OSR Survival Horror: Ash Williams, 80's Lovecraft movies, and Snake Plissken

I had been itching to do some character conversions for Lovecraft adaptions and themed movies from the eighties and nineties.

I also enjoy using my Survival Horror rules to emulate famous character's that can either be used as NPC's or as PC's in some epic crossover one-shot event. They can also be used as examples for the players to show what they can build towards during advancement.

Ashley J. Williams, bumbling hero and destroyer of the demonic from the Evil Dead films and series. As seen in the series Ash can work with a team of deadite fighters though their chances of mutilation and death are high. Life around Ash is never dull.

Herbert West, played by the amazing Jeffrey Combs, was the protagonist in a series of films from the eighties and early nineties directed by Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna, based on a story by Lovecraft. West's obsession with defeating death by reanimating the dead leads to a series of horrific mishaps and forays into madness. Aided by his tormented yet faithful friend and assistant Dan Cain, played by by Bruce Abbott, the duo set themselves on a path of tragedy and mayhem for those around them. It is fascinating watching the Player's try to catch West and Cain or to outwit the cops playing the demented doctors. Another scenario could include the Player's as modern day body-snatchers supplying West with materials.

Reanimation Serum

An evilly glowing viscous fluid, injected into the veins of the deceased. Herbert West has spent decades experimenting and refining his great discovery: the reanimation serum; the fluid that brings the dead back to the world of the living. 

Unfortunately he can't get the damn thing to work quite right.

The reanimated may not retain all of their higher brain functions. In fact, the less 'fresh' the corpse the worse the reaction is. Early versions of serum produced violent animalistic reanimated corpses. West later tried to refine the serum and its doses but the results were uneven as many of the corpses only blinked, gave horrible expressions, or cried out before sinking back into the oblivion of death. West has since gone back to the stronger, earlier version of the serum which produces the psychotic effects but he is more than willing to inflict them on the world to study them, examine them to hopefully find out what is wrong with the formula and hindering his 'great work.'

The subjects appear to be dead: their skin is pale, blood is pooled as there no heart beat, they foam at the mouth, and any wounds they have at death are not healed. Most are unpleasant to look at. 

The normal reanimation serum works as follows: 

Reanimation occurs within 2d6 rounds of injection and the subject doesn't come back with the same amount of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma it had in life. The degree of loss depends on how long the subject has been dead as the less fresh the corpse, the more the brain is deteriorated. If the corpse had an Intelligence and Wisdom higher than the max on the chart below it automatically drops to the maximum allowed. 

⦁ Less than five minutes: Intelligence, Wisdom, and  Charisma maximum of 13

⦁ Five minutes to an Hour: Intelligence, Wisdom, and  Charisma maximum of 8

⦁ Longer than an Hour: Intelligence, Wisdom, and  Charisma maximum of 3 

Those reanimated come back as a creature with HD equal to half of the HD it had in life, round up (minimum one HD.) HP, attacks, Saving Throws, etc are treated as a normal monster of that HD. The receive the following special abilities:

• Bite: 1d3 damage
• Hideous: The reanimated are  prone to be dangerously psychotic and barely able to pass for human without some sort of disguise. Any wounds they died from will be obvious and unhealed. Most appear to be 'deadish' and leaking fluids and foam. Those who see an undisguised reanimated and realize that it is not human must make a Saving Throw (Paralyzation)  or suffer a -2 to all actions against the reanimated.  If they fail the Saving Throw by more than five they will likely flee in terror.
• Fear of Fire: These reanimated have an instinctive fear of fire. If confronted with any fire torch sized or larger they must make a Saving Throw (Paralyzation) or be unable to melee attack the person wielding the fire. 
• Retained Abilities: Those with more than a 3 in Intelligence may retain some use of abilities or skills they had in life albeit usually at a greatly reduced rate of competency. 
• Above all else remember that the serum is a plot device, a tool for you to use as you see fit to have a good time. Roll with it.

Dan Cain, long suffering friend, assistant, and minion of Herbert West, Re-animator. Dan is infected with West's madness and obsession with the reanimation research. He has been marked by their experiences, often collapsing into a heap of wrecked nerves over the horrors he has seen and the close calls with the authorities their activities have spawned. West as had to manipulate Dan to keep him working on their research.

Randolph Carter, clever Miskatonic student and lover of the occult. He appeared in the Unnameable and the Unnameable II where he and his college associates fought the demon of Winthrop House, freeing the soul of Winthrop's daughter and finally defeating the beast at great cost in human life. Carter is a scholar through and through.; neat, precise, methodical, and with a seemingly endless supply of energy when investigating a mystery. 

Elliot Damon Howard, student at Miskatonic U and friend of Randolph Carter. Howard survived the night and follow up investigation of Winthrop house despite being wounded by the demon. Howard is not the brightest mind at Miskatonic, his assets are more physical than mental, but he is a loyal friend.

Bonus!

Bonus!
Snake Plissken, bad-ass from Escape from New York and Escape from LA. Snake is a fun  anti-hero character and the Escape movies would make a fantastic survival horror twist setting. Imagine an alternate team sent in to find the Macguffin. How would Players handle the situation? Maybe they are a back-up in case Snake fails. Perhaps only the one who delivers the Macguffin gets out alive?