Hydra!

[Big Bene]

Leviathan, Behemoth and Ziz are biblical monsters of the seas, lands and skies respectively. Neither have specific characteristics, but are often used loosely in fantasy regardless.

Ziz is not exactly biblical. He is mentioned in jewish myths, but not in the bible itself.

[Goblin-King]

While not exactly featured heavily in the bible...

There is only passing mention of the Ziz in the Bible, found in Psalms 50:11 "I know all the birds of the mountains and Zīz śāday is mine" and Psalms 80:13-14 "The boar from the forest ravages it, and Zīz śāday feeds on it." (Hebrew: וְזִיז שָׂדַי‎), and these are often lost in translation from the Hebrew.

Emphasis is mine.

So yes and no. If you regard the Hebrew bible as "canon" it does indeed feature Ziz.
But most other languages has replaced Ziz with simply insects, beasts or animals.

[Big Bene]

While not exactly featured heavily in the bible...

wikipedia hat geschrieben:
There is only passing mention of the Ziz in the Bible, found in Psalms 50:11 "I know all the birds of the mountains and Zīz śāday is mine" and Psalms 80:13-14 "The boar from the forest ravages it, and Zīz śāday feeds on it." (Hebrew: וְזִיז שָׂדַי‎), and these are often lost in translation from the Hebrew.

I stand corrected. My bad.
Normally, when making claims like this, and not really sure, I recheck the Hebrew source. Seems I'm getting old...
Of course, the Hebrew bible is canon. No "Yes and No" here, just "No". I missed that one.

Having said this, our little side discourse seems to have stopped the thread dead, which is a pity.
The real topic here are the monsters from "real" folklore made into Heroquest rules, which I think is a field of endless possiblilities.

[Anderas]

Which is not necessarily bad:

So far, we stated:
* Different viewpoints about a monster and how to use it in a Quest, by some preferring the "the MONSTER" variant and some preferring the "a monster" variant
* A host of special-rule-free statlines that can exhaust a fully equipped group
* Some examples of how you can special rule the hydra and the gorgons, so that they actually become special

So, on we go, with the other "historic" monsters!
I vote for excluding the manticore, because it was featured in the super-cheap copy of Heroquest, DSA Boardgame, first variant.

[Goblin-King]

Moving on: There's also the lammasu from ancient Mesopotamian religion, perhaps most known for it's inclusion in the Chaos Dwarf army.

[Thor-in]

I've done a little research in Norse mythology, and came up with maybe two (the third is a joke) that could be used.

Draugr "Again-Walker" - Undead monster or Phantom, maybe could be used as a way to bring a fallen boss back to life. This monster is also used in Skyrim.
Hamingia - Shape-Shifter
Ratatoskr "Drill-Tooth or Bore-Tooth" - Means Squirrel

[Big Bene]

Ratatoskr "Drill-Tooth or Bore-Tooth" - Means Squirrel

Ratatoskr is

"the MONSTER"

it is a very special squirrel that runs up and down the Midgart Tree Yggdrasill and exchanges news between the dragon at the root s and the eagle in the leafs - malevolent forces of nature who seek to destroy the Tree (=the human World).

By the way, the DSA boardgame part 1 was all but cheap. It had some great ideas: The heroes with the dial base (an early forerunner of Heroclix), the threedimensional part of the dungeon with the stairs, which can easily and very stylish been included into Heroquest, the openable chests for the treasures, the concept of collecting the figures of killed monsters for experince points (very haptic and HQ-style). The problem was that the basic gaming concept is broken - you play the same quest all the time. This is because they tried to think of something original and not copy Heroquest too close (like other games of the area). Pitily, they didn't come up with an idea as good as Heroquest (which would have been near impossible anyway). But the game definitely has it's merits.

[Daedalus]

Aw man, this is the second time my Hydra is late to the party!

Hydra: M5 | A1x4 | D3 | BP 4 | MP2 | Multiple attacks: May attack 1 to 4 Heroes. A Hero may only defend once, no matter how many attacks are directed against him. For each Body Point reduced, a head is killed and an Attack die is removed. Regeneration: At the end of Morcar's/Zargon's turn one head may be regenerated if killed without a Fire spell, returning 1 Attack die. (The D&D/Heroscape fen hydra should fit on a 1x2 base.)

As for the OP's request for other mythical beasts, don't forget the salamander and even the hypocampus and sea serpent if you can get around the water issue.

Here's a dragon and basilisk stuff from the Inn that might help spark some ideas.

[cynthialee]

I have only had one group of adventurers defeat a hydra regardless of game system.
My players would much prefer to interrupt a pair of amorous dragons.

For HQ How would I build a Hydra...?
1st determine starting heads. 1 for every Hero in play and an extra head for each 3 sell swords the heroes have employed sounds good...
Move: 5
Attack Per Head: 3
Defend: 8
Mind: 1 {Dominant Head: 2}
Body: 10
The heads of course regenerate...2 new heads appear for each head destroyed. A head is destroyed on any attack inflicting 3 or more body points per blow. This mechanic may be avoided if the players specifically dictate they are actively avoiding the heads, but this will require the heroes to attack with one less attack dice. If a head is destroyed it must be cauterized with fire, acid or raw magic. This will take an action by the next hero who has a torch, an acid flask or a spell caster. A spell caster need not use a spell card to summons the raw magic to seal the wound, but he will have to of course get close enough to do it and make his dice roll. The beast may not defend against cauterizing attacks, but the hero or sell sword must roll a skull. These cauterizing attacks are taken with 2 combat dice. If a destroyed head is not cauterized before the EWP takes his turn then two new heads will appear in it's place. These heads may take immediate attacks.
The beasts necks are long and very agile. The monster may strike any target in the same room. In hallways the beast has a range of 3 squares.
If 'defeated' the corpse of the hydra must be cremated or it will regenerate over time.

The unique monster known as the Lernean Hydra has all of the above combat statistics x3. This hydra is a god slayer so expect to die if you meet it.

Some rare versions of these monsters are reported to employ breath weapons. Fire, acid and chlorine attacks are most common.

[Thor-in]

So....

I have been doing a lot of reading lately on Norse Mythology, Vampire Folklore, Norse Mythological Creatures, and soon Christianity (not so much in that order). I ran across a name of a being that intrigued me.

Lilith.

Lilith first showed up in Babylonian Talmud between the 3rd and 5th centuries. In Jewish Mythology she is Adam's first wife (before Eve). I'm not going to get into the whole religion part about Lilith. Lilith is said to be a dangerous demon of the night that steels and feeds on the blood/flesh of a new born. Sounds like a Vampire to me, but I continue to read on. I further discover that she had numerous spirits and demons with Cain, from the Mythology of Cain and Able and Lilith. Interesting.

I continue on with my readings of Norse Mythology now and run across a the name of a Germanic Legendary Creature, The Grindylow. So I read about the Grindylow and it references to Grendel, and it being the son of Cain. Very interesting, wait Lilith had a "son" with Cain, so is The Mother of Grendel Lilith????

So now I'm onto Vampire Folklore, and the first "Vampire" to ever be recorded is Lilith, ex-wife to Able, "Mother of Grendel", a baby stealing/eating demon that needs blood to survive. Very, very interesting.

Now I'm not trying to be 100% accurate or talk about religion. I just find it funny that we have one Mythological Creature showing up in many different myths and folklore.

So why not create a monster based of the "supposed mother" of a hole crap ton Mythical creatures?