April 6th, 2020 Personal Public Statement by Daniel D. Fox Regarding John Tarnowksi / RPG Pundit / Kasimir Urbanski

This Personal Public Statement addresses John Tarnowski (hereafter “Tarnowski”) and his campaign of harassment against myself and my family. This campaign of harassment has been waged from Montevideo, Uruguay, where, according to his Twitter account and public statements, Tarnowski lives as a Canadian expatriate. Tarnowski, the author of Lion & Dragon, Dark Albion: The Rose War is also known online as @KasimirUrbanski, Kasimir Urbanski, RPGPundit or ‘The RPG Pundit’.

HISTORY

Tarnowski’s campaign of harassment began in April 2017, when he publicly posted on TheRPGSite.com a false allegation that I “exposed [Tarnowski’s] name and other personal information about [Tarnowski].” I emailed Tarnowski the same day, asking why he made the post. This email thread went on over the course of months. While the first few exchanges were civil, they turned into direct and false allegations against my character and threats against my person. I stopped responding at that point. He then re-alleged these false claims via email in May of 2017 and again in September of 2017. I did not respond, and that’s when he sent me a final threatening email, ending with “…I am going to have to take measures”.

Often, ignoring an internet troll will allow an interaction to quietly fade away as they seek newer and more responsive targets. However, a cursory review of John Tarnowski’s website TheRPGSite.com and several Internet searches quickly revealed continued harassment by him directly, through his proxies and by fans of RPG Pundit, including but not limited to multiple postings at infamous troll site 4chan. This was brigading at its worst, or would have been had it been in any way successful.

I blocked Tarnowski as best one can on social media and moved on. Tarnowski’s fans, and what I believe are likely sock-puppet accounts, continued to message me directly and falsely accuse and harass me on social media in an apparent attempt to draw me back into RPG Pundit’s orbit of hatred. I blocked the puppets and proxies, and again moved onward.

After I had won the 2018 ENnies, I thought it would be motivation for Tarnowski to find another target. However, it seemed only to enrage him, as he made a new series of false accusations at TheRPGSite.com, over a number of posts, claiming that I had somehow gamed the ENnies, bribed judges and cheated DriveThruRPG’s metal rankings by purchasing my own products.

Tarnowski’s inexplicable rage was once again displayed in a series of social media posts in February of 2019 about my alleged personal and business relationship with Zak Smith (otherwise known as Zak Sabbath or Zak S.).

As I have previously publicly disclosed, I was contacted by Mark Kriozere, the creator of I AM THE WEAPON, to help with publicity for that product. This was a role-playing game Zak Smith was the artist for, and I turned down the work once I learned of his behavior.

Though I literally turned down the work before it even began, Tarnowski has weaponized his knowledge of this offer to make patently false statements about my (nonexistent) business ties to Zak Smith.

These claims are posted to this day on social media platforms, his personal website TheRPGSite.com, and on YouTube. This includes his personal YouTube channel Kasimir Urbanski, his Patreon RPGPundit and a shared YouTube channel Inappropriate Characters, which he maintains with James Desborough (a/k/a GrimJim or @Grimasaur on Twitter) and Darrick Dishaw (a/k/a Venger Satanis or @vengersatanis on Twitter).

All the while, Tarnowski has been monetizing these lies and baseless allegations across Patreon, YouTube and TheRPGSite.com.

In January of 2020, John Tarnowski (posting under his alias RPG Pundit) made a thread on TheRPGSite.com as a call to arms for his fans to ‘whistleblow’ on cheating DriveThruRPG’s metal system: specifically, to make allegations of cheating against me. Ironically, the changes One Book Shelf made less than two months later to adjust/backdate the metal system would have instantly revealed the truth if Tarnowski’s allegations had any basis in fact. The allegations of course do not have any basis in fact, One Book Shelf found no evidence of any such cheating. Tarnowski, to my knowledge, has not commented on this issue — or made any retraction of his ridiculous and false allegations — since the announcement was made.

But nevertheless, The RPG Pundit persisted.

CURRENT STATUS

There have been numerous false and defamatory claims about my character by Tarnowski over the years, through his internet personas RPG Pundit and Kasimir Urbanski. A simple Internet search will reveal multiple examples. A steady, four-year long campaign led by RPG Pundit has caused his audience to harass me and my family, as well as doing material harm to my personal brand.

This harassment reached a new low earlier this month, as Tarnowski’s attacks were extended to my Instagram account, with a direct quote from his social media by an anonymous account posted on personal family posts unrelated to my business.

Although the alleged third party who made the post has come forward, based on his prior behavior and methods I suspect that the actual poster is none other than Tarnowski. This prompted me to seek advice of counsel and to make this Personal Public Statement to set the record straight.

This Personal Public Statement is my last word on the matter. I will continue to monitor the situation with the aid of my counsel Marc Whipple of Legal Inspiration, and I will take all reasonable steps to protect my legal rights and the legal rights of my family.

One puzzling aspect of this matter is that Tarnowski presents himself as a deeply spiritual person. A brief Internet search will reveal more than one book he has authored on spirituality. I am at an utter loss as to how he reconciles this with his actions both with regard to me in particular and in general with his online firebrand personality of ‘The RPG Pundit’ and of ‘Kasimir Urbanski’. If you are reading this, John, I heartily implore you to look deep within yourself to ask if this fight is worth not only the reputational, legal, and economic risks, but the risks to your spiritual well-being. Thank you.

Inquiries regarding this Personal Public Statement should be made to Marc Whipple of Legal Inspiration, c/o marc@legalinspiration.com.