It's not quite so simple. That game was released over a decade ago, and in the meantime Linux has changed drastically. A binary that old is likely to not run on a modern system, due to shared library versions changing over the years in incompatible ways.

Given the age, if you did want to run it, you might need to install it in a chroot of a distribution version that was popular at the time. (Linux, the kernel, has a policy of not breaking userspace, so that should run.) Unfortunately, this would make the download really large and require root access to run it.

(There might also be legal issues, of course.)

I have no lore in this area but is there NO linux component in the gog download of NWN?

I have the original game and have it running on the linux box here - the toolkit included.

I will help if I can, though tbh most of my linux lore comes from my tech / Lead Scripter who is my favorite genius in the whole world.

This is untrue, I have got it installed and working just yesterday.

I used an archlinux PKGBUILD to automate the process, but the script is pretty human readable if you want to understand the complete process to make it work. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nwn-gog/

[code]
# Maintainer: Stephen Baker <baker dot stephen dot e at gmail dot com>
# Contributor: Slash <demodevil5[at]yahoo[dot]com>
# Contributor: Adam Griffiths <adam_griffithsAATTdart.net.au>

pkgname=nwn-gog
pkgver=2.0.0.15
pkgrel=4
pkgdesc="Neverwinter Nights is an RPG from Bioware. This requires the GOG version."
url="http://nwn.bioware.com/"
license=('custom')
arch=('i686' 'x86_64')
if [ "$CARCH" = "x86_64" ]; then
depends=('binkplayer' 'elfutils' 'lib32-elfutils' 'lib32-libgl' 'lib32-glu' 'lib32-libstdc++5' 'lib32-libxcursor' 'lib32-libxdamage' 'perl' 'lib32-sdl_mixer')
else
depends=('binkplayer' 'elfutils' 'libgl' 'glu' 'libstdc++5' 'libxcursor' 'perl' 'sdl_mixer')
fi
makedepends=('git' 'icoutils' 'innoextract' 'p7zip' 'perl' 'unzip')
optdepends=('xdg-utils: xdg .desktop file support')
provides=('nwn')
conflicts=('nwn')
install=nwn.install
source=("gog://neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition/setup_nwn_diamond_${pkgver}.exe" \
"gog://neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition/setup_nwn_diamond_${pkgver}-1.bin" \
"gog://neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition/setup_nwn_diamond_${pkgver}-2.bin" \
"gog://neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition/extras/nvn_KingmakerSetup.zip" \
"http://nwdownloads.bioware.com/neverwinternights/linux/gold/nwclientgold.tar.gz" \
"http://nwdownloads.bioware.com/neverwinternights/linux/161/nwclienthotu.tar.gz" \
"http://files.bioware.com/neverwinternights/updates/linux/169/English_linuxclient169_xp2.tar.gz" \
"nwn.launcher" \
"nwn.desktop" \
"git+https://github.com/nwnlinux/nwmouse.git#commit=6df8b96f" \
"git+https://github.com/nwnlinux/nwuser.git#commit=3fbbf546" \
"git+https://github.com/nwnlinux/nwlogger.git#commit=3bfa7aa5" \
"git+https://github.com/nwnlinux/nwmovies.git#commit=61fb3645")
noextract=('nwclientgold.tar.gz' 'nwclienthotu.tar.gz' 'nwmovies-latest.tar.gz')
md5sums=('e7d063a2c892519dc431fc84c3611a65'
'2b6bec0df8d2f1755876407069f6ae43'
'db2c1e75b087e43fa5895bcc70fca8b9'
'57be8c593db88db6b6ee78ba9201ec53'
'0a059d55225fc32f905e86191d88a11f'
'376cdece07106ea058d42b531f3146bb'
'b021f0da3b3e00848521926716fdf487'
'7fd0497f55856edf50480b5acd3136d3'
'26c5f221589ba84af13039c805ac1210'
'SKIP'
'SKIP'
'SKIP'
'SKIP')
PKGEXT='.pkg.tar'

prepare()
{
# Extract gog setup
innoextract -e $srcdir/setup_nwn_diamond_2.0.0.15.exe -d $srcdir || return 1

# Move the original cd key so it doesn't get overwritten
mv $srcdir/app/nwncdkey.ini $srcdir/nwncdkey.ini

# Extract Game Icons
mkdir $srcdir/icons
icotool -x -p 0 $srcdir/app/gfw_high.ico -o $srcdir/icons

# Extract Kingmaker Files
7z x $srcdir/KingmakerSetup.exe -xr0\!*PLUGINSDIR* -xr\!*.exe -xr\!*.dat \
-o$srcdir/kingmakertmp/

