Recent content by Ankari

Check it out at Kassan Warrad – All things heroes and fantasy. Some of the old heads around here will see some treasures from the earlier days. Share with me your thoughts. The site is still growing and I would appreciate any direction.

I love the Fall of Civilizations podcast. The narrator weaves history like a story, and the way he brings the listener to the PoV of a citizen of the subject matter is captivating. Check out The Assyrians: Empire of Iron and The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse for easy listening...

I use speechify.com to voice over scenes for a D&D campaign I run. These scenes are between sessions and serve to add a little spice. You've hit the nail on the head. The subtly of speech is a challenge for AI voice. I don't see the technology being usable for audiobooks for another 10 to 15 years.

I'm not sure why you refer to a prologue as an "action prologue." This may be the first hurdle to overcome. When writing ,you need to know what information the section you're working on is meant convey to the reader. This includes whatever you wish to reveal of the character, of the world, and...

This implies that how you organize your writing determines how well written it is. This is incorrect. There are books that have no chapters in them at all and the fact has no bearing on the writing. OP is getting lost in the weeds of writing. From how I'm reading their post(s), they have hit a...

LOL. It depends.

These kind of questions shift the focus away from what is good writing to the technical aspects of a book. Good writing is king. All other questions only serve to misplace the focus of good writing to easily controllable technical considerations. Write well. That is pretty much the only answer...

House of the Dragon is fantastic. The only grip I have is the time jumping. I know the book did this from what multiple sources claim, but I think they had so much depth to explore that was cut to match the book's pace. Overall, great writing. The characters are real and I'm invested. I...

Can you have a world without patriarchy? Sure. You would have to address the source of patriarchy, or the lack thereof. Someone suggested patriarchy is a product of organized religion. I'd counter and say there have been organized religions with predominant female leadership. Patriarchy is...

I've been researching the subject of mapmaking for a pending D&D session. I've used Wonderdraft, but that requires a bit of learning to use. I'm considering Inkarnate until I stumbled upon Project Deios. This looks really promising. I may bite the bullet and buy into the alpha.

To be fair, this can mean she held magical powers equal to Sauron's. Might doesn't have to mean physical abilities. In fact, most of what I understand from the LotR, magical powers are often greater and more awesome. Look at Gandalf. He doesn't fight like Aragorn. If I understand this properly...

I'm not familiar with the source material. At face value, the two episodes were entertaining. What, exactly, is the show diverging from the source material that is causing people to hate it? Is it just Galadriel's portrayal as a warrior? The second episode is much better than the first. I felt...

There are two separate thoughts in this reply. 1) The usage of violence. (Things the author needs to consider like should it be in their book at all. How does it change the story? Is violence a shorthand for plot or an expression of the character's personality? And so on). 2) The manifestation...

For sure. Violence is a staple in many works of fantasy. I think I'm not representing my thoughts properly. I've been a D&D DM for thirty years (off and on). Every now and then, I'll watch someone's campaign online (currently watching Viva La Dirt League D&D). When combat happens, there are...

I mostly agree with this. I think a better phrase I'd go by is violence cannot be meaningless. The question I originally posed is what is considered meaningful expressions of violence and what is meaningless?