 Contact Information
Shane Hensley's Email address is PEGShane at gmail.com.
Our mailing address is 1263 E Walnut Road, Gilbert, AZ 85298. Our website is www.peginc.com, but you probably know that.
 The corporate entity is Great White Games. Shane Hensley is a bit of a shark nut. People still know us as Pinnacle Entertainment Group, or "PEG," so that's our DBA (Doing Business As) name.
Orders
Our orders are handled by a separate company, Studio2Publishing. They can be contacted at this email. Note that their warehouse and all our physical merchandise is in Knoxville, TN, far away from the guys who actually write the books, or the artists who do the illustrations (who tend to live all over the world)..
Studio2 is run by our great friends and constant supporters, Frank Uchmanowicz, Jim Searcy, and Joel Kinstle, three of the most dependable people you'll ever meet.
If you have a problem with an order, contact Jim Searcy at Studio2.
Writing For Pinnacle Entertainment Group
If you're looking to create your own setting, go to Licensing. If you're interested in working on our products, or have already been contracted by us and want some more information on our style, read this.
About Pinnacle Entertainment Group
 Pinnacle began in 1994 with Fields of Honor (a historical miniatures game) and The Last Crusade (a collectible World War 2 card game designed by John R. Hopler).
Certainly what we're best known for is Deadlands, which has now been going strong since 1996. Deadlands has appeared as a roleplaying game, a miniatures game, a collectible card game, a collectible disk game, and a comic book. The roleplaying game can be found in its original "classic" edition, in the d20 system, and "Reloaded" for our current house system, Savage Worlds. It has also been translated into Steve Jackson Games' popular GURPs system.
Look for Deadlands to appear in other mediums in the coming year.
A Litany of Thanks
Through the years, many people have been instrumental in Pinnacle's success. Matt Forbeck and Greg Gorden were early founders and contributed greatly to Deadlands. John R. Hopler was the first to join the team, and now works on computer games at Cryptic Studios. Hal Mangold is now with Green Ronin and was the first Deadlands Brand Manager. Zeke Sparkes was another key member of Pinnacle who helped define the look and feel of our award-winning Savage Worlds. He's also now at Cryptic. John Goff is also an alumni, and wrote one of our most enduring and deadly "Dime Novel" adventures, Night Train. Randy Mosiondz was one of the first to hop on the Savage Worlds bandwagon and really help us polish the rules up to their current state (also at Cryptic).
David Ross, Aaron Isaac, and Rob Lusk have been constant friends and gracious companions, and did more for the success of The Great Rail Wars than anyone.
Paul "Wiggy" Wade-Williams was our Creative Director for several years and wrote far more products than we could keep up with. Joe Unger was our Marketing Director and managed some fantastic events and promotions. Simon Lucas and Robin Elliot truly raised our graphic and design bar with books like Dave Blewer's Sundered Skies, Paradox Entertainment's Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane, and Slipstream.
Cheyenne Wright is our great friend and "go to" artist, along with incredibly talented newcomer Jordan Peacock. A host of other people help from time to time, as well, including past members of Pinnacle and wonderful friends like Jay and Amy Kyle who still edit, proof, and act as sounding boards for our wild ideas.
 The Current Team
Pinnacle's staff is spread out all over the world, from the hills of Pennsylvania to the deserts of Arizona and across the sea to Poland. Our warehouse and fulfillment team are located in Knoxville, TN.
Evil Mike and Chaos Steve - Demo Team / Convention Coordinators
"Evil" Mike and "Chaos" Steve aren't really evil, and are very well-organized, despite their names. They run all of our convention games as well as the Savage Worlds Explorer's Society, and you won't find two nicer guys or more entertaining Game Masters.
If you'd like to run games for us at a convention or store, please contact Mike at evilmike@peginc.com, or Steve at chaossteve@peginc.com.
