So I'd like to talk about Cthulhu games and HP Lovecraft.

I've received criticism about being vocally anti-racist and yet making games based on a terribly racist man's work.

It's a fair point, and I'd like to give some insight into my headspace on this topic.

I also need to be clear that the following opinions are MINE and mine alone. I will not speak for any of my publishers past or present, although I suspect many of them agree.

Let's get this out of the way:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a racist piece of shit. Fuck him. I'm not going to debate this.

The Cthulhu Mythos is inspiring, dreadful and incredible in my opinion. I've been influenced by the ideas (rather than the writing itself, which I don't consider good).

It's also public domain, and frankly, I'm interested in it as a pastiche rather than a set of stories.

I worked on the Call of Cthulhu game for FFG (based on the Arkham Horror pulp universe) and Death May Die (of which I am incredibly proud).

Both of these are original IPs (intellectual properties) inspired by Lovecraft's work.

In my opinion, we "reclaimed" the mythos to explore new stories, based on the same existential horror, but minus the most problematic elements.

I'm particularly proud of the investigators for DMD. CMON even said "make sure they're as diverse and representative as possible" YUP!

I believe it's possible to update problematic content with modern context, and with DMD we just went for it.

Now, some will critique my take on "psychoses as superpowers" as problematic, and that's fair game. I think I stand behind it, but I don't get to tell anyone how to feel.

"But you're supporting a racist."

I hear you. I do. The mythos is public domain. HP doesn't see a dime from our work.

But I accept that people have different tolerance thresholds, and any furtherance of the work is unacceptable to some. We disagree and I hope that's okay.

There's meaningful ongoing debate about the spectrum of separation between art and artist, and I still think I have a lot to learn here.

So my opinion will continue to evolve with time.

At the end of the day, the Overton Window of problematic content keeps shifting as society endeavours to become more considerate of each other.

It's entirely possible that I'll eventually be on the wrong side of history on this topic, and I both accept that and won't hide it.

As artists we create, we share, we learn from feedback and we move on.

And my ears are always open.