What are Skaven?

[santiagov94]

Hello everyone, thank you for letting me join. I am new to the group. So I recently got back into heroquest. Ihave all the heroquest expansions and I am waiting for the mythic tier, I love Hero quest. But I have never heard of Skavens, and have never seen them anywhere I'm sorry. Can some one please explain this to me? Are there minis and character cards for the different skaven types?

[Nlinindoll]

Slaven are rat-like monsters that are Gamesworksop IP (Like Fimir). Skaven were introduced into the HeroQuest world as new monsters in the Marvel HeroQuest Magazine Winter special and in Advanced Heroquest which came with a ton of skaven models as the main monster.

You can read more about them here: https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Skaven

[cornixt]

Basically, they are rat people. They live in sewers, underground tunnels, and mutations are quite common. Lots of rodent-related jokes and puns in their background. The name is both singular and plural. Since they are usually underground, their main enemies are dwarfs and goblins, but they really want to rule the Empire for some reason. The Empire pretends they don't exist.

[santiagov94]

Slaven are rat-like monsters that are Gamesworksop IP (Like Fimir). Skaven were introduced into the HeroQuest world as new monsters in the Marvel HeroQuest Magazine Winter special and in Advanced Heroquest which came with a ton of skaven models as the main monster.

You can read more about them here: https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Skaven

Hey thanks for the info, I had no idea about this. With this I now realize that warhammer makes those minis.

[Kurgan]

Yeah the Advanced HeroQuest Skaven are kind of expensive but the Warhammer fantasy plastic skaven are much easier to find and fit perfectly on square bases (got mine from Zealot miniatures).

[cynthialee]

Skaven are simply the best and most delightful of the minions of evil.

So cool I pretty much have ported them into every single RPG I have run since I found out about them many years ago.

What isn't to love as a GM....? You got a pack of low level dudes, but they come in huge swarms, they convey disease and they are merciless when they get a victim. A good sized pack of Skaven.....dude I don't care what you have equipped you better roll good, cause you about to get swarmed! Then they are smart enough to use tools and some even are spell casters.

I love Skaven. Just seeing a 300+ individual pack far in the distance has been enough for my players to evacuate the villagers and flee far to the mountains to wait it out. Eventually the rats will tire out and return to their warrens. This is not a safe fight for heroes, this is a fight for armies.

[Kurgan]

In my own "de-magicified world" homebrew mod, I've interpreted the Skaven as genetic experiments that escaped (think the Rats of NIHM), the mutant creatures are mortal enemies of the Dwarves. The benefit of this ancient rivalry, is that Dwarven alchemists have been able to come up with many cures for plague and other diseases from studying Skaven bodies. The Skaven of course have their own agenda, experimenting with dangerous chemicals, killing Dwarves and planning their takeover of the surface. They're a wildcard in the war against Chaos.

Additionally the people of the Olde World have learned healing from studying Trolls (who have natural regenerative abilities).

That's a personal interpretation of the Warhammer fantasy inspired material incorporated into certain editions of HeroQuest (they've never yet been mentioned in classic or remake hero quest to my knowledge). But the minis are out there and it's fun lore to draw upon for inspiration.