Alongside new and old allies, Parn saves his village from the ruthless attacks of a goblin tribe. Following their victory, Parn, his priest friend Etoh, the elf Deedlit, the dwarf Ghim, and the magician Slayn set out on a journey together to investigate the evil that has started to haunt the island of Lodoss. The party engages suspicious demonic creatures but gets arrested by the soldiers of a fortified city. Although Parn and his friends are quickly released, they cannot stop Ashram—a powerful warrior tasked by the rogue hero Beld to subjugate Lodoss—from conquering the city and murdering its beloved captain.

Ashamed by his own weakness, Parn swears an oath to surpass Ashram. However, hiding behind Beld's political ambitions, the witch Karla seems to have set darker plans into motion, and Parn will have to enlist additional help to stop a major catastrophe from destroying Lodoss and everything he holds dear.

Lodoss-tou Senki was released on DVD in six volumes by Victor Entertainment on September 21, 2006. In commemoration of the OVA's 25th and 30th anniversaries, Kadokawa published a Blu-ray remastered version as a special edition on November 29, 2013, and as a standard edition on August 24, 2018.

In North America, the anime was released on DVD in a two-disc set as Records of Lodoss War by Central Park Media on September 2, 1998. The company made available a remastered version on July 9, 2002. After obtaining the licensing rights, Funimation released a six-disc box set containing Lodoss-tou Senki on Blu-ray and its succeeding TV series, Lodoss-tou Senki: Eiyuu Kishi Den, on DVD on August 6, 2019.

Episodes 1 to 8 adapt the first volume of the light novel, while the last five episodes loosely adapt the third and fourth volumes.