Monte Cook and Monte Cook Are Teaching Classes at Dungeon Master University

Since 2018, Tabletop Vacations has been running immersive events where experienced game masters lead Dungeons & Dragons games in old manors in England and at a U.S. castle resort. The comprehensive packages are highly favored among career game masters who rarely get the moment to participate as players themselves, and they often ask for tips from seasoned professionals on topics ranging from improvisation and crafting riddles to handling difficult situations at the table.

In response, the organizers began developing a organized method to answer these inquiries, which led to the creation of Dungeon Master University. The debut workshop is scheduled for January 2-3, 2026 at an Atlanta campus.

“You can watch countless online tutorials on virtually any subject and learn quite a lot, but the idea was that nothing compares to face-to-face interaction in the company of other dungeon masters, where there’s live engagement with seasoned educators and other game masters likely in the same boat and aim to enhance their abilities,” explained the program's dean.

Course Offerings and Pricing Tiers

DMs can select options ranging from nearly a thousand dollars to $2.5K, based on the amount of contact they desire with the experts. The entry-level option includes a choice of four workshops:

• Core Techniques: Covers the fundamentals of managing a session.
• Story Arc Development: Focuses around designing extended campaigns.
• Setting Creation: Emphasizes the crafting of environments.
• Career Building: Designed for DMs who want to learn more about the tabletop profession.

All workshops includes two days of instruction spread over 48 hours.

“The workshops are created so that you walk away with tangible results, enhanced belief in your abilities, and many practical techniques,” Carl explained. “It's more than presentations and they exceed pre-recorded material. These classes that you can attend, absorb insights from, and then go right back home the next week and put into practice in your local game.”

Professional Teachers

The majority of workshops are led by two professors. Worldbuilding is led by Monte Cook and the creator of Eberron, together instructing the craft of setting creation.

Professional development includes several experts, such as Elisa Teague, Clint McElroy, and Hunter Fell. The extra instructors is designed to provide specialized information to students with definite objectives.

“Certain participants aim to start their own real-play series and present their narratives with the world, others aim to release and write original content,” Carl stated. “Several only seek to ask, What's the path to be a DM at something like D&D in a Castle? Which abilities that I need? Is it for everyone?”

Premium Packages

A fifteen hundred dollar gold tier offers access to a welcome reception, a introductory package, and a 30-minute office hour appointment with an instructor. This marks the inaugural DMU session, though the company has previously run comparable workshops during breaks between adventures at their immersive experiences.

“It would be possible to organize an entire weekend just on office hours for career game masters,” Carl mentioned. “I don’t know if that’s the optimal application of all participants' schedule – I think the coursework and the lab work is extremely important – but I believe it’s going to be a highly favored parts of the program.”

The $2.5K platinum tier offers an 60-minute private session and the possibility to lead a session for several participants plus a teacher, who will then offer feedback and coaching.

“The purpose is for the instructor to assess whatever the DM is focused on: I struggle with improvisation or I encounter obstacles in specific fight encounters. May I present a situation for you and receive input on my areas of proficiency and challenge?” Carl said. “Alternatively they want to get feedback and advice on a definite universe that they’ve been creating.”

Coming Developments

Feedback from the debut workshop will help determine subsequent DMU events. Carl said that possible changes could include increasing consultation time, making it longer to a longer period, or trying out alternative workshop formats.

“I hope that we conduct these very often,” Carl stated. “I would love to see several DMU sessions in a given year, in multiple places, and in multiple countries. The reception has been really terrific. We're extremely satisfied with the results so far and I feel it would be fantastic to be able to organize these in conjunction with large gatherings.”