View source for Kenneth Hite

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{{quote|[[Major-General Song|This is the very model]] of a Kenneth Hite [[Conspiracy Theory|conspiracy]],
Mixed up between the [[David Icke|Reptoids]] and the [[God of Evil|Manichaean]] [[God Is Evil|heresy]],
It starts with lost [[Atlantis|Lemuria]] and filters through the chaff a bit,
But soon involves a visit from a [[The Knights Templar|brazen head named Baphomet]];
The [[The Da Vinci Code|Prieuré de Sion]] and the [[Brotherhood of Funny Hats|Masons]] are pedestrian,
Until you add the [[Zeppelins from Another World|Airships]] and their [[Space Elves|crews ultraterrestrian]]...
...In short, from [[Advanced Ancient Acropolis|El Dorado]] to the bottom of [[Atlantis Is Boring|the Thera sea]],
This is the very model of a Kenneth Hite [[Ancient Conspiracy|conspiracy]].
|'''Kenneth Hite'''|"Suppressed Transmission: The Secret of My Success"}}

'''Kenneth Hite''' is an author and role-playing game designer. He has written the pulp-themed investigation RPG ''Trail of Cthulhu'' and the [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]], just-post-[[World War II|WWII]] setting ''Day After Ragnarok'' (for the [[Hero System]] and ''Savage Worlds''), as well as authoring such core [[GURPS]] [[Sourcebook|sourcebooks]] as the latest editions of ''GURPS Horror'' and ''GURPS [[Infinite Worlds]]'' (and writing or contributing to several others). He has also written material for ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]'', ''[[Deadlands]]'', and Last Unicorn Games' version of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' RPG (for which he was also line editor).

He is an expert on the writings of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] (and [[Cthulhu Mythos|associated writers]]), and has written several books on the subject, including ''Cthulhu 101'', an introduction to the mythos, and a trio of illustrated "children's books:" ''Where the Deep Ones Are'', ''The Antarctic Express'', and ''Cliffourd the Big Red God''.

From 1998 to 2008, he wrote the column "Suppressed Transmission" for Steve Jackson Games' paid-access web magazine ''Pyramid''. This column, though ostensibly about RPG settings and gamemastering advice, turned out to be a wild ride through High Weirdness. It focused on four genres: [[Conspiracy Theory|conspiracy]], [[Reality Retcon|secret history]], [[horror]], and [[Alternate History]]. Hite generally picked a topic per column to explore through these lenses, ranging from seeming mundanities like Coca-Cola and chocolate, to mythological beasts, to historical oddities, to strange people of history, to Shakespearian meanderings, to full conspiracy theory weirdness. An early article, "Six Flags Over Roswell", showed one of his most effective frameworks: take one strange happening (here, the [[Roswell That Ends Well|supposed Roswell UFO crash]]) and ring a half-dozen variations on it into true bizzarity. One of Hite's key concepts for writing these columns (and other writing) is a technique he calls "bisociation": intentionally holding two contradictory notions in mind simultaneously (as a creativity exercise, not a pathology). Some of the "Suppressed Transmisson" columns were collected into two volumes by Steve Jackson Games, ''Suppressed Transmission: The First Broadcast'' and ''Suppressed Transmission 2'', and and are available both in print and as downloadable ebooks. Sadly, the rest of the columns were taken offline when Steve Jackson Games retired the ''Pyramid'' subscription site's archives to relaunch ''Pyramid'' as a monthly PDF magazine, [[Keep Circulating the Tapes|and there are no current plans to re-issue these.]]

He also writes the game review column "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110905151643/http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/outofthebox/ Out of the Box]." Hite has a [[LiveJournal]] at http://princeofcairo.livejournal.com/ .

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* [[Ancient Astronauts]]
* [[Ancient Conspiracy]]
* [[Alternate History]]
* [[Alternate Universe]] - Hite wrote ''GURPS Alternate Earths'' and ''GURPS Alternate Earths 2'' for that game's third edition before being core writer on ''GURPS [[Infinite Worlds]]''. Likewise, many of the worlds created in "Suppressed Transmission" would have details for dropping it into the [[Infinite Worlds]] setting.
* [[April Fools' Day]] - The first "Suppressed Transmission" column of April would generally be a song or poem parody.
* [[Conspiracy Theory]]
* [[Cosmic Horror]]
* [[Space Elves]] - As the various races of possibly space alien, possibly fae Ultraterrestrials.
* [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler]] - One of Hite's go-to conspiracies is the supposed Nazi stronghold of Neuschwabenland, a region of Antarctica where the last remnants of the Third Reich went to build flying saucers and plot their comeback.
* [[The Knights Templar]]
* [[Major-General Song]]:  See the page quote.
* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?]]
{{quote|If there is another, more polite question, however, that one is often, "How do you manage to write this stuff?" or, occasionally, "Where do you get your ideas?" (These two questions are often subsumed into a meta-question such as "Are you on drugs?" The answer to this meta-question is "Sadly, no.")|'''Kenneth Hite''', "Suppressed Transmission: The Secret of My Success"}}
* [[Zeppelins from Another World]] - Formulated "[[Zeppelins from Another World/Quotes|Hite's Law]]", stating that any historical change used to create an [[Alternate History]] will tend towards filling the skies with airships.
** Hite takes this to its logical conclusion, pointing out that this implies that [[The Twenties]] and [[The Thirties]] were actually those of an alternate history...

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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]]
[[Category:Authors]]
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