Argentum Online is an online multiplayer role playing game which takes
place in a medieval fantasy world. The world is known as Argentum, it’s
populated by all sorts of creatures: evil and good. Players can create their
own characters, choosing among five races (Elf, Human, Gnome, Dark Elf, Dwarf)
and up to 20 different professions (fighter, assassin, blacksmith, carpenter,
pirate, etc). Characters have up to 22 different skills that can improve
during their development, some skills are easier to master for certain
professions, yet players enjoy total freedom to build their characters.
Player’s character evolves gaining experience from combats, when the character
reaches a new level it receives skill points and depending on the chatacter’s
race some attributes (force, dexterity, etc) might raise as well.
The gameplay mechanic is very particular, in this rpg game combats are not
completely determined by the rules. Rules do a lot, but combats are fast-paced
arcade challenges. If you are skilled enough commanding your character you can
make a difference.
Player killing is allowed in the game, however there are some safe zones
(cities) in which it’s forbidden and player killers are chased and punished if
they go in. Depending on your actions your character might turn out with a bad
reputation, when this happens you are seen as a criminal by other users. Most
cities’ guards chase criminals and try to kill them at first sight. Other
players (citizens) which are not criminals might also try to kill criminals
since this improves their reputation.
When characters reach higher levels can join one of the two factions in the
world: ‘The army of CHAOS’ which only lets in criminals, or ‘The Imperial
Force’ (no criminals, just citizens). Upon joining any of this factions the
character receives a special armour from the faction. In the factions there
are ranks, as the player kills enemies it gets higher in the hierarchy.
Argentum Online was originally developed by a group of independent
developers without resources. The game is free to play and the source code has
been released under GPL licence. The game was and is still freely distributed
on internet.
