The Refinery (THEREFINERY.PK3)

THE REFINERY
by Daniel "Tormentor667" Gimmer

Daniel Gimmer headed up the Knee Deep in ZDoom project, which finished back up in 2007. It was an attempt to render the original Doom shareware episode with the advanced features of ZDoom. Since then, The Shores of ZDoom has been a work in progress, and while Tormentor was on the title card for awhile, the project has since evolved beyond him. The Refinery, a single map he released in 2012, was his major contribution to the project, now released as a standalone while the Shores team no doubt busies themselves with their own take on Doom's E2M3. Err, yeah - in case you hadn't figured it out, this level is Gimmer's take on "Refinery" ZDoom-ified.

Dimension Time Space-Traveler (DTS-T.PK3)

DTS-T is not the worst PWAD in the world (nor the worst PK3). Released in 2012 by Ingmar Derks, it is a 33-level mapset for Doom II to be played in ZDoom-family ports, featuring a lot of scripting and voice-acting from the author, delivered via a few audio logs and many one-sided radio communiques from your handler. It has a few new enemies and a handful of textures, mainly from R667 and Final Doom. Most of its music selection comes from the IWADs (and Duke 3D, of course). It's also been in development for awhile; Derks claims to have started work back in 1998 and a Doomworld forums search reveals an ancient news post circa 2002 teasing a potential demo (eventually released in 2003).

Run Buddy (RUNBUDDY.WAD)

RUN BUDDY
by Michael Krause

Run Buddy is a single WAD by Michael Krause, replacing Doom II's MAP03. Made for the more recent (at the time) Boom engine, it's a very large map, though its population of 400-plus monsters fails to fill it out to any significant degree. It's not a bad thing, it just gives the level a remarkably different air compared to other works. The overall picture to me is like a well-manicured virtual playground, more abstract game than any stab at a facsimile of reality. It's very cool with vast, impressive architecture, worthy of slaughterfests a la Hell Revealed but tastefully outfitted with a monster arrangement more suited to the skills of the average Doomer.

The Troopers' Playground (TTP.WAD)

Matthias Worch is one of those mysterious '96 mappers that wasn't prolific outside of the community projects, namely Memento Mori II and Requiem. He has a few solo releases, however. One is a tune-up of a WAD called Ring of Havoc by Jason Blevins. The other is a Doom II episode featuring among, other things, a new enemy. The WAD? The Troopers' Playground.

Obituary (OBTIC.WAD)

Obituary is The Innocent Crew's third and final single-player PWAD bearing their name before they would go on to helm some of the most recognized community megaWADs to this day. It's Doom II, and 17 levels (MAP01-16 plus MAP31, though there are some deathmatch-only extras). Released in 1995, it's also one of the earliest original megaWADs, certainly of those of any appreciable quality. Thomas and Denis Möller declined to add any semblance of story to this map pack; it's basically random levels for Doom II, with an added emphasis on co-op play. It would be great to fight that badass cobra-goat-demon thing on the titlepic, but, spoiler: you don't.

The Evil Unleashed (TEUTIC.WAD)

(TITLEPIC based on "Outer Ascension" ©2017-2019 Julian-Faylona)

Hot on the heels of their first episode WAD for Doom, the Teutonic TiC - Thomas and Denis Möller - released The Evil Unleashed as their sophomore WAD building effort, this time replacing Episode 3. It follows most of the same design principles behind Slaughter Until Death, but with tighter gameplay and slightly harder difficulty and even better architecture and design. As with SUDTIC, the aesthetic theme is an abstract union between all of Doom's textures with no real attempt at an overarching plot, but that's fine, because while a plot can enhance the feel of Doom, the real meat is in the gameplay, and TEUTIC delivers.

Slaughter Until Death (SUDTIC.WAD)

Perhaps no team of Doomers is better known in the early days of Doom than The Innocent Crew. Thomas and Dennis Moeller (aka Panza and Grindcrusher / Vorthalak respectively) raised the bar on PWAD level quality from near the beginning and continued to do so until they left to map for id's next big release, Quake. In their wake, they left two Doom episode replacements, a partial conversion (and megawad) for Doom II, and three community megawads, also for Doom II. They never really bothered with stories; they just liked making maps for the Hell of it.