Hi Chaotick,
First off, thank you for expressing interest in NWN and Layonara. I'm no bigwig here, but this place is great. I definitely prefer it to most of the MMOs I've played.
That said, I just wanted to let you know that NWN and Layonara (in its current incarnation) is not actually a MMORPG--it's a persistent server. The difference is in the community and gameplay. Where MMORPGs are built to house thousands of players who often create their own small communities therein, this server is much smaller and much more intimate. Nonetheless, if you're looking for something unlike WoW, this is definitely worth giving a shot.
So onto info! To play NWN and Layo, you have to purchase a copy of NWN. I'm not sure if you can purchase a download like you can with other games now-a-days because I chose to get a hard copy of the game from Newegg.com. What you're looking for is Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition. After you install it you'll want to patch it and download the required files for Layonara's server from the
downloads section here. This will set you up to play Layo.
From there you'll want to submit a character. If you want to get in-game quickly, I suggest using a character from the
character stable. These are ready-for-approval characters that have already been vetted by the character approval team.
If you don't go this route, then you'll have to write a character bio and submit it for review.
Here is a link to Layonara's "getting started" LORE site. You can find links to all kinds of information regarding the world of Layonara to assist you in writing a bio for your character that fits into the world's lore.
After getting approved, you'll be ready to play. I know it seems like a fair bit of work, but I can assure you that it's worth it!
I look forward to seeing you in-game.
-Shio