 Joel Kinstle - Vice President
Joel Kinstle (pictured here with the sort of low-brow scofflaw he tends to associate with) blames the neighbor kid for introducing him to gaming at an early age, never expecting his sad parade of dead elves to lead to legitimate employment. His winding career path includes such notable highlights as academic probationer, summer camp nurse, infants and women's wear clerk, U.S. Senatorial candidate, envelope factory janitor, corporate trainer, beer fetcher, graphic designer, nanny of four, and professional pig distracter.
Joel's first Pinnacle project was the graphic design and layout for Necessary Evil: Explorer's Edition, and he continues to serve Pinnacle [no, it's not a cookbook] as best as he can. When free from the pixel mines, he's been known to play games, watch movies, and otherwise engage in frivolous pursuits, including a recent peculiar interest in canning. If you ask nice, he'll probably let you try the pickled grapes.
You can email Joel at PEGjpk@gmail.com.
 Clint Black - Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager
Clint Black started as a freelance writer with Pinnacle over ten years ago, but his activity grew significantly with the advent of Savage Worlds. Clint transitioned from a playtester on the original design team to the creator of one of the first settings (Necessary Evil) to one of the contributors to the core rules with the Explorer's Edition. Along the way, he worked on multiple Savage Worlds projects and has served as Pinnacle's forum administrator and the Rules Answer Man for years. Clint would also like to add that it's "his job to know when Shane isn't following the rules, but not say anything." ;)
You can email Clint at PEGClint@gmail.com.
 Matthew Cutter - Deadlands Brand Manager
In 1977, at the age of 5, Matt saw Star Wars with his dad and was amazed. Five years after that, his mom bought him a creepy-looking box emblazoned Call of Cthulhu. There wasn't much he could do but accept his fate and read everything he could get his hands on. Twenty-three years later, Matt started playing Savage Worlds and developed his own setting, Spirits of '86. After meeting Shane, Simon, and the rest of the Pinnacle crew at Con on the Cob '06, Matt wrote his first Savage Tale for Deadlands: Reloaded.
Matt is co-author of Deadlands: The Flood and author of Murder on the Hellstromme Express and the forthcoming Plot Point campaign, Deadlands: The Last Sons. When he's not cooking up a fresh batch of spaghetti western with meat, he spends time with his wife Maureen and three (phenomenal) kids: Patrick, Abigail, and Maeve. Some folks say Matt's singing is marginally better than his guitar playing.
You can email Matt at PEGCutter@gmail.com.
 Teller - Hell on Earth and Weird Wars Brand Manager
The mysterious Teller first started spinning yarns around the gaming table way back in 1979 with the original D&D game. He met Shane when they lived in the same apartment complex, and after a game of GURPS Wasteland of Shane's design, became a member of the same Blacksburg gaming group that turned out John Hopler, John Goff, and Zeke Sparkes. An avid role-player as well as a traditional wargamer, Teller has run or played just about any game out there, although Hell on Earth remains his favorite game.
A long time fan of post-apocalyptic setting and military history, he's a great fit as the Brand Manager for both our Hell on Earth and Weird Wars lines. He's written for all of our lines at one time or another. Lately, to show his dedication, he's spent 27 out of the last 48 months in the Middle East getting an up close and personal look at the current Weird Wars.
John Goff - Showdown Brand Manager
John's association with the Pinnacle gang goes all the way back to the Dark Ages (known today as "the mid-80s"), when he passed much of his free time killing Shane and John Hopler's characters on a weekly basis in a variety of unique and (at least to him) entertaining ways. Since then, he's held a fairly unusual mix of jobs, including private detective, fraud investigator, and interrogator for the U.S. military.
For the last decade or so, he's also been employed as a writer and game designer, both full- and part-time. Although he's authored, co-authored, or editted over two dozen works for Pinnacle, John is certainly best known for his first solo project, the Dime Novel Night Train. There is no truth to the rumor, however, that John receives a royalty for each player character slain while playing the adventure.
John has been involved with Pinnacle's forays into miniature rules dating all the way back to the original Great Rail Wars game. He also worked closely with Shane on producing the latest version of the Showdown rules.
