Lords of Magic: Special Edition

Last updated: January 10, 2026

Overview

Lords of Magic: Special Edition is a fantasy strategy game that combines turn-based exploration with real-time combat and resource management, set in the war-torn world of Urak.¹ Released in September 1998 as an enhanced version of the original Lords of Magic (December 1997), the Special Edition addresses numerous bugs and shortcomings while adding substantial new content including the Legends of Urak Quest Pack, a lord editor, map editor, 8 new buildings, 17 new monsters, and 5 new storylines based on legendary characters.² The game was developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line, drawing comparisons to both Heroes of Might and Magic and Lords of the Realm as a “fine mix of the best qualities from both.”³

The game tasks players with defeating Balkoth, Lord of Death, who has unleashed a nightmare of war and terrorism across Urak after a thousand years of peace.⁴ Players can choose from eight different faiths—Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water—each with distinct strengths, weaknesses, and over 160 different spells and 90 artifacts to discover.⁵ Chris Beatrice, general manager of Impressions, declared that “Lords of Magic Special Edition is the game we always wanted to make. The game ties together all of the rich diverse elements that make up classic high fantasy and weaves from them a wonderful, different story every time you play.”⁶

Game Info

Developer: Impressions Games¹ Designer: Jeffrey Fiske, Gregor Koomey, Steven Serafino⁵ Publisher: Sierra On-Line¹ Engine: GameScript (PostScript-based)⁷ Platforms: Windows¹ Release Year: 1998 Series: Lords Series Protagonist: Player-created Lord Sierra Lineage: Impressions Games

Story Summary

In the fantasy world known as Urak, supporters of eight different religions once coexisted in relative peace for a thousand years.⁵ This era of tranquility was shattered when forces of darkness, led by the evil sorcerer Balkoth, unleashed a devastating campaign of war and terrorism that destroyed the people and laid waste to the land.⁴ Once magnificent cities now lie in ruin, and the Great Temples devoted to learning have been overrun by Balkoth’s worshippers.⁸

The people of Urak cry out for a savior—a champion to drive away the forces of evil and restore peace to their shattered world.⁹ Players assume this role, choosing a character and a religion, training heroes, and building armies to crush Balkoth and his Death cult while managing the cities and resources that support their forces in the field.² The main goal of the game is to defeat Balkoth, Lord of Death, by any means necessary, whether through military conquest, diplomatic maneuvering, or strategic alliance.⁵

After completing the game once by defeating Balkoth, players unlock a new campaign option allowing them to begin a new game as Balkoth himself, with the goal of conquering all of Urak.⁵ The Legends of Urak Quest Pack included in the Special Edition offers five additional storylines based on legendary characters including Merlin, Beowulf, and Siegfried, expanding the narrative possibilities of the base game.⁸

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Lords of Magic: Special Edition is described as a “hybrid RPG/Strategy game” that combines multiple gameplay systems.¹⁰ The game operates on two distinct levels: a turn-based strategic map where players maneuver armies and manage resources, and real-time tactical combat when forces engage the enemy.¹ The interface requires significant learning investment—as one review noted, “Lords of Magic is complex, and attempting to play without reading the 100 pages of instructions will result in a big headache.”¹¹

The game controls primarily via mouse and keyboard, with the strategic layer featuring a bird’s-eye and isometric perspective.¹² Combat transitions to real-time battles where players can control individual units, though the interface received criticism for being “awkward” and making it difficult to target enemy units in close quarters.¹³ One notable technical limitation is that the game cannot run in any resolution other than 640x480, nor can it be windowed.⁷

Structure and Progression

Players begin by selecting one of eight faiths (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Life, Death, Order, or Chaos) and choosing their Lord type from three classes: Warrior, Mage, or Thief.¹⁴ Each faith has distinct characteristics, with unique military units, magical creatures, spells, and strategic advantages that fundamentally alter the gameplay experience.⁵

The game features extensive character progression with different maximum experience levels for different unit types:¹⁰

• Military Units: Maximum level 5
• Knights: Maximum level 6
• Champions: Maximum level 10
• Lords: Maximum level 12
• Magical Creatures: Maximum level 15

Armies consist of three groups, with each group limited to one Champion and three Units.¹⁰ Legendary Creatures represent the most powerful summons but can only be called forth once per game, adding strategic weight to their deployment.¹⁰

The Legends of Urak Quests

The Special Edition includes five bonus quest-type games with varying difficulties:¹⁵

