Do you use "voice acting" when you play?

[TorgoTheWhite]

This is a question for both DMs and players. How do you use voices when roleplaying? Do you consider yourself a full blown voice actor, with distinctly different voices for each character? Do you just use your regular voice? Something in between? If you use your normal voice, how do you communicate when you are talking in-character or out-of-character?

I believe there's always been a certain amount of voice work used when playing RPGs, but I get the general impression it's been on the rise. I assume this is the influence of Critical Role.

Personally, as a player I like to identify a mild affectation for my characters. Something like a slightly gruff tone, a mild stutter, or even just using "stage voice" to project differently. I find it is helpful to identify when I'm talking in character or not. And it can help with character development. I once played a low-level wizard that was "self taught" and would regularly mispronounce "book words" like facade or epitome. But generally I feel like less is more. What I specifically try to avoid is voice work that plays out like a complicated Halloween costume: a fun voice that is paraded about with pride in the beginning, but gradually gets discarded as the night goes on.

I don't do too much voice acting when I DM. I sometimes will for a BBEG, or something else of similar importance. But it's a lot of work, both doing the voices and keeping them straight. And bad (silly or annoying) voices can cause problems over time. It might seem like fun to have a random shopkeeper talk with an outlandish accent, but it can be regrettable if the players unexpectedly go back to that shop too often.

I have a solid RusEuropAsianesian accent I typically use for my barbarian. I sometimes use it for DM'ing as well because it helps immerse my players in true "back & forth" exchanges instead of removing everything to the third-person... he said. Or having to be like; Laszlo says: "...."

I also use Voicemod here and there. I have a fighter that wears a cursed helm all the time that makes his face impossible to distinguish... Anyway I use this Dark Knight voicemod setting with some depth, bass, & a slight echo whenever I speak in-character. Regardless of Grimdark badassery and fearsome reputation: his first name is Emily, he actually looks like a pretty boy human with flowing locks under the helm... none of which has been revealed yet.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Not always, but yeah as GM I try to do voices for NPCs. Sometimes I do one for my PCs, but the only voice im exceptional at is the Fargo nord accent. You betcha.

Oh gosh, now ya got me wantin' ta make a Sword Worlder character who talks like Marge Gunderson.

(Or Lawrence Welk. Uh vun und a too und a...)

 

[Voadam]

As a player it is generally me, a little bit influenced by a broad character concept.

Some in my group are always in their own voice. Others do intense voice acting. One of my friends did a great thick accent through the whole campaign for her Russian mob character in a Shadowrun game. Another did a fantastic southern accent for her librarian in our d20 Modern game. For me it is mostly emphasis and approach in how I say things and how much emotions but not much voices or accents. I did a big western drawl and mannerisms in a homebrew d20 weird west game but only had to keep it up for a few games.

My biggest problem with voices is remembering them once I switch out. When my son was young I was reading him the Hobbit and the first night I went all in on it and came up with distinct consistent voices for Bilbo and Gandalf and all 13 different dwarves and it was great. Then the second night I could not find them again and so I just went without the voices from there on.

As a DM generally me though a bit of voicing stuff for various specific NPCs and monsters, often broad characterization stuff.

In one Gothic Horror campaign I specifically described most NPCs as references. The Church of Asmodeus Bishop is a sneer smiling Tom Cruise. The creepy aristocrat patron family friend looks like Christopher Walken from the Penguin-Catwoman Batman Movie. You see a disheveled scraggly bearded man out the window who looks like Robin Williams from the Fisher King. The necromantic war surgeon looks like Jack Nicholson, he is smiling but it has an edge as if you were the joke. My Christopher Walken impression is terrible, it was a lot of fun.

I remember doing a Chasme fly demon buzzing once in an online game using discord and one of my friends cut me off mid buzz and asked me not to as it was so grating it physically pained him.

 

[MGibster]

This is a question for both DMs and players. How do you use voices when roleplaying? Do you consider yourself a full blown voice actor, with distinctly different voices for each character?