You can email John at PEGGoff@gmail.com.
[John's long history with vampires has left us without a picture for him. Please use your imagination until we can have a painting done. —Ed.]
Piotr Korys - Savage Worlds Line Editor
Piotr has been playing RPGs for most of his life. It started in 1992, when
his friend brought some weird-looking books friends from Germany (ah, the
Evil Cleric lvl 15...), but it was enough to start the fire that
burns in Piotr's heart for adventure games.
 After a short
marriage with his friend's "Kahern" campaign and certain storytelling systems, he found an orange book with an
undead gunslinger on the cover and became a big fan
of Deadlands. He wrote a few articles for a newspaper owned by the Polish
publisher of Deadlands and contributed to every important Polish RPG
website that was writting about this revolutionary new game.
Piotr eventually became a Pinnacle playtester and used his encylopedic knowledge of the Weird West to help with the relaunch of Deadlands: Reloaded. Now Piotr works on all products for
Savage Worlds and is the main continuity editor for all the Deadlands products, past and future.
Piotr's other job is working with his wife, Justyna, and being a father to his new little deputy, Marysia.
Piotr has
a BBA in Business Administration, but prefers being a history maniac,
especially America`s 19th century history – mostly Civil War and Wild
West periods. In his free time (between midnight and half past
midnight usually), he plays video games, which are his second hobby.
You can email Piotr at PEGPiotr@gmail.com.
 Simon Lucas - Business Development
Simon Lucas co-founded Round Table Productions to launch the excellent Judge Dredd Collectible Card Game, which Pinnacle imported for a time. As the CCG craze ebbed, Simon moved back into RPGs with Legion Publishing. Simon and Shane became fast friends over numerous conventions, and Simon wound up running Pinnacle for several years.
Now Simon and Shane work together at Superstition Studios (along with another alumni, Joe Unger), and collaborate on all of Pinnacle's various projects.
You can email Simon at LuckyHuckster@gmail.com.
 Michelle Hensley - Business Administration
Michelle handles all the bookeeping, accounts payable, and taxes for Pinnacle. She's also a reality check on all our wild ideas. When Michelle isn't trying to rein in Pinnacle's finances she's riding herd over Shane and their two sons, Caden and Ronan.
Michelle's official email is PEGShell@gmail.com.
 Shane Lacy Hensley - President
Shane and Michelle Hensley owned a game store called Fun 'n Games in Blacksburg, VA, while they attended school at Virginia Tech. During that time, Shane wrote for every major gaming company, including TSR, White Wolf, and West End Games, among many others.
In 1994, Shane started Pinnacle Entertainment Group, where he created the best-selling, award-winning Deadlands, Savage Worlds, and many other games and settings with the help of Michelle and those others mentioned above. Since then he’s written dozens of books and several novels, and designed everything from card games to miniature games to computer games.
In 2004, Jack Emmert asked Shane to join Cryptic Studios as a designer on City of Villains, the sequel to the smash-hit City of Heroes Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. Shane enjoyed several wonderful years at Cryptic before moving on to become Studio Head for Superstition Studios. Rumor has it he’s making an MMO based on one of his most popular properties.
Shane now lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with Michelle and their two wonderful sons, Caden and Ronan Hensley. His email is PEGShane (at) gmail.com. He has a double-BA in History and Political Science, and an MA in Special Operations & Low Intensity Conflicts.
Shane can sometimes be found playing World of Warcraft as Tirrian on Ravencrest, Age of Conan as Durgan on Omm, on Warhammer Online as Athellos on White Tower, or his favorite, on City of Heroes / Villains as Buckshot. on Virtue (note the . at the end of Buckshot.) He never minds saying hi.
You can also check out his bookshelf on Shelfari.
