Most of the time when we think of Dungeons & Dragons, we picture a single party of adventurers delving into a dungeon, working together, fighting monsters, and uncovering treasure. But what if there were two rival parties competing for the same goal, racing against each other in real time?
I first came across this idea listening to the excellent podcast Fear of a Black Dragon, where presenter Tom McGrenery described running the Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure Piercing the Demon’s Eye for two groups at the same time. It sounded chaotic, exhilarating, and utterly brilliant.
So of course, I had to try it.
Did it work? Read on to find out.
Two DMs, Two Rival Parties
Together with my fellow DM Rich, we set up a dungeon crawl for ten friends. The twist? Instead of one unwieldy group of ten, we’re splitting them into two rival parties, entering the dungeon (Piercing the Demons Eye) five minutes apart.
The rules of engagement are simple:
- The dungeon closes in four real-time hours. When the clock hits zero, the dungeon magically shuts. Any characters still in there are trapped, experiencing a slow and agonizing death.
- The party with the most loot wins. If they make it out in time.
- We’ll keep tension high with regular real-time countdowns, making every decision feel urgent. One player from each team will be designated time keeper, reminding their team mates to keep moving, or to escape.
- On top of that, we’re borrowing a mechanic from Blades in the Dark: each time a spell is cast, a clock ticks forward. When it fills, something catastrophic is unleashed into the dungeon.
It’s part dungeon crawl, part pressure cooker, part competitive sport.
What Does This Have to Do With Leadership?
At first glance, this might just sound like a fun twist on D&D (and it absolutely will be). But it’s also a fascinating experiment in leadership under stress. Competition changes everything. When you know another team is out there grabbing treasure, time suddenly becomes your most precious resource. Leaders in the group will have to:
- Prioritize quickly: Is it worth taking that side passage, or should we push deeper?
- Manage risk: Do we burn spells now, advancing faster but bringing the catastrophic clock closer to midnight?
- Balance the team’s needs: Some players may want to fight everything. Others may want to sneak past. Good leadership will mean finding the middle path without wasting precious time.
These dynamics mirror real-world leadership challenges.
Similar scenarios could be run as part of a leadership training exercise. Imagine putting your aspiring leaders through these:
- Two groups of scavengers in a zombie apocalypse racing to loot supplies before winter. Only one settlement will thrive.
- Rival companies bidding for the same contract, knowing only one can succeed.
- Disaster response teams in a crisis where resources are shared between teams and time is brutally limited.
In each case, leaders need to stay calm, make rapid but thoughtful decisions, and keep their team united under pressure.
All of these scenarios can be run using my simple, easy to run Play to Lead ruleset.
Why This Works for Leadership Training
What makes games like this so effective for leadership development is that they feel real. As Jennifer Ouellette explains in Me, Myself, and Why, our brains encode roleplaying experiences as though they genuinely happened. That means when you practice making tough calls, prioritizing under pressure, and communicating clearly in a D&D dungeon, you’re exercising the same leadership “muscles” you’ll use in the workplace.
Adding competition into the mix elevates the stakes. The stress is simulated, but the feelings of urgency, pressure, and rivalry are real enough to create meaningful growth.
Bringing It Back to Work
If you want to use this kind of scenario in a leadership training environment, here are some tweaks:
- Theme it for your group: Instead of fantasy loot, consider one of the alternative scenarios mentioned above.
- Make consequences clear: Limited time, limited resources, and a final score that determines success or failure.
- Encourage reflection afterwards: The real learning happens when teams debrief what worked, what didn’t, and how leadership showed up under pressure.
Running the Game
What a blast to run! Rich had booked a community hall for the event. Everyone was primed to bring two 5E D&D characters, just in case. First we used a dice bag with coloured dice to randomly assign the teams. After explaining the premise we set the 4 hour timer and we were off.
Rich and I passed each other notes as the adventurers made their way through the dungeon. The players tables were facing each other so they were always aware of the rival party and their progress. Some of the highlights from the game were:
- One party coming upon the other and sending an owl to trail them.
- The first party setting traps for the second.
- One party battling for their lives, the second popped their head in the room before beating a hasty exit.
- The slow realisation that casting spells had an impact on the dungeon clock, but not knowing quite what it was counting down to.
- One player sifting through the treasure horde and throwing unwanted bits into oblivion.
The teams were going to be judged by how much treasure they retrieved. So I made a series of treasure cards describing what they found, but with no value written on them. At the end of the session we totaled up the value of the rescued valuables to determine a winner. There was only 100gp between the two parties!
That being said noone actually made it out alive……
Did it Work?
Absolutely it did! The players really got into the premise of the game and told us it was a completely different experience to anything else they had played. There was great banter between the tables and the debrief dinner afterwards was great fun as they pieced together what each rival party had been up to.
Rich and I worked really well as a team. Luckily we had done a load of prep before hand so we knew the module well and how we were going to handle different parts of it. Passing notes between ourselves also added additional paranoia to the players. Always a win.
One interesting thing was that the players actually engaged with the adventure faster then we though they would. Between the two teams they covered every room and trap. This is a good lesson for next time.
I also made a mistake where my group were moving much faster than the others and caught them up without me realising. So we had two parties in the same place at the same time without seeing each other. Woops. Not to worry though, once I’d worked it out I managed to stall my guys long enough for it all to settle out again.
Final Thoughts
In the end, this experiment is both a thrilling way to play D&D and a powerful way to test leadership under competition and time stress. When two parties enter the dungeon, only one comes out on top—but everyone comes out having had a different and fun experience.
If this sort of thing appeals to you I would strongly suggest grabbing a co-DM and running this for your friends. It was a memorable event for everyone, with lots of pressure, paranoia and of course laughter.