HOW TO PLAY
Hate Reading? Watch the How to Play Video: 5) Draw the top 3 cards from the machine
https://nathanmeunier.com/doom
OBJECTIVE
Uncover and destroy The Doom Core before
you succumb to total extinction.
SETUP
1) Set the Doom Machine tracking card to your
left. Place corresponding tracking cubes on
the zero spaces of the Sentience (yellow) and
Power (black) tracks.
2) Find the “Doom Core” machine part card,
and place it face down to the right of the
Doom Machine tracking card.
3) Shuffle the remaining machine part cards
and remove 6 at random (set them back in the
tin, as they won’t be used for this run). Place
the 9 remaining cards face down on top of the
Doom Core to create the machine deck.
4) Place the Player HP (health points) tracking
card below the machine deck. Set the white
tracking cube on the 10 space of the Player
HP track.
-1-
PLAYER ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
3) DEAL DAMAGE TO MACHINE PARTS
You may deal 1 damage to a given machine
part by successfully fulfilling the roll
conditions (on the middle right side of the
card) and allocating the required dice to the
part. (Only 1 point of damage is dealt each
time a roll condition is met and the required
dice are allocated).
+ ?+?= ?
Some parts can be damaged by a single dice,
others require a specific combo of 2-3 dice.
When a part is successfully damaged, rotate
the part's yellow HP die face to reduce it by 1
pip, then place the dice you used to damage
that part below the card. These dice are spent
and cannot be re-used until your next turn.
A machine part can be damaged more than
once per turn, but you must have enough dice
to completely fulfill the damage condition
each time.
When all of your dice have been allocated and
resolved, and/or you have no more playable
dice to play, proceed to the Machine Phase.
-6-
HARD MODE (CONTINUED)
2) Flip the player HP tracking card to the B
side: you now have one less shield slot, re-roll
slot, and roll modifier slot.
Good luck, you'll need it!
CARD ANATOMY
1
1 Card name
2 2 dice required.
2
Roll conditions
3 needed to damage
machine part
3 Repair - Restores part card's HP (only
4 up to its maximum starting health).
Machine part
cycle track
4 track cycle for any cards immediately
Cycle icon effects
-11-
SETUP (CONTINUED)
PHASE I: DICE ROLL / RESOLUTION - On each
deck and place them face up, in a line, to the
immediate right of the deck. These are the
starting machine parts you will face.
6) Take one yellow die for each revealed
machine part card and place it on the yellow
dice slot on the cycle track on each card,
setting the die face to match the indicated
value. This represents each machine part’s
HP (health points).
7) Set the remaining unused yellow dice aside
for now, then place your 5 black starting dice
in front of you. Setup is complete!
SETUP LAYOUT
A B E E E
D in any of the following available ways, based
A) Doom Machine Tracker + Cubes
B) Machine Deck
C) Player HP Tracker + Cube
F
C D) Starting Machine Part Cards
E) Machine Part Die
F) Extra Machine Dice Pool
G) Starting Player Dice
G
-2-
DESTROYING A MACHINE PART
If you successfully destroy a machine part by
reducing its HP die to zero, remove the card
from play and add that part’s die to your
permanent pool (set it aside with your other
spent dice until the start of the next turn).
Note: you can never have more than 10 dice (5
black and 5 yellow) in your permanent pool.
Then, shift any remaining machine part cards
in play to close the gap.
DESTROYED CARD EFFECTS
Some machine part
cards have a yellow X
icon and effect on
them. These effects
are triggered and
resolved immediately
when that part is
destroyed.
deal 1 dmg to all
parts in play
-7-
CARD EFFECT ICONS
Damage - Hits player's shields first, if
blocked, then HP if any carries over.
Power / Sentience - Move the
corresponding token up or
down the Doom Machine track.
Power + Sentience - Increase or
decrease both Power and Sentience.
Broken Shield - When activated, only
1 shield dice can be placed next turn.
Destroy Effect - Immediately triggers
when a part card is destroyed.
Gear - Instantly triggers an additional
adjacent to it.
Lock - Choose one of your die and set
it aside. It does not get rolled or
placed on your next turn.
-12-
GAMEPLAY LOOP
1) ACTIVATE ANY AVAILABLE UTILITIES
turn, you will roll your available dice, and
allocate them in various ways to modify your
rolls, defend against incoming damage, and
deal damage to parts of the Doom Machine.
PHASE II: THE MACHINE PHASE - Once you
have allocated and resolved all of your dice,
the machine will cycle its remaining parts,
resolve their effects, then grow by 1
additional card. This loop continues until
either you have revealed and destroyed the
Doom Core or you are destroyed by the
machine.
