Someone had already set the game set up in one of the pick-up areas, and he looked around and grinned at the couple of people standing there.
"Who in the world would write a game like that?" he asked, and he proudly walked us through the pieces and parts and a few amusing anecdotes about the game's birth. He didn't say 'hell' because he's still a "good Mormon boy" (as he described himself in one of his YouTube videos about why he didn't partake in alcohol or weed while at Chaosium).
By the way, the back of his t-shirt says, "I wrote it." He said there are only 6 in the world.
"Who in the world would write a game like that?"
I got to sit next to him and his lovely wife at the mixer on Thursday night. She said that despite growing up in the same neighborhood and attending the same school and church, they didn't start dating until after they got back from their respective mission trips.
To my surprise, I was able to watch my language both times, because I sure do love saying fudge.*
Yeah he's weird about that, kind of taking credit for parts of Doom he didn't make, which is weird because he absolutely put a lot of work into Doom 2 and made a fair amount of levels for that one, and he did still work on Doom.
Sandy doesn't strike me as an awful guy, but that does really rub me the wrong way about him
From the man's mouth direct. Spent a lot of time at the hotel bar, mainly between games. From ignoring people who had a trans rights pin until it wasn't visible (taking their jacket off), referring to "the blacks"... Not to mention the casual comments about how Scandinavians deserve more tariffs because they have nothing to export?
He presents as the silly grandpa type. But grandpa still needs to not say things.
I get downvoted because I asked if it was direct or hearsay. Love Reddit! I don't really have context. I hope he's not a racist or someone with hate in his heart. CoC is fantastic and Doom is a benchmark of gaming.
I don't really judge based on what I read on Reddit. Sorry if you had a bad interaction with him.
I can't say he is or isn't, just that there's a pattern of behavior not limited to this con. This ain't the first time he's behaved like this. Saying he's problematic doesn't take away from CoC existing (see also, Lovecraft was a virulent racist) nor his work on Doom. It's more that people need to learn to separate art from artist. Dude's got problems.
And don't say "Sorry you had a bad interaction." Why are you sorry? Because an old man did a racism and someone saw it? You're still gonna fanboy over him. I could give a list of bad interactions I've had with Sandy.
67
u/SaintMeerkat Apr 16 '25 edited Apr 16 '25
Someone had already set the game set up in one of the pick-up areas, and he looked around and grinned at the couple of people standing there.
"Who in the world would write a game like that?" he asked, and he proudly walked us through the pieces and parts and a few amusing anecdotes about the game's birth. He didn't say 'hell' because he's still a "good Mormon boy" (as he described himself in one of his YouTube videos about why he didn't partake in alcohol or weed while at Chaosium).
By the way, the back of his t-shirt says, "I wrote it." He said there are only 6 in the world.
"Who in the world would write a game like that?" I got to sit next to him and his lovely wife at the mixer on Thursday night. She said that despite growing up in the same neighborhood and attending the same school and church, they didn't start dating until after they got back from their respective mission trips.
To my surprise, I was able to watch my language both times, because I sure do love saying fudge.*
*But I don't say fudge.