Monte Cook along with Keith Baker Are Teaching Classes at Dungeon Master Academy

Since 2018, Tabletop Vacations has been organizing immersive events where professional dungeon masters manage fantasy roleplaying games in ancient fortresses in Britain and at an American castle venue. The full-service getaways are widely appreciated among long-time dungeon masters who rarely get the chance to actually play themselves, and they often ask for tips from the pros on topics ranging from improvisation and puzzle design to managing conflicts at the table.

In response, the planners began developing a systematic approach to tackle these topics, which led to the founding of the Dungeon Master Academy. The first session is planned for the start of 2026 at an Atlanta campus.

“It's possible to view numerous digital guides on any topic and learn quite a lot, but the philosophy was that nothing truly replaces face-to-face interaction together with other dungeon masters, where real-time interaction with faculty instructors and your peers often in a similar position and seek to level up their game,” explained Jason Carl.

Workshop Options and Cost Levels

DMs can choose from tiers ranging from nearly a thousand dollars to $2.5K, based on the amount of contact they desire with the professionals. The base tier includes a choice of four workshops:

• Foundational Skills: Teaches the fundamentals of leading a game.
• Long-Term Game Planning: Is dedicated to designing extended campaigns.
• Universe Design: Highlights the development of worlds.
• Career Building: Tailored to dungeon masters who seek to understand more about the roleplaying business.

All workshops includes eight hours of instruction divided across a weekend.

“The classes are designed so that you depart having immediate practical outcomes, enhanced belief in your abilities, and a lot of usable tools,” Carl explained. “They’re not just lectures and they exceed pre-recorded material. These classes that you can participate in, gain knowledge from, and then return to your group the week after and put into practice in your local game.”

Professional Teachers

Most classes are led by a pair of experts. Universe creation is taught by Monte Cook and Keith Baker, together instructing the art of worldbuilding.

Career building presents multiple instructors, such as an author on gaming puzzles, Clint McElroy, and an early professional game master. The extra instructors is designed to deliver focused advice to students with particular aims.

“Some of them aim to start their own D&D actual play and share their stories with the world, several aim to release and create new material,” Carl said. “Some just want to ask, How do I get to be a DM at an event like a castle event? Which abilities that I need? Can anyone do it?”

Advanced Options

A fifteen hundred dollar gold tier includes access to a introductory event, a starter kit, and a brief one-on-one appointment with one of the faculty. This represents the debut of the program, though the team has previously run similar events during breaks between adventures at their immersive experiences.

“One could practically host an complete event just on office hours for professional dungeon masters,” Carl observed. “I'm not certain if that’s the optimal application of everybody’s time – I think the coursework and the practical exercises is highly beneficial – but I suspect it’s going to be among the most sought-after parts of the program.”

The $2,500 premium option offers an 60-minute private session and the possibility to manage an adventure for five players plus a teacher, who will then give comments and guidance.

“The aim is for the teacher to evaluate any element is concerned with: I struggle with spontaneous decisions or I encounter obstacles in certain battle scenarios. Could I demonstrate a situation for you and receive input on what my strengths and weaknesses are?” Carl explained. “Or maybe they want to obtain critique and information on a definite universe that they’ve been building.”

Next Steps

Input from the inaugural session will help determine future Dungeon Master University sessions. Carl mentioned that potential adjustments could include adding more office hours, making it longer to 72 hours, or experimenting with different seminar structures.

“I hope that we host such events very often,” Carl expressed. “I truly hope to see several DMU sessions in a given year, in various locations, and in different countries. The reception has been extremely positive. We're quite pleased with current developments and I think it would be wonderful to be able to conduct this in conjunction with major events.”