I don't know where to find this information so I am just going to ask here.

First off, I am not really literate at running server stuff for programs such as this. Such as a server for vent and ts. I always had someone else that did the server part, so I am totally illiterate when it comes to that part of the system. I have however worked with forum programming using Apache on my own machine as a test bed, but I have always used an outside server.

Now I have used openrpg as a player and know how the programs and such work.

1. What is the server thing anyway. Do I actually need to go and rent a server and run it off that or can I do it from my own pc like I run apache for forum programming?

2. If I can run it from my computer, what do I need to do to set it up for other players to enter. I figure you send them the ip address of your computer to connect to the game.

3. Do I need to actually be running a server program on my machine such as the downloaded python or my already installed Apache 4.0, or does the openrpg program take care of that.

That is about all I have now. I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I am using an inferior tabletop program right now, so you would be helping a group of us upgrade our game. Thank you ahead of time.l

I can answer two of your questions.

1. openrpg server will run on your PC. You do not need to purchase any hardware.
3. The server runs using the same stuff that you need to run openrpg so you don't need to install anything else.

Sorry I've never set up a server so I can't help with question #2.

You do understand that you don't have to run a server to use openrpg.

There are community servers hosted by other people that you can connect to and run your game on.

Just click game server at the top menu.
Pick browse servers.
Select a server from the list and click connect.
Then create a room using the box at the bottom right of the window ( if you want the room to be private use the password option).
To join a room already on the list pick it from the list of rooms and click join room.

Edit: it just occurred to me you might need to know more about setting up a room and running it. Most of it's easy to figure out heres some tips that might help.

Follow the above instructions till you get to the set up room part.
Checking the password box and adding a password will make it so only people you want to enter the room can get in. ( remember to tell your players the password, don't laugh I've done this).
Make sure to set your admin password, this will give you control over the higher functions of the room.
You DO NOT need to enter a minimum version # if your all running the same version.
When your player enter the room the GM ( the one who set up the room and knows the admin password ) needs to assign them a roll.
Right click on their name and set them as a player.
Until someone has their role set in the room they will not be able to use the map or roll dice.

As Paul says you don't need to run a server and to get started fast just use one of half a dozen or so servers that will be running at any given time. These are set up by gaming groups and they are happy to let you use their servers for your games. If there's any doubt about that just read the introduction message as you connect to their server (by clicking on their server in the list of servers). All those servers are registered with the metaserver which hands out a list of servers to people when they click on "Browse servers". If they didn't want to be public they didn't need to register. You don't have to be part of their group or anything like that. Use the same one each week or use a different one.

You'll often find people hanging out in the servers' "lobbies". You can chat there, get help, maybe recruit players, or go right past and start up a room. You can enter other peoples' rooms to see how they play (if you do then please don't say anything in chat during the live session unless you use "whisper"). If you don't want people entering your room just make it private with a password. If the room is already private you don't need an admin password unless you don't trust your players really. Leave it as blank and if you're asked for the admin password just hit return.

You can also run your own server temporarily for the session and send an IP to players if you want to. But why bother? In the old days the metaserver sometimes went down making that a fall back option. But that hasn't happened since we switched to Google apps hosting and anyway you can bookmark a server now like the Mayhem server and go to it directly (instead of via the browse servers dialog). But yes if you want to host your own temporary server like MapTools does (and just about every other competitor of OpenRPG I think) you can do that from inside OpenRPG. Same menu as the browse server option. You can register your temporary server or not. Also you can set a server running permanently if you want to set up your own gaming group.

thank you guys for the help. I wasn't sure if the servers listed were ok to use, I will check them out in more detail. Thank you again.

In the dark years of pre 1.7.x, there was some good reasons to run your own server, not the least of which was questionable reliability of both servers and the meta server. Today, there is really very little reason to run your own except for perhaps vanity.

If you still want to run a server I can help. Otherwise feel free to use Mayhem Gaming as its a public server. Veav and Blackstar are public also.

where do you go to find these severs? I cant even get openrpg to "open".

You will see, wildknives. I replied to your problem post.