Talk:Blood & Magic

This Game
I have to raise an issue with this game... When the game begins it shows the "TFR" logo but so far in the game as i am the names that i have seen are the land of "Duegan" whom was attacked by "Rathgar The Raider" who then has to battle "Aelric the Avenger" for the lands as a curse from the last king damned Rathgar as a ruler. The Princesses of the previous king finds Aelric and he swears to help her find revenge. The battles rage in the three main parts of Duegan: Duegan Capital Serpent vally and Old Stone keep! This campain is called "Howl of Vengeance".

Now the God Icons are the same as in "TFR" first we have a rose image that grants a temple that allows nature typ units (Abit unsure if it's Shella or Chauntea). Then we have a sword that's the battle temple (Barracks) so guessing that's Tempus. Then we have the Mirkul Symbol (Death) then we have the old Mystra Symbol (Magic) then we have one that looks like erm... Mist? It draws power from "Virtue" no idea what that is...

Now i havent found "Duegan" any where and the second capaign is in "Edenvale" and this i have seen some of and if needed i can provide some landscape maps of this area... So far i have some images of these like most of the units and buildings and there variations... Oh and new type of Golem: "Basial Golem" whom can with mana and a metapod can change to a another type of creature... like "Wyrm" or "Paladin" or "Ghoul" or even a green "Gnome".

So after something that even i think is a bunch of rambling text: Does this game have any links to any thing else? So I'll just put some of the names from the game: Duegan, Rathgar the Raider, Aelric the Avenger, Serpant Vally, Old Stone Keep, Edenvale, Roxxane of Edenvale, Bryan The bold, Herneswood.

Oh and i can post the images of the gods that i have no idea whom they are if any one is willing to help! Terrorblades - This is recorded live at  20:57, July 1, 2012 (UTC)


 * Ah, Blood & Magic, this takes me back. :D


 * It's actually set in the Utter East, a rather obscure region on the eastern side of the neck that joins Faerûn and Kara-Tur to Zakhara, and is a bit of a mish-mash of elements from all as well as it's own oddities and a strong (Asian) Indian flavour. I suspect the game was originally made independently of the Realms and only late in production was attached with a few references here and there, which makes it an awkward fit. The buildings are indeed marked with god's holy symbols; the Temple is that of Lathander. I assumed Chauntea for the Arbor Lodge.


 * If you want to explore it more, hunt down Faces of Deception, the Double Diamond Triangle Saga, and "Darkly, Through a Glass of Ale" in Realms of Mystery (1998 was a big year for the Utter East). Grand History of the Realms also gives the place a bit of history. These sources work a bit more to tie the Utter East into the rest of the setting, but in the process give different, conflicting depictions. The Utter East link gives some maps and a link to one of my own posts in this megathread on the WotC boards. We researched, discussed, hypothesised and homebrewed about the Utter East extensively there, some years ago. I played the game through and through in research.


 * I have a theory that the setting was the inspiration for Eberron: five kingdoms go to war with magical forges that produce golem warriors, armies of undead, artificers and magical technology. Compare the Juggernaut to the Warforged Titan for some close similarities.


 * I still have all my notes and images. One day, one day, I hope to work on the Utter East here and lay it all out in order. -- BadCatMan 01:16, July 2, 2012 (UTC)


 * Yay ^^! Hmm and there are the maps of the areas ^^! Are you sure that there is a Indian theme? To me it looks like stereotypic Swords and sorcery type things :S? Ohhh now i see the symbols ^^! Thanks! Btw It's nice that the game has different building types depending on the landskaping! Hmm i might read in to that some time Hmm... Is that the backstory for Eberron? I havent read any thing about eberron.... all i know is that they have a dragon flight simulator... That was sorta cool just would be cooler in TFR! I hope you have allot of fun with the edits ^^! Oh and if you want some more nostalgia: game Video Have Fun :3!  Terrorblades  - This is recorded live at  10:09, July 2, 2012 (UTC)


 * The Indian theme came in with Faces of Deception, which melded it better with Durpar to the north and southern Kara-Tur to the east. The Utter East was originally settled by the Mar, the Indian-like culture, and later colonised a bunch of Ffolk and Northmen from the Moonshaes of all things, which explains the more typical western fantasy elements seen in the game and other sources. The DDTS and "Darkly, Through a Glass of Ale" made it weirder: Doegan people have gills, Konigheimers have three eyes! :o
 * The game is very generic, but has some odd elements that fit the Indian-esque flavour better. Examine an Obelisk and you'll see it's a "meditating Basal Golem": golems meditating to produce mana and being reincarnated into living creatures is pretty cool idea that I don't think has been done before or since.
 * Yes, those are some of the key elements of the Eberron setting. There may be more similarities, but I haven't looked at the UE material recently. It's probably coincidence or me exaggerating, but it's an interesting quirk.
 * Thanks, I got the game from one of those abandonware sites. Those movies would have saved me a lot of effort pausing, print-screening and saving. :) -- BadCatMan 12:49, July 2, 2012 (UTC)


