Blood & Magic

Plot

The single-player game has five regular campaigns of increasing difficulty, followed by a world conquest campaign where the player conquers all 15 maps and challenges the gods. In each regular campaign, the player chooses one of two sides; finishing a campaign unlocks the next. The storylines are typical fantasy tales without explicit AD&D references, each with its own take. Stories are told between battles by a narrator, often in verse, with gradually uncovered pictures.

The first campaign begins with barbarian leader Rathgar the Raider conquering the kingdom of Doegan; the dying king curses him. The king's daughter seeks help from young necromancer Aelric the Avenger. The player plays as either the usurper or the avenger, seeking to lift or fulfill the curse. The player can help Roxana flee or lead Bryan the Bold's armies to win her hand.

The third campaign is a struggle between law and chaos: Tartyron, Lord of Chaos, escapes his underground prison to spread chaos, opposed by two lords and a lady from the Circle of Order. The fourth campaign has comedic elements: brothers Garrulos the Occasionally Good and Wormskull the Artificier find a cursed pearl of great power; Wormskull wants to use it for inventions while Garrulos tries to stop him and win the king's favors.

Critical reception

Andy Butcher reviewed Blood & Magic for Arcane magazine, giving it a 6 out of 10. He found it easy to pick up and playable like a simplified version of Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer, with logical mechanics and enough unit and battle variety to hold interest. However, he concluded it offered nothing new, was less involving than Warcraft 2, and had tenuous AD&D links—units appeared in AD&D but with different strengths, weaknesses, and combat. The Herald-News gave a mostly positive review, praising unit and terrain variety and calling the game habit-forming, but noted weak enemy AI and excessive clicking for resource management. The Buffalo News gave a C rating, calling the storyline deep. According to GameSpy, gamers soon realized there was nothing to draw them away from Warcraft II or Red Alert.