Keith Baker and Monte Cook Are Instructing Sessions at DMU
Since 2018, a specialized event organizer has been organizing deeply engaging experiences where experienced game masters manage D&D games in old manors in the UK and at a U.S. castle resort. These all-inclusive trips are highly favored among career game masters who seldom have the chance to participate as players themselves, and they often ask for tips from the pros on topics ranging from spontaneous storytelling and crafting riddles to managing conflicts at the table.
In response, the organizers began crafting a systematic approach to answer these inquiries, which led to the establishment of Dungeon Master University. The debut workshop is planned for early January 2026 at an Atlanta campus.
“You can watch numerous digital guides on any topic and learn quite a lot, but the philosophy was that nothing compares to a live, hands-on session together with other dungeon masters, where real-time interaction with faculty instructors and your fellow DMs likely in the same boat and aim to improve their skills,” explained Jason Carl.
Available Classes and Cost Levels
Game masters can select packages ranging from $995 to $2.5K, depending on the amount of contact they desire with the professionals. The starting package includes one of four courses:
- Skill Building: Teaches the fundamentals of managing a session.
- Campaign Building: Focuses around crafting long-running games.
- Worldbuilding: Highlights the crafting of environments.
- Industry Advancement: Tailored to game masters who want to learn more about the gaming industry.
All workshops includes multiple sessions of instruction split over a weekend.
“The workshops are structured so that you leave with usable skills, increased self-assurance, and a lot of usable tools,” Carl explained. “It's more than presentations and they go beyond recorded content. These classes that you can attend, learn from, and then return to your group the next week and put into practice in your regular session.”
Seasoned Educators
The majority of workshops are led by duo of instructors. Setting design is led by the founder of Monte Cook Games and Keith Baker, both teaching the craft of setting creation.
Professional development features multiple instructors, such as an author on gaming puzzles, an entertainment professional, and a pioneering DM. The additional faculty is meant to deliver focused advice to attendees with particular aims.
“Various attendees aim to start their own real-play series and display their adventures with the world, others want to publish and create new material,” Carl said. “Others simply wish to ask, What's the path to be a DM at an event like a castle event? What capabilities that I need? Is it for everyone?”
Premium Packages
A fifteen hundred dollar gold tier offers access to a welcome reception, a starter kit, and a half-hour consultation appointment with a teacher. This constitutes the first Dungeon Master Academy, though the organizers has previously run Castle Days during breaks between campaigns at their immersive experiences.
“One could practically host an entire weekend just on consultation sessions for expert DMs,” Carl mentioned. “I don’t know if that’s the best use of each attendee's hours – I think the formal instruction and the practical exercises is extremely important – but I think it’s going to be one of the most popular parts of the program.”
The twenty-five hundred dollar premium option provides an extended personal consultation and the opportunity to run a game for five players plus a teacher, who will then provide notes and guidance.
“The purpose is for the faculty member to assess whichever aspect is interested in: I have difficulty with spontaneous decisions or I encounter obstacles in certain battle scenarios. Could I demonstrate a situation for you and receive input on where I excel and need improvement?” Carl explained. “Perhaps they want to obtain critique and guidance on a specific world that they’ve been building.”
Next Steps
Feedback from the first event will help guide subsequent DMU events. Carl said that potential adjustments could include increasing consultation time, lengthening the event to three days, or testing alternative workshop formats.
“I expect that we host such events frequently,” Carl stated. “I would love to see numerous academy events in a given year, in various locations, and in multiple countries. The feedback has been overwhelmingly favorable. We're extremely satisfied with what we’re seeing and I feel it would be wonderful to be able to conduct this in partnership with major events.”
