How Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me a Better Creative Strategist
Fantasy worlds and collaborative storytelling inspire fresh perspective
Staring at a blank page is equal parts thrilling and terrifying. When the possibilities are endless, where does one begin?
I am a creative strategist within Q Branch, an enigmatic internal Salesforce agency named after the fictitious British Secret Service division in the James Bond movies. Just as Q provides all the gizmos and gadgets to help Bond with his missions, our designers, strategists, and developers equip our sales teams with immersive storytelling to help our customers envision a future where Salesforce is powering their business.
Q Branch weaves in humanity and vision when people have difficulty moving past a list of products and features to understand the “art of the possible”: a transformed organization, operating at its full potential with smart tools, empowered teams, and connected insights.
In order for these narratives and demos to inspire our customers, our scenarios and characters must be relatable, vivid, and compelling. Rather than talking through a brochure, Q Branch focuses on showcasing Salesforce’s capabilities through the lens of a persona — highlighting what might delight a mother booking tickets to an upcoming movie premiere, what insights a service agent would need to book the perfect travel experience for a guest, or even what a pair of pants experiences traveling from a factory to your home!
People often ask about my storytelling process. While it’s easy to point to a number of amazing storytelling frameworks, it’s incredibly difficult to articulate what makes for an impactful story. Great stories leave lasting impressions that connect us and make us care. There’s an intangibility that’s hard to codify. You just know it when you feel it.
When I reflect on the some of the most visionary, risk-taking, and captivating stories that I’ve heard, there’s one place I always land for inspiration: the world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).
Now, I know what you’re thinking — and no, D&D is NOT just a fantasy game for nerds! Some of the world’s best writers, comedians, and actors have played (such as George R.R Martin, Stephen Colbert, Vin Diesel, Aubrey Plaza, and Anderson Cooper to name a few). While I’m still very new to this magical realm, the game has profoundly changed the way I view storytelling. The level of empathy, imagination, and quick wit needed to play is aspiration-worthy. Whether it’s crossing over a field of poisonous flowers or buying a bag of magical beans from a druid, players push their creative limits to drive a story forward.
One of my goals for the coming year is to learn how to become a “Dungeon Master” or DM: the game organizer in charge of world-building, creating the details and challenges of a given adventure — all while maintaining a realistic continuity of events. On my quest to grow in this position, I’ve identified several lessons that also apply to my role as a creative strategist.
D&D Lesson #1: Learn your lore
One of the primary responsibilities of a DM is to provide a backstory, or lore, for gameplay. These details add richness to the universe of a campaign. Each setting is going to be different and is totally up to the DM to either follow a pre-scripted “official” D&D story, build a loose interpretation, or even invent their own world.
Similarly, I tell new creative strategists to lean into curiosity and invest generously in research time. Begin with the basics of knowing the industry, business processes, pain points, and goals of the audience. Then push beyond the surface and ask deeper questions. What should the characters feel? What would delight, scare, or move them? Where do they live? What do they do for a living?
I was recently asked to write a story that would showcase how Salesforce can optimize the booking experience for guests choosing to stay at a large value hotel chain. As I began my research, I found several articles about a boom in travel nurses, who often choose extended-stay value hotels because they’re fully furnished, conveniently located, and affordable. I then wondered what regions need travel nurses the most. The results of that search helped me decide on the city, hospital, and hotel that would frame my story.
Find the rabbit holes. Story sparks are hiding everywhere, with just the right details that will capture your audience’s imagination. A well-written narrative instills trust in the storyteller, showcasing that they went above and beyond to understand and engage their audience.
D&D Lesson #2: Expect the unexpected
Despite a DM’s best efforts to set up the perfect scene, things can and will go awry. As players leave their fates up to the roll of a dice, or dream up totally unexpected scenarios, DM’s will have to adapt on the fly — not only to move a story forward, but also to ensure players stay motivated and engaged.
When preparing to workshop and storyboard with sales teams, creative strategists map out narratives and customer journeys in advance. However, as we go through additional discovery and discussion about customer needs, these storylines can change, sometimes becoming a complete departure from where we thought things would head.
For another engagement, I immersed myself in food manufacturing processes to help a customer imagine how Salesforce could operationalize the complexities of bringing a new product to market. Though we felt like we had a nuanced and compelling narrative, an industry advisor commented that our storyline was oversimplified and needed far more details. Having to reconfigure a storyline is intricate and time-consuming, but the more we can internalize a potential customer’s needs and pain points, the more the story will resonate. Building a relationship and credibility with a customer begins before we invite them into a possible future.
Embrace the chaos. Every good story has a crisis. Perfection can cause the audience to lose interest, because it’s not realistic. Leaning into flaws grounds a story and makes it relatable. Rather than dwelling on setbacks and “wasted” efforts, let these pivots enrich the story
D&D Lesson #3: Create magic with friends
One of the best parts of D&D is that players are not just parts of a game, but a group of friends going on an adventure together. By pooling powers, resources, and ideas, players can collectively take down insurmountable beasts or escape from the most dire situations.
At Q Branch, we pride ourselves on our tight-knit, zany, and vibrant culture. Everyone on our team, from creative and technical strategists to designers to engineers, is encouraged to identify their unique superpowers and openly share them. We prioritize getting to know one another as friends, as well as co-workers. This thoughtful approach to relationship design helps to build deep bonds and understanding that shows in our work.
For all of our engagements, we are encouraged to work together in pods, parachuting into a project as a unit. As a creative strategist, I write the skeleton of a story for a technical strategist to build a product demo and a designer to create visuals that will bring the narrative to life. While we each have our own roles to play, we know that we can rely on one another for honest feedback, new ideas, and moral support.
In our new remote-work world, it’s easy to hide behind a screen as a solo artist. But, growth is hard in a silo. Challenge yourself to get additional perspectives and input from others before moving forward in a project — you never know what gems you might uncover together!
D&D Lesson #4: Have fun — enjoy the ride!
On the way to adulthood, many of us shed our childlike wonder and ability to dream and create with abandon. This becomes glaringly apparent when you have a job that requires scrutiny of your ideas and stories. That’s why I am so grateful for Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a giant game of make-believe, where you can be anyone and do anything. While there are some guidelines, you’re free to explore and play.
Injecting fun into my creative work has been a critical lesson for me. If I don’t find joy in my work, it’s likely my audience won’t either. When in doubt, ask yourself: Did I take any risks? Will I be proud of the effort that I put into this piece? Did I try to infuse any elements of delight, wonder, or inspiration? If the answer is no, re-visit your work and look for opportunities for improvement.
“Deep inside all of us, inside our metaphorical dungeons, is a dragon — but we don’t know if we can slay it or befriend it, unless we try…so arm yourself with pencil and graph paper, gather around the fire of each others’ imaginations, and go on an adventure.” — Ethan Gilsdorf, author, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Creativity requires you to transcend traditional ideas, patterns, and rules. The next time you’re in a rut, take a break from your routines and try something totally new. Whether it’s pottery, spelunking, beekeeping, or pickleball, find an expression that sparks joy and pursue it wholeheartedly. In your alternate world, you’ll discover untraveled paths to inspiration.
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Lisa Kim for introducing me to the wonderfully weird world of D&D storytelling, Bri Hanson for helping me find parallels and meaning between the game and our work, and Freddie Wong, Dungeons & Daddies Co-Host, for being a sounding board and guide.
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