• Scepter of the Lich (Expert difficulty)
• Dragon’s Hoard (Medium difficulty)
• The Eternal Flame (Medium difficulty)
• The Holy Grail (Medium-Hard difficulty)
• Siegfried and Brunhilde (Medium difficulty)

Estimated completion times range from 4 to over 50 hours depending on the quest and player skill.¹⁵

Puzzles and Mechanics

Resource management forms a core gameplay pillar, with players balancing gold, ale, and crystals to maintain their empire and armies.¹⁶ The diplomacy system allows players to forge alliances, negotiate with other faiths, or pursue conquest—“You can be a peacemaker, warmonger, backstabber, or whatever you like to be called.”¹⁷

Building management occurs across 8 distinct capitals that players vie to control through conquest or allegiance.⁸ Over 80 different unit types populate the battlefield, providing substantial variety in army composition and tactical options.¹¹ The game features over 160 different spells and 90 different artifacts to discover and utilize.⁵

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Lords of Magic: Special Edition received mixed to positive reviews, with critics acknowledging its ambitious scope while noting persistent technical issues. PC Gamer Online awarded the game 82%, with reviewer Keith Sullivan praising its “great strategic depth; well-designed units; strong AI; epic scope” while criticizing the “awkward combat system” and “interface problems.”¹⁸ Sullivan concluded that “Lords of Magic is a deep, fun game; it just needs some tweaking to be really great.”¹⁸

GameSpot gave the Special Edition 7/10, with Michael E. Ryan noting that “The Special Edition corrects a number of flaws and adds several new features but somehow ends up being only a tiny bit more appealing than its predecessor.”¹³ The original release had received a lower 6.3/10 from GameSpot, with the reviewer lamenting that “Lords of Magic seems like the perfect strategy game… Unfortunately, LOM falls far short of its potential.”¹⁹

PC Gamer UK was notably less impressed, awarding only 56% and declaring it “the most clumsy and out-dated game I’ve seen for years.”²⁰ The reviewer criticized the design philosophy: “you do not make a good game by pulling a hundred half-baked ideas out of the unoriginality hat and then bouncing them all off some mad kind of wall.”²⁰

GameCenter delivered a harsh 4/10, with Hugh Falk noting that “Lords of Magic is riddled with bugs, and the real tragedy is that my hypothetical box cover would have suited its contents more accurately.”²¹ CD Magazine’s Tim Royal offered a more nuanced take, describing the experience poetically: “Lords of Magic smells, acts, and cries like a muconium drenched infant, but its baby blue eyes put a tractor beam lock onto your soul, screaming ‘Keep me!‘”²²

Computer Games Magazine awarded 4/5 stars.²³ Electric Playground gave 6.5/10.²³ Games First! awarded 4/5.²³ Game Revolution assigned a B+ grade, comparing it favorably to “a Warcraft and Ultima fruit-roll-up!”¹¹

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospectives have generally been kinder to Lords of Magic: Special Edition. One reviewer declared it “one of the best strategy games ever made” and argued it “more so than G.O.D.’s overhyped Age of Wonder, deserves to be considered the true spiritual sequel to SimTex’s acclaimed Master of Magic.”²⁴ Games Domain praised its atmosphere: “LOM:SE is lush with atmosphere. The strategic component, where you will maneuver all your armies and characters in a turn-based environment, is beautiful.”²⁴ They concluded it was “the best computer implementation I’ve yet seen of pencil-and-paper fantasy campaigning for one, with all the trimmings.”²⁴

Steam user reviews are “Very Positive” at 92% approval.⁹ GOG.com users rate it 4.2/5 based on 98 reviews.³ However, some modern players find it dated—one Steam reviewer noted: “It might be a great game in 1997 but it is at best mediocre in 2025.”²⁵ Another defended it: “OG Sierra development at it’s finest. Just remember the game is almost 30 yrs old, so it’s not a modern interface, and there is no hand-holding.”²⁵

Aggregate Scores:

• GameRankings (Original): 76.50% (4 reviews)²⁶
• GameRankings (Special Edition): 73.75%²³
• MobyGames: 77% critics aggregate²⁷
• Steam: Very Positive (92%)⁹
• GOG.com: 4.2/5 (98 reviews)³
• My Abandonware: 4.43/5 (7 votes)²⁴

