The Retro Adventurers

By: The Retro Adventurers
  • Summary

  • 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.
    Copyright 2024-2025 All rights reserved.
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Episodes
  • Episode 18 - Bored of the Rings / Calixto Island with Iain Lee
    Mar 11 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)

    Iain Lee's Random Access Memories podcast

    Quill Adventure Guides (Bored of the Rings and other Quill games, deconstructed)

    MST3K: Detective

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Episode 17 - Magazine Roundup #1
    Mar 3 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

    BYTE Magazine December 1980

    Sinclair User #2, May 1982

    Sinclair User #3, June 1982

    Adventure Probe #1, June 1986

    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

    Treasure Quest

    Treasure Quest prize winner mystery

    Adventure (Colossal Cave) Family Tree

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    1 hr and 54 mins
  • Episode 16 - A Conversation With Jonathan Partington
    Jan 28 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.

    Jonathan Partington on IFDB

    Topologika (The Digital Antiquarian)

    Phoenix (mainframe operating system) on IFWiki

    Mystic Wood (board game)

    Sorcerer's Cave (board game)

    Peter Killworth on IFWiki

    How To Write Adventure Games by Peter Killworth on MOCAGH

    L: A Mathemagical Adventure

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    54 mins

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