Ken Whitman creates bizarre AI-powered biographies of TTRPG designers

Ken Whitman is behind the site, and has his own Ai-created biography​

Ken Whitman, a man whose reputation in the gaming industry is controversial at best, is behind a new website called '4 Pillar Games'. The website purports to be a record of influential game designers and companies, and is obviously (and poorly) written by AI with strange, formulaic articles and AI generated portraits of the designers in question. Whitman’s project has caused a strong backlash from those included without their consent or knowledge.

As well as an AI-created directory of game designers, the website also features an RSS-powered news section and a--currently empty--storefront which invites game publishers to apply for inclusion. (Update: The storefront tab appears to have vanished sometime in the last few hours.)

The entries are unintentionally laughable. Also, this is not a picture of Jason Bulmahn. ​

While Whitman's name is not mentioned on the site (other than in his own biography), his name is in the metadata, indicating his 'authorship' (a strong term when referring to RSS feeds and AI generated content). Three others were publicly named on the site in a now-removed 'About' page: Don Perrin (Traveller, Sovereign Stone, Dragonlance), Tony Lee (Games Unplugged) and Reece Wardrip (Spycraft, Twlight:2013). It's not clear why Ken Whitman's own involvement is not mentioned anywhere on the site, although many have speculated that his reputation is such that he is no longer able to be the public face of projects--as Cam Banks (Cortex System, Dragonlance) said on BlueSky, "Ken “Whit” Whitman, notorious in tabletop gaming for various get rich schemes and scams, is back trying to promote a Best Tabletop Designers of All Time Facebook page where he ranks creators using generative AI slop entries and art." The Facebook page itself has since been deleted, but the 4 Pillar Games website is still active and designers are still being added.

This page has now been removed from the site​

Both Perrin and Lee have now reportedly left the project, stating that the site was made without their approval.

The bios are all written by AI, and all follow a similar format: An AI-generated image of the person in question, many of which are laughably bad, and a one-page summary. Many game designers have publicly stated that they did not consent to their inclusion in this 'directory', although some have found amusement by mocking the AI-created images of themselves. Evil Hat's Fred Hicks commented on his own entry:

• Haven't looked this young in 20 years.
• Gave no legal permission to use my likeness in this image.
• Gave no legal permission to use trademarked logos placed on incorrect product images & layouts shown here.
• Them Fate Dice are jank, yo.
• Contemplating legal action.
• Enjoy, mother****er.

Many other game designers have expressed similar sentiments. Chris Bisset (The Wretched, Tunnels & Trolls) was more confrontational, saying "Hey uhhhhh if you make AI slop images of me and I meet you in person I'm going to hit you full force in the throat, just as a little PSA", while award-winning designer Grant Howitt (Honey Heist, Heart: The City Beneath) asked "There's so many pictures of me online. Why not use one of those instead of asking a computer to gin one up with a couple dozen extra wrinkles". Cam Banks said "I sent this Reece Wardrip guy a message on LinkedIn to take down the AI slop photo of me and that AI-written bio. What a colossally lazy and insulting thing to do to people." Philip Reed (former CEO of Steve Jackson Games) said "I was sent a link to a new site that appears to be an AI-generated nightmare. It claims to be about the 'most influential tabletop game designers.' Two things: 1. I do not belong on any list of "influential" anything. 2. W(ho)TF is that? This is creepy and disturbing."

Tabletop gaming historian Shannon Appelcline had more to say: "I knew we had a problem with Ken "Whit" Whitman started publishing LLM-authored designer biographies. I read over one. It had lots of correct facts. The article's subject even said it was great. But it also had a few factual errors and some sentences that implied things that were false. It was pretty obvious to me that that was going to be sucked into Wikipedia or into someone's article that was going to get sucked into Wikipedia and those misstaments and misimplications were going to get taken as fact. I confronted Ken, who I'd had some pleasant interactions with a few years ago when I wrote LOST HISTORIES of a few of his failed companies, and he told me that he had a magical means that got rid of 97% of hallucinations.To which I say, bull****.... Nonetheless, Whitman's crap is definitely going to be making it a lot harder to separate the wheat of RPG histories from the chaff in a few years. Still, it's manageable, because you just have to go back to trustworthy primary sources, as you should be doing anyway."

Some designers have asked to be removed, but have received a stock response from Whitman, such as the one below sent to Spencer Campbell of Gila RPGs. Others who have questioned or criticised 4 Pillar on social media have been unceremoniously blocked.

