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Adventures in Moth Sorcery (or AIMS, for short) is a slightly overpowered Ultimate Doom/Doom II gameplay mod which replaces Doomguy with a moth mage named Sanahaid, who casts magic spells with his hands instead of using gunz and bulletz. Weapons are replaced with spell books that teach you stronger spells, which are all powered by mana instead of ammunition. The items and powerups are replaced with appropriate magical artifacts, too. A perfect blend for anyone who likes both Heretic and Doom!
The ZIP file above comes with two versions of AIMS; relevant to this forum is the GZDoom version (AIMSGZ.wad) which features widescreen graphics, more unique spell effects, extra sounds, and so on. In addition, there is a MBF-compatible version (AIMS1-2.wad and .bex) that can be used in a larger selection of source ports, at the cost of some features.
In addition, I advise you to only play this mod with mapsets that leave the player and weapons untouched. Think TNT + Plutonia, Alien Vendetta, Valiant (Vaccinated Edition), and so on - just make sure that AIMS is loaded last. Do not play this mod with other gameplay mods or mapsets that have extensive DECORATE/DeHacked work; things will break horribly, believe me!
Screenshots
Spoiler:
Doom II - The Courtyard
Doom City
Grove
Speed of Doom - 1010011010
Weapon/Ammo Replacements (Spoilers?)
Spoiler:
As I stated previously, the items and powerups are also changed, but they're just graphical + pickup string replacements. Plus, I don't want to make this section overly long. If you really want to know more about them, read the readme.
For the weapons...
Brass Knuckles: Fists. Beat the shit out of demons with your upper arms. Your fists move faster than Doomguy's, but are otherwise identical in damage and use. In the GZDoom version, obtaining a Wretched Fragment (berserk) will make Sanahaid swing his fists even faster.
Chainsaw: Volta. Launch lightning-fast, um... lightning at an enemy. The spell needs blue mana to work, and consists of a fast hitscan attack with a rate of fire identical to the base chaingun. In the GZDoom version, this spell fires a lightning-like rail that can pierce up to three enemies.
Pistol: Syrus. The only spell you start out with; it fires psionic "mind bullets" from your pointing hand. It has a faster fire-rate than the pistol, and is also perfectly accurate. A good choice for sniping far-away foes!
Shotgun: Frosine. Unload a blast of incredibly cold frost into a demon's face. The spell behaves much like the regular shotgun, but has a faster fire-rate.
Super Shotgun: Phyran. Scorch any enemy that tries to get up close and personal. It's faster than the base super shotgun but slower than Frosine, and also likes to eat up your red mana supply. In the GZDoom version, this spell fires 20 projectile "flame bolts" that deal slightly more damage per pellet.
Chaingun: Kurai. Release a torrent of blue fireballs that'll stun anything in its path. The spell acts much like the Plasma Rifle, but deals more damage per projectile and doesn't have the long cooldown.
Rocket Launcher: Yakutis. Fling a damned (and explosive) soul into a group of baddies. Its fire-rate is faster than the regular rocket launcher, and also deals more damage per "soul rocket". This will wreck damn near every enemy you'll encounter... and you, if you're not careful.
Plasma: Maltraiter. Unleash a flurry of black and white fireballs at an army of villains. One of the most powerful spells in your arsenal, each fireball does a staggering amount of damage to anything it hits. However, the spell's projectiles can't be aimed at enemies above or below you. (Well, unless you use mouselook...)
BFG: Skaldelethian Implosion. The strongest spell you can muster, "gifted" to you by the demigod parasite that inhabits your body. When you clench your fist, any hostile creature near you will explode due to a sudden, unstable influx of dark energy. It spawns twice as many tracers as a regular BFG projectile, and the ammo cost is cut in half. Truly devastating stuff.
And as for ammo...
Bullets: Blue mana. Used to power smaller, fast-firing spells. Contained in glass bottles full of blue liquid. The amount you can carry is the same (200/400), though you start with 40 mana instead of 50. Pickups are slightly larger (12, up from 10).
Shells: Red mana. Used to power stronger magical blasts. Contained in red cell-like containers. The amount you can carry is slightly reduced to 48/96.
Rockets: Orgone. Recycled life energy used for powerful (and unstable) spells. Contained in medical vials filled with the green-tinted mana. The amount you can carry is reduced to 40/80.
Cells: Dark energy. An ever-present universal force, mined and processed for esoteric spells. Contained in blessed golden cups and bowls, overflowing with the energy. The amount you can carry is greatly reduced to 200/400. Pickups are also smaller (15, down from 20).
Please let me know if anything in the mod breaks or looks off (and isn't from mapset incompatibility).
This is some very cool stuff! Just got to map 08 of Doom 2 with no issues, and it's also running on LZDoom flawlessly to boot. I especially like the little idle animations most spells have, as well as the quiet fluttering of Sanahaid's wings whenever he jumps - a very neat little detail.
I have nothing to report bug-wise, this seems like a very stable release based on what little I've played. Good job!
P.S.: Kinda expected some lämp joke or another since moth, but I can live without it.
Thanks for the warm reception. I didn't include any lamp jokes because I completely forgot about that meme during development. Plus, I've never been a fan of it.
