For customer service, please email [email protected].

Writing and Art Submissions

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, download our Style Guide.

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 it’s been translated into Steve Jackson Games’ popular GURPs system.

Spinoff settings include Deadlands; the Weird West, Deadlands: Noir, Deadlands: Hell on Earth, Deadlands: Lost Colony, and soon Deadlands: Dark Ages.

Our core rules for all Pinnacle’s settings is Savage Worlds, first published in 2003. Check out the great variety of settings to play in, including Rifts® for Savage Worlds, Pathfinder® for Savage Worlds, Holler: An Appalachian Apocalypse, East Texas University, Weird Wars, and many, many more!

The Current Team

Pinnacle’s staff is spread out all over the world, from the hills of North Carolina to the deserts of Arizona and across the seas to Australia and Great Britain.

Studio2, our warehouse and fulfillment partners, are located in Knoxville, TN. They’re not part of our company, but have been our friends and associates for many years.

Our friends at Metamorphic Digital Studio create and manage our virtual tabletop (VTT) products. For assistance running one of our VTT products please reach out to [email protected]. Billing questions can be handled here through our customer service.

Team Members

Jodi Black
Jodi BlackChief Operations Officer

Jodi Black handles day to day operations for Pinnacle including shipping negotiation, crowdfunding, and managing our diverse and creative team.

She’s the self-proclaimed “Queen of Crit Fails,” and indeed a disproportionate number of them roll when she’s at the table. The record so far is nine Crit Fails in a six player convention game lasting four hours, and only the GM pulled the Joker.

Where she never fails, however, is to lead with sensitivity and infectious energy.

Simon Lucas
Simon LucasProduction Manager
Simon’s been working with Shane and Pinnacle for nearly 20 years as a licensor, licensee, a freelancer, and editor. He ran Pinnacle for a few years, overseeing Deadlands Reloaded, Pirates of the Spanish Main, Solomon Kane, and more.

Simon moved from the UK to the US in 2008 when he starting working on video games, culminating in 7 years working on Neverwinter Online in California. He’s back in Arizona now with his wife and three children, where he rides herd over all Pinnacle products.

As Production Manager he works with the printers to get all the books, boxes, cards, and plastic made on time and on budget. He’s also looking forward to being able to devote some time to writing, specifically for Rippers, his favorite Savage Worlds setting. It’s widely reported that he is never wrong.

Christopher Landauer
Christopher LandauerDirector of Marketing
“Landauer” was born and raised in the great state of Colorado where he co-Manages the Rocky Mountain Savages who are responsible for the #Savage100, the Savage Cruise, and Friday Night Bar Fight®!

Agility is his dump-stat and he would have put more points in Performance if he’d have known that he’d be running PEG’s social media, Twitch stream, and official events like Expedition Deadwood and Hollerween.

As Director of Marketing you’ll see him enthusiastically encouraging you all to increase your Savage Worlds collections!

Click here to sign up for press releases.

Aaron Acevedo
Aaron AcevedoArt Director
Aaron is a long-time friend of the company. He freelanced for Deadlands classic, Hell On Earth, Weird Wars, and a slew of Savage Worlds products over the years. We’ve not had him all to ourselves, though—he’s worked on A Song of Ice & Fire, Babylon 5, Call of Cthulhu, L5R, Suzerain, Unknown Armies, Wheel of Time, and World of Darkness properties, among others, and produces art and design for bands, comics, films, and games.

As our Art Director, Aaron is always going to be on the lookout for new artists, cartographers, and designers. If that’s something you’re interested in, send him an e-mail at [email protected] and link your portfolio.

Darrell Hayhurst
Darrell HayhurstRPG Creative Director
Darrell worked in the corporate world before becoming a full time game designer and writer. He worked with Fat Messiah Games, Third Eye Games, Gunmetal Games, and ran the Torg Eternity line for Ulisses Spiele before joining his friends at Pinnacle. His role is Creative Director: managing content for Pinnacle including writing, production, and making sure everything gets done for various Savage Settings.

Darrell works in Tucson, Arizona, and actually enjoys the weather there. (Madness!) He attends various conventions, and is happy to chat with anyone about the past, present, or future of gaming.

Michael Barbeau
Michael BarbeauBoard Game Creative Director
Michael began playing RPGs at a very young age. He’s run tournaments and enjoyed helping people find games they would love while working at a game and comic store. Beginning with a job at Ninja Bee Studios, he playtested video games, tabletop miniature games, and board games.

Michael began work as a freelancer with several miniature projects and RPGs. In his time with Pinnacle, he’s produced an RPG as an ACE licensee, worked closely with a team to produce Pathfinder® for Savage Worlds, managed the Rise of the Runelords conversion, and has other projects in the works.

