Explore classic text adventure games from legendary publishers and authors including Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Infocom, Scott Adams, and Interplay. A podcast for fans of GET LAMP, Eaten By a Grue, The Classic Adventurer, Renga In Blue, and Quest For Clues. Follow us on your favorite podcast app, and keep the conversations going on Facebook and Bluesky.
Episodes
Monday Mar 10, 2025
Monday Mar 10, 2025
Iain Lee, "an old bloke who was popular in the Nineties" as well as counsellor, broadcaster, and I'm a Celebrity survivor joins Dave and Jason this episode. They discuss Tolkien sendup Bored of the Rings by Fergus McNeill and the Mark Data classic Calixto Island. Iain shares his love for the Dragon 32, memories of sneaking text adventure time on school BBC Micros, and Experienced Media Professional Image Advice with Jason.
Bored of the Rings (playable online)
Calixto Island (playable online, MS-DOS with graphics)
Calixto Island (playable online, "Play Now" button next to "Calixto Island (Text)", CoCo plain text)
Iain Lee's Random Access Memories podcast
Quill Adventure Guides (Bored of the Rings and other Quill games, deconstructed)
Sunday Mar 02, 2025
Sunday Mar 02, 2025
Jason, Nick, and the returning Tim Gilberts of Gilsoft dig into the magazines of the 1970s and 1980s that chronicled the rise of text adventures!
We look at two of the most significant Stateside issues of the early commercial period, the November 1979 issue of Creative Computing with a full (and unusual) implementation of Colossal Cave Adventure, and the December 1980 BYTE with articles by Dave Lebling, Jon Freeman, and of course one of the most significant events of the year in personal computer games: Scott Adams' release of the Pirate Adventure source code.
New Zork Times #3.1, early 1984
Micro Adventurer #1, November 1983
Creative Computing, November 1979
Be an Interplanetary Spy (Ron Martinez) discussion on IntFic
Mike Dornbrook (Infocom) oral history
Giant's Gold, Commodore 64 port
Atari Swordquest's Real-Life Treasures
Another Atari Swordquest overview
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Jason and Dave welcome classic text adventure author Jonathan Partington to the program. While studying at Cambridge University, he created and contributed to several memorable games including Avon (featured in Episode 12), Crobe, Sangraal, Fyleet, Monsters of Murdac, and Spy Snatcher.
We discuss how Jonathan got hooked into text adventures, how the pipeline between Cambridge mainframe creations and the broader commercial market worked, and the best time of day to play games on official campus computers without getting scolded. And for the first time, we ask a living author which of his games we should play next!
Special thanks to Mark Hardisty for helping connect us with Jonathan.
CORRECTION: The interview mistakenly credits L to Peter Killworth. The game in question was actually GiantKiller.
Topologika (The Digital Antiquarian)
Phoenix (mainframe operating system) on IFWiki
Sunday Jan 19, 2025
Sunday Jan 19, 2025
Our first three-player episode since the premiere pits Ben, Jason, and Nick against challenges that span millennia! Learn the intricacies of long-lost Earth military law as Joe Justin fights for freedom in Avalon Hill's G.F.S. Sorceress before traveling way back to King Arthur's England in Level 9's Lancelot. Robots, colored objects, and companion knights (so, so many companion knights) stand ready to assist!
Lancelot playable online (BBC Micro)
Lancelot walkthrough (AppleAdventures)
G.F.S. Sorceress documentation
G.F.S. Sorceress walkthrough (AppleAdventures)
Avalon Hill computer titles (MobyGames)
Crown of Arturo for Sharp MZ-700
Thursday Jan 09, 2025
Thursday Jan 09, 2025
Dave and Jason return to the pioneering Artic Adventure series with Ship of Doom (Adventure C) before plunging into a fantasy world on the brink in The Dark Crystal by Sierra, licensed from Henson Associates and representing the very last example of Roberta Williams' parser game design.
The Dark Crystal manual and short story
The Dark Crystal on SierraGamers
The Dark Crystal map and solution in New Atari User
Ship of Doom on Spectrum Computing
Ship of Doom, reimagined top-down
All Sierra On-Line Hi-Res Adventures
Saturday Dec 28, 2024
Saturday Dec 28, 2024
Holiday merriment! All the hosts! Return special guests! Minimal editing!
Retro Adventurers Dave, Jason, Nick, and founder Ben(!) chat about the year that was, later joined by Scott Adams (Episode 3) and Tim Gilberts (Episode 5)!
Hear about Tim Gilberts' Heathkit, Scott Adams' next professional moves, adventures in ADABAS / Natural, and a long-overdue callback to the Clarion Beauty Computer!
Ken Reed's Adventure II article in Practical Computing
Maze for the MK/14 computer kit
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy, Jason and Nick ask for a double-helping of Shakespeare text adventures. The chef heaps a challenging amount of "appetizer" Macbeth (1984, Oxford Digital Enterprises) on their plates, but main course Avon (1982/1988, Topologika) has its day. And that day may be foul, and/or fair, as you like it.
Avon (Playable online, BBC Micro)
Topologika on The Digital Antiquarian
Tuesday Dec 10, 2024
Tuesday Dec 10, 2024
In this interview episode we're transfixed by the career of Ron Martinez, whose interactive fiction began as a writer for the Be an Interplanetary Spy book series, the Trillium/Telarium home conversion of Rendezvous With Rama, and the design and implementation of Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy powered by his own TRANS Fiction System parser. Since then Ron has had a widely varied career, and a widely varied career since then including pioneering work in NFTs.
Ron and Jason discuss the wild experimental days at Electronic Arts, the nature of "post-linear" storytelling and the trade-offs of writing in the Star Trek universe, and Ron's brush with actual immortality.
Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy on archive.org
Rendezvous with Rama on archive.org
Welcome, keyboard warriors!
The Retro Adventurers is a podcast for everyone who has battled fading lanterns, unmappable mazes, and verb selection. Join us to celebrate text adventures from the peak years of the 1970s and 1980s as well as throwbacks from the modern age. Keep the conversations going on Facebook and Bluesky, or write contact@retroadventurers.com.