New Monsters: Manscorpions

by Dewayne Agin

This is the first of a series of short articles converting the DragonStrike figures (see Alchemist's Bench, issue 5) for use in HeroQuest.

Manscorpions are the result of a Wizard's bizarre experiments. The head and body of a man was attached to a giant scorpion, resulting in a type of monster that is intelligent, strong, and agile - a combination that is often lethal to its foes. No one knows if the Wizard is still creating the bizarre creatures, or if they are somehow breeding. The Heroes may encounter them alone or in groups. They are often employed by evil Sorcerer's as bodyguards, keeping their employer from harm.

I have included few details in the description about Manscorpions on purpose. They are an unknown in HeroQuest. They are intelligent, so if the Hero's meet one should they automatically assume that it is going to attack? Is it a bodyguard? Is it a monster? Can it talk? Some good quest ideas for Manscorpions might be: discovering the Wizard that is creating them, and stopping him; discovering a secret Manscorpion city; trying to find the object of an especially strong Guardian Manscorpion's desire, and using it to bribe your way past him.

Manscorpions are tough opponents, so you may wish to use them sparingly in quests. Another deterrent to their use is the sparseness of figures. Besides the figure that comes with DragonStrike, I was only able to find one company that casts Manscorpion figures:

Ral Partha:

Chaos Imperium Scorpion Man $6.25

Visit http://www.heroscribe.org/thealchemistsbench/monsters/index.html to download a ZIPped archive containing a BMP file. The BMP includes a Manscorpion monster card and attack diagram (indicating which spaces the Manscorpion may attack).