The heist
Get it out without being caught.
Something valuable sits somewhere well guarded. The team has to plan, pool what each of them knows, and change the plan when it breaks.
Tends to bring out Information Adaptation
How it works
One session, from the first call to the write-up.
A session is one complete story, start to finish, in three hours, then a conversation about what it showed. This is everything that happens, in order.
The session
Six steps, in order.
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Before the day · 15 minutes
A call with whoever booked it
What does the team want from the session? Is there anything that should stay out of the story? Which quest and which world would suit you?
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Session Zero · 15 minutes
Characters, dice and ground rules
Each player picks a ready-made character from a one-page sheet and gets a set of dice to keep. The table agrees what stays out of the story. The game master explains that they'll be watching how the team works together, not how anyone performs.
Session Zero is what game masters call these first fifteen minutes. Playing online? Everyone's dice arrive in the post before the session.
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The adventure · 1 hour 50 minutes
One story, one problem
The team faces one problem together, and every challenge needs more than one person to solve it. Players say what their character does. The game master handles the rules and the dice maths.
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Break · 10 minutes
Tea
A chance to stretch before the conversation.
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The debrief · 45 minutes
What happened, and what it says about how you work
First reactions, one sentence each. A replay of the three moments that decided the story. Who did what: how the team made decisions, who led, and where it stuck. Then each person names one thing they'll do differently at work.
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Within two working days
The write-up
One page: the story, the moments that mattered, and the team's commitments in their own words. The team reads it first. See an example
Choose your quest
Three kinds of story.
Every session is one complete story built around one problem. Pick the kind that suits what your team wants from the day, or tell us on the call and we'll suggest one.
The rescue
Someone needs you, and time is short.
Someone is trapped and the clock is running. The team has to agree what matters most, decide fast, and keep going when the first route closes.
Tends to bring out Decisions Adaptation
The negotiation
Win the deal without drawing a sword.
Two sides, one agreement, and no fighting your way out. Every voice counts, and disagreement has to go well inside the team as well as across the table.
Tends to bring out Voice Challenge
Nobody needs to know the story beforehand. Every quest starts and finishes in the one session.
Choose your world
Then pick where it happens.
Any quest works in any world: a heist on a space station, a rescue from a haunted manor, a negotiation with a dragon.
Fantasy
Swords, spells and a dragon somewhere.
Castles, forests and old magic: the classic setting for a story like this.
Science fiction
A long way from home.
Starships, strange planets and machines that don't always do what they're told. The same teamwork, under different stars.
Horror
A ghost story, not a slasher.
Creaking houses, guttering candles and the feeling that something is watching. Dread, not gore, and the table sets the limits in Session Zero.
Something else in mind? Ask, and we'll talk it through on the call.
What the game master watches
Five things, all about the team.
During play the game master keeps notes on five things. Every one of them is about how the team works together. Nobody is assessed as an individual, and the team knows this before play starts.
Information
What gets shared, and what stays in one person's pocket.
Voice
Who gets heard, and who hasn't spoken yet.
Decisions
How choices get made, and how fast.
Challenge
How disagreement goes, and whether doubts get said out loud.
Adaptation
How the team recovers when a plan fails.
Our promises
Nothing hidden, nobody judged.
Nothing hidden
Before play starts, everyone knows what's being watched and how the write-up will be used.
The team comes first
The write-up describes the team, never named individuals, and the team reads it before whoever booked it.
Behaviour, not personality
A game shows how people played that game. The debrief tests whether it says anything about work, rather than assuming it does.
Never for judging people
Nothing from a session is for hiring, promotion or performance decisions.
Nothing recorded without consent
No photos, audio or video unless everyone at the table agrees first.
Book a table
Pull up a chair.
Email us with your team size, two or three possible dates, and whether you'd like the session in person in Cambridge or online.
hello@academyofdungeoneering.com
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