Dorkland: What is it about the Cthulhu Mythos, the works of Lovecraft and associated authors that make them so enduring?
Sandy Petersen: He evokes cosmic terror - a different type of fear, and a new style of writing. No one before him even tried.
DL: What is it about the Call of Cthulhu game that makes people so passionate about it?
Sandy: I think much of the appeal is that it is contrarian by nature. In other RPGs, you seek out combat. In CoC, you avoid it. In other RPGs, you adventure. In CoC, you solve mysteriies. In other RPGs, you acquire powerful weapons and items. In CoC, you find musty old books that are dangerous even to read. In other RPGs, your character gets stronger over time. In CoC, your character gets less stable and in many ways weaker. I have no problem with the other RPGs - but there are plenty of them around. If you want something different, then CoC is it - it does almost everything "wrong" from a normal RPG and I think that's what its fans love.
DL: When you first designed Call of Cthulhu, did you think that there would still be so much interest in it after all of this time?
Sandy: When I designed Call of Cthulhu almost no one even knew who Lovecraft was. I thought it would an obscure cult game that would sell maybe a thousand copies and vanish.
DL: What would you like to see for the future of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition?
Sandy: I want to see an awesome campaign with scenarios set in the Cthulhu Wars world, after the Great Old Ones have returned!
DL: What non-Chaosium games are interesting you currently?
Sandy: Well most obviously my own games, from Petersen Games - Gods War, Cthulhu Wars, Orcs Must Die! the boardgame, Dicenstein, and Theomachy. But probably you meant what games that I didn't work on, in which case I just played Terra Mystica and had a great time.