I'm looking for a program that lets me play SR online.....specifically something that works like instant messenger but also rolls some dice. What programs are out there?

AOL Instant Messenger. In a chatroom, type "//roll-dice#" for dice, replacing # with the number of dice you want to roll (up to 15).
There are more features to the dieroller, like non-six-sided dice, if you want me to explain them.

~J

ooooh! please! (Thanks for the info, too!)

oh, and how do you get results above 6?

You have to do rule-of-6 manually by rerolling sixes yourself, but then you have to do that with real dice, too.

Detailed explaination of AIM dieroller mechanics: the dieroller is activated with "//roll", and defaults to 2d6. It takes the arguments -dice# and -sides#; for -dice# # tops out at 15 and for -sides# # tops out at 999. Thus, for 2d6 you'd type

//roll (or //roll-dice2 or //roll-sides6 or //roll-dice2-sides6; they're all equivalent)

For 6d6

//roll-dice6

For 2d100

//roll-sides100

And for 15d999

//roll-dice15-sides999

Note that //roll and its arguments has to be the first thing on the line, and has to be the only thing on the line. Saying "My character casts a spell. //roll-dice12" will result in that text and nothing more. Also, curiously, this does not work in IM windows, only chats.
Any questions?

~J

well, that seems to sum it up. wish there was a mechanic for rule-of-6's, but that's probably not much of an issue. Thanks! The games may now continue!

Rumor has it that there's a site where you can RP online, either in real-time or on board pages like here.

Rumor also has it that they have a D6 roller with the Rule of Six built-in, and supposedly they even have a D20.

Of course, it's just a rumor.

Honestly, I dislike the thought of built-in handling of rule-of-6. It's just more satisfying to get those rerolls in.
'Sides, gives time to practice speed-typing.

~J

Well, there is IRC, specifically, mIRC has great scripting capacity for dice rolling, or anything else really.
mIRC Homepage

irc.dumpshock.com #shadowrun

You can get in on a game most nights, and someone will inevitably bring a dicebot.