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

Since 2018, Tabletop Vacations has been hosting immersive events where experienced game masters manage D&D games in historic castles in England and at an American castle venue. These all-inclusive trips are highly favored among career game masters who infrequently find the opportunity to actually play themselves, and they often look for guidance from experts on topics ranging from spontaneous storytelling and creating challenges to handling difficult situations at the table.

In response, the coordinators began designing a systematic approach to address these questions, which led to the creation of the Dungeon Master Academy. The debut workshop is set for the start of 2026 at Oglethorpe University.

“There are thousands of YouTube videos on any topic and learn quite a lot, but the idea was that there’s just no substitute an in-person experience alongside other dungeon masters, where there’s live engagement with faculty instructors and your peers likely in comparable situations and aim to enhance their abilities,” stated Jason Carl.

Available Classes and Ticket Packages

Dungeon Masters can opt for options ranging from nearly a thousand dollars to $2,500, depending on the level of access they desire with the experts. The base tier includes a choice of four workshops:

• Foundational Skills: Covers the fundamentals of running D&D.
• Campaign Building: Centers on building persistent adventures.
• Worldbuilding: Emphasizes the development of worlds.
• Industry Advancement: Tailored to game masters who aim to explore more about the roleplaying business.

All workshops includes multiple sessions of training spread over two days.

“The workshops are designed so that you leave with tangible results, increased self-assurance, and a lot of usable tools,” Carl noted. “They’re not just lectures and they’re not just static videos. These classes that you can join, gain knowledge from, and then go right back home the next week and implement in your local game.”

Expert Instructors

Many sessions are led by two professors. Universe creation is led by an industry veteran and the creator of Eberron, jointly leading the art of worldbuilding.

Professional development includes multiple instructors, such as an author on gaming puzzles, an entertainment professional, and Hunter Fell. The additional faculty is meant to offer targeted guidance to attendees with definite objectives.

“Various attendees plan to create their own real-play series and share their stories with the world, some of them want to publish and create new material,” Carl stated. “Others simply wish to ask, What's the path to be a DM at a program like an immersive experience? Which abilities that I need? Is this achievable?”

Premium Packages

A $1.5K enhanced option includes access to a introductory event, a welcome gift pack, and a half-hour consultation appointment with an instructor. This marks the debut of the program, though the company has previously run comparable workshops during breaks between campaigns at their castle events.

“One could practically host an entire weekend just on office hours for career game masters,” Carl said. “I'm not certain if that’s the most effective utilization of each attendee's hours – I think the formal instruction and the hands-on activities is extremely important – but I suspect it’s going to be a highly favored parts of the program.”

The $2,500 platinum tier offers an hour of one-on-one time and the opportunity to lead a session for several participants plus one of the faculty members, who will then give comments and instruction.

“The goal is for the instructor to review whatever the DM is interested in: I have difficulty with improv or I encounter obstacles in this kind of combat situation. Could I demonstrate a scenario for you and receive input on where I excel and need improvement?” Carl explained. “Perhaps they want to get feedback and information on a particular setting that they’ve been creating.”

Future Plans

Input from the debut workshop will help shape future Dungeon Master University sessions. Carl mentioned that potential adjustments could include increasing consultation time, making it longer to a longer period, or experimenting with different seminar structures.

“I hope that we do this regularly,” Carl expressed. “I would love to see numerous academy events in a given year, in various locations, and in various nations. The reception has been overwhelmingly favorable. We're extremely satisfied with current developments and I believe it would be amazing to be able to organize these in collaboration with big conventions.”