Lords of Magic is a turn-based strategy Microsoft Windows game designed for Windows 95/98 by Sierra On-Line. The game was intended to combine elements of Heroes of Might and Magic II and Lords of the Realm II. The special edition also contains the Legends of Urak quest pack, a set of five individual quests that revolve around stories unrelated to the main plot of the game. Gameplay The world is filled with wandering monsters and fixed buildings filled with monsters. Lords of Magic is notably different from other strategy games in that it has only one map, with each faith starting at a different location. This results in a somewhat repetitive nature, counteracted somewhat by a supplied map editor. Throughout the game, players travel across the high-fantasy land of Urak (which is split into 8 distinct regions, one for each faith), building an army composed of archers, infantry, cavalry, and creatures. The overworld map gameplay is turn-based; here, players manage cities and move their armies. When beginning a battle, the gameplay switches to real-time. Champions and Lords can be equipped with treasures found throughout dungeons or from other factions. As the game progresses, many faithless marauding parties will attempt to disrupt the faith's economies and progress. There is also a loose diplomacy system that can be used to interact with other factions as well for trade or the exchange of research. The main goal of the game is to defeat Balkoth, Lord of Death, by any means necessary. After finishing the game once, players can begin a new game as Balkoth with the goal of conquering all of Urak. Lords are the avatar characters used by the player. They are like champions, but colored differently and have higher stats. When a lord dies, the faith is removed from play, unless the player has obtained an "heir". Heirs are obtained by befriending another faith, then liberating their great temple before they have, in which case the faith becomes the player's and their lord in turn becomes the heir. There are eight different factions: life, death, order, chaos, air, earth, fire, and water. Each faction represents their element with their own set of units, heroes and spells. The Heroes of the game consist of three different types which offer unique game play and tactics. They are Warrior, Thief and Mage. The Warrior is a close combat specialist who is best at leading