Development

Origins

The design of Lords of Magic drew inspiration from classic fantasy literature and successful strategy games. According to the Designer’s Notes in the game manual, “When we first started planning a fantasy strategy game, our initial investigations led back to Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy.”²⁰ The game was conceived as a combination of elements from two successful Impressions titles—Lords of the Realm II and the gameplay style of Heroes of Might and Magic II.⁵

Impressions Games, described as “a small part of the Sierra family,” developed the game under the leadership of Chris Beatrice as creative director.¹⁸ The team aimed to create an experience that blended classic fantasy role-playing with real-time strategy combat, offering players the ability to develop characters as warriors, mages, or thieves while managing an empire.⁸

Production

The original Lords of Magic shipped in December 1997 but suffered from a “frustrating amount of bugs and unfulfilled promises” that plagued the initial release.²⁴ CD Magazine’s review noted the game “shows signs of being delivered into the cuddling arms of gamers well short of its due date,” describing numerous technical issues including disappearing hired champions, crashes from the high-level zoom feature, and units getting caught in “endless decision loops.”²²

Sierra responded with multiple patches, culminating in the Special Edition release in September 1998 which incorporated all updates and patches along with substantial new content.⁶ The Special Edition was announced with an estimated retail price of $39.95,withexistingLordsofMagicownerseligiblefora$20 rebate.⁶ New features included the Legends of Urak Quest Pack, improved AI, a map editor, custom maps, eight new magical creatures, 17 new wandering monsters, and new buildings, artifacts, and spells.⁶

Development Credits:²⁷

• Creative Director: Chris Beatrice
• Designers: Jeffrey Fiske, Gregor Koomey, Steven Serafino
• Composer: Keith Zizza
• Total Credited Team Members: 59

Technical Achievements

The game engine, called GameScript, is based upon PostScript language level 3—“the language used by Adobe Inc. for their .ps files. It is a stack-oriented language.”⁷ Community investigation revealed the engine contains 1802 hard-coded procedures and, intriguingly, uses Blizzard’s dynamic link libraries (DLLs), with references to battle.net despite the game having no TCP/IP multiplayer support.⁷

The modding community discovered “there is enough customization out there to make total conversions out of Lords of Magic,” though special building effects remain hard-coded in the executable and are not modifiable through scripts.⁷ A hidden script window/console is accessible with the tilde (~) key, revealing the technical foundation of the game’s systems.⁷

Technical Specifications

Minimum Requirements:¹⁸

• OS: Windows 95/98
• Processor: Pentium 75-100 MHz
• RAM: 16 MB
• Storage: 135-287 MB
• Graphics: SVGA supporting 32k colors at 640x480
• CD-ROM: 2X speed
• Sound: Windows-supported sound card

Recommended Requirements:¹⁸

• Processor: Pentium 166 MHz
• RAM: 32 MB
• Sound Card: Supported model

Modern Digital Requirements (Steam/GOG):⁹

• OS: Windows Vista/7/8/10/11
• Processor: 1.8 GHz
• RAM: 512 MB - 1 GB
• Graphics: DirectX 7/9 compatible
• Storage: 600 MB

Cut Content

No specific cut content has been documented in available sources.

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
1.0	December 2, 1997	Windows	Original release (NA)5
1.02	Early 1998	Windows	First major patch19
1.03	1998	Windows	Update28
2.0	1998	Windows	Patch28
2.0a	1998	Windows	Final original version patch12
3.01	September 15, 1998	Windows	Special Edition release28
3.02 Build 0014.3	March 11, 2007	Windows	Unofficial community patch by ascension647

GOG/Steam Digital Versions:²⁹

• GOG Release: July 23, 2009
• Steam Release: December 3, 2015
• Current GOG Version: v3.01, 552.6 MB (English), 537.9 MB (French)

Technical Issues

The original release was notoriously buggy. Documented issues included:²²

• Hired champions disappearing on occasion
• High-level zoom feature crashing consistently
• Lengthy loading times between turns (several seconds to several minutes)
• Highlighted creatures failing to un-highlight
• Units getting caught in endless decision loops

The Special Edition addressed many issues but introduced new problems:¹³

• Marauding parties appearing at alarming rates
• Units standing idle after killing initial targets in real-time combat
• Troops getting hung up on scenery
• Difficulty targeting enemy units in close quarters
• Long recovery times for wounded troops
• AI opponents beginning with superior armies, gold, crystals, and ale
• When defeating an enemy lord, vast armies pouring into player’s lands

