Ah, I see. I've gotten into the habit of skipping the first third of Let's Play and trailer videos, since they usually take some time to get to the interesting bits. My fault there!
If I remember correctly, DoomRL doesn't come with vi-key bindings out of the box, so you'd have to config those in. I am using an Apple wireless keyboard myself, and don't use a numpad at all, and play all roguelikes with the vi-keys. It took about a week to get used to, but it was worth it, since I don't have to move around as much to get to all the utility keys that roguelikes are so famous for. And you can play any roguelike on any laptop! Of course, you should stick with the setup you like best, I'm just saying don't be put off by the initial weirdness of using HJKLYUBN for movement.
As for safe movement, DoomRL should have a feature that allows you to move indefinitely in a direction, stopping when an enemy is spotted.