Crossover: Curse of Strahd meets Evil Dead / Army of Darkness

[Hawk Diesel]

So I'm preparing to run this campaign, and I got to thinking about Rudolph van Richten. It being late and all, my mind does weird things. I'm trying to pair up the NPCs with an actor, tv character, or movie character to help me gives these NPCs a unique voice and personality. As I came to van Richten, I figured I would give him a voice like Ash Williams from Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, and Ash versus the Evil Dead. But then I got to thinking. This guy is kind of perfect to just be Ash. A guy displaced from his home, with a mission to destroy evil that has so badly impacted him. The mists of Ravenloft pull people from all over the multiverse. And it would be fun as heck to play and I think my players would get a huge kick out of it.

What are people's thoughts? He could even have the Necronomicon which might even replace the Tome of Strahd. Strahd would want the tome to increase his own power, and fears it for the power it could possess to destroy him. But Ash can't read it, and would need help from the players to seek out the mad mage to understand it.

I also changed some things with Rictavio's stats. His physical stats are about average. His intelligence is still rather high (Ash did help in building his hand and that death machine in Army of Darkness, as well as make some gunpowder). But his wisdom took a SHARP dip and his charisma is maxed at 20. Also, I removed the spellcasting. I replaced that with his Chain Saw (considered magic and silvered, deals 2d6 damage slashing), and a Boomstick (range 30 feet, 4d6 damage, DC 15 Dex save or knocked back 5ft and land prone). I kept the Undead Slayer ability and added an ability that grants Ash a persistent Protection for Good and Evil ability.

I'm also thinking of giving him a kind of Lay on Hands ability, just because Rictavio had some healing and restoration capabilities.

So what do people think? Would this make the game more interesting? Could it work? Does it potentially break the immersion?

 

[Ath'kethin]

If your players will get the reference/joke, I think it's a perfect idea. Hell, even if they don't; I'm pretty entertained.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

"I vant to swallow your soul..."

Fun! BTW, why do people insist on making firearms damage bludgeoning? It's piercing. Except for maybe beanbag, baton or rock salt shotgun loads.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

"I vant to swallow your soul..."

Fun! BTW, why do people insist on making firearms damage bludgeoning? It's piercing. Except for maybe beanbag, baton or rock salt shotgun loads.

I did that because for me, it fit more with the knockback and knockdown. While yes, it is technically piercing, I'd say there is more blunt force in the effect. Like, if you get hit by a car with a bed of nails strapped to the bumper, is it piercing or bludgeoning damage? I don't really think it matters, but an argument could be made for both.

 

[jgsugden]

It is a fun idea, but it turns the campaign into a farcical advanture rather than gothic horror.

Further, Ash is not very good at taking th back seat. As a DM, you want the PCs to be the heroes of the tale. If you're true to Bruce, it will be hard to have him be second fiddle to the PCs.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

It is a fun idea, but it turns the campaign into a farcical advanture rather than gothic horror.

Further, Ash is not very good at taking th back seat. As a DM, you want the PCs to be the heroes of the tale. If you're true to Bruce, it will be hard to have him be second fiddle to the PCs.

This is actually a terrific point and one that I actually considered even as I was writing the original post. But if we consider the earlier movies, specifically Evil Dead 2, I think it did a great job of balancing humor with horror. In fact, the CoS book encourages for there to be moments of levity because pure horror and dread all the time can become overwhelming and begin to lose its impact. A good game should be like a roller coaster with twists, turns, highs, and lows. So it definitely will be a challenge as a DM to be sure to balance that.

That being said, this is going to be a new group and largely new players. They may not be ready or want a true horror campaign. Placing this in the middle of the story at Vallaki will give them a chance to go through the Death House, the Village of Barovia, and then I can see if they begin to prefer the humor introduced by Ash or want to maintain the previous feel of the game.

As for the difficulty with Ash being able to play second fiddle, I agree. But if we consider Army of Darkness or especially Ash vs. The Evil Dead, he causes just as many problems as he stumbles into resolving. Also, I would argue that in Ash vs. The Evil Dead, it shows he has the ability to share the spotlight with Pablo and Kelly. Hell, I would argue that Pablo is turning into just as much a key player protagonist as Ash. Pablo sees Ash as a mentor, and I predict in this 3rd season he's going to have to step up with an assist from Ash.

Still, while Ash is a braggart, blow hard, and has an ego the size of a planet, he has the potential for good and to eventually (after much kicking and screaming) to do the right thing. In the game I'm planning, Ash is working in disguise. I'm playing it like after Ash took the cure in Army of Darkness from the Wise Man, Sheila decided to go with him. But the Dark Powers of Barovia yearned for the Necronomicon, and so intervened to bring Ash, Sheila, and the book into Strahd's realm. Strahd, always after his beloved Tatyana, believed Sheila to be her successor. While Ash managed to hide the book from Strahd, the vampire left Ash for dead and took Sheila as a vampire spawn. Strahd wants the book and believes Ash to be dead. So Ash is laying low, because he can't read the Necronomicon and believes if he could, he could unlock some secret to beating Strahd, saving Sheila, and getting back home. So he's working to figure out if the Vistani or the Keepers of the Feather can be trusted and translate the book. But after meeting the players, his cover will get blown and Strahd will be watching. It may come down to Ash needing to take on the forces of Strahd in order to allow the players to escape with the Necronomicon to find the Mad Mage, with the fate of Ash left to the player's imaginations.

So it's definitely something to pay attention to and will be a challenge. But I'm pretty confident that I can find a way to make it work. Plus, I have all you guys to help me find the holes in my ideas and create solutions to help address them! ^_^

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Also, I think that Rudolph van Richten can still be a part of the story (hence not needing to change much for Ezmerelda). But I think with introducing Ash, van Richten's tale takes a much more tragic turn as Ezmerelda eventually learns that van Richten fell to the vampire Strahd. While Strahd could not turn van Richten (the vampire hunter took measures to prevent it somehow) Strahd was quick to animate his body as a zombie to desecrate it as much as possible.

 

[Yes]

Nice! Don't forget "Actual Cannibal Shia Leboeuf" while you're at it ^^ : https://winghornpress.com/2016/03/13/monster-actual-cannibal-shia-labeouf/

 

[Coroc]

Well Ash is a Little bit pulpy, a bit to much comedy for Rloft imho.

Hm whom could you take instead? One of the guys of supernatural eventually? nah to much Action.

Van Richten is less the Action type, and more a scientist with a bit of combat ability, Indiana Jones Comes to my mind here.
Well, Van Richten has a literal origin in van Helsing from the original Dracula novel.

If you want it more creepy try Jonny Depp as Ichabod Crane in sleepy hollow.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Those are some good suggestions. I'm definitely going to use a voice/personality of Cas from Supernatural as one of the characters. But I'm definitely keeping my idea to use Ash instead of Van Richten.