Good RPG For Doom?

[JNAProductions]

Doom. That visceral, satisfying game where you just to blast demons all day long.

What's a good RPG to mimic that feel? That over-the-top action, that slightly corny but amazingly awesome feel, the ability to just FEEL like a badass?

[Yora]

The fun of carnage in Doom comes from going through hordes of weak enemies at once. I don't think this translates to RPGs. It would get boring very fast.

RPGs excel more at memorable boss fights and tactical maneuvering.

[The Glyphstone]

You could probably do a solid DOOM hack using the FFG Warhammer 40K RPGs. Stat Doomguy as a Space Marine-grade character and scale enemies as if they were meant for human-scale opponents, then RIP and TEAR. In fact, the Space Marine action game is basically this, Doom starring an Astartes warrior as he RIPS AND TEARS his way through tons of bad guys.

[Knaight]

The fun of carnage in Doom comes from going through hordes of weak enemies at once. I don't think this translates to RPGs. It would get boring very fast.

RPGs excel more at memorable boss fights and tactical maneuvering.

It translates to RPGs just fine, you just need to pick the right ones. For instance, Anima Prime can handle this beautifully, for all that the feel is anything but Doom.

[JNAProductions]

It translates to RPGs just fine, you just need to pick the right ones. For instance, Anima Prime can handle this beautifully, for all that the feel is anything but Doom.

How much does Anima Prime cost?

[No brains]

I'm assuming you mean a tabletop RPG, but in case you aren't Might and Magic 6 has been described as 'fantasy Doom'. You can get it on gog.

Really any pen-and-paper game can be Doom if you listen to Slayer during fights and air-guitar when it isn't your turn.

[Xuc Xac]

"3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars" was made for mowing down hordes of aliens. You could change that to demons very easily.

[Knaight]

How much does Anima Prime cost?

It's free as a .pdf, I don't know the print on demand price. I really wouldn't recommend it for Doom though.

[JNAProductions]

It's free as a .pdf, I don't know the print on demand price. I really wouldn't recommend it for Doom though.

I mean, if it's free, why not at least look?

[Scripten]

I'm a pretty massive Doom fan and I've tried to come up with some ideas for hacking together something that feels right. The main stumbling block is that Doom is essentially 3D Robotron, which means that it relies on tactical mobility and twitch reflexes, both of which are difficult to translate into tabletop mechanics. The boardgame Frag might work, but it's not quite as flavorful as I prefer, besides the fact that it's primarily PVP.

I do know there's an official Doom-esque supplement coming to Shadow of the Demon Lord, which I'm excited to run, but that will likely have the horror elements of Doom held far above the breakneck-speed combat. (I still fully intend on buying it on release, though!)

About the only thing I can think of would be coming up with your own system or using something like Fudge for quick resolution of actions. Plus, since the game would probably be played as "always-on" combat, you would want to have discreet maps that easily translate into grids, rules for dodging hitscans/bullets and projectiles, and other fairly game-y mechanics. Which is not bad at all, but you'll probably end up with more of a board game than an RPG. (Though the distinction is of course subjective and not really even all that important.)

[Frozen_Feet]

Okay, what you lot clearly need to do is take a middle step and play Doom Roguelike, or DRL as it's known these days. That should give you ideas on how to turn a 3D real time shooter into 2D turnbased RPG.

As for a system, start with something simple, like a D&D retroclone. Appropriate ideas from DRL one at a time. If putting together your own system doesn't appeal to you, Cyberpunk probably has everything you need save for suitable enemies.

[Rhedyn]

Doom. That visceral, satisfying game where you just to blast demons all day long.

What's a good RPG to mimic that feel? That over-the-top action, that slightly corny but amazingly awesome feel, the ability to just FEEL like a badass?

Savage Worlds. Over-the-top cinematic action is the niche it scratches best. Throw on the Battle Suit power armor, stat Doom guy up to be sufficiently badass and throw some "extra" demons in front of him and you got a recipe for a splash zone.

Some of the weirder guns would just be Weird Science devices that Doom guy finds and still uses shooting to activate.

Yeah you could get this done with the $10 core rulebook.

[Arbane]

One problem with using Savage Worlds is that (at least in the base rules) there's no way to dodge missiles, which is a rather essential skill for Doom. Easy enough to houserule that, though.

Feng Shui, maybe? It's all about the over-the-top gunplay, crazy stunts, and other flashy violence. Tragically, cyber-demons are no longer a default character class in 2nd edition.

[Rhedyn]

One problem with using Savage Worlds is that (at least in the base rules) there's no way to dodge missiles, which is a rather essential skill for Doom. Easy enough to houserule that, though.

Actually not even a house-rule.

Whether or not you get an agility check to doge AOEs is GM dependent. For example in my current campaign, most people can't dodge missiles. But one of the PC runs over well over 100 Km/h (while everyone else is moving 36' per round), so I rule that he can make agility checks to dodge missiles.

[Knaight]

It's a boardgame and not an RPG, and I haven't actually played it, but:

SEAL Team Flix recently popped up on my radar. It's a dexterity based board game involving flicking disks, shuffleboard style throws, etc, all tied to things like combat, hacking electronic locks, etc. It's a little out there, yes, but it might just work for Doom, which was always a twitch game.

At the very least it's interesting conceptually. Position yourself in an area where you need to dodge three fireballs from demons? Cool, here's basically an air hockey table minus the air with three obstacles thrown on it. Bounce your puck into the goal now. I wouldn't recommend this for most things, but for Doom it just seems to fit.

[angille]

I don't think it helps much with what you're actually looking for, but I totally got a different vibe from Doom, all the times I've played the various games. so I strolled in about to suggest Colonial Marines, or The Regiment.

reading this thread makes me think there's some bizarre "Doom: the Anime" floating around out there that I've never played, lol.

