The original Neverwinter Nights was the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) Role Playing Game to go online (pay to play), and was hosted by America Online (AOL).

Situated in the city of Neverwinter and the more than 20 surrounding regions/areas, the game itself was similar to other official AD&D Forgotten Realms games of its time. As it was an online game it had several additional menus for online purposes, as well as features unknown to standard AD&D games of the time, such as the ability to teleport from one region/area to another.

Although most of the game play focused on role playing with other online players, it is still possible to play the game offline.