Tech Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 In The Great Supervillain Contest, the Crimson Claw's true form is always shown to be hidden from sight due to his, um, cloak (can't think of the word). Robe, that's it! You can't see him because of his robe. What do you think he'd look like underneath it? Has anyone ever created a picture of him? I'd really... really... like to see one if anyone did create a pic like that (or can suggest one). To avoid derailing a thread going on about who'd survive a nuke and Crimson Claw got brought up, I thought I'd mention some thoughts on that evil dude here. His PD and ED were the highest I'd ever seen up to that point. It was eye-popping when I first saw those stats. His powers were high-powered as was his killing attack (with Find Weakness). Add an 8 Speed on top of that and he was quite the foe. When I first GM'd the module, no one knew what to expect. We had one gaming session with only heroes being attacked by supervillains; the only reason I gave is that it lead up to another episode. Ah, seemingly random superhero beatings, great fun! Anyways, at one point, one of the heroes found the Emerald Eye orb and it nearly killed her. They left it behind. Crimson Claw fought about 8-12 heroes in a climatic battle and one hero seeing the battle not stopping, managed to set the ship to self-destruct. They all escaped and the Crimson Claw got blown up (and survived). Later, the Emerald Eye shows up a couple times and they destroy a couple of the minor ones, thinking that there's only one 'eye' orb that keeps regenerating itself. Crimson Claw later gets forced back to his world through a portal and the heroes rejoice. He's gone for good! .... except that they never dealt with the real Emerald Eye orb. Over fifteen real years pass by... it never escapes me that all the loose ends were not taken care of. Time for... the Great Supervillain Contest 2.0! New ideas, new players - some of whom weren't born then. TGSC 2.0 starts again: heroes are attacked and captured but this time, one group of heroes lets themselves get beaten so they can get in, whereas another team infiltrates the contest. At the ending, the Supreme Claw shows up via a dimensional portal (costing 1126 points, and yes, I still have those stats if interested). The Supreme Claw gets beaten and as he tries to escape to the portal, the portal collapses, disintegrating him. All this talking about the Crimson Claw got me thinking: y'know, I think I'll have the original Crimson Claw come back... again! This time, he's going to look for those heroes who defeated him... (Which is why I'm looking for a pic of him without the robe.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest Can't really help you, except to comment that it's weird that I had this module in my hand yesterday wondering how much trouble it was going to be to update it to 6th edition, and remembering I had made miniatures for nearly all the villains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pizza Man Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest If the robe was satin or silk...the crimson claw could have been...nekid! Maybe he's actually a hero...and only the hooded robe of the Crimson Claw kept the PCs from finding that out. Maybe the Claw is...a girl! with brilliant voice manipulator. Or 15 years later, his daughter avenging his death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest I don't believe I ever read the module so I know nothing about the context of it, but one of the advantages of being all-concealed is that you can be anybody. Perhaps there's a respectable businessman/philanthropist in the high-tech industry out there who moonlights as a supervillain, concealing his powers when going about his normal business and only donning the robes and garments when he has dirty work to do. Of course how he treats disgraced henchmen would be interesting: CC: "You aren't cut out for this line of work, Smothers. I'm going to send you home...." Henchman: "Thank you..." CC: "In a plastic bag." (Uses flamethrower mounted to his throne to fry henchman to ashes.) "Well, don't just stand there gaping! Sweep him up, put him in a plastic bag, and send him home!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest When I played in the adventure, my GM at the time (mind you, this is mid-80s) actually had a Lex Luthor type be in disguise as the Claw. The outer appearance was just a mask hiding his true appearance. After we went through the contest, the GM used the CC a few more times, building up the suspense until my character ran across some clues leading to an almost Scooby Doo-ish unmasking ... I've thought about utilizing the CC in my current games, but I was actually thinking of making him a cosmic gamemaster (almost like Marvel's Grandmaster). I was considering redesigning him with some minions and such, almost taking the ideas of Darkseid and Grandmaster and combining them ... with a smattering of the Champion (another Elder of the Universe) thrown in for taste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brionl Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest Can't really help you' date=' except to comment that it's weird that I had this module in my hand yesterday wondering how much trouble it was going to be to update it to 6th edition, and remembering I had made miniatures for nearly all the villains.[/quote'] Me too. I was just rooting around through my storage room crap, and found my box with Champions, Champions 2ed, II & III, 3ed, various other old timie thingies, and that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest It's really cool to rattle the cobwebs of old Champions modules, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest While it's a classic, I will not touch anything Dennis Mallonee wrote ever again. His feud with the designers is legend, and the damage he wrought on Champions as a result caused all kinds of problems. He's another reason I don't run in the CU anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest While it's a classic' date=' I will not touch anything Dennis Mallonee wrote ever again. His feud with the designers is legend, and the damage he wrought on Champions as a result caused all kinds of problems. He's another reason I don't run in the CU anymore.[/quote'] I've never heard of the feud. Regardless, I don't use the Champions Universe, Marvel or DC universe - our group's campaign is our own. However, we do borrow things from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest I recently moved and just got around to setting up my gaming shelves so I had to unpack a bunch of books. So I came across an assortment of early adventures. This one is currently on top of my list to run, but form the villain perspective. For a short campaign I'm considering having the players build low-level villains. They'll love it since they enjoy a good backstabbing. As for use of the CU, I'm an equal opportunity thief. Nothing is ever used exactly as written and some things are diced to bits and used. This one might be fun to keep mostly whole, but updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: The Crimson Claw and The Great Supervillain Contest I use this as a change of pace with the PCs playing villians. The Crimson claw is long gone but the contest has been going on(along with illegal betting on it) in my campaign world ever since, occaisionaly crossing over into the main adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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