Smiling Jack’s Favorite Charity

The great guys at my old company, Pinnacle Entertainment, just released a sew-on patch that features the likeness of its mascot, the undead joker known as Smiling Jack.

We have a special item to announce. These are patches from the 84th Air Squadron (A10s–Shane’s favorite plane!). The captain of the flight is a Savage Worlds fan and he asked if he could use Smiling Jack on their new patch designs.

Of course we were happy to agree, and the result is fantastic! The patches are on sale for $20.00, and every penny earned from the sale of these patches will be donated to the Fisher House Foundation, who build and donate Fisher Houses at military/VA medical centers, support existing houses, help military families in need and award Scholarships for Military Children.

Smiling Jack got his start at one of the joker cards in the Doomtown collectible card game. Shane Hensley (co-founder and CEO of the company) loved it so much, he adopted the little guy. Now you can too, and for a good cause.

CyberCon Chat

Despite the fact my poor wife was down with the flu, I managed to make my CyberCon chat on Saturday. (Thanks to my mother who came over on short notice to watch the kids.) About eight people showed up, having paid good money to do so as part of their con badge. We had a lively conversation ranging all over the map. Thanks to everyone who took part. I had a wonderful couple hours hanging out with you–virtually, that is.

HorrorClix on the Way

My fellow Alliterate Scott Hungerford tells me that WizKids is producing his first full game design this summer: HorrorClix. Congratulations to Scott! I haven’t seen much of it yet, but the concept is cool, and I’m confident that he and WizKids will pull off a bloody great game.

CyberCon and Other Appearances

This Saturday, I’m taking part in an online chat at CyberCon from 2—4 PM Central Time (GMT —6). If you can make it, stop on by and say hi! It costs a few bucks ($6.95, I think) to register, but you get a pass to the online con for the whole weekend for that price.

I also just agreed to attend Concinnity 2006. (The con doesn’t have a website yet, but there is an official forum.) This convention is held on the campus of MSOE in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 1 and 2. [Edit: The website is up.]

Plus, the fine folks at Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois, asked me to come down and sign books at their store on April 28, 2006. More details on that as the date gets closer.

Battle Dice Promotional Figures

According to a post on the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice forums, Playmates Toys has two promotional figures in the works.

One is going into Diamond’s system and will be sent to retailers who participate in a marketing program Diamond is running. This figure will be “Stealth Wolverine” and will have different stats than the Wolverine in the main set.

The second is a figure that is going to be distributed through an in-school promotional program targeting the educational market. It’s a Spider-Man figure, but it appears that the only difference between that figure and the figure in the starter set is an indicia change (“P”, instead of “S” on the figure).

There will be roughly 15,000 Stealth Wolverines, and roughly 250,000 Spider-Man promos.

A Great Time at St. Gabriel’s

This morning, I drove the 90 minutes up to Hubertus, Wisconsin, to speak with the students of St. Gabriel School. It’s a Catholic school, much like the one I attended as a kid. St. Gabriel, it turns out, is the patron saint of communications workers, so I did my best to channel that into a good talk with the 4th- through 8th-grade classes.

The kids were great, and the principal–Dr. Judy Mortell, who grew up next to my mother back in Menasha, Wisconsin, and has even helped babysit my kids–made me feel right at home, even presenting me with a St. Gabriel sweatshirt. We all filed into the school’s old church, and they set me up in front of the dais. One of the teachers, the tech-savvy Mark Constancio, set up a projector for my Powerpoint presentation–along with a screen in front of the altar–and away we went.

I spoke for 20 minutes or so, then took questions from the kids and the teachers for a bit longer than that. I can only hope my answers were as solid as the questions. Everyone seemed to have a good time. (At least, I didn’t notice anyone nodding off.) I hadn’t been in a church for anything but a funeral or a wedding in years, but no bolts of lightning struck me down as I approached the altar. I figured the years I’d put in as an altar boy had bought me a moment’s grace.

At the end of the talk, we handed out a free copy of Secret of the Spiritkeeper to everyone. A few weeks back, I contacted Wizards of the Coast to see about purchasing copies at my author’s discount. Once they found out why I wanted the books, though, Wizards donated the entire lot to the school–enough for each kid to have one. Now, that’s a great publisher with real class.

Afterward, once the students had left for their classes, Judy escorted me around to each of the classrooms, and I autographed every book for each kid–and a few of the teachers. The students couldn’t have been more gracious and fun. I had a ball, and I hope they did too.

If you know a school who might like to invite me out for a similar appearance, please have their principal contact me. I could do this sort of thing every day.