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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/SAlolzorz on 2025-07-23 21:50:32+00:00.

This post is about RPGPundit (real name John Tarnowski), AKA Kasimir Urbanski, AKA Swami Anand Nisarg, a controversial figure in the tabletop RPG community.

A Canadian expat living in Uruguay, Pundit’s main claim to fame was being credited as a consultant on the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. A credit that was removed (along with all of the other consultants’ credit) due to the controversies surrounding both the Pundit himself and infamous RPG figure Zak S., who could easily be the subject of his own post here (but I’m not gonna be the one to write it).

Pundit is also a YouTuber, blogger, webmaster, internet Swami, and writer of “OSR” games. “OSR” stands for either Old School Revival or Old School Renaissance, depending on who you ask. It refers to games heavily influenced by, and in many cases using a majority of rules from, older editions of D&D. Essentially, these games use older D&D rules to create games that are more or less like D&D (which OSR adherents tend to view as the BEST GAME EVAR), with or without tweaks and changes. Some (OSRIC, SWORDS & WIZARDRY) are quite close to the originals, while others (Hyperborea, Adventures Dark And Deep) use the main structure of the game but add or extrapolate mechanics that may differ significantly from the source material.

The OSR attracts players both old and young, for various reasons. many find that its rules to be substantial yet allow “breathing room” for player creativity. Some appreciate its nostalgic charm. Some enjoy a higher “lethality” game, finding modern games too “survivable” or easy. Its ubiquity removes barriers to entry in terms of design, as well as learning rules. And so on.

It wouldn’t be possible to distill the OSR down to a single ethos or set of design goals. Nor will I attempt to. This is merely a “nutshell” description of a community and genre of games that are often surprisingly diverse, given that they are usually descended from various iterations of a single game.

The OSR as a whole is a fertile ground for hobby drama. Before I give my opinions as to why, I just want to say the following. I enjoy and play OSR games. I am an oldster, in my 50s, who started playing RPGs probably in 1981. Oftentimes, a criticism of any facet of the OSR is taken as a tacit criticism of the OSR as a whole. And while I do have criticisms of the broader OSR, those are not the subject of this post.

That having been said, some of those in the OSR community revere D&D as THE ONE GAME, considering it superior to all others, despite the decades of game design, theory, and practice that have emerged since D&D was first created a half century ago. They often try to shoehorn D&D, a game designed to emulate fantasy adventure, into other genres, from western to sci-fi.

And, as with other hobbies, RPGs have become a battlefield in the culture wars. The OSR in particular has become fertile ground for old-fashioned, even bigoted attitudes. There are many in the OSR (and there is no formal membership, to be clear) who are not like this, who are young, non-white, queer, etc. But there are also OSR creators who either are literal white supremacists (murderer and black metal musician Varg Vikernes, author of a game called MYFAROG), or who collaborate with them (ACKS author Alexander Macris, who has professional ties to vociferous bigot Vox Day). That some of the late founding fathers of roleplaying have been found to have been self-identified sexists (Gary Gygax) or Holocaust deniers (M.A.R. Barker), and some are still alive and espousing problematic views, does not help the OSR’s reputation.

But enough about that.

John Tarnoswki, the RPGPundit, has had a long and controversial history in the OSR, and RPGs in general, before the OSR was really a thing. He began as an Obama-supporting center-left blogger, but has morphed into a self-described MAGA with a well-established reputation for confrontation, self-aggrandizement, and, some would say, bigotry.

To attempt anything like a chronological presentation of Tarnowski would probably be far too much work. And, since some of this will involve behaviors that have gone on for years, would probably be impractical and confusing. And, like many MAGAS, Pundit spews so much misinfo and reactionary copy-paste, it’s frankly exhausting to be exposed to his social media presence for anything but the briefest periods of time. Which is why I’m not even gonna bother getting into his Twitter BS (He goes by KasimirUrbanski there, you won’t be scrolling long before you get to misogyny, transphobia, rants about Antifa, Marxists, Stalinists, etc.). Maybe I’m just lazy. In any event, I’m going to stick to a few of the larger and/or recurring controversies in Tarnowski’s history. Namely:

-Claiming to have played a major part of the development of certain RPGs, despite claims to the contrary by those directly involved.

-Claiming to be rich and famous from sales of his games, while using alt accounts to solicit money for basic living expenses, and trying to get members of his forum to provide unpaid work for his games.

-Cheering on an act of violence committed by a neo-nazi, going so far as to call the perpetrator a “hero”.

-Using as affectations catchphrases taken from other authors and also from movie characters.

This post, examining Pundit’s claim that he helped “design” D&D 5E, will be the first of 4 that I make about him. Tarnowski’s big achievement, as I stated at the top of the post, was being a consultant on 5E D&D. It’s worth noting that the 4th edition of D&D, which deviated substantially from the mechanics of earlier editions, was not well received by fans. In fact, it was this dissatisfaction with 4E that gave birth to the OSR.

In an attempt at course correction, the designers of 5E decided to court the OSR community, in an attempt to win back fans (read: customers) they had lost. This was done by enlisting the aid of 8 game designers, some of whom were OSR types, and others with experience working on D&D and/or other games, to provide feedback.

The decision to include Tarnoski as a consultant was not met with approval by many, as even in 2012, when it was announced, many in the RPG community found him to be hateful, confrontational, and narcissistic.

Once 5th edition was released, becoming the most successful edition of all time, Tarnowski began to claim that he’d had an outsized influence on its design. He crowed about working directly with co-Lead Designer Mike Mearls, and sending “over 400 emails” during that process. But cracks began to emerge in his story, when jeremy Crawford, Mearls’ associate and co-Lead Designer denied this, saying on Twitter, “I oversaw the creation of the 5E books, and I didn’t read one word by this person. The fiction of their influence makes me cackle.” Dan Dillon, who worked on the D&D line after 5E’s publication, said, “My understanding was that they didn’t do any design work, just consulted, meaning gave feedback and impressions, and possibly suggestions that may or may not have been used, back during playtest/development.” Nevertheless, Pundit would state on multiple occasions over the next several years, and even quite recently, that he had “saved D&D.”

Despite Pundit’s claims, no one, not his fellow consultants, not any of the D&D 5E design team, not even Mike Mearls, with whom he shared “over 400 emails,” have corroborated his claims. What’s more, Tarnowski made similar claims about the Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space RPG, back in 2009, which were also disputed by several - others - who - were - there.

When confronted with Crawford’s rebuttal of his claims, Pundit implied that he and Mearls had some kind of secretive correspondence, in which Mearls had his co-Lead Designer implement Pundit’s ideas without revealing their source.

The worst case scenario for Pundit is that he’s lying. The best case scenario is that he was talked into doing actual design work for the most successful and profitable edition of D&D yet, while being compensated as a consultant. Which I’m not sure amounted to much more than some free books and a design credit. There may have been monetary compensation, but I’ve never heard any of the consultants, including Tarnowski, discuss it. Though to be fair, most of the other consultants talk about other stuff, because they have much more on their resume than “copying D&D.”

This is my first hobbydrama post. I welcome feedback and constructive criticism.

Thanks for reading, there’s more to come!