In his off time, he continues his own games and running RPGs for his friends.

Clint Black
Clint BlackSenior Game Designer
Clint Black started as a freelance writer with Pinnacle before 2003, 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 soon transitioned to the Core Rules Brand Manager. In that capacity, Clint worked on multiple iterations of the core rules, Companions, supplements, and setting books for Savage Worlds. He also serves as Pinnacle’s head forum/Facebook admin and has been the Savage Worlds “Rules Guru” and answer person for years.
JM DeFoggi
JM DeFoggiSavage Universe Community Manager
J-M DeFoggi is a lifelong gamer with a deep and abiding love for classic fantasy and weird magic settings. Over the last 10 years, he has worked in the RPG industry as a writer, developer, and designer for companies like ReRoll Productions, Pelgrane Press, and Ulisses Spiele, and he recently joined forces with friends to start Strange Owl Games. He lives and games in the Dallas area with his wife and son and can be found streaming and talking about games on Twitch and YouTube at Iconic Production. As a longtime fan of Savage Worlds, J-M is thrilled to join the PEG Team!
Jessica Rogers
Jessica RogersDeveloper
Jessica’s been playing RPGs since she was a kid in the ’90s. Ever since, gaming has become a huge part of her life. She enjoys connecting with gamers of all types and believes that there should be a place in gaming for everyone.

She joined the Pinnacle family in August of 2019. Under the team’s wings she’s worked on many projects ranging from One Sheets to larger projects like Deadlands: The Weird West. Some of her favorite projects include 50 Fathoms: Fire and Earth, Dawn of Daikaiju, Disaster at Gran Atomica, ETU: Pinebox Perils, Rippers Expedition: South Pacific, Deadlands: Crater Lake Chronicles, and the previously mentioned Deadlands: The Weird West.

Donald Schepis
Donald SchepisDeveloper
Donald Schepis is a career game designer and writer in both digital and physical games. At PEG, he covers a wide range of responsibilities, including design, writing, product management, editing, and running crowdfunding campaigns.
Donald started his career in video games working on kid-friendly mobile games. He worked as both a designer and producer on multiple projects, from designing the puzzle-platformer KnickKnax to managing a team of 13 international developers working on educational games for use in K-6 classrooms.
As a writer, Donald worked on multiple canceled projects in video games, including a VR first-person shooter! He even taught game design and programming at university before he joined the Pinnacle team.
Christine Lapp
Christine LappCustomer Service
Christine Lapp is a lover of dogs, beer, unicorns, and everything table top games! She also enjoys travelling to places that require hiking up hill and mountain trails to see the sights. When not traveling and playing games, she is helping her husband take over the world at Pine Box Entertainment! (She is the Pinky to his Brain.) If you ever see her at a convention or tournament, stop and say hi! She would love to get a game in.
Sara Martinez
Sara MartinezCustomer Service
Sara is a mother of two who likes to play, run, and write RPGs in her brief moments of spare time. She came to Savage Worlds through original Deadlands and has been obsessed ever since. She also likes to dabble in board game design and writing short fiction, so is just an all around word nerd. Sara lives in the Denver, CO, area with her husband and kids (and parents) and loves to go to the local conventions. If you see her, say hi!
Danny James Walsh
Danny James WalshLicensee Manager
Danny started tabletop roleplaying while at University studying rock music, fine wine, and bonfires by castle—and sometimes attending classes for his Philosophy and Classical Studies degree. He has edited for some of the industry’s most respected companies including C7, Onyx Path Publishing, Modiphius, Triple Ace Games, and Third-Eye Games, amongst others.

A long time fan of Savage Worlds, he was brought on by Pinnacle as developer, writer, and editor for Savage Tales of Horror before transitioning to his current position as Licensee Manager.

Alongside his gaming work he is a full-time parent for two little gamers in the making, enjoys board and skirmish games, writing too many songs on guitar to remember how to play them, and all things movie and music related.

Scott Woodard
Scott WoodardWeb Updates and Writer
Originally introduced to roleplaying games thanks to a gifted copy of the Holmes’ blue box edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Scott hasn’t looked back since, believing that RPGs are the “pinnacle” of the tabletop gaming experience!

Career-wise, Scott has worn a number of oddly-shaped hats over the years ranging from practical special effects fabricator and puppeteer for the film industry to TV and radio promo producer, voice actor, author, playwright, and yes, game designer. He is one of only five Americans to have written officially licensed Doctor Who in the form of three audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, he won several awards for his on-air marketing work for the Kids’ WB TV network, and his latest non-fiction book, Cinema and Sorcery, is a massive guide to sword-and-sorcery films from the silent era up to the present day.

