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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
On Presentation, Performance, and Style- Players and DMs
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<blockquote data-quote="Satyrn" data-source="post: 7605294" data-attributes="member: 6801204"><p>To start: I most definitely do not use funny voices for the NPCs. My players mock me mercilessly for my terrible voice work. The only accent I can do passingly well with is "pirate" . . . and I'm running a megadungeon so there's really no call for (more than a handful of) pirates. Oh wait, I can do a gnomish voice okay, too, but you don't want to hear about that.</p><p></p><p>So my presentation is more matter-of-fact 3rd person narration. </p><p></p><p>I'm also generally a quiet person in everyday life, more interested in listening to other people than talking. By the end of a night DMing, then, my voice is cracking, my throat is sore from overuse.</p><p></p><p>So my narration stays short and to the point.</p><p></p><p>And I'm always looking for ways to give players more information without opening my mouth. So I've "rigorously" analyzed which of my DMing notes really ought to remain secret and which, in the hands of the players, won't wreck the game. Those latter notes then get scattered on the game table in open view. Monster combat tracking is the prime example of this. I record the damage taken in plain view with a Sharpie, counting down to 0. Never having to describe just how hurt that bugbear is, or answering "hey how do those orcs look, which one is most beaten up?" it's a fantastic voice saver. And really, the players can get a better idea of what their characters see by looking directly at the numbers than they would listening to me translate that exact same numbers into narration.</p><p></p><p>So I give my players lots of info directly via game mechanics rather than narrating it. (Though there's still tons of narration, my poor voice begs for your sympathy.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Satyrn, post: 7605294, member: 6801204"] To start: I most definitely do not use funny voices for the NPCs. My players mock me mercilessly for my terrible voice work. The only accent I can do passingly well with is "pirate" . . . and I'm running a megadungeon so there's really no call for (more than a handful of) pirates. Oh wait, I can do a gnomish voice okay, too, but you don't want to hear about that. So my presentation is more matter-of-fact 3rd person narration. I'm also generally a quiet person in everyday life, more interested in listening to other people than talking. By the end of a night DMing, then, my voice is cracking, my throat is sore from overuse. So my narration stays short and to the point. And I'm always looking for ways to give players more information without opening my mouth. So I've "rigorously" analyzed which of my DMing notes really ought to remain secret and which, in the hands of the players, won't wreck the game. Those latter notes then get scattered on the game table in open view. Monster combat tracking is the prime example of this. I record the damage taken in plain view with a Sharpie, counting down to 0. Never having to describe just how hurt that bugbear is, or answering "hey how do those orcs look, which one is most beaten up?" it's a fantastic voice saver. And really, the players can get a better idea of what their characters see by looking directly at the numbers than they would listening to me translate that exact same numbers into narration. So I give my players lots of info directly via game mechanics rather than narrating it. (Though there's still tons of narration, my poor voice begs for your sympathy.) [/QUOTE]
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