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

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

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

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 on Level 9 Memorial

Lancelot on IFDB

Lancelot playable online (BBC Micro)

Lancelot documentation

Lancelot walkthrough (AppleAdventures)

G.F.S. Sorceress documentation

G.F.S. Sorceress walkthrough (AppleAdventures)

Avalon Hill computer titles (MobyGames)

The Visible Zorker

SAM Coupé Adventure Club

Crown of Arturo for Sharp MZ-700

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

Roberta Williams full credits (Mobygames)

Artic Adventures gallery (MOCAGH)

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

PDP-12: HELLORLD!

The Beepy handheld computer

Adventuron

Nick's Cloak of Darkness in AWK

Knytt Stories

The Book of Adventure Games

Tim Gilberts on YouTube

Scott Adams Consulting

Bubble Bonk

Final Pilot

Adventureland XL

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.

Macbeth on MobyGames

Macbeth on MOCAGH

Avon on MobyGames

Avon (Playable online, BBC Micro)

Avon mainframe source code

Topologika Ltd. overview

The Tempest (1997)

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.

Invention Arts

Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy on archive.org

Rendezvous with Rama on archive.org

Full GET LAMP documentary interview

Ron Martinez MobyGames credits