Ken Whitman

Last updated

Ken Whitman
Occupations
  • Game designer
  • filmmaker

Ken Whitman is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games and writes and directs films under the name Whit Whitman.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Career

Ken Whitman was a graphic designer from Kentucky who formed the company Whit Productions so that he could publish the post-apocalyptic role-playing game Mutazoids (1989) and get started in the role-playing game business. [1] : 262  Rick Swan in a review of Mutazoids in his book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games notes that "overall, designer Ken Whitman has done an impressive job of creating an attractively chaotic RPG environment." [2]

Whitman followed that effort by starting a second company, Whit Publications, which published two licensed games: Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (1992) by Edward Bolme and WWF Basic Adventure Game (1993) by David Clark. [1] : 262 

After his investors took over Whit Publications in 1994, Whitman became the Gen Con Convention Coordinator for TSR. [1] : 262  Whitman had the goal of getting TSR a presence in 80 or more conventions in 1995. [3] Whitman worked for TSR from 1994 to 1995. [4] Whitman also worked on the Highlander role-playing game from Thunder Castle Games. [3]

Whitman used this game convention experience and made contacts including Marc Miller, with whom he co-founded Imperium Games in February 1996 to publish Traveller releases. [1] : 262  Whitman was president of the new company, and gathered several role-playing professionals to run it. [1] : 262–263  Whitman helped design the fourth edition of Traveller, and wrote the rules for psionics for the system. [1] : 263  Whitman was at the heart of financial disagreements between Imperium and its backer Sweetpea Entertainment, and eventually left because of these disagreements over money expenditures. [1] : 265 

Whitman ran Archangel Entertainment from 1997 to 1998. [1] : 270  While president of Archangel Entertainment, the company published Groo: The Game and the Zero and Dark Conspiracy role-playing games, and Whitman planned to distribute Archangel products in the United States through Chessex. [5] Marcelo Figueroa of Shadis reviewed Groo and said that Whitman got "a burst of inspiration, and decides to make a card game about" the Groo: The Wanderer comic by Sergio Aragones, which he felt was "one of the coolest cards games I've ever played." [6]

Whitman then[ when? ] ran Dynasties Productions, focusing on the new magazine Games Unplugged . [1] : 343  Dynasties Presentations lasted from 1998 to 2001. [1] : 270 

Whitman then[ when? ] managed Elmore Production, the art company of Larry Elmore. [1] : 343  Whitman helped Elmore produce The Complete Elmore Art Book by funding it through crowdfunding. [4]

Whitman then created print companies first with Rapid POD which lasted from 2005 to 2007, and he then created Sidekick Printing in 2010. [1] : 270 

Whitman later began doing business in late 2013 as D20 Entertainment on Kickstarter. [7] Whitman created and funded six projects on Kickstarter between December 8, 2013, and April 7, 2015, for three short movies and three gaming accessories.[ citation needed ] Whitman led d20 Entertainment into producing a Web series called "Brothers Barbarian." [4] Whitman and Tim Gooch created the series and starred in the cast as the two brothers Russ and Art respectively. [8] [9] [10]

Since 2021 Whitman is the CEO of Little Monster Entertainment, a film distributor that aims to connect independent film projects with streaming services. [11] [ non-primary source needed ] Their first film, Unnatural, was released on multiple streaming platforms on December 18, 2024.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '90s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-084-7.
  2. ↑ Swan, Rick (1990). The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 144–146. ISBN   0-312-05060-7 . Retrieved September 17, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  3. 1 2 "News of people & events in the gaming industry". Dragon . March 1995. p. 54. Retrieved September 17, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 Owsley, Becca (June 13, 2014). "Brandenburg film company produces geek culture projects" (pages A12 and A13). The News-Enterprise. Archived from the original (pages A12 and A13) on September 17, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Bednar, Chuck; Slizewski, Tom (July 1998). "Game Companies Going Exclusive". InQuest . No. 39. p. 20. Retrieved September 17, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ Figueroa, Marcelo A. (September 1997). "Groo: The Card Game". Shadis . Vol. 6, no. 40. p. 78. Retrieved September 17, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ "Interview with Ken Whitman of D20 Entertainment" (Interview). Runkle Plays Games. June 4, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Brandenburg inn becomes setting for web-based fantasy series". The News-Enterprise. May 19, 2011. Archived from the original on September 17, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "'Brothers Barbarian': Online comedy series filming this weekend in Brandenburg features Goshen man". The Oldham Era . October 1, 2012. p. A3. Archived from the original on September 17, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  10. ↑ Downs, Meaghan (August 10, 2011). "Local couple stars in webisode series" (pages A1 and A2). The Anderson News . Archived from the original (pages A1 and A2) on September 17, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "About". Little Monsters Entertainment. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
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