Rats in the Cellar

For fun, I'm trying to put together a list of all "Rats in the Cellar" appearances in CRPGs, along with any notes about anything (ANYTHING!) that makes them stand out.

TV Tropes has several examples, but it doesn't have many indie games, or MMOs (not sure if I want to include those), or the crapload of older titles where the rats were not really a "quest" but still appeared in "civilized dungeons" (cellars, basements, attics, sewers, etc. of an otherwise settled environment - city / tavern / castle … like underneath Lord British's castle in Ultima VI.)

Obviously, Frayed Knights will be on the list, as well as the games listed in TV Tropes. What else have we got?

Nearly every server on NWN had something like this but there are far too many obscure ones to dig up. My favourites were penguins in the cellar and the rats asking your for help from a troublesome barkeep - or something like that.

Seeing your post I was thinking I could put one in my app. The player discovers the Grand Wizard's tomb while on this quest and tells his masters.

Yeah, I'm looking for commercially released titles (indie + mainstream). It's been a staple of tabletop RPGs for years, but honestly it seems like most CRPGs that use 'em as an explicit quest do so as a joke.

Hmm… Icewind Dale had some kind of beetles in a cellar. Does that count?

It's strange, but I can't actually think of many examples of this beyond the TVtropes list.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the ps2 had it I believe. And of course Baldur's Gate 1 for PC.

-Tristan

At one point in Wizardry 6 (in the castle), player had to use cheese at a small hole in the wall so that rats would tear it down from the other side, resulting in a fight against rats + a miniboss, fat rat!

Also, dunno whether this "counts", in Bloodlines there´s a lot of rats in the city sewers.
While they´re not combat opponents, they aren´t just ambience either - pc can suck their blood (a resource for using abilities).

I guess I could also add rats in Dark Souls - besides an encounter with a giant rat miniboss which has an axe lodged in its eye, what makes rats stand out in this game is that they´re the only common enemy type which drops consumable humanity (used for all kinds of important stuff) and thus rather prone to be "farmed" throughout the game, even though they give lousy exp (souls) reward.

Drakensang -> big nasty rats in the cellar:

Drakensang - Mother Ratzinksi

Fallout 2 had the best rat quest ever written: aside from yours, of course.

Gemstone 3 on AOL had it. That's about as far as I got on that mod.

Yes, Drakensang kind of turned the cliché upside down.

Father Ratzinski has a cameo appearance in Drakensang 2, by the way.

In Theme Hospital u get to shoot rats in your hospital.

There is a lighthouse in skyrim that has a rather gruesome take on the rats in the cellar trope (turns out to be falmer) but since rats are only mentioned on a note i am not sure if it counts.
Dont think there is an instance in Planescape Torment where you fight One As Many in a cellar (crypt is pretty close tho) but the cranium rats themselves deserve a mention.
There was also that exploding molerat quest for Moira in fallout 3.
The tutorial in new vegas also has you killing molerats tho not underground or inside.

Don't forget The Bard's Tale, of course.

And Oblivion

Originally Posted by Biff The Understudy
There is a lighthouse in skyrim that has a rather gruesome take on the rats in the cellar trope (turns out to be falmer) but since rats are only mentioned on a note i am not sure if it counts.

There is a quest involving a self styled "King of the Skeevers" hiding in the cellar beneath Honningbrew Meadery

Without looking into it, I think the newbie "kill the rats" quests usually technically take place in storerooms instead of cellars. At least that's the case of all the games that popped into my mind: Morrowing, Oblivion (which was a in cellar iirc), Baldur's Gate and Avernum 6. Being sent to kill rats was also a very common early figther's guild quest in Daggerfall but they appeared in houses.

Originally Posted by holeraw
Without looking into it, I think the newbie "kill the rats" quests

Except that in both Drakensang games, this quest isn't for Newbies. Not at all. Which is what I meant with "it's been turned upside down". Mother Rat is STRONG !

She's been made somewhat weaker with the German "Gold" version of Drakensang 1, by the way. I noticed.

The Drakensang (first game) example is already listed on TV Tropes.
Also, it´s the worst take on the trope I had a displeasure to experience. I don´t think 4 levels with 150+ rats were needed to make a point and I wouldn´t be surprised if this joke made quite a few people put the game away for good.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on GameBoy Advance
Krater

Eschalon Book 1

BG has spiders in that first town, hasn't it ?

And what about TOEE ? I'm not sure anymore …

Rats, not spiders, and that was one of the first games mentioned.

Originally Posted by DeepO
I don´t think 4 levels with 150+ rats were needed to make a point

I just played Fallout 2 and I still remember Klamath. Lots of rats…in turn based combat.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Fallout 2 had the best rat quest ever written: aside from yours, of course.

Errr…yeah sure.