Blood & Magic

Blood & Magic is a real-time strategy computer game released by Interplay Productions in 1996. It is set in the Utter East region of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and uses the Dungeons & Dragons license.

After Strategic Simulations, Inc. lost the license to make D&D games, TSR, Inc. divided it between several publishers, one of which was Interplay. Although Interplay would go on to publish the Baldur's Gate series, its very first D&D game was Blood & Magic, ." which is also the first strategy computer game in D&D. It has since become abandonware, freely available on several sites on the Internet.

Campaigns
The single-player mode includes a tutorial and five standard campaigns of increasing difficulty, with three maps each and two sides to each conflict that the player may choose to play. Completing one campaign at least once unlocks the next, and so on. These are followed by a long randomized campaign across every map three times, followed by a final epic battle. In total, there are 77 matches to play through, but with each standard map played at least five times.

The campaigns each have their own, independent storylines, ranging from traditional to epic and dark to comedic. Before and after each map, the story of each campaign is told by a voice-over narrator, partially in verse, over a series of gradually uncovered images.


 * Tutorial:
 * Voice-over: Steve Kramer
 * In this tutorial set in the Doegan Capital, the player is instructed in gameplay by the Great Mage.


 * Howl of Vengeance:
 * Illustrations: Peter Ledger; Voice-over: Mike Forest
 * Stated Difficulty: Beginner
 * In Howl of Vengeance, the barbarian leader Rathgar the Raider has conquers the kingdom of Doegan, but the dying king curses him, and the princess escapes to enlist the aid of Aelric the Avenger and his undead army. The player chooses either Rathgar to defend the realm or Aelric to retake it.


 * Matchmaker Mayhem:
 * Illustrations: Maurice Morgan & Dan McMillan; Voice-over: Wendee Lee
 * Stated Difficulty: Intermediate
 * In Matchmaker Mayhem, Princess Roxanna of Edenvale duels would-be suitors for her hand in marriage. The player chooses either Roxanna to fend off her suitors or Bryan the Bold to win her affections.


 * Tartyron Unbound:
 * Illustrations: Maurice Morgan; Voice-over: Mike Forest
 * Stated Difficulty: Experienced
 * In Tartyron Unbound, Tartyron, the Lord of Chaos, escapes his subterranean prison and is opposed by the lords of Order, in a conflict of law versus chaos. The player chooses either Tartyron in his fight to escape, or the Circle of Order in their effort to drive him back to his prison.


 * Nuts and !Bolts
 * Illustrations: Brian Menze; Voice-over: Steve Kramer
 * Stated Difficulty: Veteran
 * In Nuts and !Bolts, two feuding, treasure-hunting brothers, Garrulos the Occasionally Good and Wormskull the Artificer find a magical pearl, which Garrulos steals. The player chooses either brother as they fight over the pearl.


 * This is the most overtly cartoonish and comedic of the campaigns. It introduces a new threat, the Juggernaut, a large-sized neutral unit that rampages through the final map and cannot be controlled by the player.


 * Harvest of Horrors
 * Illustrations: Alex Nino; Voice-over: Steve Kramer
 * Stated Difficulty: Expert
 * In Harvest of Horrors, the monsters of the Kingdom of Nix, led by Redfang the Reaper, prey upon the villagers of Vanesci Hamlet. The mage Haradan the Hermit shows up to defend the folk. The player chooses either Haradan as they defend the village and take the fight to the enemy, or Redfang as they defend against invaders and pursue them to the village.


 * This campaign introduces new units on Redfang's side, with the Goblin, Harpy, and Enchanter. There is also a cauldron that converts captured creatures to mana.


 * Legendary/Random Campaign
 * Illustrations: Brian Menze; Voice-over: Mike Forest, Steve Kramer, Wendee Lee
 * In the Legendary Campaign, the player creates their own character (or accepts a randomized one with a selection of names) and begins a campaign across the whole land. The first map is chosen, the rest are random, and each is taken three times. Finally, the player character has conquered all the realms and rules as overlord, before going to the Hall of Legends to face the Immortals and become one.

Mechanics
In this real-time strategy game, players take the roles of mages who command armies of constructed golems, humanoids, and monsters and wage battles against AI opponents or each other in the multiplayer mode. Mission goals are simple: destroy a specific structure such as a keep or eliminate all enemy units and structures. While the gameplay is similar to popular contemporaneous games like Dune II, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and Command & Conquer (1995 video game), which defined the archetypal RTS game, Blood & Magic'' has a number of distinct differences and original features.