I use voices when I run games. My most (in)famous voice was that of Christopher Walken playing the dwarf king in a campaign I ran many years ago. My players still bring it up sometimes. What I try to do with silly voices is make an NPC memorable for the players, so I don't use them for every NPC. I can tell you when I put on my Walken voice the players all immediately knew who they were talking to.

 

[zarionofarabel]

How do you use voices when roleplaying?

Mostly to highlight IC from OOC speech.

Do you consider yourself a full blown voice actor, with distinctly different voices for each character?

No. I do however employ a "different" voice from my normal everyday talking style so IC language is distinct. I usually only make minor changes so I can have a greater selection of "voices" in case the PCs are interacting with multiple NPCs simultaneously. More often than not a "voice" is simply a change in pitch, tone, cadence, or pattern of speech. Sometimes for "really important" NPCs I will use the "bad impression" method to make sure that the NPC "voice" is truly distinct.

Do you just use your regular voice?

My "regular voice" is used exclusively for OOC speech.

If you use your normal voice, how do you communicate when you are talking in-character or out-of-character?

I preface every segment of IC speech with <[PC Name] says "(whatever)">.

This thread is funny timing. A few days ago I finally watched my first ever Actual Play YT video! Mind you, not "the big one" cause I was turned off of that particular group early on. I was actually thinking about posting about my experience, so yeah, interesting timing.

Anyway, one of the things I was going to mention in the post I've been thinking about making was the "funny voices" thing, or more importantly, the lack thereof. So, several of the AP I watched had a cast that all did "funny voices" for IC speech. The quality is hit and miss as a few people went a little overboard which made their IC speech hard to understand, but all in all, it made for a great experience because it's super easy to differentiate between IC and OOC speech. A couple of groups were a mixed bag with only some of the cast doing voices, which led to some confusion on my part (and some fellow cast) as to what actually was IC speech. There was also one group in which no one did any "funny voice" stuff at all, with only a single cast member that would preface IC speech with a "PC says" note. Frankly, that particular AP was confusing and hard to follow at times (not just for me but also for the cast) simply because it was literally impossible to differentiate IC from OOC speech. In fact, "did PC say that?" was an overly repeated question throughout the entire video. This recent experience definitely highlighted the usefulness of the "funny voice" as a tool to quickly and easily differentiate between IC and OOC speech.

As a final note, in regards to the "embarrassing myself" aspect of doing voices, especially in public or in front of strangers, never happens. I'm old enough to have lived through a time where my love of "nerd stuff" resulted in me being bullied and ostracized. The idea that I would, in this new and amazing time where "nerd stuff" is cool, be embarrassed by it is mind boggling. Nerd it up fools! Besides, the more I "ham it up" with "funny voices" and expressive gesturing, the more relaxed other participants become, often joing me in the fun!

Great topic for a thread! Cheers!

 

[TiQuinn]

I will do it when the mood strikes me and it's a worthwhile character to distinguish through their voice. But I'm no voice actor, and if I try to do any kind of accent, it's inevitably going to break down. I try to rely on just some easy changes like speaking in a low whisper, or a little bit of a raspy voice, or a snobbish noble that sounds kinda/sorta posh. I think a little bit goes a long, long way.

 

[cranberry]

Only occasionally, and only if the NPC/monster is important.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

yes, it’s part of my GM fun and my players seem to like it, even though I’m probably more silly than good.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I would try to do it both as a DM and as a player.

For example, I used an effete French accent when my players encountered Sembians in our Realms game because I wanted the Sembians to come off as simultaneously arrogant, conceited, and offended by everything the characters said or did.

I tried different voices and affects for characters I made—usually based off of characters I saw in movies—but those characters seemed to die a lot. (Maybe I’m not as good at voice acting as I thought! )

 

[overgeeked]

No. I really hate the voices players largely fail to do when playing RPGs. It’s one of those better no gaming than bad gaming things for me.