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Managing Up: Successfully Lead from Below in Business and D&D

Managing up, or managing your boss, is an essential skill at work. However, it’s also a concept that can also translate to your Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) games. Learning how to manage up—both with your boss and your Dungeon Master (DM)—can improve your professional performance, foster collaboration, and make the experiences at work and the gaming table smoother for everyone involved.

What Is Managing Up?

In a business sense, managing up refers to the proactive approach you take in working with your boss. It involves understanding their needs, expectations, and communication style to ensure that you’re meeting or exceeding their expectations while maintaining a strong working relationship. It’s not about manipulating your boss, but rather aligning yourself with their goals and needs to improve both your performance and the work environment.

Likewise, in D&D, managing up means working in sync with your DM. The DM, as the storyteller and guide of the game, has a particular vision for the campaign, but as a player, you also have your own ideas and character development to consider. It is all about supporting the DM’s vision while also contributing to the narrative in a meaningful way, ensuring the game remains engaging for everyone.

Managing Up with your Boss

  1. Understand Their Priorities
    The first step to managing up is understanding what your boss values most. Do they care about hitting deadlines, creating innovative solutions, or fostering teamwork? Once you know their priorities, you can tailor your approach and contributions to support those goals. Regular check-ins and open communication can help you stay aligned.
  2. Anticipate Needs
    Being able to anticipate your boss’s needs before they’re asked is a sign of a proactive employee. This could involve preparing reports ahead of time, addressing potential issues, or presenting solutions to problems that haven’t yet been flagged. Proactively offering value makes you a reliable asset and shows initiative.
  3. Communicate Clearly
    Transparency is key in any professional relationship. Keep your boss updated on your progress, flag any obstacles early, and don’t be afraid to ask for clarification or feedback. This clear communication fosters trust and shows that you’re invested in the work.
  4. Be a Problem Solver
    Instead of bringing problems to your boss, try to present solutions as well. This makes you a problem-solver and not just a passive recipient of instructions. Managers often appreciate employees who can think critically and come up with actionable ideas.
  5. Support Their Goals
    Understand the larger goals and objectives of your department or company and look for ways to support them. Your success is tied to the success of the organization, and when you show that you’re aligned with the bigger picture, your boss will notice.
The Game of Thornes is full of leaders and their advisers with plenty of examples of managing up well, and badly…

Managing Up with Your DM

When considering your DM managing up is all about building a cooperative relationship that enhances the fun of the game. DMs put a lot of effort into world-building, crafting storylines, and creating challenges for players. When you manage up in a D&D game, you’re supporting the DM’s narrative while also helping to shape the adventure with your character’s choices.

  1. Understand the Campaign’s Tone and Style
    Every DM runs their game differently. Some favor a gritty, serious atmosphere, while others might lean toward humor and lightheartedness. As a player take time to understand your DM’s style and tailor your actions and roleplaying accordingly. If the campaign is dark and dramatic, try not to disrupt the tone with out-of-place humor or actions that could undermine the immersion.
  2. Contribute to the Story
    D&D is a collaborative storytelling experience. A great way to manage up at the table is to engage with the world the DM creates. Ask questions, develop relationships with characters, and tie your character’s backstory into the ongoing narrative. When you actively contribute to the world, the DM will feel like they’re building a shared story with you.
  3. Respect Their Efforts and Boundaries
    Your DM will appreciate it if you respect the effort they put into crafting the adventure. Don’t push too hard to bend the story to your desires. Instead recognize that the DM has a vision for the game. Work within the boundaries they set while finding ways to enhance the experience.
  4. Be Flexible and Adaptable
    Sometimes, things don’t go as planned in a campaign. A well-prepared DM may have to improvise due to unexpected player decisions. Being flexible and going along with unexpected changes shows respect for the DM’s creative process and keeps the game flowing smoothly.
  5. Give Feedback (Constructively)
    If something is working particularly well in the game, let your DM know! Positive feedback can go a long way in maintaining enthusiasm and improving the quality of the campaign. On the other hand, if something isn’t working for you, express it constructively.

Building Relationships, Both at Work and at the Table

Managing up isn’t just about making sure your boss or DM likes you; it’s about creating a healthy, cooperative environment where you can all succeed. In business, it leads to better performance, more opportunities for growth, and a stronger team dynamic. In D&D, it enhances the narrative, fostering a more engaging experience for everyone. Thereby ensuring that you’re contributing meaningfully to the collaborative story.

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New Scenarios for MartyCon 2025

Martycon 2025 starts today! This is a mini weekend long convention of my friends involving lots of game playing and enjoying rural Western Australia. This has been running for three years now and last year was a blast! As with last year I have volunteered to run another multiplayer Space Weirdos game for the crew. My mind is always full of scenario and campaign ideas so instead of one scenario, I’ve dreamed up two. One longer and more involved, while the second is a quicker more brutal affair. I’ve also made sure to tie them narratively into my Mordax Prime setting.

As always these are multiplayer affairs and I try to include a mix of immersion, differing objectives and emergent play. I really want to maximize the engagement of the players, giving them fun and different experiences each time.

