WADs/Mods you consider "must-play"

[Matt]

Brutal Doom is virtually canon these days.

Other mods not already mentioned by others:

No shame in tooting my own horn here with Make It Snappy!, as a handy source for casual coffee-break/pickup games.

The Mutiny by Woolie Wool was the first weapon/monster mod I've seen that did a good, comprehensive replacement with human-based enemies that stayed true to the original Doom style.


Maps not already mentioned by others:

Void by Cyb. One of the first maps I personally played that made substantial but not gimmicky-seeming use of ZDoom's extensions.
Suspended in Dusk by Espi. Absolutely beautiful what he did with this engine.
Mars War by Nathan Lineback. Also one of the "canonical" mods that I think a player needs to know about these days.
Beyond Reality by jack101. Again, something really well put together that makes great use of modern ZDoom tech.

[iVoid]

Some great suggestions here, helped me out as well and I have a bunch of mods to try out now

Someone said Satanic Redux, so I'd like to second that, it's really worth a try.

And if you're gonna try Brutal Doom, then I recommend Brutal Doom SE, it has a lot of fixes and enhancements while still remaining true to the original.

If you're into scary atmospheric mods then you might wanna try Cursed Maze and Lasting Light, interesting mods both of them.

[idGamer]

Winter's Fury is worth a try out, I'd say (if you're computer is powerful enough).

[iVoid]

So, I haven't played that much wads, and Doomworld Cacowards are usually prefer vanilla/boom compatible stuff over port-specific.

ZDoom has gotten [wiki=Category:Cacoward_winners]a fair amount of Cacowards winners[/wiki] and [wiki=Category:Cacoward_runners-up]runners-up[/wiki].

Quickly scanning over the various Cacowards articles, I get these stats:
11th: 5/10 of the main awards go to ZDoom mods, also grab two runners-up out of three, an "Honorable mention", a Mockaward, and a Worst Wad.
12th: 4/10, 1 runner-up, 1 "what the hell!?", Best DM, and Mordeth
13th: 3/10, "Escher Award", both runners up, both Mockawards, and the "Best DM" went to a Skulltag mod.
14th: 4/10, both runners-up, Mordeth, and Mockaward.
15th: 6/10, "this is my boomstick", Mockaward; and Skulltag got the "Worst Wad".
16th: 5/10 (two of them for Skulltag), both runners-up.
17th: 3/10, 5(!) of the "runners-up runners-up", Mordeth, Mockaward, Worst Wad; and Skulltag got "best multiplayer"
18th: 2/10 and "Best Gameplay".
19th: 4/10, two runners-up, Best Gameplay, Mockaward; and Zandronum got "best multiplayer"
20th: 2/10, one runner-up, 1/3 multiplayer awards, Best Gameplay, Mordeth, Mockaward, and whatever that it that WOOO got.

Even at the "lowest" years, ZDoom projects still grab 20% of the main awards, and the Best Gameplay and Mockward categories are practically guaranteed to ZDoom as well. Overall, ZDoom/GZDoom/Skulltag/Zandronum mods got 38% of the main awards out of 10 years, 12 runners-up (or 17, depending how you look at it), 5 multiplayer awards, 8 Mockawards, 3 Gameplay, and 5 miscellaneous extras, not counting Mordeths and Worst Wads. The "low" years are more the exception than the rule.

Thanks for taking the time to make that list, really helps to see the big picture. I guess it's true that zdoom does get a lot of awards but you can still claim that the cacowards are a bit biased toward vanilla maps I think...

[esselfortium]

So, I haven't played that much wads, and Doomworld Cacowards are usually prefer vanilla/boom compatible stuff over port-specific.

ZDoom has gotten [wiki=Category:Cacoward_winners]a fair amount of Cacowards winners[/wiki] and [wiki=Category:Cacoward_runners-up]runners-up[/wiki].

Quickly scanning over the various Cacowards articles, I get these stats:

---

11th: 5/10 of the main awards go to ZDoom mods, also grab two runners-up out of three, an "Honorable mention", a Mockaward, and a Worst Wad.
12th: 4/10, 1 runner-up, 1 "what the hell!?", Best DM, and Mordeth
13th: 3/10, "Escher Award", both runners up, both Mockawards, and the "Best DM" went to a Skulltag mod.
14th: 4/10, both runners-up, Mordeth, and Mockaward.
15th: 6/10, "this is my boomstick", Mockaward; and Skulltag got the "Worst Wad".
16th: 5/10 (two of them for Skulltag), both runners-up.
17th: 3/10, 5(!) of the "runners-up runners-up", Mordeth, Mockaward, Worst Wad; and Skulltag got "best multiplayer"
18th: 2/10 and "Best Gameplay".
19th: 4/10, two runners-up, Best Gameplay, Mockaward; and Zandronum got "best multiplayer"
20th: 2/10, one runner-up, 1/3 multiplayer awards, Best Gameplay, Mordeth, Mockaward, and whatever that it that WOOO got.

Even at the "lowest" years, ZDoom projects still grab 20% of the main awards, and the Best Gameplay and Mockward categories are practically guaranteed to ZDoom as well. Overall, ZDoom/GZDoom/Skulltag/Zandronum mods got 38% of the main awards out of 10 years, 12 runners-up (or 17, depending how you look at it), 5 multiplayer awards, 8 Mockawards, 3 Gameplay, and 5 miscellaneous extras, not counting Mordeths and Worst Wads. The "low" years are more the exception than the rule.

