Team F DMs
Allen Bragg
My name is Allen Bragg, and I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons on and off for over 30 years. This will be my second year at Fest in the Forest, and I’m thrilled to be stepping up as the Captain DM for Team F after being a DM for the team last year. I started with Advanced D&D, played a little 3rd Edition, and eventually dove into 5th Edition. I’ve been running campaigns from home for close to ten years now, and I always try to mix combat, puzzles, traps, and roleplaying as evenly as I can to keep things exciting and balanced for everyone at the table. As an engineer, I love creating detailed and creative fantasy sets, but I’m just as happy using theater of the mind when it fits the moment. Outside of my home campaigns, I’ve run games at our local game store for junior high and high school students and I host holiday one-shots for up to 12 players in my dining room for nearly every major holiday. My wife and I are huge fans of D&D and spend a lot of time exploring our favorite fantasy worlds together. I always encourage my players to really get to know their characters—it’s their story to tell, after all. While I respect the rules, I’m not afraid to bend them for the rule of cool as long as it makes sense.
‘Big Tom’ Smith
I have been gaming since my friend Jay showed up in 1981 with a thin red book and some funny looking dice and suggested we give it a try. I played an elf, because they could wear armor and cast spells and that was cool. I’ve been hooked on TTRPG ever since. Since then, I have played many systems with many different groups. I also did theatre, stand up comedy and improv comedy. I try to bring a sense of theatricality and storytelling to all of my games. I also love to improvise and see where the moment and new ideas take our stories. Most importantly, I love seeing what the characters can accomplish and what the players can do with the situations presented. Which is not to say a knock down drag out brawl isn’t also fun. I live with my wife Barb and our three cats Howard, Hilda and Buffy. I have miniatures for all three of them and all three miniatures have appeared at festival. Barb has begun playing in my Monday game, as it gives her a chance to take out her frustrations on fictional monsters and avoid being a gaming widow. I have two weekly games I play in and run for. Both have been running for over 5 years and have brought me wonderful friendships beyond the game.
Mike Slawienski
My name is Mike Slawienski, I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons since 1979. 2025 will be my third year DMing at the DnD Fest. I started by playing Basic D&D (my friend's older sister's game) and ODnD, then transitioned to ADnD as this edition arrived at my local gaming store. I’ve been running in person home campaigns with children and thier parents since 4th edition. We just finished an all adult 7 year ADnD campaign and in 2024 I began a 1974 ODnD and 1971 Chainmail rules to celebrate the 50th anniversery of DnD. I'm a balance of roleplaying and combat with a side of puzzles and mystery solving. I definitely love roleplaying, terrain, props, cosplay and improv. I'm looking forward to hearing and growing your character's story. And telling a collaborative story arc with the Team F players and DMs as we grow a shared collective memory.