The community-created 3.02 patch addresses additional issues including:⁷

• Frequent multiplayer desynchronization when AI players parley with humans
• Rapidly pausing/unpausing combat causing desynchronization
• 90 and 270 degree map rotations causing graphical errors and crashes
• Cathedral not allowing Paladins above Level 11 to benefit from level boost
• Pegasus Rider bug in patch 3.01 causing high-level units to spawn in low-level encounters¹²

Easter Eggs and Trivia

Cheat Codes:³⁰ Press Ctrl+C before entering codes:

• zilla – Free dragons
• bingo – Lots of cash (200 more gold, ale, and crystals)
• go far – 1000 movement
• all spells – All spells and mana

Hidden Content:⁷

• Hidden script window/console accessible with tilde (~) key
• cheatbalkoth command allows playing as Death without killing Balkoth

Secret Character:³⁰ Select Legends of Urak from the starting screen. Click the very center dot in the middle of the circle of life to unlock a new playable character.

Development Trivia:

• The game uses Blizzard’s DLLs with references to battle.net despite no TCP/IP support⁷
• WANDERING_MONSTER_PLAYER is defined as player 15 in the game’s code⁷
• The GameScript engine contains 1802 hard-coded procedures⁷

Soundtrack

The game’s music was composed by Keith Zizza, who created distinct themes for each of the eight faiths.³¹ The soundtrack was later released as a free download from the Impressions Games website in MP3 format (128 kbps, 44100 Hz).³¹

Soundtrack Track Listing:³¹

Track	Title	Duration
1	Air	4:16
2	Chaos	4:02
3	Death	4:17
4	Earth	4:22
5	Fire	4:29
6	Life	3:58
7	Order	4:08
8	Water	4:42

The music spans Electronic, Classical, and Soundtrack genres with an Ambient style.³¹ Community members have praised Zizza’s work: “Keith Zizza is the creator of these awesome works of music… He is partially responsible for the atmosphere which Lords of Magic created.”³² Zizza has continued to release new Lords of Magic-esque music for the game’s dedicated fanbase.³³

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

Specific sales figures are not available in the research data. The game was released at an estimated retail price of $39.95,withexistingLordsofMagicownerseligiblefora$20 rebate when purchasing the Special Edition.⁶ The game has remained commercially available through digital distribution, first on GOG.com (July 23, 2009) and later on Steam (December 3, 2015), currently priced at €4.99.³⁴

Collections

The Special Edition itself functions as a compilation, bundling:⁸

• The original Lords of Magic game
• The Legends of Urak Quest Pack expansion
• Lord Editor
• Map Editor
• Additional content (8 new buildings, 17 new monsters, 5 new storylines)

The US retail release included a Caesar III Demo disc.³⁵

Fan Projects

The modding community has remained active despite the game’s age. Notable fan projects include:⁷

• Unofficial 3.02 Patch (Build 0014.3) by ascension64 – Comprehensive community patch fixing numerous bugs and adding features
• LoMSE Update Mod by Meogron (2024) – “Fixes lot of errors with artifacts, spell sounds and makes some unit, artifact and minor spell balances”³⁶

A dedicated subreddit (r/LoMSE) maintains an active community with discussions of game mechanics, modding, and ongoing player engagement.³⁷

Related Publications

• Game Manual: 100+ pages of instructions, essential for learning the game’s complex mechanics¹¹
• Quick Reference Card: Included with retail copies³⁵
• Poster: Listed as included content (often missing from used copies)³⁵

Critical Perspective

Lords of Magic: Special Edition occupies a curious position in strategy gaming history. Despite its troubled launch and mixed critical reception, the game has developed a devoted cult following that considers it among the finest fantasy strategy games ever made.²⁴ Its attempted synthesis of turn-based empire management and real-time tactical combat predated similar hybrids, though critics argued the integration felt “disjointed.”²⁷

The game’s comparison to Master of Magic is particularly telling—both games attempted to create deep fantasy strategy experiences with multiple playable factions and extensive magical systems. Where Master of Magic succeeded and became legendary, Lords of Magic stumbled on execution while arguably reaching for even greater ambitions. As one retrospective noted, “Lords of Magic has exceptional play value for gamers willing to dig into it and work past some the game’s quirks.”¹⁸

The game’s ongoing availability on modern digital platforms and the active modding community suggest it fills a niche that few other games have successfully occupied. Steam discussions reveal players still hoping for a sequel: “The world is too rich not to revisit… A worthy successor would be greatly appreciated! But it would be very important that a sequel would not cut out complexity nor style.”³⁸

