Kimberly Burgess

For the last several weeks I have been playing a D&D5E game under John Saye with 3 former strangers whom I now call friends. John has a quality I adore in game masters: The Ability to Roll with It. By that I mean he listens to his players, let's us try whatever we want, and adjusts on the fly to make the story work. He appreciates our preference for humor and to limit violence, and rolls with it. For example, I am playing a slightly less than sane gnome rogue. Sometimes I think I am a dwarf, other times a barbarian, sometimes a healer, and I'll act out and justify my actions, totally in character. John does not get upset, he genuinely is curious and let's me try stuff and live with the consequences. And sometimes, those consequences are fantastic! I have befriended lizard and frog people and attempted to diffuse every encounter with intelligent groups, while purposefully keeping the relevant stats controlling such actions low. The game has taken on a lighter tone with less violent consequences (still violent, but we try not to be murder hobos) and I think the story suits our group's party better. John rolled with us and the game has taken on a new life that works for us. He's great! John even makes death interesting. Tonight one of our party died, and she had a blast! One party member killed a baby dragon with a stick (quarterstaff), because he was drunk and forgot he had a better weapon! I was preaching medical science with bandages and alcohol, cleaning people with prestidigitation, and repairing their clothes with mending while the druid was actually healing! It was fun! That's how good John is, he took a tough fight and still let us have fun while balancing the tension, and we came away with stories to share! I look forward to gaming more with John Saye, and I thank him for helping 4 strangers become friends in the process!