I was recently introduced to a program called OpenRPG. Link is right there.

What it does, is simulate a table with a grid that you can play tabletop RPGs with. You have a pen you can use to draw the rooms, a chat area where the players and GM can talk, you can import images from websites to have for miniatures etc. It seems like a solid tool for those people that are can’t get out to get to a TT session or those that don’t want to, if the local gamers are all trolls, or even if there is no real group out there. They can log-on and talk and get their gaming that way. With SKype/Ventrilo/etc. and such they can also voicechat for a more authentic experience.

There are two flavors of OpenRPG:
Vanilla
Traipse

Basically they are as different as Fedora and Ubuntu. Both Linux builds. Basically the core is there however there may be differences in the way that it is GUI’d or the functionality. The Vanilla flavor has an installer that will install everything for you while the Traipse version wants you to have Python and wxPython pre-installed. (Honestly I don’t like installers that have dependencies.)

If you don’t know already, D&DO is now free to play. The way they manage this is by letting you buy “premiums” like level caps, races and jobs. I took a look at the game, being interested in it.

I have to say… I can see why people didn’t play the game much. Character creation is a joke really. Sure you can pick hair style, hair color and all that… but you can’t change the face too much save the nose. You forever are stuck with this middle aged grizzled looking human/elf character no matter the combination of nose and mouth.

I didn’t like that. I like my men pretty, this didn’t allow me to make a pretty man. So I’m not feeling connected to the character at all.

Some pluses though are the narration and the way you proceed. It makes it feel like your playing D&D, however without the deep customization that even Neverwinter Nights allowed… it’s kinda pale. And different faces don’t seem to be a pay option either. :P