# Patch nwmouse so it can find user.h
/bin/sed -i 's|linux/user.h|sys/user.h|1' $srcdir/nwmouse/nwmouse/nwmouse_cookie.c

# Patch nwlogger so it can find user.h
/bin/sed -i 's|linux/user.h|sys/user.h|1' $srcdir/nwlogger/nwlogger/nwlogger_cookie.c
}

build()
{
# Compile nwmovies using the appropriate SDL library
cd $srcdir/nwmovies
if [ "$CARCH" = "x86_64" ]; then
./nwmovies_install.pl /usr/lib32/libSDL-1.2.so.0
else
./nwmovies_install.pl /usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0
fi

# Compile nwuser
cd $srcdir/nwuser
./nwuser_install.pl

# Compile nwmouse
cd $srcdir/nwmouse
./nwmouse_install.pl

# Compile nwlogger
cd $srcdir/nwlogger
./nwlogger_install.pl
}

package()
{
cd $srcdir/

# Create Destination Directory
install -d $pkgdir/opt/nwn

# Move game files to directory
cp -R $srcdir/app/* $pkgdir/opt/nwn

# Extract Game Clients
tar -zxvf $srcdir/nwclientgold.tar.gz -C $pkgdir/opt/nwn/
tar -zxvf $srcdir/nwclienthotu.tar.gz -C $pkgdir/opt/nwn/

# Install Kingmaker Files
cp -r $srcdir/kingmakertmp/\$0/* \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/

# Extract Latest Patch
tar -zxvf $srcdir/English_linuxclient169_xp2.tar.gz -C $pkgdir/opt/nwn

# Check the Installation
cd $pkgdir/opt/nwn/
./fixinstall

# Remove Unneeded Files & Directories
rm -r $pkgdir/opt/nwn/SDL-1.2.5/

# Install nwmovies binaries
install -D -m 755 -t $pkgdir/opt/nwn/ \
$srcdir/nwmovies/{nwmovies.so,nwmovies.pl}

# Install binkplayer binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwmovies/nwmovies/binklib.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmovies/binklib.so

# Install libdis binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwmovies/nwmovies/libdis/libdisasm.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmovies/libdis/libdisasm.so

# SymLink BinkPlayer to the NWN Directory so the Movie Launcher (nwmovies.pl) can find it
ln -s /usr/bin/binkplayer $pkgdir/opt/nwn/BinkPlayer

# Install nwuser binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwuser/nwuser/nwuser.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwuser.so

# Install 64bit binaries if Arch64
if [ "$CARCH" = "x86_64" ]; then
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwuser/nwuser/nwuser64.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwuser64.so
fi

# Install nwmouse binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwmouse/nwmouse/nwmouse.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmouse.so

# Install libdis binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwmouse/nwmouse/libdis/libdisasm.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmouse/libdis/libdisasm.so

# Install nwlogger binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwlogger/nwlogger/nwlogger.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwlogger.so

# Install libdis binaries
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwlogger/nwlogger/libdis/libdisasm.so \
$pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwlogger/libdis/libdisasm.so

###########################################################################

# Copy the original licence file
cp $srcdir/nwncdkey.ini $pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwncdkey.ini

# Install Cursors
install -d $pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmouse/cursors/
tar -zxvf $srcdir/nwmouse/nwmouse/cursors.tar.gz -C $pkgdir/opt/nwn/nwmouse/cursors/

# Install Custom License
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/tmp/EULA.txt \
$pkgdir/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname/EULA.txt

# Install Launcher (Client)
install -D -m 755 $srcdir/nwn.launcher \
$pkgdir/usr/bin/nwn

# Install Desktop File
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/nwn.desktop \
$pkgdir/usr/share/applications/nwn.desktop

# Install Icon Files
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/icons/gfw_high_6_256x256x32.png \
$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/nwn.png
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/icons/gfw_high_7_48x48x32.png \
$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/nwn.png
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/icons/gfw_high_8_32x32x32.png \
$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/nwn.png
install -D -m 644 $srcdir/icons/gfw_high_9_16x16x32.png \
$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/nwn.png

# Fix Whacky Permissions
chown -R root:root $pkgdir/
chmod -R o+r $pkgdir/
[/code]

none, none at all. and as you see others in this thread report, it is still installable and it will still run on a modern system, I also have it running on debian 8 and launched through steam, only because it was the easiest means of creating a shortcut there are no legal issues, bioware was the ones that made the installer, and you still need a valid cd key to run it
and you can simply install the package that includes the missing lib without causing ill-effects to your sysstem, so no, no chrooting required