PHASE I: DICE ROLL / RESOLUTION
At the start of your turn, roll all of your
available dice (you start with 5 black dice and
may gain up to 5 additional yellow dice from
destroyed machine part cards). Allocate them
on your rolls:
1) ACTIVATE ANY AVAILABLE UTILITIES
2) PLAY DICE TO YOUR SHIELDS
3) DEAL DAMAGE TO MACHINE PARTS
-3-
PHASE II: THE MACHINE PHASE
At the start of the machine phase, go from left
to right down the row of machine parts in
play, cycling each card's dice track and
resolving its abilities as follows:
1) Move a machine part card’s yellow dice 1
space down its cycle track. If that dice lands
on an icon, immediately trigger that icon’s
corresponding ability:
EXAMPLE:
The HP die for Soul
Harvester will cycle
one space down the
track, triggering its
ability, which will
deal 5 damage to
the player, if they
don't have enough
shields to prevent
some or all of that
damage. Unblocked
damage carries over
and reduces HP
directly.
Note: If moving the die places it on a dead space
(darkened square), then move that die back to the
starting position on the track.
-8-
DICE ROLL SYMBOLOGY
EXAMPLES:
?+?= ?
3 dice required. 1st die + 2nd die must =
the value of the third die. (i.e. 2+4=6)
+ +
3 dice required. They must all be sixes.
?=? They must be doubles.
1 die required. It can be
either a 2 or a 3 value.
2 dice required. One must be
?> a 3, another greater than 3.
2 dice required. They
+ must be a 4 and a 5.
-13-
PLAYER ACTIONS
You may place any number of unallocated
dice on available utility slots. Each utility slot
can only be used once per turn, and all dice
you intend to place into utility slots must be
placed there and immediately resolved (re-
rolled or modified) before any of them can be
re-allocated to either shields or part damage.
+/- DICE MODIFIER +/- SLOT
When placing a die on a dice modifier slot,
immediately rotate and modify its face value
by +/- 1 pip. Leave it on its utility slot until all
other utility dice have been resolved. Note:
Sixes may NOT be changed to ones and ones
may NOT be changed to sixes.
+/- DICE RE-ROLL SLOT
When placing a die on a re-roll slot,
immediately re-roll it and place it back on the
slot until all other utility dice are resolved.
Once a die is re-rolled, it cannot be placed on
a +/- slot to be further modified.
-4-
PHASE II (CONTINUED)
2) Proceed to the next machine part card in
the line (moving right) and repeat the card
cycling process until all part cards have
increased their cycle track by 1 and resolved
any abilities/effects that are triggered.
3) Now, carefully slide the entire machine part
card row one space to the right. Draw a new
machine part card and slot it into the
available space.
4) Add a yellow HP die to the first cycle
tracking space on the new card, setting the
die face to the correct starting HP value for
that card.
Note: there can never be more than 10
machine parts in play at any given time. If 10
cards are active on the line, then skip drawing
a new card and proceed with play.
MACHINE CYCLE COMPLETE:
When all machine part cards have cycled and
a new card is added to the line, gather all of
your spent dice (including any new dice you
may have obtained by defeating machine
parts) and return to Phase I.
-9-
CREDITS
DOOM MACHINE is copyright 2021. All Rights
Reserved. Design and art by Nathan Meunier.
www.nathanmeunier.com
The Cardenio Modern font was made by: Nils
Cordes. The re-roll slot icon was created by
Delapouite under Creative Commons BY 3.0.
PLAYER ACTIONS (CONTINUED)
Once all utility dice are resolved (i.e. re-rolled
or modified +/-1), remove them from your
card and allocate them to either shields or
damage, if possible.
Unallocated dice that cannot be played are
considered spent at the end of your turn.
2) PLAY DICE TO YOUR SHIELDS
You may place unallocated dice (including
dice that have been modified via utility slots)
to the available shield slots, gaining shield
strength equal to the total face value of all
dice placed there.
In a normal game, no more than 4 dice can be
placed this way per turn. In Hard Mode, no
more than 3 dice can be placed this way per
turn.
+
+/- SHIELD DICE SLOT
Additionally, dice used for shields do not
persist from round to round. They're re-rolled
at the start of your next turn.
-5-
TAKING DAMAGE
Any time a machine part card deals you
damage, it will always damage your shields
first (if you have any remaining). As damage
is taken, reduce the value of shield dice first
until they are completely expended (and
removed to your spent dice pile). Any
remaining damage that hasn’t been absorbed
by your shield dice will carry over and deal
direct damage to your HP.
WINNING THE GAME
You win the game when the Doom Core has
been destroyed. You normally don't have to
clear all of the machine part cards to win.
However, if your HP is reduced to zero, the
machine destroys you first, and you lose.
HARD MODE
For a tougher challenge and longer game, try
playing HARD MODE using the follow rule
variations:
1) Setup the game as you normally would, but
instead of removing 6 cards at random, use
all 16.
-10-