We posted a couple of days ago about the steady stream of negative DTRPG ratings we see attached to our products, all sourced from the same two accounts (clearly working in tandem, probably controlled by the same person).
Well … it seems like the individual in question has spotted our posting, if today’s review spree is anything to go by. A snapshot from my inbox:
Yes, that is a total of 24 not-so-great star rating reviews in the space of 2 minutes. From the same person. Absolutely, totally normal behaviour … well, maybe not so much NORMAL, but perfectly rational. Right?
A few folks left comments on the earlier blog posting suggesting that we commission a special product and dedicate it to our hater-stan … we love this idea. But what kind of spite-themed product would work best do you think? Best suggestion in comments we will find a way to make it happen 🙂
Cthulhu Reborn 
August 31st, 2022 at 2:29 pm
A monster that feeds off hate. Creating by an ancient Chaos deity, it finds quiet ways to stoke the flames of outrage.
September 1st, 2022 at 12:11 am
Reminds me a bit of the “Effigy of Hate” invented by Geoff Gillan for his awesome Miskatonic Valley scenario “Regiment of Dread” (back in 1991!).
September 1st, 2022 at 3:32 am
Stan should be an impotent villainous NPC who has no talent, and can only buy the work of others and then try and claim credit for it himself. He is bitter and spiteful and petty and spends his time trying to make those he is jealous of look bad.
Obviously.
PS can’t you show the OBS people this crap, have them look him up, and ban him?
October 9th, 2022 at 7:56 pm
I love Shelby’s description of Stan. This post has been shared on the DTRPG discord, so the staff are aware of it. Hopefully it has the desired effect.
December 3rd, 2022 at 10:11 pm
Stan!
How about a Central Asian campaign, ranging across AfghaniSTAN, UzbekiSTAN, TurkmeniSTAN, etc? Terrorists hijack the transiberian railway using STANley knives, and commit atrocities that no sane mind can STANd.
Ultimately, the attacks are found to be the work of…Nyarlathotep’s cybernetic-era avatar…an AI, codenamed named STAN, whose dread and sociopathic followers are the Societe Internationale Astra Noctis (International Society of the Night Stars, French/Latin etc. alternatives welcomed), acolytes of SaTAN.
All Hail to Stan!
MB
December 3rd, 2022 at 10:13 pm
Gah! Transnationale, not Internationale. Got too excited!
MB
December 3rd, 2022 at 11:02 pm
This is seriously the BEST thing I have read all week — get a team of writers together and I’d commission it in a heartbeat!
The best bit is that I know it would sell well, because (at a minimum) STAN would buy a thousand copies just to downvote it 🙂
December 6th, 2022 at 9:25 pm
Deanadelaide
My cup runneth over! An anthology campaign, linked on a “Stan” theme? A theme:
“In 1920s ISTANbul, dying splinters of the Ottoman Empire are threatened by a new foe: the Bolshevik Russian, STANislav STANiskovich BottiSTANsky, whose militant atheist followers seek to destroy all religion and bring about an “Age of Peace and Plenty.”
An impotent buffoon, STAN is manipulated by followers of Trotsky into creating an uprising in Central Asia that could bring down and kill the gods themselves.
Yours in horror,
Michael Barry
Canberra
December 11th, 2022 at 6:01 am
This is like the Sara Lee Danish of awesomeness[*]. Layer-upon-layer-upon-layer of STAN references.
Get them writers writing!
[*] apologising in advance to anyone who didn’t grow up in 1980s Australia, who will probably have no chance of getting this reference.
January 4th, 2023 at 3:04 pm
As the Latin word stannum means “tin” (hence the chemical symbol Sn for that metal), the nickname Tin Man comes to mind. Not as nice as Dorothy’s friend — but still heartless (and all-other-organless), a less “biological” monster than usual for Lovecraftian fiction….
January 6th, 2023 at 10:52 am
I love the ‘Tin Man’ derivation. May I put it to satirical use in…err…’celebrating’ Stan?
I am taking up deanadelaide’s challenge, and a draft of the Stan campaign (with Stan as a ‘camp pain’) is underway: tentatively, 7 or 8 loosely connected scenarios set in the ‘Stans’ of Central Asia.
I’ve made contact with advisers: a friend who is a PhD scholar specialising in the Muslim history of India and Central Asia; and someone who drove camels across Australia.
I’ve also been reminded that the original Stan riff was originally in a Billy Connolly skit — no sane person ever steals off a bloke from Glasgow.*
* Unless said person wants to experience the dreaded “Glasgow Kiss”!
January 8th, 2023 at 10:28 am
Since our friend Stan has been continuously giving our products a “tin star” rating on DTRPG, I think the association is especially apt.
@iatcomf — great to hear that you’re on the case writing up some an awesome Stan-campaign (or dare I say, “Stanpaign”) … can’t wait to read it!
January 8th, 2023 at 10:48 am
A draft, including several gaping holes, is underway. Being based in Canberra makes available some excellent sources, especially National Library, embassies of relevant countries and the Australian National University’s Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS).
The campaign is structured around a short story, as interludes between the scenarios. Gradually a fiendish plan, by Stan, unravels. In the process, Stan is revealed to be rather twisted — in ways that are amusing to an observer, but somewhat less so for anyone calling themselves by that name…with a cameo appearance by a, um, ‘gnarly’ old favourite who eventually learns the only true magic…is friendship.
January 8th, 2023 at 12:15 pm
Love it … and yep, the National Library of Australia is a priceless resource (physically, or virtually).
January 8th, 2023 at 8:12 pm
A preciousss, dids you ssayyy? Yesss…