Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Touc May 29, 2015 10:57:14	(Especially for old-school gamers), has anyone run a campaign based off the Curse of the Azure Bonds module?  I've contemplated where to take the current campaign, based off the Ruins of Adventure / Pool of Radiance adventures in the Phlan area, when we're done.  I'm always on the lookout for details to spice up matters, flesh out encounters, and beef up the storyline.
#2 Ralif_Redhammer May 29, 2015 11:58:19	If I recall correctly, I started to run the old module, but interest trailed off. The big problem was the tattoos and railroading in the beginning. The players did not like that at all - it probably would've gone over better with new characters, but with established ones, there was no small degree of complaint.
#3 Touc May 29, 2015 12:36:29	Yeah, it's the impetus. The module (and computer game) bludgeon you over the head (you either wake up and boom have the tattoos, or the DM gives you an impossible battle which players will sniff out as cheese).  Looking for an alternate beginning to reasonably bond them and make them care about removing them.    The other issue would be a character death and introducing a new character. Some events seem dependent on compulsion of the bonds.    For those unfamiliar with Azure Bonds, it was an immensely popular computer game, module, and book from the AD&D days where players travel the Dales to force those who branded them with mind-controlling tattoos to remove them. But, it began with a heavy amount of railroading. The players wake up with strange tattoos on their arms, or in the module they can get ambushed by a very un-winnable battle. The tattoos activate to force them into near-impossible saves to do bad things, such as attack a king.  There isn't a provision in the module or computer game to resolve matters except by taking an offer by the rogue's guild to take out one of the bond creators.  My players would probably be just as inclined to show the king's guards the unremovable magical tattoos and ask for help, given their prior prestige by being the (hopefully when we finish) saviors of Phlan.
#4 Ralif_Redhammer Jun 02, 2015 7:57:30	Hrm, so the question is, how to get them to want to get the tattoos? Maybe the tattoos are just the result of the characters getting blackout drunk and waking with the new ink. Or perhaps, rather than an unbeatable fight, they’re facing some monster that causes the tattoos to appear as a result of its attacks. That way they can still win the fight, and they’re stuck with the magic tattoos.   Or maybe they're magic tattoos that have benefits, like in the DMG, so that they'll want to get them? They just so happen to have a mind of their own, forcing the PCs to make checks to avoid doing what the tattoos want (rather than  the outright uncontrollable override of the module)?    As for the rogue’s guild offer, maybe it can be re-written so that it fits with wherever they go for help – so that whether it’s the king, a random sage or cleric, or the rogue’s guild.
#5 Blain1971 Jun 02, 2015 9:48:25	Touc wrote:
#6 Touc Jun 03, 2015 11:25:29	Think my gamers will be mature enough role players to bite at the hook, so if they wake up with vague memories of an attack, think we'll be all right. Not for all gamers.  Like the idea of the bonds have some positive effect.  Not sure what.  I've foreshadowed them in our Pool of Radiance campaign (disrupted a slaver ring where the Zhentarim were experimenting with largely defective versions of the bonds, they were temporary and only caused the wearers to go into severe stupors when a trigger was introduced, not what they intended).    Probably will use the "all roads lead to the same destination" route, though if there's any deaths caused by the party against the King, a trial in absentia will have them hanged unless they escape.   Any thoughts on the death of a party member and introducing a new character?  In theory, if all characters die off over time and are replaced, not much impetus. On the other hand, it's highly unlikely there's another bonded character who just happens to cross paths...
(Reply to #6) Blain1971	Touc wrote:
#8 CCS Jun 05, 2015 19:16:56	How about this for getting the tattoos onto them? Don't give them an unbeatable encounter, give them the exact oppisite! They get into a fight with a group of (?) that they can absolutely, and do, beat. As they loot the bodies they might notice that each bears glowing - though fading - tattoos. OK, so what.... Maybe that explains ACs that were 1 point higher than expected, above average HPs, etc.... The next morning? Everyone who looted the bodies wakes up with shiny new tattoos.
#9 Touc Jun 09, 2015 11:14:39	The players are specifically targeted with the bonds. Sure, the BBEG organizations could pick any commoner and (in a VERY expensive and difficult procedure) slap some bonds on them, but the party will be the "saviors" of Phlan (hopefully) by this time, a group that (presumably) has seen the Pool of Radiance and survived, defeating (we hope) Tyranthraxus.  They're hand-picked because they've got skills, and because Tyranthraxus (who likes to enslave things) likes irony.  The danger of a "destiny" module or campaign is that a character death really makes it hard to introduce a new character into the fray.  Any other character won't be a hero of Phlan and probably doesn't have any real excuse to be bonded by the same organizations.    Options? The PC was part of a "backup" group of bonded characters who escaped and has been tailing this group, seeing if they could find a way to take off their bonds, but fearing to get closer in case the controllers "forced" the party to hurt him.  (The bonds could be duplicates, or the bonds could be transferred upon death to another). The Tyranthraxus angle won't mean as much to this player... The PC has no bonds but knows previous wearers and has been following the group to offer his/her services in removing them, or is a reformed member of one of the organizations who is sympathetic to the party's cause.  Same as above issue.