The basic units are called basal golems, which are created at a site called a bloodforge at a fixed location on the battle-map. They fight, generate mana when idle in the form of obelisks (transferred in bursts of ten points, unless ordered to earlier), and can be transformed into defensive walls or into more advanced and specialized units. In order to transform basal golems into advanced units, the player needs to create a sacred shrine on a mystical site by moving four basal golems onto a foundation (at set locations on the battle-map), whereupon they may be transformed into a building of the player's choice. The building chosen will affect the units available. Another basal golem placed adjacent to the sacred shrine can then be transformed into one of the available unit types.

The five types of sacred shrine are the Arbor Lodge, Barracks, Crypt, Runestone, and Temple. The Barracks produces typically strong and virtuous military units with power and stamina: Warrior, Ranger, and Paladin, as well as Goblin in specific levels. The Temple produces divine units that combine healing with damage: Cleric, Fury, and Paladin, as well as Enchanter in specific levels. The Arbor Lodge produces nature-focused units that are agile and perform best in wilderness terrain: Druid, Ranger, Griffon, and Nymph. The Runestone produces magical units of various capabilities: Wizard, Gnome, Stone Golem, and Wyrm. The Crypt produces sinister and undead units, they are tough but hard to heal: Zombie, Gargoyle, Ghoul, and Wraith, as well as Harpy in specific levels.

The game has two abstract resources. The first is the traditional mana points system, which is generated by the bloodforges and idle basal golems, found through magic items, and, in certain maps, obtained by disposing of enemy units in a cauldron. Mana points are used to upgrade units, use magical effects, and construct buildings. With nothing to mine or harvest, this simplifies resource collection. The other resource is experience points, which are acquired through game play by creating and transforming basal golems, building and destroying structures, using magic, and killing enemy units. It is used to conduct research unlocking new advanced unit types.

There are also various items to find and collect. These can aid travel over different types of terrain or produce special effects. Individual units can carry these and use their powers or benefit from their effects, and drop them when they die.

Gameplay
Compared to the classic RTSs of the time, Blood & Magic ' s unique features cause a subtly different style of play. Rather than erecting a structure wherever there is space, the fixed, predefined locations for bloodforges and mystical sites, which may be far apart on each map, force players to find, claim, and defend these strategic locations. Moreover, as locations for mystical sites are limited, players are restricted in what they can build and how many they can have. The player may be forced to choose between a Barracks or Crypt, which will affect the strengths of their army and their tactics.

While the mana generation system simplifies resource collection, reviewers and players have noted that it negatively affects game balance. Although mana is capped at 300 points, there are no limits on production bar its use and no limits on the number of basal golems. Stationary basal golems are easier to protect than the moving harvesters of other RTSs, and can defend themselves to a degree, so it is not necessary to protect supply chains. More mana allows more basal golems in turn leads to more mana. As a result, although mana production is slow and uncertain in the early part of each battle, exponential growth can occur in the later part, making things markedly easier for the player.

Fortunately, for the player but not for the challenge, the opponent AI does not take advantage of this exponential growth. It is about as capable as similar RTSs of the time: it can create and dispatch small attack forces, find and use items, and use powers, though its defenses are lacking. While it can be a threat early on, battles mostly come down to the player surviving, establishing themselves, and then mopping up the enemy. Problematic pathfinding also means groups of units can struggle to go around obstacles or through narrow spaces.

Some reviewers complain about a high degree of micromanagement needed for collection of mana—the player must find and click on each individual basal golem, then click a "transfer" button to obtain the mana it has generated. This is somewhat unnecessary, however: basal golems will transfer their mana automatically upon reaching ten points. It is only necessary to transfer sooner when the player is in need of more mana, when the basal golem is about to be slain, or when the player is bored, or maybe just meditating with the golems.

The pace of gameplay has been noted to be rather slow: units are slow to move, mana is slow to accumulate, and so on. While this may be comparable to earlier RTSs like Dune II and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, it is well behind that of Warcraft II.

Similarly, Blood & Magic ' s graphics look little better than those of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, released two years earlier, but much worse than those of Warcraft II, released a year earlier.