Thanks for taking the time to make that list, really helps to see the big picture. I guess it's true that zdoom does get a lot of awards but you can still claim that the cacowards are a bit biased toward vanilla maps I think...

I think in any given year, there have been far more non-ZDoom maps than ZDoom maps released, so there's a larger pool of them to select from.

[iVoid]

I think in any given year, there have been far more non-ZDoom maps than ZDoom maps released, so there's a larger pool of them to select from.

But to make up for that, mods that use a lot of advanced zdoom features can be a lot harder to make so I wonder if that is properly taken into account for the cacowards...

[Gez]

Cacowards aren't awarded by virtue of how much work was done, but by virtue of how good the result is (in the jury's necessarily subjective opinion). If somebody needed five minutes to make a super-fun speedmap with perfect gameplay, and somebody spent ten years painstaking crafting an awful map with terrible gameplay, the speedmap has a better chance of winning a Cacoward than the other.

This is why Hellbound was only a runner-up in 2013. Kmxexii remarked on the map set's beauty and quality, but found the gameplay to be a terribly boring slog, so tedious he accused it of making him quit Doom completely for several months. Hard work, in other words, is not a guarantee of success.

[Graf Zahl]

If somebody needed five minutes to make a super-fun speedmap with perfect gameplay, and somebody spent ten years painstaking crafting an awful map with terrible gameplay, the speedmap has a better chance of winning a Cacoward than the other.

Depends on which award it gets. Do I need to mention Doom Rampage Edition...

[Gez]

"Worst Wad" has been retired.

[Ethril]

"Worst Wad" has been retired.

The Mordeth Award hasn't.

[Serpent rider]

The "must-play" mods :

1. Zen dynamics //Best weapons and monsters
2. Eternal doom (3, 4 demo) //Best architechture
3. Massmouth 2 // Best story and best characters

[cortlong50]

i need to chime in on this bad boy.

in my opinion it goes like this (i cant knock out anymore than these ones...so bear with me)

not that these go in any order. lets make that clear right now haha.

2002 a doom odyssey. i just loved the crap out of it. really fun, good pacing, its just plain good doom.
cchest4...because of the sheer amount of difference between maps, the other ones were a little much for me, this one nailed it on UV. like...damn.
dts-t. seriously the most under-rated map pack ever. it starts out kind of lame...it really does, it took me two tries to actually get into it, by the time you get past the egyptian stuff...it goes from meh to holy hell. i recommend it to anyone. seriously.
i am in the throes of back to saturn as we speak (level 8's music is playing in the background as i type this, i was gonna google something and muscle memory brought me here)...my habit went from cocain-esque to heroin dragon with this one...my poor girlfriend wont see me til this one is beat.
jenisis...perfect example of "no bs, no frills...super duper fun doom" this is one everyone should play when they think of making the enxt bad ass next gen mappack. if you cant do it like this just take a step back.
tutnt. because its breathtaking
and hellbound. shoulda won cacowards...got cheated. z86 is a genius.

[Combine_Kegan]

Pirate Doom. It's my favorite TC, the creator successfully merged Doom and Monkey Island together into a tongue-in-cheek, fun as hell romp.

[TheMightyHeracross]

The Stranger
Diaz
Weapons of Saturn
Project MSX
Samsara
Return of the Triad
Doom Raider
Caverns of Darkness
Doomnukem Weapon Pack
Extreme Weapon Pack (lol)
Agent Hernandez : Dawn of Tomorrow
The Ultimate Torment and Torture (Yes I know Ribo Zurai said it right above me but I still suggest it )
All of those require ZDoom (although Caverns of Darkness had its own source port, but ZDoom has support for it)

Some new additions I have:
Alien Vendetta - Vanilla
Brutal Doom SE - ZDoom
UAC Ultra - Boom(?)
Operation Hydra - Boom
Memento Mori (both) - Vanilla (?)
The Martyr (Strife) - ZDoom
Shooting Monsters with TEXTURES (mutator) - ZDoom
NecroDoom - ZDoom
Wolfendoom: The Mint - ZDoom
DTS-T - ZDoom
Runaway Train - ZDoom
Both Action Dooms plus Dead of Winter - ZDoom
Demon Eclipse - ZDoom
Quality Doom - ZDoom
ZDoom Community Map Project (both) - ZDoom
Psychic - ZDoom
Doom Illustrated - EDGE, has a ZDoom edition
Zharkov Goes to the Store - ZDoom
Terrorists! - ZDoom
Nazis! - ZDoom
Mutiny - ZDoom
Scalliano's 667 Shuffle - ZDoom
Endless Strife (Also a Strife mod, duh) - ZDoom
Strife Needs A God Damn Mod (You guessed it) - ZDoom
Hard Doom - ZDoom
Ultimate Icon of Sin - ZDoom
Batman Doom - Vanilla
Twilight Warrior - Boom
Back to Saturn X - Vanilla

[esselfortium]

Alien Vendetta and Batman Doom are both vanilla.