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• GOG.com
• Steam

Download / Preservation

• Internet Archive (1998 Special Edition)
• Internet Archive (2000 Rerelease)

Patches & Mods

• Unofficial 3.02 Patch
• ModDB – Update Mod

Series Continuity

Lords of Magic: Special Edition exists within Sierra’s broader strategy game portfolio through Impressions Games, which also developed the Lords of the Realm series. The game builds on the strategy template established by Lords of the Realm II while incorporating fantasy RPG elements.³⁹ The eight faiths and their distinct characteristics, combined with the procedurally-varied gameplay, ensured that “the game ties together all of the rich diverse elements that make up classic high fantasy and weaves from them a wonderful, different story every time you play.”⁶

No direct sequels were produced, though the franchise rights have been complicated by Sierra’s closure.³⁸ The game remains the sole entry in the Lords of Magic series, with its Special Edition serving as the definitive version incorporating all improvements and additional content.

• Previous: 1996 - Lords of the Realm II (spiritual predecessor by same developer)
• Next: None (final entry in series)

References

Footnotes

1. Amazon – Lords of Magic Special Edition – product description, developer, publisher, game features ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Internet Archive – Lords of Magic Special Edition – game description, included content, release date ↩ ↩²

3. GOG.com – Lords of Magic Special Edition – user ratings, system requirements, game description ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. GOG Unlocked – story setting description ↩ ↩²

5. Wikipedia – Lords of Magic – release dates, designers, faiths, spells, artifacts, gameplay mechanics ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

6. CD Magazine – Special Edition Announcement (Wayback Machine) – Chris Beatrice quote, pricing, features, release date ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Impressions Forums – Unofficial 3.02 Patch – engine details, technical information, bugs, easter eggs ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

8. Rebellion – Lords of Magic Special Edition – key features, included content, story setting ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

9. Steam Store – Lords of Magic Special Edition – user ratings, system requirements, release date ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. GameFAQs – Strategy Guide by Sahuagin – unit types, experience levels, army composition ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

11. Game Revolution – Lords of Magic Review – complexity quote, unit types, grade ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

12. PCGamingWiki – Lords of Magic – technical specifications, patches, bugs ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. GameSpot – Special Edition Review – score, bugs, critique ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. eBay Product Listing – ESRB rating, player count, control elements ↩

15. GameFAQs – Walkthrough by ShadowedDeath – quest names, difficulties, completion times ↩ ↩²

16. Steam Community Hub – resource management, cheat codes ↩

17. Game Revolution Review (Wayback Machine) – diplomacy quote, technical specs ↩

18. PC Gamer Online Review (Wayback Machine) – score, reviewer quotes, system requirements ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

19. GameSpot – Lords of Magic Original Review – original score, critique ↩ ↩²

20. PC Gamer UK Review (Wayback Machine) – score, reviewer quotes, design notes ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. GameCenter Review (Wayback Machine) – score, bugs quote ↩

22. CD Magazine Review (Wayback Machine) – bugs list, reviewer quote ↩ ↩² ↩³

23. GameRankings – Special Edition (Wayback Machine) – aggregate scores, individual publication scores ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

24. My Abandonware – Lords of Magic Special Edition – user ratings, Games Domain review quotes ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

25. Steam Community – User Reviews – modern user impressions ↩ ↩²

26. GameRankings – Original (Wayback Machine) – aggregate score ↩

27. MobyGames – Lords of Magic Special Edition – credits, aggregate score, user review ↩ ↩² ↩³

28. Sierra Help – Patches and Updates – version history, system requirements ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. GOG Database – digital release dates, installer sizes ↩

30. IGN Cheats – Lords of Magic Special Edition – cheat codes, hidden character ↩ ↩²

31. Discogs – Keith Zizza Lords of Magic Special Edition OST – track listing, audio specifications ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

32. Impressions Forums – Lords of Magic OST Thread – composer appreciation, audio format ↩

33. Reddit r/LoMSE – Keith Zizza New Music – ongoing composer involvement ↩

34. Steam Store Search – current pricing ↩

35. Sierra Chest – Box Contents – packaging info, included items ↩ ↩² ↩³

36. ModDB – LoMSE Update Mod – mod description, creator quote ↩

37. Reddit r/LoMSE Subreddit – community activity, gameplay discussions ↩

38. Steam Community Discussions – Sequel Thread – fan requests, rights complications ↩ ↩²

39. RAWG – Lords of Magic Special Edition – Lords of the Realm connection ↩