About Us
The Young Adventurer Society (YAS) is an enterprising group of Dungeon Masters, players, game enthusiasts and all around cool folk from Calgary, Alberta, Canada! All of us work in various fields but bring our experiences, passion for storytelling, and nerdiest selves to YAS!
We offer weekly, monthly and one-off games and lessons for all ages. The goal of every session is to bring our expertise on the rules and background of the game so you can get right to playing. The focus will always be on creative storytelling and community connection. We are very beginner friendly! We mainly run Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition but our DM’s love all sorts of gaming systems and rules sets! Contact us if you have a request!
Our programs are open to everyone regardless of race, age, culture, ability, ethnicity or nationality, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, religious affiliation, and socioeconomic status. If you have a question or feedback we would love to hear it. Drop us a line.
The Young Adventurer Society members live, work and play in Mohkinstsis on traditional Treaty 7 territory. We are thankful to be able to tell stories together on this land where the Bow and Elbow Rivers meet.
Our logo was designed by Roel Torres. Thanks Roel!
Meet the people of the
Young Adventurer Society!
Jonathan Molinski
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator,
Master of Time, Co-Founder
Dragonborn Barbarian
He/Him
Jonathan Molinski is an Alberta based voice actor and drama educator. His passion for making funny faces and silly voices led him to the glorious world of Tabletop Roleplaying Games. Slowly but surely it has become one of the most important pillars in his life and hopes to pass on a love for making bold choices and rich characters! Being a Dungeon Master and player keeps his wit sharp, voice limber, and mind racing with all the possibilities available in a fantasy world.
Teo Nakamura
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator,
Master of Coin, Co-Founder
Half Elf Paladin
He/Him
Born and (mostly) raised in Calgary, Teo has always loved exploring creative outlets, from poetry and short story writing to prop making and stage acting. Although not introduced to Tabletop Roleplaying games until his early twenties, he took to them fast and immediately could not get enough. Playing once or twice a week, either as a player or as a Dungeon Master, he enjoyed the world building and storytelling; collecting dice was a welcome bonus. Now with his own kid he’s looking forward to passing on his passion to the next generation.
Jena Nakamura
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator,
Quarter Master, Co-Founder
Human Druid
She/Her
Jena is, through and through, a lover of books. Having never gotten rid of any book, her personal library now spans a full length wall of twice-deep bookshelves in her home. Her passion for literature is matched by her caring nature and empathy. Immersed in the culture of Dungeons and Dragons, she enjoys playing one of her five characters, from Brynn Shieldheart the brave archer, to Temperance the sorceress wielding a Staff of Frost. With all her characters she delves deep and becomes them, and often creates entire binders to organize session notes, spells, and player inventory.
Alicia Ward
Administrator, Town Crier, Co-Founder
Gnome Bard
She/Her
Alicia has been teaching dance and drama to all ages for over 14 years in the Calgary area. She is passionate about cultivating a love for performance art, movement, and creativity in every age. She herself performs throughout Alberta, mainly focusing on performance for young children. Alicia is also a lover of organizational tasks and works year round for arts focused education companies. Currently she is the Co-Artistic Director and General Manager of Alberta Dance Theatre, Administrator for the Dancing Parkinson’s YYC program at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and a member of the Create Kids Fest Board of Directors. She is forever thankful to be introduced to Dungeons & Dragons due to the fun, storytelling, and life long friends she’s been connected with.
Talia Aleksiuk
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Half-Elf Druid,
Circle of the Moon
She/Her
Talia tried DMing for her friends in the 7th grade, and has not been able to put down the game since. She adores high fantasy and accompanying her players up and down the Sword Coast. She loves the creativity and uniqueness that younger players bring to the game. Some of her favourite experiences as a DM have been her plans being derailed by her teenage players, and laughing along with them during whatever mischievous activities they have decided to partake in. When not working out plotlines or puzzles for her games, she spends a lot of time around horses, playing bluegrass music with her friends, and working with children and youth in other capacities.
