Curse of the Azure Bonds - your experiences?

[Mark Hope]

Sixth thread of a series on the younger classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.

Curse of the Azure Bonds

Synopsis: Ambushed by powerful foes, the PCs awaken with strange magical tattoos on their arms. The trail to uncover their origin takes the PCs from the sewer hideout of the Fire Knives, to Zhentil Keep, to the ruins of Myth Drannor, and pits them against Red Wizards, warring factions of Zhentarim, and an avatar of the god Moander. If the heroes cannot lift the curse of the bonds, they are doomed to be pawns for some of the Forgotten Realms' most nefarious villains...

Did you Play or DM this adventure (or both, as some did)? What were your experiences? Did you complete it? What were the highlights for your group?

(With thanks and a tip of the hat to Quasqueton for his ground-breaking series of classic adventure discussions.)

 

[Tiberius]

I only played this in Gold Box form. I recall it being a lot of fun, though the copy protection wheel was irritating. Taught me a healthy respect for shambling mounds and bouncing lightning bolts, that game did.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

I only played this in Gold Box form.

Same here. It was my favorite of the Gold Box set - I thought it had the tightest story of any of them. I have been scared of Shambling Mounds ever since.

I must admit, I think the code wheel is the most unique copy protection I have ever seen. I've seen it hacked but it definately required work of the people who did it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I recall dying an awful lot during the Gold Box game.

Other than that, I never played the actual module. I did run its fellow Gold Box cohort, Pools of Radiance, in module form, though.

As for the Azure Bonds module, I always figured that my PCs at the time would rebel at waking up with mystic tattoos, immediately demanding saving throws and kvetching to no end.

 

[Shade]

I played the game and read the novel, but never tried the module.

It was a fun game, and I still try to use (bits of) Moander occasionally in my campaigns out of nostalgia.

 

[Rhun]

Had the module, which I found extremely useful for mining information. Never actually ran the module, though. Read the novel and played the Gold Box game too.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The computer game was a blast. I spent my first two-three quarters at college playing this and its sequel (Secret of the Silver Blades) at every opportunity.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Pure nonsense (eg. trolls on crocodiles swimming through dungeon) plus railroading.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I don't really have a very fond memory of this one. I remember we never finished it, but getting rid of the first few bonds was a hell of a lot of fun. Sorry, not much help... :\

 

[el-remmen]

I played it on my C64.