Netrpg

NetRPG is a Macintosh-era internet server application that lets a small group of friends run tabletop-style role-playing sessions remotely over TCP/IP. Rather than a self-contained game, it provides the chat rooms, dice, and session plumbing that a human gamemaster uses to run an adventure for connected players.

How it works

One Mac runs the NetRPG server and the rest of the group connects as clients. Players join named rooms, exchange in-character and out-of-character text, and roll dice through server-mediated commands so that everyone sees the same result. The gamemaster controls room access and narration.

Release history

The package iterated through point releases during the late-1990s shareware era. Version 3.0.2, for example, fixed a bug in which a single user issuing /QUIT would generate three duplicate disconnect messages for everyone else in the room. Companion sites at webrpg.com and lextech.com once hosted documentation and add-ons but are long offline.

Place in Mac shareware history

NetRPG sits in the same niche as early web-based virtual tabletops, predating modern tools such as Roll20 by more than a decade and trading polish for the simple ability to keep a campaign alive across distance on classic Mac hardware.