Anja Darien
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Wood Elf Bard,
School of Creation
They/She/He
Anja Darien is a multi-faceted creative with a love of story and play. Coming from a background as an actor, Anja brings an element of theatre and storytelling to create an immersive and dramatic experience for their players. While not creating dungeons to be explored or creating silly NPCs, Anja is either performing or taking workshops, playing D&D themselves, or spending time with their darling, dungeon-delving spouse.
Seamus Dobbin
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Halfling Monk
He/Him
Seamus loves, strange, desperate, lovable characters - and he's ready to meet yours! He runs games that put your hero in the spotlight, with all the freedom that role-playing games have to offer. You'll explore weird world and battle villains who hold nasty grudges when you play with him!
As a speech and drama teacher, Seamus has worked on his silly voices! He loves improvising and seeing where the crazy ideas of his players will lead. His favorite things are building bizarre underground worlds and running brutal, old-school dungeons. Seamus has been playing D&D, Cyberpunk, and a bunch of other games for more than 15 years - and he wants to show you just how much fun it is!
Jason Mancini
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Elf Eldritch Knight
He/Him
Jason has been playing dungeons and dragons since the ye olde times of 3rd edition and thanks to some amazing people he has continued. His passion for the ever evolving stories and random happenings drive this Dungeon Master to always be evolving his practice. His favorite classic wizards adventure is definitely Curse of Strahd because of the incredible history of the written adventure itself, as well as the gothic horror nightmare landscape it describes.
“I am the ancient, I am the land.”
-Strahd Von Zarovich”
Teague Urquhart
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Human Wizard
He/Him
Teague has been a player of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) since 2018 and took up the mantle of Game Master (GM) later that same year. He loves a good story and is always seeking to make his games more immersive and entertaining experiences for players with character voices, curated music, and rich world descriptions. Teague is also knowledgeable about Tabletop Role-playing Games other than D&D and is eager to test them out with curious players!
Bria Ward
Dungeon/Game Master & Facilitator
Lightfoot Halfing Bard
They/Them
Bria has always had a near-overwhelming passion for stories. Be it historical texts or children's fantasy books, documentaries or sci-fi video games, and just about everything outside of and in between, stories have always been a vital part of who Bria is. With a never ending drive to create and share their own stories, tabletop role playing games were the perfect outlet for all that overflowing creativity; the idea of a story built and shaped by the player characters themselves along with the dungeon master was a new and intriguing challenge they couldn't ignore! Keen to embrace the more chaotic and silly sides of life, Bria reflects this in their dungeon mastering style; they're always eager to let players exercise their own creativity by "messing around and finding out" and leaving it up to a roll of the dice.
Testimonials
“I have never played Dungeons and Dragons before and was hesitant to learn something that seemed so complicated. My friend asked if I would try it out just once and I had a blast! The game took about 3 hrs but honestly it felt like it was only an hour and I didn’t want it to end. This game gives you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game. Jon was an excellent teacher who was able to deliver the information in a very clear and simple way that was easy to understand. He helped me navigate through the overwhelming amount of information that was in front of me and guided me throughout the game on what I could and couldn’t do. It was an afternoon well spent!”
- Brittany Bell
“Thank you so much for an awesome birthday party! My friends and I had an awesome time with Teo our DM! The dockside sting adventure was really well designed and we all enjoyed it a lot! Teo and your team totally made my birthday!”
- Ansel
“Having never played dungeons and dragons before Jon made the game approachable and fantastically fun! His ability to wrangle a group together and guide them through an adventure is an opportunity not to be missed. I would highly recommend renting Jon as a DM!"
- Mercedes Chabot
“My son loves his D&D sessions with Jonathan and looks forward to meeting up every week. The sessions are excellent value for the money and I would recommend to anyone.”
- Parent
“Thanks again for delivering such a high quality experience for our kids - they are wholeheartedly choosing this over video gaming which makes the parents very happy!”
- Parent