Scott’s first project for Pinnacle was proofreading a few chapters of Deadlands Hell on Earth: Reloaded which then led to his editing Deadlands Noir and eventually writing duties on The Sixth Gun and Flash Gordon.

Thomas Shook
Thomas ShookLayout Designer
Thomas starting playing RPGs in his early teens. His first endeavors into the game were with the old box sets of D&D. Some of his fondest years of gaming during high school and college were playing Middle Earth Role-playing, Rolemaster and Top Secret/S.I.

He stumbled across Savage Worlds, fell in love with it instantly, and it became his go to system. After several conversations with Shane, Thomas joined Pinnacle as a an editor and layout designer. He has worked on several products including: Lankhmar, Rippers, Weird Wars I, RIFTS®, and several other lines.

In addition to working with Pinnacle Thomas has had the honor of working with other companies in the game industry including Gun Metal Games, Sigil, Modiphius, and GRAmel.

When not working on various projects Thomas enjoys spending time at the beach with his kids after relocating to Australia from the States.

Michelle Hensley
Michelle HensleyBusiness Administration
Michelle handles all the bookkeeping, 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.
Chris Valentine
Chris ValentineWebsite Manager

Chris did a career transition from the technology sector to the RPG world and is now lending his skills to help keep the web site running smooth.

In his off-time, Chris is an avid GM at conventions, game stores, and just about anywhere he can find a table.

Shane Lacy Hensley – President

Shane and Michelle Hensley owned a game and comics 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 later created the best-selling, award-winning Deadlands, Hell on Earth, Weird Wars, Savage Worlds, and many of its settings. Since then he’s written everything from game books to novels, graphic novels, screenplays and designed everything from card games to miniature games to computer games.

In 2004, Shane joined Cryptic Studios as a writer and designer on City of Villains, the sequel to the smash-hit City of Heroes Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG). Shane enjoyed several wonderful years at Cryptic before moving to Arizona to become Studio Head for Superstition Studios where he was making an MMORPG based on Deadlands.

Deadlands was unfortunately cancelled when the parent company folded, but Shane went on to create a colorful casual game called “Zombie Pirates.” After that, he served as the Executive Producer on Neverwinter (Dungeons & Dragons), two unreleased Marvel MMOs, and an MMO RPG called End of Nations for Petroglyph.

Shane lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife Michelle and their two incredible sons, Caden and Ronan Hensley. He has a double-BA in History and Political Science, and an MA in Special Operations & Low Intensity Conflicts.

Shane’s Credits include:

Novels, Fiction, and Comics
Deadlands: Rise of the Black Circle Graphic Novel (Pinnacle)
Deadlands: The Cackler Graphic Novel (Pinnacle)
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)
Deadlands Noir; Tenement Men (Pinnacle)
The Last Parsec: The Searchers (Wendigo Tales / Pinnacle)
Necessarily Evil: Fallen (Wendigo Tales / Pinnacle)
Weird Wars Rome: Without Fear (Wendigo Tales / Pinnacle)
Texter (Amazon)

Major Licensed RPG and CCG Work
Torg Eternity (Ulisses Spiele)
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)
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (Fantasy Flight Games)

Computer Games
Unnamed Project (Exec Creative Director / Daybreak Studios)
Neverwinter MMO (Exec Producer / Cryptic Studios & Perfect World)
End of Nations (Exec Producer / Petroglyph Games & Trion Worlds)
Zombie Pirates (Studio Head / Dust Devil)
Deadlands MMO (Studio Head / Cheyenne Mountain)
City of Heroes / City of Villains (Writer and Designer / Cryptic Studios)
Thunderscape (Designer / SSI)
Entomorph (Designer / SSI)
Panzer General (Designer SSI)
Operation: Watershed! (Designer / 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)
Warhammer 3rd Edition Game Master’s Toolkit

Collectible Card Games
The Last Crusade (Pinnacle/Chameleon Eclectic)
The Last Crusade: The Russian Front (Pinnacle)
Deadlands Lost Colony: Showdown (Pinnacle)

Miniature Games
The Great Rail Wars (Pinnacle)
Rippers (Pinnacle)
Fields of Honor (Pinnacle)
Fields of Honor: The American War For Independence
Conan: Rise of Monsters (Pulposaurus)

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
Savage Worlds Deluxe
Evernight
50 Fathoms
50 Fathoms Explorer’s Edition
Rippers (Developer)
Necessary Evil (Developer)
Necessary Evil: Breakout
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
Deadlands Noir: Old Absinthe House Blues
Deadlands Noir: Companion
Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion
Savage Worlds Horror Companion
Savage Worlds Super Companion
Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion
Deadlands: Carnage in the Cascades