Atlanta, Georgia — A new series of Dungeons and Dragons-themed seminars could see applicants paying over $2,000 in tuition fees for a single 8-hour course, ILL OMENS has learned.
The so-called school—titled Dungeon Master University (DMU) by its Canadian organizers—is said to improve students’ ability to craft better, more convincing worlds for Wizards of the Coast’s floundering 5/5.5 edition game system.
According to a website maintained by DMU and its parent company, Tabletop Vacations Inc., the school is billed as a “conference-style retreat” with D&D “industry professionals,” all of whom are alleged to be skilled in the “art” of Dungeon Mastering.
Teachers at DMU—listed as “D&D Professors” on the site—involve some of the milieu’s most outspoken and glaringly diverse e-celebrities, which include Black activist B. Dave Walters (He/Him), Two-Spirited, Queer activist Kelly Lynne D’Angelo (She/Her/Hers), and podcaster Clint McElroy, of The Adventure Zone.
What does an opportunity like this cost? Students can receive a Platinum Registration for DMU’s January “semester” for the price of $2,250, earning themselves a Limited Edition Dungeon Master University Varsity Jacket ($175 value), and other exclusive perks. Those less fortunate can purchase registrations at the Silver and Gold levels, priced at a whopping $995 and $1,500, respectively.
DMU is hosted on the grounds of the prestigious Oglethorpe University, in Atlanta, Georgia, whose alumni include Confederate poet Sidney Lanier, and former Georgia Governor Joseph Mackey Brown, later implicated in the 1915 lynching of Jewish-American businessman, Leo Frank.
“The Dungeon Master University is the first event of its kind…Registration includes all meals on site, enrollment in one Primary Course, and access to unlimited seminars, targeting a wide array of fields and experience levels so that all participants can challenge themselves and grow in their abilities as a Dungeon Master,” reads the site.
“Primary Courses include Skill Building, Campaign Building, World Building, and Career Building, and are taught by our Faculty Dungeon Masters, who are established in their field,” it continues.
The website asserts that students are entitled to only one of three different eight hour “courses” of their choosing, which is then broken up into two 4-hour classes over a two-day weekend. This means that those paying DMU’s hefty Platinum Registration are still only entitled to one course, filled largely with information that some say could be gleaned for free off sites like YouTube.
In comparison, a hardback copy of D&D’s 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide—which contains everything one needs to learn and play the game at expert levels—is currently only $39.95 on Amazon, while a digital scan of the game’s 5th edition version can be found for free on Internet Archive.
Additionally, a search for the term “dungeon master” on DriveThruRPG, an online marketplace for worldbuilding content spanning decades, appears to net a limitless well of entries, many of which are free or close to it.
“This is just demented from the start. The terrifying thing here is that they’re expecting that there are people who will pay for this, and they may not be wrong,” commented OSR author Kasimir Urbanski the “RPGPundit” during a livestream. “If they had done this a year earlier, I think they probably would have sold out for sure, because that was the peak of the fan popularity for D&D.”
“There are still…a lot of people who play fad D&D that have no idea about the OSR (Old School Renaissance), and have no idea there are (YouTube) channels on DM’ing and game design,” he said.
Urbanski’s concerns about the state of Dungeons and Dragons appear warranted. Since the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, the popularity of tabletop RPG games like D&D rocketed to an all-time high. This sudden popularity saw the online space flush with hundreds of aspiring D&D influencers aiming to capitalize on the trend, polluting sites like YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook with near-endless posts concerning the hobby.
However, gaming trends have shifted away from the kind of overly produced and test-group approved nature of modern D&D, with many fans now preferring more accessible games like Mörk Borg, Old School Essentials, or Chris Gonnerman’s Basic Fantasy, which have less baggage, narrative, and far cheaper price tags.
The resulting downturn has caused many of these influencers to become increasingly aggressive in capturing the attention of their dwindling audiences, turning to new game systems, actual-play podcasts, and other methods to stay relevant.
“The grifting has reached a level beyond my comprehension,” Urbanski continued.
Tabletop Vacations Inc., Dungeon Master University, and its sister event, D&D in a Castle, are the brainchild of Tara and Cameron “the Evil Genius” Rout, two progressive Canadian siblings with a history of cashing in on nerd culture and their communities.
“For years, we’ve brought unforgettable D&D experiences to castles across Europe. DMU is the next evolution – an intensive, high-quality symposium crafted to build mastery and community among aspiring DMs,” said Tara Rout in an interview with Brands Untapped.
Tara, an Edmonton-based lawyer, began monetizing the hobby by offering curated D&D experiences set inside picturesque European locales, using big industry names like Jeremy Crawford and YouTuber Ginny Di to draw thousands of dollars in profit.
Her husband, English musician Martin Kerr, is known for penning songs which breathlessly attack attendees of the now-infamous January 6th “Stop the Steal” protest at the US Capitol building. Others include a clarion call for his audience to “resist fascism,” a video which currently has only 309 views at the time of press.
Cameron Rout is a Yale business graduate and former Product Manager at Google, a position widely regarded as a stepping stone for those seeking a lucrative spot within the company’s executive level. While little is known about their collective backgrounds, ILL OMENS confirmed that this brother-sister duo originally hail from a position of abject privilege and prestige.
A social media analysis revealed that their father, Bruce Rout, is a mathematician, author, professor, and inventor. He currently serves as President of Green NABR, an oil drilling company seeking to tap the hinterlands of Alberta using alternative methods which underline sustainability over raw production.
Charging hapless D&D fans thousands of dollars for worldbuilding seminars appears to be a mere continuation of the Rout family’s legacy of wealth extraction. Although it remains to be seen if Tabletop Vacations can remain profitable as Dungeons and Dragons’ influence on the overall hobby continues to drift into uncertain territory.
Ill Omens 