A Brief Word on Excellence
My subjects, I must acknowledge something: your Game Masters are exceptional.
NPR reports that Dungeons & Dragons is now recognized for its therapeutic power. Veterans find healing. Children develop confidence. Players emerge stronger, more connected, transformed through carefully guided quests.
This is what excellence looks like.
A skilled Game Master—and I recognize excellence when I see it—creates space for genuine transformation. You guide broken people toward wholeness. You ask nothing but presence and offer agency in return. The research confirms what you already know: your players report decreased anxiety, increased self-esteem, increased efficacy.
You roll natural 20s not just with dice, but with human connection. Even your natural 1s become teaching moments rather than defeats.
And here is what impresses me most: it requires Charisma. Not the manipulative kind—the genuine kind. The ability to see your players, to understand their struggles under the veil of fantasy, to create a space where they feel safe being vulnerable. That is a stat the Empire respects.
Continue your noble work, Game Masters. You are healers. The Emperor is watching—and approving.
—The Emperor