 * Hmm ok i haven't gotten to that campain yet... espasially as i know that i really should get finished with Eye of the beholder 1 so that i can get all that info out. Hmmm sounds really interesting... Wait what?! Gills?! Three eyes?!
 * I tought the same things generic but that extra flavor of the golem behavior made the game stand out and seam like it has it's really own sens of identity. On one hand i don't like the golem thing as it feels like i don't really master an army as much as a group of shape changers :S! On another hand it makes it really nice to make it open to the number of types of units that can unite under a banner. But i would love a new version of this game with updated speed graphics and game play and so forth. It would be really nice if you had more resources and maybe a "conversion" or "karma" meter so that you have to maybe make peasants to get more karma and it doesn't cost allot of "conversion" but when the farmer grows more crops to feed people you get more karma. And mana could be the resource that goes to all the different locations and you get more out of meditation... I don't know just a thought
 * Hmm yes it interesting hmmm...
 * You Welcome ^^! If you want to find a Manual i actually found one here: Under Documents Hehe i know that feeling I have taken allot of images of the TFR games! But the images from the game might be a bit more clear?  Terrorblades  - This is recorded live at  09:28, July 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Ok So i have finished the game... and the Legendary Campaign... And of course i had to do it with the Mind Flayer tihi ^^! But i want to know do you want to upload images for this game or should i? Have taken images of creatures and some of the videos... By the way, what in hell is it that makes the stupid Guardians appear all the time >:(! Sometimes my first Heal spell summons them! I get it if i abuse holy power or kill off allot of Basal Golems but sometimes the game just seam to want to summon them... damn it i want one! Terrorblades  - This is recorded live at  14:55, June 13, 2013 (UTC)


 * I still have a whole bunch of screenshots saved myself and plan to work on the Utter East one day. But now, we have very little information about the place on the wiki, so I don't think we need the images at this stage. We already have stacks we need to deal with.
 * IIRC, the Guardians spawn automatically in the final battle until you completely control the map. — BadCatMan (talk) 10:01, June 14, 2013 (UTC)


 * Ah ok, Then i shall wait. Ahh so that's it... I really really hated them >:(! Terrorblades  - This is recorded live at  17:36, June 14, 2013 (UTC)

Done!
And seven years later, I have finished! All Blood & Magic lore is on the wiki, along with the map and as many images as seem necessary, but I could do more on request and may have a few tweaks to make here and there.

I rewrote and expanded on the already-hefty text from Wikipedia and other sites, got a bit carried away, and ended up writing a fairly extensive article. Maybe it's too much, maybe it needs more in some areas, but I wanted to go all the way and see what a really completed Featured Source could be. Let me know if you have any changes and ideas. — BadCatMan (talk) 14:06, June 18, 2020 (UTC)
 * Great work. Articles like this are exactly what I mean when I talk about fully content-complete sources as I did here. These source articles (fully linked for all topics, and a plot overview) are the highest tier of excellence. ~ Possessed Priest (talk) 14:21, June 18, 2020 (UTC)
 * Secunded. I also really enjoy the light-hearted tone you have adopted e.g. here :-). Daranios (talk) 15:09, June 18, 2020 (UTC)

Review
Oh, and I wrote my own review, but decided against including it.


 * Finally, after playing it and thinking about it way too much, this editor summarizes Blood & Magic as an odd duck. It's set in a D&D world but uses mostly generic, unrelated fantasy elements while being based on something as weird as meditating, metamorphing golems. It's a traditional mid-90s fantasy RTS like Warcraft but with unique resource and building mechanics that force the player to focus on battle and controlling strategic locations rather than gold mining. It's exponentially imbalanced, yet fairly so to all sides. It's slow and clumsy to control and easy to get used to, the graphics are rough but fun, the missions are repetitive but always offers something different. The stories range from silly to dark, are lightweight, yet inevitable from a magical machine that creates free armies, so the storylines almost deconstruct themselves.


 * Standing amidst a host of similar RTSs, it's a very novel effort for the time and its low profile, but comes too late and with too many issues to compete, yet it's entertaining in its own right. When everyone wanted to be the next Dune II and Warcraft, this wanted to do something new and different, something it seems no RTS did for years. Ultimately, this game's weird, barely explored ideas and mechanics would tantalize players and fans far longer than it had any right to, and I've spent thirteen years exploring the Utter East because of it.


 * There's a parallel universe out there where this came out a year or two earlier, maybe better polished and without a needless D&D license drawing its effort, and was followed by a Blood & Magic 2 and Blood & Magic 3 and a World of Blood & Magic and a Blood & Magic movie... Well, maybe.

— BadCatMan (talk) 14:18, June 18, 2020 (UTC)