Monte Cook along with Keith Baker Are Teaching Classes at DMU

Beginning in 2018, a specialized event organizer has been organizing immersive events where professional dungeon masters manage fantasy roleplaying games in ancient fortresses in the UK and at a U.S. castle resort. These all-inclusive trips are especially popular among forever DMs who seldom have the opportunity to actually play themselves, and they often look for guidance from the pros on topics ranging from spontaneous storytelling and creating challenges to handling difficult situations at the table.

In response, the planners began designing a structured way to tackle these topics, which led to the establishment of DMU. The first session is set for the start of 2026 at a university in Atlanta.

“You can watch thousands of YouTube videos on any topic and learn quite a lot, but the idea was that nothing truly replaces a live, hands-on session alongside peers in game mastering, where real-time interaction with faculty instructors and other game masters likely in comparable situations and aim to improve their skills,” stated Jason Carl.

Available Classes and Pricing Tiers

Dungeon Masters can select tiers ranging from just under $1,000 to $2,500, based on the level of access they desire with the professionals. The entry-level option includes selection from four classes:

• Foundational Skills: Focuses on the fundamentals of leading a game.
• Long-Term Game Planning: Centers on designing extended campaigns.
• Setting Creation: Emphasizes the development of worlds.
• Career Building: Designed for dungeon masters who seek to understand more about the roleplaying business.

Every class includes multiple sessions of classwork spread over 48 hours.

“The classes are created so that you walk away with usable skills, increased self-assurance, and many practical techniques,” Carl explained. “These aren't simple talks and they’re not just static videos. These classes that you can attend, absorb insights from, and then head back to your table the week after and implement in your home campaign.”

Expert Instructors

Many sessions are instructed by duo of instructors. Universe creation is led by the founder of Monte Cook Games and Keith Baker, both teaching the skill of universe design.

Professional development features four different teachers, such as a puzzle design specialist, Clint McElroy, and Hunter Fell. The additional faculty is designed to deliver focused advice to attendees with particular aims.

“Certain participants plan to create their own real-play series and display their adventures with the world, several plan to produce and create new material,” Carl explained. “Several only seek to ask, What's the path to be a DM at an event like an immersive experience? Which abilities that I need? Can anyone do it?”

Advanced Options

A fifteen hundred dollar premium package offers access to a welcome reception, a starter kit, and a half-hour consultation appointment with a teacher. This marks the debut of the program, though the organizers has previously run comparable workshops during breaks between game sessions at their castle events.

“You could almost run an complete event just on one-on-one meetings for career game masters,” Carl said. “I'm not certain if that’s the best use of each attendee's hours – I believe the coursework and the hands-on activities is too valuable – but I think it’s going to be among the most sought-after parts of the program.”

The twenty-five hundred dollar top package provides an hour of one-on-one time and the possibility to manage an adventure for a small group plus an instructor, who will then give comments and coaching.

“The goal is for the teacher to review whatever the DM is focused on: I have difficulty with spontaneous decisions or I feel stuck in specific fight encounters. Can I run a situation for you and obtain advice on where I excel and need improvement?” Carl said. “Or maybe they want to get feedback and advice on a specific world that they’ve been developing.”

Next Steps

Feedback from the inaugural session will help determine upcoming academy workshops. Carl said that possible changes could include increasing consultation time, extending the program to a longer period, or testing different seminar structures.

“I expect that we host such events regularly,” Carl expressed. “I would love to see several DMU sessions in a calendar year, in multiple places, and in various nations. The response has been overwhelmingly favorable. We're quite pleased with the results so far and I believe it would be amazing to be able to do this in collaboration with major events.”