 Shane’s Credits include:
Novels & Fiction
Sole Survivor (West End Games)
Blood of Tarrian (West End Games)
Darkfall (HarperCollins)
Dead End(West End Games)
Prisons (White Wolf Studios)
Reaching for the Stars (West End Games)
The Trilogy With No Name (Pinnacle)
Major Licensed Work
Army of Darkness Roleplaying Game (Eden/MGM)
Killer Instinct Collectible Card Game (Topps/Nintendo)
X-Files Collectible Card Game (Topps/Fox) (Unpublished)
Star Wars: Secrets of the Sisar Run Roleplaying Game (West End Games)
 Computer Games
City of Heroes / City of Villains (Cryptic Studios)
Marvel Universe Online (Cryptic Studios)
Thunderscape (SSI)
Entomorph (SSI)
Panzer General (SSI)
Weird Wars (Strategy First)
Operation: Watershed! (4-H/USDA)
Roleplaying Games
City by the Silt Sea (TSR/Hasbro)
Nightmare Lands (TSR/Hasbro)
Earth, Fire, Water, & Air (TSR/Hasbro)
Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (TSR/Hasbro)
Terror in the Skies (FASA)
Humans (FASA)
Temple of Rec Stalek (West End Games)
When Axioms Collide (West End Games)
Techbook: Ships (West End Games)
Crosshairs (West End Games)
The World of Aden (West End Games)
Campaign Chronicles (West End Games)
A Fist Full of Zombies (Eden/MGM)
Collectible Card Games
The Last Crusade (Pinnacle/Chameleon Eclectic)
The Last Crusade: The Russian Front (Pinnacle)
Miniature Games
The Great Rail Wars (Pinnacle)
Rippers (Pinnacle)
Fields of Honor (Pinnacle)
Fields of Honor: The American War For Independence
Pinnacle Products Personally Written or Developed
The Last Crusade (Producer)
Fields of Honor
Fields of Honor Fields of Honor:The American War for Independence
Deadlands: the Weird West
The Quick & the Dead
Deadlands Players Guide
Deadlands Marshal’s Guide
Hell on Earth
Waste Warriors
The Great Rail Wars
City o’ Gloom
The Last Crusaders
Savage Worlds / Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition
Evernight
50 Fathoms
Rippers (Developer)
Necessary Evil (Developer)
Deadlands: Reloaded
The Savage World of Solomon Kane (Developer)
Traveller's Tales - The Gottleib Horror
Weird Wars: Weird War Two (For Savage Worlds, with Mike Montesa)
Numerous One Sheets
Large Convention Guest of Honor Appearances
Guest of Honor: Origins 1997 (with Tom Clancy and Bruce Campbell)
Guest of Honor: NukeCon 1998 Guest of Honor: Arcanacon 2000 (Sydney, Australia)
Guest of Honor: Leprecon 2003 (Dublin, Ireland)
Guest of Honor: GenCon England 2004
Guest of Honor: Archon 2004 (St. Louis, MO)
Guest of Honor: GenCon SoCal 2004 (San Diego, CA)
Numerous smaller convention appearances
Honors
Named 13th Most Innovative Person in the Gaming Industry by peers, 2000
Named 7th Best Designer in the Gaming Industry by peers, 2000
Awards Origins Award: Best Roleplaying Game of 1996 (Deadlands)
Nigel Findley Memorial Award for Best RPG of 1996 (Deadlands)
Origins Award: Best Miniatures Game of 1997 (Great Rail Wars)
Origins Award: Best Short Fiction of 1998 (Leftovers)
Origins Award: Best Collectible Card Game (1999)
Origins Award: Best Vehicular Miniature of 1999 (Velocipede)
Origins Award: Best Fantasy Figure of 1998 (Hanging Judge)
Origins Award: Best Historical Miniatures Game of 2000 (Fields of Honor)
Origins Award: Fan’s Choice Award for Best Roleplaying Game of 2003 (Savage Worlds)
Ennies Award: Best Roleplaying Game of 2003 (Savage Worlds)
Origins Award: Best Roleplaying Game of 2006 (Deadlands: Reloaded)
|