The designer summaries all read in a similar way, and one cringeworthy aspect is that when you look at the menu of designers, which includes the first line of each summary, it looks a really weak diss track listing things that game designers did not do--we are usefully informed that "Jason Bulmahn did not invent d20 fantasy roleplaying" and that "Peter Adkison did not design Magic: The Gathering." Here's an informative list of other things those mentioned did not do:

• "Aaron Allston's best ideas do not look like inventions anymore."
• "Peter Adkison did not design Magic: The Gathering."
• "Scott Almes did not make small games because small was cute."
• "Cam Banks did not ask one universal question with Cortex."
• "Jason Bulmahn did not invent d20 fantasy roleplaying."
• "John Blanche did not make fantasy darker by turning down the lights."
• "Kris Burm did not make one abstract game and move on."
• "Jolly Blackburn didn't set out to define tabletop gaming culture."
• "Milton Bradley did not set out to become the father of American board gaming."
• "Rich Baker did not make Dungeons & Dragons by inventing from empty air."
• "Richard Berg did not treat history like scenery."
• "Sydney Beckman does not teach Evidence like a museum of rules."
• "Tim Beach was not the loudest name in the TSR building."
• "Tim Bradstreet did not make Vampire: The Masquerade by writing clans, disciplines, dice pools, or city politics."
• "Wolfgang Baur did not build Dungeons & Dragons."
• "Bill Bridges did not build his reputation by making neutral rules."
• "Clyde Caldwell did not make Dungeons & Dragons darker by writing a rule."
• "Isaac Childres did not make the dungeon crawl friendlier."
• "Graeme Davis did not make fantasy darker by adding more monsters."
• "Ryan Dancey's biggest contribution to tabletop games was not a monster, a setting, a rulebook class, or a clever combat mechanic."
• "Jay Dragon does not treat rules like invisible plumbing."
• "Jeff Easley did not make his deepest mark on tabletop gaming by writing rules."
• "Ron Edwards did not ask whether a role-playing game could tell a good story."
• "Larry Elmore did not make his deepest mark on tabletop gaming by writing a combat table."
• "Amanda Lee Franck does not treat the map as a handout."
• "Fred Fields did not shape tabletop gaming by writing a rule."
• "Mike Fitzgerald did not need to invent a new card game to make people lean forward."
• "Sean Patrick Fannon did not build the engine."
• "Ed Greenwood did not start the Forgotten Realms as a product line."
• "Joseph Goodman did not ask what old Dungeons & Dragons looked like."
• "Goro Hasegawa did not invent the idea of flipping discs on a board from nothing."
• "John Harper did not invent fiction-first roleplaying."
• "John Eric Holmes did not invent Dungeons & Dragons."
• "If the d20 system is a cathedral, Amanda Hamon is not the person who poured the foundation."
• "Christopher Jeansonne does not treat media history like a timeline."
• "Jeremy Jarvis did not become important to tabletop fantasy because he painted one famous picture."
• "John Kovalic did not make games look serious."
• "Seiji Kanai did not prove that small games could exist."
• [Billy Littlepage is] not attached to famous boxed games."
• "Lenard Lakofka did not just draw a dungeon and wait for adventurers to kick in the door."
• "Steven S. Long did not invent the HERO System."
• "A Todd Lockwood dragon does not look like a symbol."
• "Tom Lehmann did not become Tom Lehmann when Race for the Galaxy appeared."
• "Angus McBride did not paint fantasy as escape from history."
• "Marc Miller did not give science-fiction role-playing a plot."
• "Kim Mohan did not become important to Dungeons & Dragons by standing in the spotlight."
• "Roger E. Moore did not just write for Dungeons & Dragons."
• "Tom Moldvay did not invent Dungeons & Dragons."
• "Gavin Norman did not become important by inventing a new fantasy engine."
• "Scott Palter did not create Star Wars."
• "Charles S. Roberts did not set out to create a hobby."
• "Volko Ruhnke did not approach conflict like a duel."
• "Carl Sargent did not make dark fantasy by turning down the lights."
• "Jack Scruby did not become famous because one rules system conquered the hobby."
• "R. A. Salvatore did not begin by redesigning Dungeons & Dragons."
• "Ethan Skemp did not create the World of Darkness."
• "Steve Stone did not make his deepest tabletop mark by building a dice engine."
• "Robert J. Schwalb did not build his reputation by making fantasy darker."
• "Francis Tresham did not flood the hobby with designs."
• "Jason Tocci did not make a tiny RPG because he had nothing to say."
• "Donald X. Vaccarino did not begin with a small idea."
• "Michael Van Vleet does not usually build the engine."
• "White Wolf did not begin as the company that made vampires cool."
• "Dave Wesely did not sit down to invent roleplaying games."
• "Jean Wells did not leave behind a long shelf of modules with her name on the spine."
• "Ken "Whit" Whitman did not build his tabletop career like a man protecting one perfect system."

Not sure how we feel about Whitman's latest diss-track​

The PDF gaming store tab is now gone, removed at some point in the last 24 hours. While the (AI) image below purports to show a store teeming with product, as of yesterday the store page was still completely empty, with a button on it exhorting publishers to apply to be included in the store. It looked like the store page was an attempt at something similar to DriveThruRPG. It is not clear why the store page disappeared overnight.

