Last night, the Steam Workshop was updated to support Skyrim mods. It's a central repository for community made content, from tiny tweaks to total overhauls. After one night, there are already 459 mods up that you can add to the game with a click.
Steam handles downloading, installing and activating them in-game, and will even automatically update them when a new version comes out. But the sheer volume is kind of daunting right now, so we've trawled through to find you the highlights, divided into three categories that broadly reflect the trends in what people have made so far.
Fun stuff
Useful mods
Oh God Oh God Oh God
Fun stuff
Posh mudcrabs
Gives all Mudcrabs a tophat and monocle. Commenter Coward Duck: "This mod changed my life."
Valve's Space Core
Valve themselves have added the space-obsessed personality core from Portal 2 into Skyrim, who now rockets down from, yes, space, just outside Whiterun. You can kick him around, pick him up or Fus-Roh-Dah him, while he mutters Skyrim-appropriate things about space. "Also, since Skyrim was the only major release of 2011 without Nolan North in it, you should consider this mod a patch to fix that problem."
Less Condescending Guards
At last. Guards no longer comment on your skills unless you have over 75 points in them. I don't know about you, but when they'd comment on my Destruction magic when it was only level 32, it would rend my soul.
Pickupable Forks
Not sure how we lived without this one.
Lusty Argonian Maid teaches one and two handed
"Lusty Argonian Maid vol.1 teaches one handed, vol.2 teaches two handed." Bethesda wish they'd thought of this.
Rabbit Rage
Gives rabbits the voice and ultra-aggressive AI of the Dremora demons. They still have no attack.
Bigger giants
Makes giants bigger. "V1.1 Now BIGGER!"
Clam Chowder
"There's something distinctly wrong when there are clams in the world but nobody knows how to make clam chowder. "
Blackreach Cheese Pack
"Supplements your Skyrim experience with four addtional sacks of mammoth cheese, convieniently located outside Sinderion's shack in the depths of Blackreach. A must have modification for gamers who hunger for additional content."
Useful ones
Midas Magic
An incredible suite of new abilities, including a spell to cause huge chunks of ice to fall and crush your enemies, and one that causes plant life to erupt from the ground and walls wherever you point it.
New: Relentlessly Unrelenting Force
Commenter Alphasim points outs this awesome version of the Unrelenting Force shout: it's now a spell, and it fus-roh-dah's people for as long as you hold the key.
Lydia no longer says "I am sworn to carry your burdens"
87% less sass.
Dwarven Robot Spider Follower
"He cannot be killed and his name is Skittles."
All NPCs Killable
Lets you kill even quest-essential NPCs.
Mark & Recall
Two super-handy teleportation spells last seen officially in Morrowind. Mark saves your current location, Recall summons you back to it later.
Open Cities
Integrates cities into the general landscape of Skyrim, which means there's no loading screen when you wander into them.
Ice Island
Someone's made a whole island out of ice, with a village on it and everything.
Oh God Oh God Oh God
Spiders turned into Spidermen
Or more specifically, 'pidermen. Spider removal mods are generally for arachnophobics, but it's hard to imagine anyone finding this replacement less terrifying. Copyright infringement is the least of this mod's worries, this infringes the human body.
Sir Dwarf
"Adds a dwarf follower in High Hrothgar. Not really a dwarf, more of a small nord." The picture is priceless.
Killable children
Warning: the image for this one is pretty horrible. Equally disturbing is the unrestrained enthusiasm in the comments for it. Remember, making it possible doesn't make it acceptable.
Argonian Skin Shoes
Does it bother you when there are creatures in the world whose skin you can't use as footwear? This mod is apparently for you.
Found any other fun/useful/ohgodohgodohgod ones? Let us know in the comments.