Setting
Blood & Magic uses the Dungeons & Dragons license and is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in a heretofore unknown region that would become known as the Utter East. Despite this, it has few connections to either D&D or the Realms, instead using largely generic fantasy elements with many deviations from conventional D&D, such as its medusa-like gorgons and goblin-like gnomes. In common with core D&D are its green regenerating trolls, the use of an alignment system in character creation for the Legendary Campaign (albeit restricted to lawful good), and a mind flayer face in character creation and randomized opponents. It seems likely the D&D license was only a late-stage or desultory introduction during development

It has a few more connections with the Realms beyond using the map, with references to the Great Sea and being set "before the Time of Troubles". Most explicit are the names and holy symbols of the gods Chauntea (though closer in concept to Silvanus), Lathander, Mystra, Myrkul, and Tempus for its sacred shrines and Well of Immortals in the Hall of Legends map, as well as a strong suggestion of Gond at the Hall of Wonder. Most obvious is the cover art: the painting "Deadlock" by Larry Elmore, which also graces The Bloodstone Lands and several other Realms works. However, even the generic European-style fantasy setting of Blood & Magic is quite out-of-place in a land tucked between the Shining Lands and Zakhara, where an Asian- or Arabian-style setting might be expected to better fit with the surrounding cultures and history.

Instead, Blood & Magic hinges on some quite novel concepts of faithful golems that meditate to produce mana and that can transform into structures and advanced creatures, and on mysterious bloodforges that create them from, as the name and advertising material suggest, fire, blood, and magic, utterly unlike the stock fantasy concepts used in Warcraft at the time. The final campaign pits the player against mysterious Immortals, who may or may not be the abovenamed gods. But these interesting ideas are barely hinted at in game materials.

In 1998, the Utter East was developed further, with the novels of the Double Diamond Triangle Saga and Faces of Deception and the Realms of Mystery short story "Darkly, Through a Glass of Ale" all published in that year and set in and around the Utter East. These all made efforts to adapt details from the Blood & Magic game and to incorporate South Asian and more fantastical elements so it better suited the area. Copies of parts of the Double Diamond Triangle Saga were even included in later releases of Blood & Magic to provide background material. In the years after, the area would be forgotten and then perennially recalled by fans, who'd speculate on its concepts and develop various fanon theories.

Curiously, the Eberron Campaign Setting, debuted in 2004, is based on five kingdoms that fought a long and devastating war, with one side fielding armies of undead and all sides using manufactured armies of warforged, golem warriors made using legendary creation forges. There are also artificers and a goblin kingdom. It all sounds a bit familiar.

Reception
Reviews of Blood & Magic were moderate, noting some features and criticizing some flaws and its general mediocrity.

Trent Ward of Gamespot on November 7, 1996, noted "well balanced and challenging" maps, "interesting and varied" units", strong character design", and a "pleasant soundtrack" and "superb sound effects", but also criticized the micromanagement, slow pace, "irritating" AI, and "mediocre" graphics. It concluded "Blood & Magic's basic premise is entertaining enough that die-hard strategy fanatics may be able to overlook its interface problems.", gave a score of Fair, 6.5/10. Player ratings are slightly more generous, averaging at 7.1/10.

Andy Butcher in Arcane magazine #15 wrote that it was easy to pick up and had enough variety in units and battles to keep playing for a while, and called it a simplified version of Warcraft II, but not as involving or as fun. He concluded "Blood & Magic does what it does in an effective and playable manner, but it simply doesn't offer enough to be a great game. There's nothing really wrong with it, but there's nothing that makes it stand out, either." with a rating of 6/10.

The newspaper The Herald-News on April 12, 1997, had a largely positive review, calling the game "habit-forming" and noting the variety or units and terrains as its strengths and its enemy AI and extra clicks for resource management as its weaknesses. The Buffalo News on July 22, 1997, described the storyline as "deep" and gave it a C rating.

It was described by RPG historian Michael J. Tresca as "in essence, Magic: The Gathering in computer game format."

In Gamespy's "A History of D&D Video Games" by Allen Rausch in 2004, Blood & Magic was counted amongst the "truly atrocious D&D games" that followed SSI. Rausch said Interplay "didn't distinguish itself straight out of the gate" and that Blood & Magic "wasn't the worst" RTS and that " it certainly proceeded from a good idea", but criticized the resource model and "remarkably slow" pace, concluding "It didn't take long before gamers started to realize that—even as the RTS genre was exploding—there was nothing here that should drag them away from Warcraft II or Red Alert.

