Sandy Petersen Interview

He wrote the game...

Carl Sanford Joslyn Petersen was born on September 16, 1955 in St. Louis, Missouri. His now famous interest in H.P. Lovecraft came through reading a World War II Armed Services edition of The Dunwich Horror and other Weird Tales found in his father's library. Sandy attended UC-Berkeley undertaking graduate work majoring in Zoology. His introduction to role-playing came in 1974 with Dungeons & Dragons and his first work for Chaosium (The Gateway Bestiary) appeared in 1980. Sandy Petersen is the author of Call of Cthulhu.

YSDC: What inspired you to write Call of Cthulhu?

SP: I originally proposed a Dreamlands expansion pack for the RuneQuest game. Greg Stafford told me that they were already working on a full Lovecraft game, and I asked if I could help in any way, as a fanatical adherent of Lovecraft. His response was to throw the whole project in my lap.

YSDC: How long did it take you to write the original game?

SP: Almost exactly a year.

YSDC: Why do you think CoC has been so successful?

SP: The fundamental principle behind the Cthulhu Mythos is that when humans start messing with the Outside, it's terrifying to the point of madness. Many people like the topic of horror, and CoC lets them experience it undiluted. Most other horror-oriented games violate or soften the rules of horror; for example, by making the hero an action star. Call of Cthulhu pits you against the terrors of darkness without any backup or any hope if you should fail. It goes for the throat, instead of the heart.

YSDC: Do you have a favourite CoC supplement/scenario?

SP: Shadows of Yog-Sothoth.

YSDC: Why did you decide to leave Chaosium?

SP: The pay.

YSDC: Do you still play, if so what edition, any house rules?

SP: Yes I still play, using the 4th edition, my favourite because it still has my picture on the back cover. House rules? Probably every game I play has some rule changed.

YSDC: Do you think you would write again for CoC?

SP: I've developed several scenarios since leaving Chaosium but so far I've only used them to run at conventions for my own amusement.

YSDC: What is your favourite era (& why)?


SP: Modern times. Lovecraft wrote his tales in what was, to him, the "modern" era. M. R. James says that the best ghost stories are placed in a setting in which the reader could plausibly imagine himself to be. Finally, the modern setting lets the keeper take more for granted about the world and not get caught up in details such as "Were there trans-Atlantic flights in the early 1920s?".

YSDC: What do think of other eras not officially licensed by Chaosium (Dark Ages, Elizabethan etc)?

SP: Nothing wrong with that. Two of the scenarios I've put together and run with great success at conventions are Unit 731 which takes place in 1947 and We Will Still Be Monkeys which takes place in the future (2100 or so).

YSDC: What are your views on Delta Green? Have you played?

SP: I think it's fine. I've played a bit of it.

YSDC: Do you still receive correspondence over CoC?

SP: Yes.

YSDC: What are your feelings on the way CoC has developed since you left Chaosium?

SP: I think that Lynn Willis has a more optimistic view than myself about the way horror should be constructed. i.e., he presents his players as more powerful and his villains as weaker than I would do. I don't say I'd do a better job - just different.

YSDC: Do you have a copy of the 20th anniversary edition? What are your feelings about it compared to the Designer's Edition (1982)?

SP: Yes I do have a copy. I think it's real nice, but I get a smaller royalty off it.

YSDC: What would you like to see for CoC that has yet to be done?

SP: Movie tie-ins.

YSDC: While you're also famous for co-writing DOOM & QUAKE, do you still try & slip in Lovecraftian references in the computer games you create?

SP: Yep. Watch this space.

YSDC: What are your feelings about WotC's d20 Call of Cthulhu?

SP: I thought it was very amusing.

YSDC: What are your favourite films?

SP: Wow. I am a major movie buff, at least for horror films. Instead of listing my best I think I'll list a subset:

THE BEST VAMPIRE MOVIE: The Last Man on Earth (1964) 
There exists a fairly simple mathematical proof that there has never been any vampires. You see, if it took a week for one vampire to create another vampire, then by the end of the second week there would be four, then eight, and so forth until before the year was out, everybody in the world would be vampires. Hence, there couldn't ever have been one. Well, this film is based on such a nightmare universe - everyone in the world IS a vampire except for the hero (Vincent Price), whose hellish existence is shown day by day. It's very thoughtful, well-done, and quite creepy. I recommend it without reservations.

THE BEST ZOMBIE MOVIE: Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man) 1994. Well, maybe it's not the best zombie movie, but wow it's in the running. The hero is a cemetery's caretaker. Unfortunately, the corpses in this cemetery periodically rise from the grave, so the cemetery man, as part of his job, has to shoot them in the head. He doesn't know why it happens. That's not his concern. Then he falls in love with a beautiful mourner who dies, and his obese imbecile assistant falls in love with a severed head, and he starts losing touch with reality, and wonders if maybe he should shoot living people in the head, and save himself a step and ... you get the picture. Possibly the funniest and most romantic zombie movie ever made.

BEST HORROR MOVIE: Suspiria (1977) 
If you haven't seen it, I envy you. A new world of horror is about to open for you. Go out and rent or buy it at once. The new DVD version is terrific.

YSDC: What advice would you give aspiring CoC authors?

SP: Don't wimp out. Work on great images and visuals and let the storyline take care of itself.

YSDC: What would a typical day be like for you?

SP: It's mostly full of meetings & typing at my computer.

YSDC: What would you like your epitaph to read?

SP: "He has Risen".

YSDC: Sandy Petersen, thank you.

To hear an audio interview with Sandy, check out Yog Radio #7 (available to YSDC Patrons).