Scenario 1: Void Ship Boarding Action

For my main scenario of the weekend I wanted to continue one of the more recent Mordax Prime narratives; the manifestation of a Saint on Helios Magna. Additionally, I wanted to replicate the tight confines of a boarding action in a 40K setting. We pick up the story where the villainous Ferrymen seek to escape the system in their ship, only to be boarded by the pursuing Imperials.

Setting the Scene

With a roar of void engines the Revenant bore away from the world of Helios Magna. The blighted Ferrymen and their cargo were safely on board, and it was time to strike for home. Mad Claw stalked the bridge nervously, the authorities would be on to them soon enough and he needed to escape fast. Raiding in the heart of an Imperial system was decidedly not his style, he preferred isolated settlements or orbitals. But the rewards offered by the Ferrymen were too good to be ignored and worth the risk. So, he had thought at the time.

Klaxons screeched over the vox system, enemy ship closing. But from where? The adversary must have been jamming his sensors. Mad Claw realized that his pursuers had much faster ships than anticipated. Though hardened and battle tested, the Revenant was no speedster. Intrigued, he squinted at the viewing screen pausing as what he saw sank in. Chilling his blackened soul. While not large, the enemy vessel was painted black and red with the stylized I emblazoned on its foredeck. Inquisition. With a roar Mad Claw bellowed commands, sending crew and servitors alike scurrying to position. It would take all his guile and cunning to escape this trap.

=][=

Aboard the Strike Ship Purgator’s Blessing Inquisitor Jaegermann watched the pirate vessel draw closer. His teams failure in the Drula Sector of Helios Magna had enraged him. But on reflection, fighting a three-way battle to the objective had been his error. Hurriedly he made amends with the understandably angry Prioress of the Veiled Light.

A team of Lancet marines and Battle Sisters supported by a contingent of Inquisitorial storm troopers stood by as the Purgator’s Blessing closed the distance. They could not let these foul heretics escape with the so-called Saint. Who knew what the Ferrymen had in store for the poor unfortunate. A green globe flashed rapidly on the control slate and Jaegermann smiled grimly. Time to bring these wretches into the Emperors Light.

With a lurch the boarding torpedoes released, speeding towards their prey.

Objective

This will be a team game, fought under time pressure. The Imperials have two objectives:

  • Capture the “Saint” and get them off the enemy vessel within 4 turns
  • Damage the Geller field generator to provide an additional 2 turns of game time

The Chaos players must prevent this from happening, allowing their ship and it’s cargo to escape the system.

Each team will have a secret objective as well, to add a little spice to the game.

Teams

The game will revolve around two teams of three players.

Imperial

  • Inquisitorial Lancet Hereticus space marines intent on getting revenge on the Ferrymen
  • Sisters of Battle team tasked with retrieving the “Saint”
  • Imperial naval troopers tasked with knocking out the Geller Field Generator

Chaos

  • Ferrymen Plague marines who need the “Saint” to enact a terrible ritual
  • Captain Mad Claw and his pirates who wants his ship kept in one piece
  • First Mate Chaos mutant Head Bustin Billy who wants to destroy as many Imperial boarders as possible

Set Up

The board will be relatively small and full of tight corridors with lots of twists and turns. I want it to feel like the claustrophobic interior of a sprawling spaceship. The Imperials will deploy in the upper right of the board while the Chaos pirates can deploy anywhere else.

Not only that, but the Chaos players will get two objective tokens representing the saint, one real and one false.

Imperials go first.

Sisters of Battle intent on getting their Saint back!

Scenario 2: Under Hive Raid

The second scenario is based more along the lines of the inter gang conflicts of the underhive. It is an asymmetric scenario that should last for just over an hour. I have just finished painting my Adeptus Arbites kill team and wanted to use these 40K lawgivers in a game. The key here was to have an asymmetric game. The outnumbered lawmen on one side and the chaotic, are they allies are they not, gangers on the other.

Setting the Scene

The under-hive gangs of Kasanaan Tertius in the southern hemisphere of Helios Magna are revolting. The Adeptus Arbites have sent enforcers to stamp down on this insurrection. We are playing one such encounter. A small team of Arbites attempts to capture/kill crews of gangers hoping to make their escape from the kill zone.

Objectives

The game lasts for 4 rounds with the players split as follows. Two Arbites players working together, each with a team of 2 stronger operatives. Four or more gang players working individually, each with a crew of 3 weaker gangers. Scoring will work differently for each.

Arbites (collective points)

  • 1 point for each ganger taken out of action by Arbites personnel

Gangers (individual points)

  • 2 points for each crew member escaping off the opposite side of the board
  • 1 point for each Arbites taken out of action by your team
  • 1 point for each opposition ganger taken out of action by your team

Set Up

The battlefield will be set up to represent the warren of industrial tunnels that make up the under hive. Gangs will set up on the right hand edge, hoping to escape from the left side. The Adeptus Arbites will set up in the left hand half of the board ready to capture as many gangers as possible.

To add additional flavour the players will name their gangs and Arbites fire teams.

For those who play space weirdos the stats for this game are as follows:

If an Arbites moves next to a downed/staggered model and takes an action – it is manacled and considered out of action

Final Thoughts

I’m really looking forward to running both of these new scenarios at Martycon 2025. They are both filled with opportunity for emergent narrative to explode. Faction rivalries and player inventiveness is bound to make for memorable games.

Once the dust has settled I will report on how they went and any lessons learned.