Ideas for building fast-paced, heart-racing encounters to really add some spice to your DnD tables.
The goal of the Inspirations mini-series/subset of blogs is to look at other forms of media such as movies, books, TV shows, video games, etc. to serve as a point of reference or well... an inspiration for DMs out there trying to craft their games and worlds or for players trying to craft cool characters and bring them to life.
With Bethesda and Id announcing DOOM Eternal at E3, I thought it was time to revisit one of my favorite games from the past few years, DOOM (2016). While playing it, reveling in the Doom Slayer brutalizing demons and being a one man wrecking crew, I could not help but think about how much fun the combat is in the game. That led me to the next thought: "What if you could make DnD combat like Doom's?" Admittedly, I would to run a game in a similar vein to Doom. Portals open and allow an army from the lower planes to invade. The party's job? Kill them and stop them.
Well it wouldn't be a perfect conversion, but what elements from Doom can we bring over to the tabletop to make for that intense, adrenaline packed, turbo-charged combat?
The Challenge
Unlike Doom, which is a real-time game that sees the Doomguy running, jumping, shooting, and glory killing seamlessly before your eyes, when you get to combat or an encounter in Dungeons and Dragons, or most table-top RPGs, the game comes to a grinding halt as you roll for initiative and things go turned-base. I don't mean that it comes to a grinding halt in a negative way; it's just when compared to the fast-paced run and gun style of Doom, Dungeons and Dragons takes a slow, methodical, turn-based approach.
How can we keep the intensity and give that feeling of fast moving, adrenaline fueled combat that Doom gives the player and bring that Dungeons and Dragons? Let's take a look.
Level Design
What really helped make the combat in Doom stand out was the way the levels were laid out. There was plenty of room to work with and run around as you become swarmed by the onslaught of demons. This room also gives the demons plenty of space to run around, take cover from your guns, and surround you. There are platforms and all sorts of things for you to climb up on and jump across to escape being done in. The combat areas often had multiple levels for you to try and get some respite as you avoid the Hell Knights and kill some of those pesky Imps. The levels were well designed and tailored to the strengths and movements of the Doomguy as as the player becomes more familiar with controlling him, they find themselves jumping across areas while gunning down the denizens of Hell. Super cool stuff.
Get your pen and graph paper out as you might want to draw out a sketch of the area your encounter is going to be taking place. Mobility is key to not dying in Doom, and in your fast-paced encounters, mobility should be important. Perhaps getting to a different section of the area will allow the players to dispatch some pesky enemies that were peppering the party with arrows, and now they can handle the heavily armored guardian. Make it so that your players have to move around often to avoid heavy fire perhaps or to help get an advantage on the enemies.
You also might wish to make note of areas that your player's characters can climb and jump across. Failing to make a jump across won't net anything super lethal most the time, but may mildly inconvenience the character. The enemies should also take advantage of this environment to either avoid the killing blows of the characters or to try and get the high ground on them.
Bring on the Baddies
You've designed a really well thought out and planned encounter area. The dungeon is set, the scene is there, but now, you have to populate that area with some monsters to fight! Doom did a good job of familiarizing the player with the demons they would be shooting, punching, and brutalizing, and then adding more and more different types and adding variety. Certain demons would change the tactics you have to approach a fight with. Pinkies come to mind, as they charge the player and do a hefty amount of damage causing you to have to not only keep moving, but make sure to avoid getting hit by them. Often times, I found myself seeking higher ground against them.
Some of the demons you fight will be pretty piddly; dying to a shot from a decent gun, while others are chunks, dealing nasty damage and requiring a bit more fire-power to bring down. And from all of this, we can add monsters, the spice of adventures.
You're going to want to swarm your players, so putting in a large amount of weak enemies that will take 1 or 2 hits to bring down, and they won't deal too much damage. These cannon fodder enemies will probably sling ranged attacks that will often miss the characters. You can even bring back the "minion rule" from 4E. Minions were essentially one shot enemies that when brought down, the player can make another attack against a different minion until they miss. Much like what your weak baddies are going to be, the minions were disposable monsters that helped bolster enemy forces. This allows you to truly swarm your players without overwhelmingly and unfairly doing so.
Then, you will want to add some stronger baddies to the fight that are tougher to take down and hit harder. Add a few more of different enemies in there to really spice it up. Have them come in waves. However you like to keep the adrenaline pumping. Your party is going to need to strategize ways to take down the enemies. Of course, make sure to design the encounter according to your players' party composition to play to its strengths and weaknesses. To help keep combat moving quickly, have a lot of these enemies perhaps hit hard, but not take too long to go down. Mess around with monsters and see what works for you!
Tone
I feel like every time I do one of these Inspirations posts, I have at least a section devoted to tone. Tone helps to set the scene, the narrative, and gives the players an idea of what to expect. If you want that frantic tone, if you use music at your sessions, make sure to play something that feels fast and desperate. Describe the odds they are up against. As they are fighting, describe how the players are crushing enemies, and if your group is into it, allow them to show them the same regard the Doomguy shows the demons of Hell does when he does a 'glory kill.' You can try and keep things moving by calling for ability score saves, calling for skill checks, and the likes. A more personal taste option would be: If a player is taking a long time on their turn, start describing the monsters and how they are licking their chops and ready to attack. Make something happen that causes the players to have to make quick decisions.
Closing
As I tend to say then as well, let your players get creative with how they approach a situation. Sure, Doom is great in that it allows you to just gun down swaths of enemies, you can also at times blow up barrels and use the environment. Let your players get creative with the encounter and try and defeat the onslaught of monsters regardless if they're from Hell or the swamp next to the village. The hope of using Doom as an inspiration for your combat is to help your players really feel like their characters are just pretty badass as well as adding some adrenaline to combat because I know combat can feel slow, but perhaps by trying some of the tips from this post, you can help it feel just a little faster.
Until next time,
Happy gaming,
Puddins