Don't know where to begin..

[Saint66]

I've read the sticky at the top but don't think thats what I'm looking for.

I would like to build a text based online rpg such as www.mafiareturns.com. However I have no experience in programming at all.

If anyone can point me in the right direction its greatly appreciated.

[sealfin]

There's a somewhat similar thread here (http://idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14019) you might want to take a look at to start with; the game the original poster of that thread is trying to imitate isn't purely text-based, but the general technologies are the same.

[Saint66]

1. What is your prior experiance. Have you designed a website? If so, what tools. Do you know any programming languages?

Haven't designed a website. Don't know any programming languages. Have ran some forums but they flopped to not having anyone visit very often.

2. What operating system do you use. PHP is cross platform, so this isn't an issue, but I can recommend tools for your specific platform.

I use Microsoft XP on a Dell.

[igame3d]

Looks like Quest is the tool for you (http://www.axeuk.com/).
No programming required.

Also you might like to skim through Create Adventure Games on You Computer (http://www.atariarchives.org/adventure/), ignore all the code since its 24 years obsolete.
But the principles should be similiar for the most part.

If you really want to try the code find a z80 or atari computer emulator and get hacking old skool.

Oh also there is a giant list of game creation resources over here (http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html). Lots of text adventure stuff.
Looks like an ancient list, I'm sure there are more out there, google powers activate!