Most RPGs have a certain swashbuckling adventure aspect to them. But I think the genre has a lot of potential past that. Are there any non-combat RPGs? (and when I think of combat I also include games like Fallout and Deus Ex because even though there are ways to avoid combat, it is still a key component of the game whether you are engaging in it or avoiding it). I am not necessarily thinking of non-violent, just non-combat. For example I would love a RPG in the same vein of Crusader Kings (murder, poisoning, and plenty of "accidents)" without the maps and armies (don't get me wrong I love CK2 but at its core it is a strategy game and not an RPG). Or a Man vs. Environment survival RPG would be cool.

Are we talking environment as in animals or volcanos and earthquakes and stuff?

Moon: Remix RPG

Apparently, there's no combat in this game.

But it's also never been released outside of Japan, so you'll probably have to use illegitimate means if you want to play it.

Winter Voices?

Combat-based RPGs are the standard for gaming because combat is by far the easiest to simulate.

One of the best reasons to try D&D or The Dark Eye with other people is all the cool stuff you described. Proper role-playing, intrigue, deception, survival, cooperation, alliances. That's damn hard to simulate :\

Have you heard of UnReal World?. It could be what you're looking for..

I think if you took an RPG and removed all combat mechanics it would inherently become an adventure game.

The upcoming Age of Decadence seems to have a strong focus on diplomacy

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/index.htm

Planescape Torment comes rather close, as combat is a fairly minor aspect of the game and quite avoidable most of the time. Overall, though, once you start completely removing combat from an RPG you usually end up with something close to an adventure game, so it may be that what you're looking for is out there, but just as a different genre than what you've been focusing on (survival horror is another genre you can find yourself after getting rid of combat).

EDIT: Ninja'd.

I see RPGs should give the player the choice of combat, because that is the heart of RPGs, freedom and role play.

Up to a point you are right, however most combat avoidance in an RPG is still based on things like stealth and crowd control, which is combat in itself in a way. The original post dictates than ghosting a game like Deus Ex does not count as "no combat."

If we made a list of games you could complete without killing anyone it would be a lot different.

I'm not sure how much gameplay there'd be in an RPG that's neither combat based (be it strategic or twitchy) nor basic adventure (cruise around the world, collecting things and clicking through dialog trees).

I suppose there's the stat management. Though the thing is combat often lends itself to emergent situations due to how much of a simulation it usually is. That's why you can have random encounters and roguelikes where the combat will still be somewhat interesting.

Non-combat uses for stats in RPGs are either piddling things like cheaper prices in shops or pre-scripted binary checks in you'd never know about unless you've read about it in a walkthrough.

either way is fine

I would disagree. I think the basic structure of an RPG is character development within the role you have chosen to play and story telling. I do not think that combat is a necessary component. You could make an RPG about being a merchant, or an explorer, or even a scientist and tell a good story and develop an interesting player character without combat.
I think adventure is an important part of any RPG (no one would what to role play my life as an office drone). And adventure needs conflict. But most RPGs go for the adventure through combat as opposed to so many other types of equally interesting types conflict such as intrigue, economic competition, romance, etc.

That would make an interactive novel with dialog trees an RPG.