Sandy Petersen is a well-known game designer and horror personality. He got his start in gaming in 1981, when he wrote the cult roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu, which has been translated into many languages and is still played world-wide. He helped develop dozens of supplements for the game, and also worked on other roleplaying works.

In 1988, he left paper games for the computer game world. Since then he has worked for Microprose, id Software, and Ensemble Studios, where he was involved with Civilization, Doom, Quake, and the Age of Empire series, among others. While at id Software, he ensured that Doom, Doom 2, and particularly Quake were littered with Lovecraftian elements.

He became an instructor at the Guildhall at Southern Methodist University in 2009, where he taught Master’s degree candidates about game design and development for two years, and helped develop the game design curriculum.

In 2011, he became an Executive Producer for the critically acclaimed movie The Whisperer in Darkness, based closely on the story by H. P. Lovecraft.

His current projects include the tabletop boardgame Cthulhu Wars, about the final conquest of the earth by the Great Old Ones.

His games have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, and he has received several dozen awards from the game industry. The award he is most proud of is his 1990 Gaming Hall of Fame plaque, which is given to only one person a year, and chosen by vote by the fan community. He is regularly a guest at game and horror conventions around the world.
Sandy still loves and plays roleplaying games, including Call of Cthulhu and has a weekly game night at his home in Rockwall, Texas. He has five children, six grandchildren as of 2013, and a small mongrel dog.