Dungeons and Dragons: The Importance of a Flexible DM

This past Friday, my husband and I ended up with much the same group we played with last week. Same DM, and 2 of the 4 other players were the same as well. Our group dynamic is one where we fight when we should negotiate, and negotiate when we should fight.

This week's particular module: DRAG 2-2 This Gathering Storm.

Our DM, fortunately, is one that is able to think on the fly, and adjust to our group's unique way of handling things. Something the folks at The Escapist agree with is that the DM should not be hard and fast to the module, and should not discourage the players from creating their own story.

When our group managed to start a brawl in a brothel (something not covered in the module at all) he was able to quickly match us punch for punch, and maintained balance by removing a different skirmish along the way. What ensued was a barrel of laughs, and a great deal of enjoyment as we were able to react to a situation in ways that our characters naturally would. Other DMs I've played with would have stuck to the script, and guided us back on track.

Ours, glory be, let us build our own story. He even let us burn down the ugly building.

Later, we were supposed to confront the pirates we suspected of heinous acts outright, causing them to be mistrustful of us, and against us in the upcoming battle.

We joined them instead. Rather than being outright distrustful, we skill-checked our way into the crew where we could gather more evidence in the fight to come.

Again, our DM was able to adjust and roll with the punches, allowing us to maintain control over our own story.

The result was the same as last week: we managed to build a story that was utterly unique to our group. This is the core of why I love tabletop gaming. Our little group (hopefully we'll get the same people next week) has become an inside joke. Our modules will never be handled the same way by anyone else. Every module I play with these people makes it harder and harder to imagine playing the same modules with a different group (and character). The stories we come up with are just too unique and too much fun to get the same result elsewhere.

Especially when too many DMs can't roll with the punches.