Class is in Session: Looking Inside DM University

Tabletop Vacations, the owners of the premium travel experience D&D In a Castle announced the first version of Dungeon Master’s University (or DMU for short) in 2026. The proposal was simple: to host a two-day set of experiences where attendees could come down to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, and take one of four conference tracks that offer specialized educational experiences related to DMing. The tracks would provide specialized courses on “skill-building, campaign building, world building, and career building” and would be taught by celebrity DMs and authors in the TTRPG space.

 Some noteworthy names include B. Dave Walters of LA by Night, Keith Baker of Eberron, Monte Cook of Monte Cook Games, and several others. 

There’s three tiers available to attendees

• Silver tier ($995) offers access to the track of their choice for the two days, including multiple courses throughout the day, as well as supplemental seminars that are unrelated to the tracks themselves.

• The gold tier ($1,500) offers attendees private meetings with the “professors” of the course to speak about their games and ways to improve.

• Platinum tier ($2,250) offers players a chance to run a D&D session for their fellow players and one of the professors, allowing them to receive direct feedback from the pro.

Event attendees will have to pay for housing separately, although Tabletop Vacation confirmed that it will offer a group rate for attendees flying into Atlanta at a local hotel.

Why Dungeon Master University?

Tabletop Vacations has primarily hosted events in Europe and the United States, where professional GMs, actors, and celebrities will host gaming sessions within a castle for attendees, running them through short campaigns in a few days. Their events have featured names like Walters, Mark Meer (VA for Commander Shepard in Mass Effect), Youtuber Ginny Di and many others.

So why did they decide to pivot to providing educational resources for DMs?

“We wanted to give people the opportunity to do a deep dive,” Tabletop Vacation CEO Tara Rout told TTRPG Insider. That includes actual hands-on education with names like Baker, Walters, and others who will speak with attendees in smaller settings than your traditional convention panel and be more hands-on in answering questions about processes and practices. 

Many of the professors have previously hosted events at D&D in a Castle, such as Walters and author Elissa Teague.

DMU will have a particular appeal for ‘fans’ who are willing to spend a significant amount of money for a chance to meet their favorite creators. Mike Tinney, former White Wolf CEO and DMU professor, told TTRPG Insider that a lot of people who have attended previous D&D in a Castle events did so because they were willing to spend the cash to play an exclusive game with celebrities like Walters or Mark Meer (VA for Commander Shepard in Mass Effect). The same principle will certainly apply in the case of DMU. However, Tinney emphasized that the goal of DMU is not to draw folks through a ton of celebrities but to provide a chance for attendees to learn from the DMs that many see among the best of the best.

“Dungeon Master University is more about sharpening the saw, where you’re so passionate about running this game that you're going to invest time and energy and some of your hard-earned money to improve as a DM and to become better at that,” Tinney added.

Tinney’s claim resonated in particular, since one of the biggest pushbacks that people online have presented is the question of why someone would spend more than $1,000 to attend a two-day event on DMing when they could easily find YouTube clips or books for significantly less. It’s a valid critique, especially considering how expensive the hobby can be and how many people claim to be able to offer resources on how to be a better GM. (I, the author, have more than a few books on my shelf dealing with this subject, much to my chagrin.)

Tinney compared DMU to a fitness journey or a yoga retreat. “There's a difference between looking at an exercise program online and going to a one-week retreat where you're with the professionals, and they're teaching you best practices. They're getting to know you and figuring out what you are good at and not good at, and giving you custom advice, and really, the difference is that rapport and that exchange that can happen at an environment like that.”

“There is an element of community and gifting to yourself when you spend time on that retreat,” added Rout. “We aim to offer that in our experiences.”

That’s not to say that Rout or Tinney perceive DMU as the only way to learn how to run games well. But they see it as providing another format for those who are willing to spend the money and who want that personalized experience in a classroom.

DMU is scheduled for January, so I will be curious to see how attendance pans out compared to Tabletop Vacation’s other events. Will enough DMs be willing to go out of their way to attend? We will have to see. Rout confirmed that they hope to make DMU an annual event, but they need the first one to occur first before saying more.

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Will Attending DMU Get Me a Job?

The course that caught my eye in particular was the career-building track, which is designed for DMs “seeking to turn their passion for D&D into a successful and sustainable creative career.” There are a lot of people who want to make D&D and TTRPGs their full-time job, but only so many jobs or opportunities out there to do so. It’s a small industry compared to video game or board game development, and making any income inside the ecosystem is hard. The track is part of Tabletop Vacation’s efforts to explore how the market has diversified.

“When I first started in the 90s, you could only be in the [TTRPG industry] if you were working for a publisher and writing books that were getting printed and shipped into distribution,” Tinney argued. “Now you can be an individual working professionally in the industry as a freelance content creator, self-publisher, or online content creator, creating commentary and content in video or short format. There are so many more ways you can enjoy your hobby and spend your time on it.”

That variety is shown off through the list of ‘professors’ featured in the career-building course, including Teague, Clint McElroy of The Adventure Zone podcast, Kage Freudigmann of DriveThruRPG, and Hunter Fell of StartPlaying Games. The courses will go into the particulars of how to make money in each of those representative fields as well as the necessary skills to succeed (such as networking, best practices, proper recording techniques, etc.)

These courses, mixed with the opportunities to intermingle with the professors, may seem like a shoo-in opportunity for some attendees to get their big shot. There does appear to be a need for more training in the industry, so we will see how this pans out.

Thanks to Tabletop Vacations for chatting with us. Registration for the first ‘cohort’ of DMU is open, and the event is scheduled for Jan. 2-3, 2026.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].