[PnP] A Question For Anyone Who Might Know (Richard Snider, perhaps???)

[Phineas Cromwell]

Over the years, I've gathered a few bits of info that leads me to believe
that Richard Snider is or was involved with 'fantasy matters' on a scholarly
level. I recall him making a direct statement about his mythology/folklore
'area of specialty', and I also read in a very succinct bio about him (in
the credits of the Thieves World RPG) that he was studying archaeology. So,
I'm pretty sure he has an informed background that can be considered
'conceptual', and that goes beyond random phonetics.

Also, over the years, I have examined these web-sites that contain the term
Akhkharu. The most interesting to me are, naturally, the ones that get into
debate concerning the nature and origin of the word. At least one person
insists it is a fake; they claim it was created for a version of the
Necronomicon, and that grammatically it is not even Sumerian. Someone else
said it follows Egyptian grammatical structure. And Wikipedia has an
Akhkhazu entry, and says that word is Akkadian. But, like I mentioned
before, I did find a book that dates to the late 1800s (yes, that's right,
1800s) that contains the term; it is a university book, a transcribed
lecture. I know the word is a real word that originates thousands of years
ago in The Ancient Cradle Of Civilization. Also, the word is generically
listed as meaning 'vampire' on a few 'authoritative' Sumerian/Near East
language list sites.

But another dimension to all this is many of the listings in The Creature
Book are 'real' as well. Alal. Edimmu. These are culturally similar terms as
Akhkharu. I mentioned Choronzon before, which is semi-obscure, and is
sourced from occult texts that are not exactly 'common'. So, all-in-all, I
think there is plenty of evidence to show that Mr. Snider knows his stuff;
he wasn't merely some  young dumb and full of cum punk brat game designer
trying to crank out some D&D competitor for Avalon Hill (who were kicking
themselves for turning down Gygax). He was creating something with concept,
vision, and brains. At least, that's what I strongly believe. Grundwergen is
another interesting entry with 'deep' Anglo-Saxon connections. You can read
version after version of Beowulf and never come across the term; but he knew
about it. Powers And Perils has been a kind of taproot-text for me since I
was in my teens, a springboard of terms to start researching and hunting
down. I suppose the average gamer would pay these details no mind; but thats
just not me.

So, here we are, years later, and there remains a few terms that have not
yielded their etymological meanings. I know their out there; and I know
Richard knows.

Your right: its just a game. But I dig it.

Thanks for the response.
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