Death By the Dozen - Special Edition

A deathmatch level for 4 to 16 players
by Imaginos

In September of 1996, I released Death By the Dozen. At that time, real Quake map editors - graphical editors - were all so much vaporware. But, these days all that has changed. Now, it seems a new editor appears every week on the Web.

Death By the Dozen was written with a program called QScript - you punched in the numbers for your 'room' and QS drew you a wireframe box on the screen. It had the best face editing mode that I have ever seen. You clicked on a brush, and then set about clicking on that brush's individual faces (front, back, sides and bottom). With this method, you always knew what face you were changing the texture on. For its time QScript was the best of a bad lot.

Along with QScript, I had to use a text editor to fill in the rough spots that QS couldn't handle. Pencil, paper and a good calculator were my constant companions.

Originally, in my own mind at least (if not on paper), Death By the Dozen was slightly bigger than the version that I uploaded to the Web. But, unwilling to spend more time on it, I released what I had.

Since then, I have received email from all over the world from dedicated DM'ers who enjoyed it immensely.

I couldn't be more pleased.

Now, with the advent of Worldcraft, by Ben Morris, I have decided to revist this old favourite and re-release it in a Special Edition (sort of like Lucas re-releasing Star Wars), incorporating all the things I wanted to have in the original.

More rooms - more gunzzzz - more ammo - more flying chunks of MEAT and severed heads await you, O Hyperborian Wanderer.

And, of course, there are more SECRETS. New secret doors, secret rooms, teleporters - it's gonna be one wild ride, believe me.

With 8 players, it's a abattior - with 16, it's out and out genocide! You'll be wading in blood up to your belt buckle!

Looking back, I don't believe I ever gave out a comprehensive list of all Death By the Dozen's secrets. But, with this release, I'll include detailed descriptions on how to get to the goodies you (and you enemies) so richly deserve.

Death By the Dozen_SE, like Death By the Dozen, has three main 'ammo dumps' (as if there weren't sufficient firepower lying around already!) in it. One of these is above the Main Hall (the room with all the wooden beams in it). Because it has so many goodies in it, I'm going to refer to it as Toyland. Another lies behind the sky in an open courtyard. I call this one the Sky Room and another in a secret room downstairs on the other side of the pool. I call this one the POP Room because it has a Pentagram of Protection in it.

Toyland has 5 access points - 3 are teleporters; one, a secret elevator, and the last, a room above Toyland that you can jump down from to reach Toyland.

Access to the elevator can be gained by starting out in the Main Hall. The Main Hall has two exits from ground level. One is a flight of stairs that leads to the second floor of a 3-storey building and the other is an alcove that leads to a long corridor. There are two doors, just beyond the alcove.

Enter the door on the right. Go down the passage, turn right, go thru that door and go all the way to the dead end and stop. Turn right, and shoot the wall. It will open up, revealing a lift. Step on it and up you go.

In describing the teleporters, it will be necessary to touch on the location of some of the other secret rooms, two of which are the other two ammo dumps.

Starting once again in the Main Hall, go thru the alcove and take the door on the left, this time. Go down the corridor and take the door on your left. Enter it, head for the pool of water and jump in. Look around while you're underwater. See the pretty rocket launcher? The cute boxes of energy cells? The Quake Power? You can have them all. But, for right now, please don't disturb the lovely boxes of rockets. Leave them be. I'll explain later - OK?

Swim over to where the lift is. It will raise you out of the water. At the end of the short hall is a door; enter it and go down the stairs. When you get to the bottom step, stop. You should now be standing in the room, just outside the doorframe. Turn to your right and shoot into the dark corner until you see a few flecks of blood fly. Head in that direction and you'll find you've entered a secret passage that leads to a room full of gunzzz, ammo, health, armour, a Quake Power, a Pentagram of Protection and a teleporter. This is the infamous POP Room. The teleporter will take you to Toyland, where someone, no doubt, is eagerly awaiting your arrival...

Next!

OK, start out in the Main Hall again, go up the stairs and down the short passage. When you get to the doorway, stop. On your left, you'll see a box of rockets in the corner. Go get em and shoot the grated floor you're standing on. The floor will slide back (and quickly, too!) and drop you into the room below.

