Followers in Chains of Bondage are the whole point. The stronghold, the resource runs, the expeditions into the ruins: all of it exists so that the people who chose to kneel in your dungeon can do so safely, and so that you can be worth kneeling to. Training and caring for followers is where the game asks the most of you, and where it gives the most back.
Every Follower Is a Person First
The game makes a deliberate design choice that new players sometimes miss: every follower you recruit is unique. Each one has their own personality and their own limits. There is no generic submissive unit to stamp out in batches, and the game rewards you for noticing. Before you plan anyone's training, watch them. Learn what kind of person they are, what they respond to, and where their boundaries sit. In any RPG built around companions, the difference between a good playthrough and a great one is attention, and here attention is also the respectful thing to do.
Consent Is the Foundation, Not a Footnote
Chains of Bondage is explicit about its frame: this is a consent-based fantasy in which submission is freely given, never taken. That framing is not a legal disclaimer bolted onto the front of the game. It is the logic the whole experience runs on, and it mirrors how real-world dynamics actually work:
- Limits are limits. Each follower has boundaries, and a dominant worth the title treats them as fixed terrain, not as obstacles to wear down.
- Willingness is the reward. Service given freely means something. That is the fantasy the game is selling, and it only works if you hold up your end.
- Trust compounds. The dominant who consistently respects limits becomes someone worth submitting to, in the wasteland and everywhere else.
Training Followers in Chains of Bondage
Good training, in games and in life, is structured, incremental, and tailored to the individual. Start where the follower actually is rather than where you wish they were. Build a routine, keep your expectations consistent, and let progress accumulate in small steps instead of demanding transformation overnight. Because every follower has a distinct personality, the approach that works beautifully for one person may fall completely flat for another, so resist the urge to run everyone through the same program. The players who get the most out of this system are the ones who treat training as an ongoing conversation between two people, not a checklist executed on one of them.
Care Is Half the Job
The wasteland is a brutal place, and your followers live in it too. Ruling a dungeon stronghold means being responsible for the people inside it: their safety, their needs, their place in the life of the base. Management sims teach this lesson over and over: neglected people underperform, and people who are looked after give you their best. In a consent-framed BDSM setting the lesson lands even harder, because care after intensity is part of the practice itself. Make caring for your followers a habit, not a response to problems. It is what a good dominant does, and the stronghold you get in return is stronger for it.
Match People to Roles, Not Roles to People
As your stronghold grows, you will need your followers doing many different things. Fight the temptation to assign whoever is available to whatever is open. You know these people now, or you should: their personalities, their limits, what they take pride in. Put them where those traits shine. A follower in the right role serves better, lives better, and reinforces the trust the whole dungeon is built on. If you enjoy this kind of dynamic with real people on the other end, our multiplayer social experience Bondage Cafe explores Domme and sub roleplay in a shared virtual dungeon, with the same consent-first ethos.
The Long Game
Followers are not a system you solve in an afternoon. They are the long arc of Chains of Bondage, the thing that makes your stronghold feel inhabited instead of constructed. Take the training slowly, take the care seriously, and check the dev blog for changelogs as the game continues to evolve.
Earn the submission you are given and guard the people who give it. That is the entire game, and it is a better power fantasy than force ever was.