If you've come this far to read, thanks! I'm interested in whether or not a few automations are possible in order to present my players with something akin to text based games. Of course, I'd love to learn a programming language, make a game and give it online connectivity and drop my players into a tiny little MUD of their own. I love Roll20, however, and I feel like some of these things just MIGHT be possible. So here's what I'd like to see: Pre-written dialogue , triggered by the player and delivered by an NPC. This could be by keywords or any other method if Roll20 could actually do this. The above idea applied to tracking gold and being able to spend it on items listed in a table or somehow displayed to the player. Movement restrictions, Fog of War removal and a player(token) specific transition to another prepared map. Any, even the most limited kind of AI to make hostile tokens move toward and/or attack a player token (and start a call for initiative). Other kinds of events that I'm sure are already doable. ie; snuffing out torches, slowing token movement by certain terrain, especially flagging or altering bonuses or penalties for things like high ground, etc. Now if you're still with me, I'd like to explain my vision whether or not any of these things can be done. I'm not seeking to fully automate a Pen and Paper experience but I am interested in adding an element of 'video-gameyness' that I can guide when necessary as the DM. In my homebrew campaign there is a lot of lore dissemination and to add to this, we play a very roleplay focused game almost entirely in emotes. So I'd like to have the option to create fairly large, detailed maps that I can set my player's tokens onto and then actually allow them to move around in. In real time. So often I put a lot of work into detailed maps that the players simply rush through. Later, we're mostly playing with a background image of our World Map just for inspiration. However, if I could create 4 reasonably large maps, all of which can be transitioned to from one of the others, they could almost quest on their own and explore a small area of what in our imaginations is a very large world. When they see an NPC token, they could ask it basic questions and receive answers much like in text games. Even some basic little interactions could probably be done here, such as the NPC giving a Player an item, or 'unlocking' a door, etc. The bottom line is that I would still be observing as the DM. I'd be speaking through NPCs when it was needed, moving tokens or 'opening' dynamic lighting doors. Even if very basic tools like these could be at someone's disposal, one could feasibly create small modules for other DMs to present to their players. Thanks for reading and indulging my wild fantasies. If any of the above ideas spark the slightest interest, let's discuss it! Heck, I'd be willing to pay to see some of this happen =D