Grab the thunder and lightning, head for the door and stop. Looking outside to your left, you will see a small telepad next to the wall. Don't go that way. Go to the right and when you round the corner of the building, you'll see a lift. Get on it and ride up until you can jump off onto the top of the wall. Go left. When you're about midway across the long section of the wall, turn to your left and look back to the far end of the courtyard. If you're pretty much in line with the telepad on the ground, turn back around and shoot the sky right in front of you. A door opens in the sky. Enter it and you're in the Sky Room. MO goodies! The teleporter in here leads to another teleport destination in Toyland. Don't enter it right now, OK?

That covers two of the teleporters, the other two ammo dumps and the elevator. There is one more teleporter in Grand Central, but I'll get to that later on.

This leaves the room above Toyland. To get to it, shoot the door you came in thru and go back outside. Jump off the wall and get on the lift. Ride all the way to the top this time and get off. Stop. In the darkness at the far end of the room directly in front of you is a SuperNailgun :)

Go down the hallway to the left until you reach the doorway overlooking the pool. Although you can see through the catwalks that lead to the centre, have faith. You can walk on that 'thin air'! You can also shoot (and be shot!) thru it. Go to the octagon in the centre and turn to the right. Go across that catwalk and into the small room - all the way to the back wall - and turn around. Shoot the stone in the top left corner of the doorframe. You'll know when you hit it becos blood will fly. The wall behind you will open up. Slip thru it and step onto the lift.

MO STUFF!!!

Grab it. In the middle of the darkened room beyond, is a big hole. Don't be shy, go to the edge and look down - no one can see you from below. Trust me. I've planned everything...

Look familiar? It should. Use this room when some greedy bastard holes up in Toyland. Rain grenades down on him! When he's dead (or when you're tired of torturing him), jump down. Remember, this is YOUR place! This is YOUR STUFF! Don't they know that?

Alright. Let's look at a few more secrets...

OK. Jump down to the Main Hall. Go out the left door - down the hall - first door on your left - jump in the pool (leave those rockets alone!) - swim across - up the lift - down the passage - thru the door - down the stairs - and stop.

The wall across the room is lit up. See it? Shoot the lower left corner of that wall. A door opens up. Enter it and stop. See the teleporter? It goes to the little telepad you saw awhile ago in the courtyard where the Sky Room is. If you're facing the teleporter, turn to the right and shoot the wall until you see blood fly. A door will open revealing an empty passage. Enter it and walk (don't run) all the way to the back wall until you teleport.

Stop! Don't move yet. Turn slightly to your left and walk forward until you can see light on the floor. Look down. Yep, you're in a room over the Sky Room. Don't worry, you won't fall. This floor, like the catwalks over the pool, is made of glass that can be shot thru (both ways, remember?). See the black square? That's a light deflector that keeps your prey in the room below from seeing you. The same effect is used in the room above Toyland.

Shoot a few grenades at it, bouncing them off the deflector's sides. This will ricochet the grenades into the corners where the wily pig will try to hide. Pretty neat, huh?

OK. Turn around. You'll see two telepads, dimly lit, in the corners. The one on the left is the one you came in on. The one on the right takes you down to the Sky Room. There's 100% health, a grenade launcher and some rockets between the two telepads.

So, when someone takes over YOUR Sky Room - gets in there with all YOUR STUFF and blows away anyone trying to get in from the outside - come up here and teach him a lesson he won't forget!

Gib em ALL!!!

Last stop:

Teleport down to the Sky Room. Go out the door - jump off the wall - go up the lift - down the hall - and jump into the water.

See the lift? Look at the wall directly across from it. Now, if you did what I told you and left those rockets alone, you can use them as a marker. Pick them up and then walk thru the wall directly behind them. Shoot the dead end wall. It opens. Enter.

This is Grand Central! From here you can teleport to any of the previous rooms you've already teleported to. Looking from left to right along the back wall, here's the order:

1: Toyland
2: the room above Toyland
3: the room above the Sky Room
4: the Sky Room
5: the POP Room

That's about it, gang.

If you've played Death By the Dozen before, you'll like this 'makeover'.

I have kept everything (so far as the original is concerned) intact. Oh, this hallway might be a little longer or that lift a little wider, but on the whole, it's better than it was and more in keeping with what I had in mind when I made the original with QScript and a text editor.

I hope you enjoy this Special Edition of an old classic.

And, ah, gib one for me - OK?

Imaginos - called Destinova - the Magna of Illusion
imaginos@tyler.net
www.tyler.net/imaginos/index.htm
