How do you do NPCs?

[The Green Adam]

My players and I love PC/NPC interaction and yes, I do voices. Actually, I will go so far as to try and study accents or practice a given voice for a while before I put it into play. Combined with mannerisms, I am able to start the game in a certain NPC's voice and have the players know who is speaking right away if the NPC is a reoccuring character. My favorite unusual ones have included...

An alien race where I focus on intaking air as I speak instead of exhaling. It is very difficult and I only use this species sparingly since its hard to talk like them for very long.

SeaDrakes in my homebrew D&D world use a language that doesn't translate well on land. Their speech pattern when talking in the common tongue is therefore quite odd..."Is the most greeting to have had at this time. Be at this point place be you at following middle of sun sky in?"

In order to simulate the sound of a Faerie creature for Ars Magica I used helium for a high voice but spoke into a large pickle jar to a hollow echoing sound to show it was speaking from inside a hole/den.

AD

 

[Jdvn1]

It depends a little--I try to gauge how much time to invest in NPCs based on the pace of the game. For quick stops in town, I may summarize or use third person. If it's an urban adventure, I may want to act out the situation. I'm not big on voices, but I attempt them, sometimes.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I do voices, I like to think I'm quite good at accents. I have done the 'talking to myself' bit with two NPCs. Sometimes I do third person and summarise dialogue. It depends on whether I think the NPC talking will be interesting. If I'm bored with a scene and want to move on then I summarise. That's one of the GM's best powers.

:ditto:

Different strokes for different folks!

I enjoy bringing NPC's to (limited) life, and unique voices are part of that.

 

[carborundum]

Great tips guys - thanks very much!

Especially that one from shilsen (my hero) - give all the NPCs a bit of stage time and see which click - that's really a great idea!

I have one more question - for someone like Avner who is annoying but a nobleman - how to get the PCs to take him seriously when he hasn't really got any power over them and they can all kick his ass. Or should I just hope that they take his power and influence seriously enough to let him become their burden? (Which basically has to happen - they have to LET him annoy them )

 

[green slime]

I do voices (not a great deal of variety, but enough for the situation at hand (deep, normal, squeeky, nasal, that kind of stuff), but also other things to make it obvious whom is speaking: switching hats, looking in one direction, and then the other.

Most often it doesn't come up, as the PCs do tend to interact with a single NPC at a time.

 

[diaglo]

i do em like this
i do em like that
i do em with a wiffle ball bat.

cuz i got the gun...

i mean i mix it up. some of them i do voices for. all of them i make up a personality for to help with a reason why they are there at that moment.

 

[Melhaic]

I run a Conan game, and give the NPCs accent appropriate to the analougous real world culture. The player's favorite (well, they hate his guts, but in a evil pro wrestler kind of way), is a noble from Poitan (in Aquilonia). His name is Guy de Manson, and his voice is close the the Frenchman from the Holy Grail. One of the player still qoutes him, and she doesn't play anymore.

 

[jdrakeh]

I once did them in-character, with individual accents and all. Now I do them in third-person. They still have individual personalities and such, just not individual voices. I got waaaaaaaaay engrossed in that "RPGs as theatre" horse pucky a while back and it nearly ruined the hobby for me. Today when I DM, I try to remember that I'm playing a game, not writing a book or acting in a play and that what makes for great fiction often (but not always) makes for a craptastic game.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

It varies. Sometimes I do voices, sometimes I think it is just too goofy to do voices.

If the NPC is really interacting with the PCs, not just a shopkeeper they are throwing PHB prices at for equipment, then I try to keep it first person, although I might summarize some parts in third person to keep things moving.

Edit: forgot to add the most important part: it depends upon the players as well. If the NPC is mostly interacting with a player who is there for hack-n-slash and rarely speaks in character, it will be in third person. If the player is the type who will respond in character, I will do it in first person.

And I have had an argument with myself as two different NPCs.

 

[Betote]

It all depends on the pace and focus of the scene (please forgive me for using WoDisms ). If I want to move things on, I speak on third person as in "the king's counselor discusses with you about your reward and any advance payment; roll Diplomacy". If I think it's an encounter I'd like to roleplay, I use first person. But, most of all, I react to my player's choice: 3rd person if they say "I talk to the drunk to see if he has any information" and 1st if i get a "Greetings, fair fellow. Have you perchance seen anything unusual around these pleasant lands lately?"

I don't use voices nor accents very often, but I've found that having a little catchphrase for each one of the main characters helps the players to recognize them. For example, when I was running the Age of Worms, I made Allustan end his most long speeches with a humming; a vampire warrior who was a servant of Stradht in another campaign always announced his coming with a distinctive laugh... I've found it more useful and less prone to goofiness than creating voices, which more often than not ended up being famous people impersonations