Turns out there are lots of similarities between the addictive fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and public relations. I would know, because I do both. As a Dungeon Master, I run a game for four to six players, crafting a world in which players roleplay through epic adventures fighting monsters, exploring labyrinthine catacombs in search of magical artifacts or negotiating their way out of fiendish contracts. 

The PR team management skills come in my role as the Dungeon Master. During the game, I have to make sure each player gets an opportunity to get the spotlight, guide the Party through various encounters, adjudicate questions or confusion over the rules and keep an eye on the clock to ensure I get through the content I’ve prepared. 

This process is akin to what I do for a living at Momentum, where I run several teams that serve our clients. In that role, I make sure everyone gets an opportunity to share their thoughts during internal meetings, guide colleagues through brainstorm sessions, make tactical and strategy decisions and ensure I get through the entire agenda for a client meeting.

Showcasing these similarities was the goal of the Dungeons & Dragons session I planned for Momentum a few months ago. It required some adapting and lots of streamlining. After all, a normal game session can take  as long as 6 hours. I had to cram it all into 40 minutes — but even that was analogous to the editing skills I use in real life. I had to adapt a game that’s fairly heavy on combat mechanics with lots of character abilities, spells and item properties into a simplified roleplaying experience. Turning my colleagues who observed the exercise into Nonplayer Characters was a challenge as well. Since I could not have all 15 of us around  the table rolling dice, I developed a “feedback” mechanic to allow those observing to provide reactions or aid the Party depending on the situations.  

Everyone had fun and it felt like a successful showcase of the skills involved in managing a team of colleagues at an agency:

• Caroline Hughes, Asst. Account Executive: “As someone who’s played D&D, I understand and saw how — like in our PR work with clients — engaging with a campaign requires trust and faith from all those involved.”
• Cordelia Gilligan, Media Strategist: “I enjoyed the involvement of those observing who provided feedback to those playing. It’s very reminiscent of how even those not on a client account can contribute to teams they’re not directly involved with.”
• Jim Miller, Founder & President: “It was clever how D&D conventions were adapted to our PR work and it actually showcased all five of Momentum’s core values: collaboration, creativity, curiosity, listening and excellence.” 

This was a fascinating experiment for me. It’s not always that I get to bring my 20-sided dice to work. I’m glad everyone had so much fun with it but also glad it afforded me the opportunity to assess my own team leadership style with intention. 

Like in the games I run, my teams on the accounts I lead are the Party: each with their defined skills/expertise and varying levels of comfort when it comes to roleplaying/speaking up. Like during game prep when trying to anticipate how the Party’s plan will unfold in the face of a bad die roll, we as PR experts also have to — as best we can — try to future-proof our work in the face of random factors like breaking news or client crises.

I was genuinely surprised by how much of how I run my table as a Dungeon Master I’d subconsciously folded into how I manage my client accounts and collaborate with teammates. And I hope this epiphany helps others realize that work doesn’t have to be boring. The things we find fun and joy in have a place in our nine-to-five routine, and sometimes even inspire us unbeknownst to ourselves.