Characters

 * Player/Computer Characters:
 * Aelric the Avenger • Bryan the Bold • Garrulos the Occasionally Good • Haradan the Hermit • Lady of Tides • Lord of Flame • Lord of Lands • Rathgar the Raider • Redfang the Reaper • Roxanna of Edenvale • Tartyron • Wormskull the Artificer
 * Randomized Computer Characters:
 * Galen Addakal • Brigitte Bannal • Gim Blacktongue • Wyrin Bloodclaw • Hjerik Broadkin • Moria Chantel • Kala Danirith • Anson Darkeye • Deliah Deguerre • Madja Djiid • Drago Dreadloch • Illnar Dreth • Turik Dumark • Wurt Dumire • Patric Fulgirth • Gareth Gimorrin • Fegg Gnash • Jesse Hearthe • Hariah Highkin • Ebon Lefash • Shari Lightfoot • Adan Longstride • Niro Longtooth • Dawn MacDare • Moro Mitedigger • Eldura Moreen • Sean Mulhaven • Shandra Mystahr • Korr Odahn • Venar Orknal • Stivanu Pantel • Raven Remahr • Tyranis Shagal • Saja Stillwater • Ibin Stormrider • Dumar Sturmarik • Timmis Taern • Darah Thorne • Amber Vikdotter • Willem Warblade • Wulfgang Warts • Olgala Zug •
 * Other Characters:
 * Connor the Clever • Grubkern • King of Doegan • King of Edenvale • Princess of Doegan


 * Baykon the Bard • the Epic Urus • Grey Shian • Haliph Axe • Pavisi the Prophet • Tok Ville the Traveler • Great Mage (Bloodforge)

Creatures

 * Basal Golem Forms:
 * Basal golem: cleric • druid • enchanter • fury • ghoul • gnome • goblin • griffin • harpy • nymph • paladin • ranger • stone golem • warrior • wizard • wraith • wyrm • zombie
 * Other Creatures:
 * brigand • gorgon (Utter East) • guardian (Hall of Legends) • Juggernaut (Wormskull) • peasant • roc • snapping turtle • troll • wolf

Locations

 * Buildings & Sites: Edenvale Castle • Hall of Legends • Hall of Wonder • High Cradle Keep • Old Stone Keep • Puzzle Palace
 * Settlements: Doegan Capital • Vanesci Hamlet
 * Mountains: Forbidden Plateau • Web Mountains • Wu Pi Te Shao Mountains • Yehimal Mountains
 * Wilderness: Herne's Wood • Mines of Mystery • Phantom Pass • Sempadan Forest • Serpent Valley
 * Realms: Doegan • Edenvale • Kingdom of Nix • Konigheim • Realm of Lands • Realm of Fire • Realm of Tides
 * Regions: Utter East • Great Sea

Organizations

 * Circle of Order

Magic

 * Powers: mana
 * Sites: bloodforge • mystical site • (Arbor Lodge • Barracks • Crypt • Runestone • Temple)
 * Items: berserker brew • boar burger • bog boots • daemon's bane • drift disc • frost cape • healing salve • mana orb • might mantle • map • mason mix • Pearl of Power • sacred urn • shrub sprite • storm bracers • teleport tome • trailfinder • verdant shield • virtue veil • weird wand