[Arbane]

There's a Doom boardgame. Has some rather nice-looking minis.

[Delta]

Savage Worlds. Over-the-top cinematic action is the niche it scratches best. Throw on the Battle Suit power armor, stat Doom guy up to be sufficiently badass and throw some "extra" demons in front of him and you got a recipe for a splash zone.

Some of the weirder guns would just be Weird Science devices that Doom guy finds and still uses shooting to activate.

Yeah you could get this done with the $10 core rulebook.

I'll second Savage Worlds. Maybe look for some sourcebooks that have more Edges for Ranged Weapons and stuff or think some up yourself (Necropolis might be a good start it has religious marines in body armor fighting undead demon hordes with big guns, flamethrowers and so on, haven't played it a lot but I think it would be rather easy to use most of that stuff for a Doom setting), the core engine is pretty much perfect for this, battlemap based tactical combat where you can easily throw a horde of demonzombie-thingies on the map and watch the PCs shred them to pieces until they arrive at the level boss which really challenges them.

[kyoryu]

Savage Worlds or a reskinned D&D 4e.

[Psyren]

You could probably do it fairly easily in Starfinder as a Soldier in Powered Armor, using weapons well above the level of the things you're fighting to simulate the run and gun gameplay. You could even pull in some demons from PF to go with the SF ones.

[Milo v3]

I'd second 3:16.

[Gryphonfg]

I second Starfinder, they have a nice assortment of guns for soldiers.

[lightningcat]

reading this thread makes me think there's some bizarre "Doom: the Anime" floating around out there that I've never played, lol.

I have been told that GoblinSlayer is basic fantasy Doom, but have not seen it myself.

As for playing Doom, a Deathwatch Kill Marine is basically the Doom-guy already, although he usually deals with xenos instead of demons.

[The Glyphstone]

I have been told that GoblinSlayer is basic fantasy Doom, but have not seen it myself.

As for playing Doom, a Deathwatch Kill Marine is basically the Doom-guy already, although he usually deals with xenos instead of demons.

I thought of Deathwatch largely because of the excellently gory critical hit tables. If you're so much stronger than your enemies that every attack puts the target into deep crits, you're basically getting hilarious executions all the time.

[Rhedyn]

I have been told that GoblinSlayer is basic fantasy Doom, but have not seen it myself.

Sort of. Goblin Slayer doesn't just rip and tear through goblins. He methodically kills them with whatever means at his disposal. For example, if the nest is near a river, he will divert the stream into the nest after plugging other escape routes to drown all the goblins.

He really hates goblins.

[LibraryOgre]

"3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars" was made for mowing down hordes of aliens. You could change that to demons very easily.

Came here to suggest that. Hey, look, it's cheap at DriveThru!

[Gryphonfg]

After reading this thread, I now want to do a Doom inspired chapter in my upcoming Starfinder game. If one was to use the Starfinder setting, what monsters would you use for the demons?

[noob]

Starfinder is extraordinarily bad for playing an adventure about mowing down hordes.
Approximately as much bad as dnd or pathfinder.
But you can do something about fighting demons with starfinder: you can just take pathfinder monsters and adapt them for a bunch of demons then complete with "zombies" and "possessed people" by taking monsters from starfinder and re-fluffing then make some demons with basic ranged attacks for the whole chain of progression from imp to baron of hell.
And if you are ready to spend turns lasting a few dozen minutes each (You can reduce that a lot if you skip tactics and have training rolling buckets of dice but then it will not be very cinematic but with that you can reduce turns to a few minutes each) you can have a fight with 20 demons involved but it will be clunky and starfinder is not adapted to that.

[Psyren]

Starfinder is extraordinarily bad for playing an adventure about mowing down hordes.

Disagree, all the SF weapons have levels and a ton of them have AoE options. Mowing down hordes is the same in SF as it is in D&D and many other RPGs - be higher level than the things you're fighting, and be able to damage multiple things at once. It's safe to conclude that Doom Guy was much higher level than the demons he was up against given that (a) he was some kind of ancient legendary warrior and (b) he could storm Hell itself and survive.

And if you are ready to spend turns lasting a few dozen minutes each (You can reduce that a lot if you skip tactics and have training rolling buckets of dice but then it will not be very cinematic but with that you can reduce turns to a few minutes each)

"Cinematic?" It's Doom. You roll damage, things die, you move to the next room. The core strategy comes from properly positioning yourself, managing ammo and health, and finding keys to progress. Really, only the boss fights should come close to feeling like a traditional encounter.

[Rhedyn]

Disagree, all the SF weapons have levels and a ton of them have AoE options. Mowing down hordes is the same in SF as it is in D&D and many other RPGs - be higher level than the things you're fighting, and be able to damage multiple things at once. It's safe to conclude that Doom Guy was much higher level than the demons he was up against given that (a) he was some kind of ancient legendary warrior and (b) he could storm Hell itself and survive.

"Extraordinarily bad" can be taken as "No where near as good"

Like you could approximate Doom Guy as a 40K Primarch and just use the Wargame rules against hordes of Chaos demons. I believe there is ways to spend more points on units like that, which could be your upgrades. That would fit a lot better than 3.X or 5e. 4e could work well just by making most demons minions (1 hit point). Likewise, I believe Savage Worlds could do this even better.

Basically, the closer you approach a Wargame, the better the RPG is going to be for Doom. Mainly because Doom is about combat. Not so much creative combat, but raw run&gun/melee murdering.

Like maybe Starfinder could work well enough, but it's designed for it's niche and is fairly inflexible.