If you’ve been following The Game Archaeologist column all the way back to Massively-That-Was, you maybe will recall a piece from June 2014 about Arelith, a player-operated Neverwinter Nights multiplayer persistent world (PW) that has been running for nearly two decades and has been home to over 20K players.
We unearth this bit of history to shine a light on the fact that Arelith is still going strong and is even going to expand further. In 2021. Awesome.
The upcoming update will introduce the city of Guldorand, bringing over 100 new areas, the Deep Wells dungeon, new creatures, six new vessels for the PW’s ship system, and the promise of dozens of new player houses and shops. The launch of Guldbrand will also grant all unique players with a Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition CD key a reward that lets them start with a mid-level character so they can get right in to the new city.
If you’ve never heard of Arelith before, it’s an online persistent world that currently has around 2,000 players in total, hosting as many as 300 players at peak or as few as 60 during “quieter” hours. The PW tries to closely emulate the tabletop experience, with regular player characters and a rotating team of volunteer in-game DMs. The stewards of the PW have posted a new starter’s guide with instructions on how to connect, how to build a character, behavior expectations, and details about the PW’s five starting locations. As for the launch of Guldorand, that’s expected to begin this Friday, February 12th.
