Internet roleplaying program

[Kratenser]

Right so I'm heading off to university in September, that's a pretty daunting prospect when I think of it but right now the main thing I care about is my role-playing group. We normally meet up to play D&D on a Saturday night but seeing as a few of us are heading to various universities and all, we're not gonna be able to meet up once a week any more.

Now, the internet being the big place it is, i figured there's gotta be a way of playing role-playing games online. I ran some searches and i discovered, huzzah, there are in fact programs that let you and your friends meet up online and play whichever game it is you're playing. Something with a chat room, a map interface and a method of letting you do dice rolls. Then I discovered that actually, there's a lot of em. And some of em cost.

Stingy git that I am, I don't want to pay for anything if possible, buying the D&D 4th edition books set me back enough already. I'm not really looking for anything too fancy, just something that will let us build a map and do dice rolls, we have Skype for communication.

Now, I've seen various role-playing games get mentioned in escapist forums from time to time so, I figured here would be a good place to ask, does anyone here know any decent programs that would allow us to role-play online? Theres a lot out there and I dont really have time to experiment with various software packages so, if anyone has any recommendations, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Kratenser

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I don't, but I'll be watching this thread. A friend of mine tried to start a campaign using Facebook chat once, which really didn't work out. If there's a decent open source or freeware solution, it's worth finding.

 

[Kratenser]

If there's a decent open source or freeware solution, it's worth finding.

Aye. Some of the paid ones look pretty good but its awkward trying to get everyone in the group to fork out for them

 

[Cosmosis]

My group used Maptool, which seemed to be pretty good for what it cost, you know 0 dollars/euros/whathaveyou. However, I never really used it from the perspective of the Dungeon Master, so can't say much in that regard, but as a player it's all fun and games.

Most complaints came from the rolls mostly being 10s and 11s, or in my case 2s and 3s.

 

[DoPo]

I've heard people have luck using Skype + Google Docs for communication and map/sheets respectively.

But as for actual software:
MapTools - I've heard it's the best
iTableTop - one of the most popular
OpenRPG - another of the most popular virtual table software
VirtualDaivve - I don't really know much about it

I don't have any experience in them but I've seen them mentioned in topics such as this one.

Hope it helps.

EDIT: ah yes, I forgot about the one the poster below suggested - Gametabe[/I] is another one of the most famous programs.

 

[GM.Casper]

http://gametableproj.sourceforge.net/

This is the one I use. Both for RPGs and other board games. It is easy to add your own immages- just drop them in the right folder