​

With the blacklash online being intense, designers demanding their entries be removed, two-thirds of the project's creators resigning, the Facebook page for 4 Pillar Games being taken down, various pages on the website disappearing overnight, and Whitman's continuing silence, it's not clear how long this project will last.

 

[Shawn Tomkin]

And if you don't have much of an online history, they have the AI generate a random picture of some guy. I chortled when I saw mine, but it's also really creepy to know it'll pop up in internet searches and such.

 

[Michael O'Brien]

These disconcerting, not-quite-right, glass-eyed simulacrums of Greg Stafford, Lynn Willis, and Steve Perrin were made by appropriating photos scraped off the internet and sending them to the uncanny valley. Greg, Lynn and Steve are all deceased and so no longer around to object, but I can - especially as one of the photographs is from our website (that was taken of Steve and Greg by me at Gen Con 2018). Seems they've also raided our tweets for content.

As actual TTRPG historian Shannon Appelcline noted, this AI slop is "stealing from those of us who have put the years and decades of research, writing, and editing into actual histories of the industry."

nb a number of living people connected with Chaosium were featured too, and they can make their own objection (some already have).

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

You used to be able to respect grifters for their effort.

 

[DLIMedia]

lol

 

[diceexmachina]

• "Sydney Beckman does not teach Evidence like a museum of rules."

Hang on... I used to work with a law professor named Sydney Beckman who teaches Evidence. Did he just ask the AI to generate a biography of particular names? I'm terrified what the Steve Jackson bio says, considering the number of Steve Jacksons and Steven Jacksons out there.

 

[Abstruse]

Hang on... I used to work with a law professor named Sydney Beckman who teaches Evidence. Did he just ask the AI to generate a biography of particular names? I'm terrified what the Steve Jackson bio says, considering the number of Steve Jacksons and Steven Jacksons out there.

I'm curious (but not enough to give him web traffic) considering the two Steve Jacksons we have in the industry. Is he going to have just one entry with a photo that looks like one of those old 1990s merge effects? Or is he going to take their credits, shuffle them around, and randomly distribute them so Steve Jackson (US) created Munchkin and Warhammer 40K while Steve Jackson (UK) created Fighting Fantasy and GURPS

 

[DLIMedia]

Hang on... I used to work with a law professor named Sydney Beckman who teaches Evidence. Did he just ask the AI to generate a biography of particular names? I'm terrified what the Steve Jackson bio says, considering the number of Steve Jacksons and Steven Jacksons out there.

Probably, yes.

... is he going to take their credits, shuffle them around, and randomly distribute them so Steve Jackson (US) created Munchkin and Warhammer 40K while Steve Jackson (UK) created Fighting Fantasy and GURPS

Also, probably, yes.

 

[Morrus]

I'm curious (but not enough to give him web traffic) considering the two Steve Jacksons we have in the industry. Is he going to have just one entry with a photo that looks like one of those old 1990s merge effects? Or is he going to take their credits, shuffle them around, and randomly distribute them so Steve Jackson (US) created Munchkin and Warhammer 40K while Steve Jackson (UK) created Fighting Fantasy and GURPS

What a headline! To be known as the guy who there is another guy with the same name.

In fact the first couple of paragraphs are about the other Steve Jackson. Quite the accolade to be known by comparison to who you are not, and what games you did not design.

There are two famous tabletop game designers named Steve Jackson.

That fact has created decades of confusion.

The American Steve Jackson, born in 1953, founded Steve Jackson Games and designed GURPS, Car Wars, Ogre, and Munchkin. The British Steve Jackson, born in Manchester in 1951, co-founded Games Workshop, co-created Fighting Fantasy, and wrote Sorcery!, Creature of Havoc, House of Hell, Appointment with F.E.A.R., and other gamebooks that taught millions of readers how to play alone with a book, pencil, and dice.

The confusion gets worse because the American Steve Jackson also wrote several Fighting Fantasy books. Those are his. The rest of this story belongs to the British Steve Jackson.

That distinction matters because the UK Jackson's achievement is easy to hide under someone else's shadow. He did not build GURPS. He did not design Munchkin. He did not create Warhammer Fantasy Battle or Warhammer 40,000.

 

[Mike Myler]

Spoiler: 📝

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hang on... I used to work with a law professor named Sydney Beckman who teaches Evidence. Did he just ask the AI to generate a biography of particular names? I'm terrified what the Steve Jackson bio says, considering the number of Steve Jacksons and Steven Jacksons out there.

Little did folks know that Steven Jackson had another career. A great career. In the NFL. (I'm actually a huge fan of Steven Jackson because he went to Oregon State University).

As an aside, I thought I made it as a publisher when I found my stuff on pirate websites. Now I guess I'll have to wait until I make Ken's AI list...