Hey there
I'm a hobbyist programmer, artist and video game developer. I also love RPGs, so the idea came up for doing an online rpg that looks and plays like some elder scrolls game with one of the connected players as the game master. I noticed there are so many great videogames that borrow elements from RPG, except what makes RPG what it is! at the same time there are several tools for playing rpg online, the virtual tabletops, that doesn't seem interested in taking advantages of what we can do with computers. That's my motivation for this project.

Outside this circle (people who understand how tabletop rpg work) I am having an incredibly hard time explaining the idea, they don't understand what i mean by game master. Thus I turn to this community, I would like to know what you think of this project. Do you want to see this game a reality?

After having recently discovered virtual tabletops over a week ago, I had actually begun combing the internet for what you seem to be describing. I, for one, would very much love to see something that's more of a cross between a virtual tabletop and multiplayer online RPG. Specifically, the option to choose between initiative/turn-based/story-driven combat, to an active combat system, similar to what games like Dungeons and Dragons Online and Star Trek Online have. I can't believe just how much I really enjoy a combat system of that type.

Further, it would be nice to be able to log onto the game and engage in a premade, automated quest while waiting for your RP group to log on, so you can then move to the more dynamic format of gaming with a live GM. Here, you and your group can choose what rules to play by, the story and context of the game, and the method of combat. With a live GM heading the group, players' decisions really do affect the specifics and even the ending of the story, as the GM-controlled NPCs can actually respond directly to whatever creative action the players attempt to engage in, unlike AI-controlled NPCs.

A multiplayer online RPG, like this, would no longer be the repetitive grind that wholly AI-controlled MMORPGs currently are, while also preserving what makes tabletop RP gaming so much fun: interactive storytelling and roleplaying.

So, to make a long story short, yes, I'd very much love to see what you come up with.

Hello,

Same as a lot of people it seems, I was confronted to the fact that at some point my whole rpg table was scattered across the country (france in my case).
I know a bit in programming and came up with the idea of an online tabletop, but never really had the time and skills to go very far.

Maybe we could gather and work on something?