Despite rumors to the contrary, the nickname of “Dwarf” comes from Tom Darga’s first AD&D® gamemaster back when Tom was a sophomore in high school—not from supposedly being born in a cave deep under some mountain in Wisconsin. While he has explored a mountain cave or two and even a mine, the only tunneling he’s done were childhood excavations of a corn crib with one of his brothers as kids.

Still, the moniker seems appropriate: Tom worked for many years on his uncle’s dairy farm, and “Dwarf” regularly handled many tools—including axes, picks, mattocks, sledge hammers, knives, shovels of all sorts, and post-hole diggers. “Dwarf” cut weeds with corn knives, mixed mortar, hauled stone and block, split wood, and shoveled lots of “it.”

“Dwarf” is perhaps best known for his many years of volunteering at gaming conventions—virtually every year since 1984. In 2001, he spent a few years as Miniatures Manager for Kenzer & Company, during which time he also placed every town and road on the Kalamar Atlas, co-authored Lord Flataroy’s Guide to Fortifications, and contributed to a number of other books. After that he spent a few years as K&C’s HMA Manager (organized play).

Tom is currently the “Lead Dwarf” at Amalgamated Research Gaming Hub mangling (or “managing!”) HJfor4e magazine and writing Heroes & Henchmen RPG, a licensed derivative of K&C’s out-of-print HM4e (which in turn was a derivative of a game known as both “Advanced” and “1st Edition”). Here at Dragon Days Fantasy Festival, “Dwarf” has a booth filled with his rustic handcrafted items and gaming materials.