The Word vs The Picture

Why would someone try to sell a role playing program that does not use graphics today?
To answer that, we would like you to imagine the following three gaming sessions:

1. You are playing Never Winter Nights, Dungeon Siege, or a similar PC game.
Pretty stunning graphics, right? The problem is, if you are anything like us, the game unfolds 99% onscreen. Your brain is focused on the pretty environment and your attention is directed towards finding the next thing to kill. You are a puppeteer who moves an avatar and this fact tends to grow on you until you no longer bother to role play at all.
Clicking the mouse becomes the name of the game in the end.

2. You are playing an AD&D session using one of the worthy TRIS rivals.
All right, much better. This session is much more like the role playing you have around the table.
Some of these systems are incredibly detailed and support just about every game mechanic/rule in the game. It even lets you move little icons around a map to show you what orc is next to you.
Again, we see problems, roleplaying wise. In addition to your nice role playing you get a ton of messages about dice rolls, spell effects, Armor Classes, and what have you. Also the map and icons are a problem, as we see it. Agreed, you are a lot closer to traditional role playing, but the avatarism tends to creep in. And too much of your focus is on the game mechanics in use.

3. You are playing out a story with TRIS
Mostly you see words and as we know, words have power. The power to create images inside your mind. The closest you will come to seeing images in TRIS clicking on a character name to see his or her portrait. Now look at these words:

As you enter the room, the very air seems to thicken around you. The far wall is lit by flickering torches that make the very shadows come alive.
As you step closer, a dark form separates itself from the shadows, and you hear a rasping voice.

Shadowy form: Who enters here .... unbidden?

Lionel moves his hand slowly towards the handle of his sword.

Kathia is unable to suppress a gasp of horror.

Kathia whispers: G..godfrey? Is that you?

All right. We are sure you can write up a better scene, but our point is: What session will leave the impression that will last the longest? It's not really important who is closest to the orc, or who is next to the treasure chest. What's important is what you, the player, feel as you assume your alternate personae. TRIS was created to be unobrusive, i.e. convey but not interfere with the story.
Give it a try, you might like it.

Happy gaming.

Some reasons to use TRIS

Think of TRIS as a means of communication for role-players who are unable to meet face to face. In many ways TRIS replaces sound waves that carry your voice across the tabletop you would gather around in the past.

If you are anything like us, i.e. a Pen and Paper Role Playing addict, you want to play. A lot!
I think we all agree that gaming in general, and Role Playing in particular, are social activities. Half the fun is meeting up and hanging out together. Unfortunately this doesn't always work out:

• People move
• People get into relationships and make families
• Your gaming group was never that big to begin with, and you have trouble finding new players in your area.

TRIS to the rescue. Admittedly, you lose the hanging out part, but as you will see TRIS offers enhancements to your gaming experience that you had difficulty realizing before:

• The size of your gaming group is now theoretically close to unlimited. I.e. anyone with an Internet connection.
• The whole gaming session can be saved to file so that you can browse through it before the next session.
• Out Of Character (OOC) talk is directed to a separate window and does not distract by cluttering up the gaming area.
• The Games Master (GM) gets to plan and reuse locations and characters.
• Any player can co-GM at any time by having the GM assign them any character, NPC or PC.
• Our goal is to publish story telling material that can be used directly with TRIS.
• And much else.