triggered against the swarm, dealing double damage again), Overwhelming Numbers (the swarm inflicts an additional 3 damage against immobilized targets, the swarm loses 1 Brawn for every 10 wounds they take), Flyer.
Equipment: Razor Wings and Jaws: (+0; 3; Engaged; Blast 3, Breach 1, Ensnare 2, Stun 2).

In this case, their tactics were not to stick around, they'd hit you and fly back away carrying bits of flesh in their mandibles, but I added Breach as a way of saying "they ignore Soak." Saying they ignore non-sealed armor is probably a better way of going about it, though.

They may be a bit overstatted for a standard insect swarm, however, as these were controlled by a questionably sentient hivemind and were well coordinated. High Brawn is for damage and so it can be reduced over time, high Agility/Coordination is because the swarm is able to react very quickly and is able to very easily ignore obstacles etc. High Stealth is because the swarm can disperse and lie in wait, extremely high Brawl is because they can't really miss and so that they can either generate a lot of Success and do significant amounts of damage as they swarm a single target, or so they generate lots of Advantage and Triumph and can trigger their qualities and/or crits.

I think you can get the same result with less clunk if they are minions with group skills. They will lose the upgrades as they die. Narratively 1 minion isn't one bug but a group.

5 hours ago, Rimsen said:

I think you can get the same result with less clunk if they are minions with group skills. They will lose the upgrades as they die. Narratively 1 minion isn't one bug but a group.

The only thing that would change is that I'd have to change the skills and wouldn't change the Brawn or damage. It would also significantly change the balance of how skilled etc. it is, and some abilities when applied against the unit affect individual minions, whereas I'd have them affect the entire unit, so Rival makes more sense. There's also the matter of killing with crits, which I wanted to avoid. I also have some narrative reasons for it to be a single opponent rather than multiple minion groups.