Faiths

 * Deities: Chauntea • Immortals • Lathander • Mystra • Myrkul • Tempus

Gallery
Main: Images from Blood & Magic

Game Credits
From the Blood & Magic game manual. This game is dedicated to the memory of Peter Ledger
 * Head Honcho: Brian Fargo
 * Big Cheese: Phil Adam
 * Producer: William Church
 * Assistant Producer: Christopher M. Benson
 * Art Consultant: Todd J. Camasta
 * MAC Consultant: Bill Dugan
 * TSR Foreman: Feargus Urquhart
 * Lead Marketer: Craig Owens
 * Lead Public Relations: Genevieve Waldman
 * Story Prologue Writer: Zeb Cooke
 * Art Director: David Gaines
 * Documentation Designer: Patrizia Scharli
 * Cover artwork based on painting "Deadlock" by: Larry Elmore
 * Localisation Manager: Julian Ridley
 * Traffic Manager: Bill Hamelin
 * Additional Translation: Gary Burke, Sylvie Nguyen
 * Audio Translation: Charles Deenen
 * Music Director: Brian Luzietti
 * Audio Technician: Craig Duman
 * Music Composer and FM Translation: Rick Jackson, Ronald Valdez
 * Sound Effects Composer: Gregory R. Allen
 * Voice Processing: Sergio A. Bustamante II
 * Director of QA: Chad Allison, Jim Boone
 * Assistant Directors of QA: Marvic Ambata, Ronald Hodge, Jason L. Nordgren, Colin Totman, Darren L. Monahan
 * Lead Testers: Erick Lujan, Matthew Golembiewski, Douglas W. Avery, Steve Baldoni, Richard Barker, Jeremy S. Barnes, Greg Baumeister, Evan Chantland, Casey Fawcett, Bill Field, David Hendee, Greg Hersch, Rod Hodge, Darrell Jones, Chris Keenan, Amy Mitchell, Matthew Murakami, Glenn Murray, David Gene Oh, Stephas Reed, Usana Shaddy, Kyle Shubel, Shelby Strategier, Anthony Taylor, Kaycee Vardeman, Steve Victory
 * Director of Compatability: John Werner
 * Compatability Technicians: Marc Duraan, Dan Forsyth, Phuong Nguyen, Aaron Olaiz, Jack Parker, Derek Gibbs, Marc Duran
 * Game Designer, Project Manager, Art Director, Lead Writer: Vasken N. Sayre
 * Lead Programmer (Tigre Game Engine): John Hamilton, Vangelis Van Dempsey
 * Applications Programmer (Cinematics and Support Screens): Kevin Sherrill
 * Character and Environment Animator, Opening Cartoon Designer and Animator: Tramell Ray Isaac
 * Inset and Portrait Artist, Map Designer and Artist: Brian Menze
 * Map Designer and Artist: Jana Darkoski
 * Map Designer and Artist, Campaign Portrait Artist: Leigh Kellogg
 * Background Illustrator (Opening Cartoon): Tramell Ray Isaac
 * Background Illustrator (Tatyron Unbound, Matchmaker Mayhem, Nuts and Bolts): Maurice Morgan
 * Background Illustrator (Howl of Vengence): Peter Ledger
 * Background Illustrator (Harvest of Horrors): Alex Nino
 * Background Illustrator (Nuts and Bolts), Computer Artist (all stories): Brian Menze
 * Tigre Engine Programmers: Vangelis Van Dempsey, John Crane, John Hamilton, Brian K. Hughes, Chris Iden, Kimberly L. Bowdish, Kevin Sherrill, Russell Woods
 * Mac Programmers: John Crane, Kimberly L. Bowdish
 * Mac Artitis: Tramell Ray Isaac, Eric C. Heitman, Robert Collier, Deena Ellias, W. Bryan Ellis, Jay Christopher Esparza, Cheryl Loyd, Brian Menze, Ernst Shadday, Ila Shadday
 * Support Staff (Head Honcho): Chris Iden
 * Support Staff (Big Cheese): Marie Iden
 * Support Staff (Story Prologue Writer, Paycheck Fairy): Nancy Grimsley
 * Support Staff (Office Wrangler): Sonia Graves, Shelly Sischo
 * Support Staff (Assistant Wrangler): Rachel Ackerman
 * Support Staff (Paycheck Fairy): Donna Wyatt
 * Lead Music Composer, Sound Effects Composer: Ron Saltmarsh
 * Music Composer, Sound Effects Composer: Andy Warr
 * Cartoon Colorist Manager: Shaun Mitchell
 * Voice Performance (Main Game, Howl of Vengence, Tartyron Unbound, Legendary Campaign): Mike Forest
 * Voice Performance (Tutorial, Nuts and Bolts, Harvest of Horrors, Legendary Campaign): Steven M. Kramer
 * Voice Performance (Matchmaker Mayhem, Legendary Campaign): Wendee Lee
 * Voice Performance (Voice Director): Melodee M. Spevack
 * Voice Performance (Sound Technicians): Greg Gill, Randy Vandegrift
 * Voice Performance (Voiceworks Liason): Michael McConnohie
 * TSR (Head Honcho): James M. Ward
 * TSR (Forgotten Realms Manager): David Wise
 * TSR (Forgotten Realms Consultant): Julia Martin
 * Additional Graphics / Artwork (Matchmaker Mayhem): Daniel B. McMillan, Richard Morgan
 * TSR Lead: Mark O'Green
 * Additional Translations, German Version: JBI Localization; Los Angeles
 * Quality Assurance Technicians: Bill Delk, Aaron Meyers