Recently I've been thinking about ways to spice up my NPCs (and maybe even some of my own PCs), such as the accents they use, they way they move, something they might carry around (like a lucky coin they are always rolling around in their hand) and other things to make them a little more memorable and fun for my players to interact with.
So, here are some questions to fellow DMs and players:
1) Do you different accents? If so, how do you decide what accent a certain person will use?
2) Do you change up the volume of your voice? Using a whisper seems to be easy enough, but how can you convey screaming/yelling without actually yelling? (It seems to me that most of the time my NPCs have a detachment to them because while they should be screaming-mad for some reason they aren't screaming-mad because it doesn't feel right to raise my voice the much in someone elses house (especially with non-gamers around that might look at us funny).)
3) Do you use props? I haven't had the time to make/use anything that a certain NPC might use or carry, but I have seen quite a few knick-knacks that could used as a token for certain NPCs, or even just as an item the PC's can actually touch and see to help heighten the interaction with an NPC.
4) Do you use movement? If the NPC has a limp do you walk around the table with a limp when acting as the NPC?
If you have any other advice, please give it. I am running a game twice a month now and it is my "good" game time (the other two weeks of the month are currently "bleh" games) and would like to make it all the better by dragging the players into the game more (which, thankfully i don't need to, but if it will make the game more fun I am all for it).
So, here are some questions to fellow DMs and players:
1) Do you different accents? If so, how do you decide what accent a certain person will use?
2) Do you change up the volume of your voice? Using a whisper seems to be easy enough, but how can you convey screaming/yelling without actually yelling? (It seems to me that most of the time my NPCs have a detachment to them because while they should be screaming-mad for some reason they aren't screaming-mad because it doesn't feel right to raise my voice the much in someone elses house (especially with non-gamers around that might look at us funny).)
3) Do you use props? I haven't had the time to make/use anything that a certain NPC might use or carry, but I have seen quite a few knick-knacks that could used as a token for certain NPCs, or even just as an item the PC's can actually touch and see to help heighten the interaction with an NPC.
4) Do you use movement? If the NPC has a limp do you walk around the table with a limp when acting as the NPC?
If you have any other advice, please give it. I am running a game twice a month now and it is my "good" game time (the other two weeks of the month are currently "bleh" games) and would like to make it all the better by dragging the players into the game more (which, thankfully i don't need to, but if it will make the game more fun I am all for it).
