As the game progresses, many faithless marauding parties will attempt to disrupt the faith's economies and progress. Champions and Lords can be equipped with treasures found throughout dungeons or from other factions.
When beginning a battle, the gameplay switches to real-time. The overworld map gameplay is turn-based here, players manage cities and move their armies.
Throughout the game, players travel across the high-hantasy land of Urak (which is split into 8 distinct regions, one for each faith), building an army composed of archers, infantry, cavalry, and creatures. This results in a somewhat repetitive nature, counteracted somewhat by a supplied map editor. 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. The world is filled with wandering monsters and fixed buildings filled with monsters.
