Players not speaking in character

[fusangite]

Why isn't context enough?

I've never needed any particular cue as player or as GM to denote the switch between speaking as a player and speaking as a character. I'm fine with accents either way but I've never thought of them as in any necessary for distinguishing in- and out-of-character speech.

Of course, in my games, out of character speech is very common. There are social digressions; and I also happen to prefer it when players discuss and analyze things their characters and what they are doing. I think it makes for a better game.

It is true, though, that I strive for games in which characters do not think or act like people today so maybe that helps.

 

[Jupp]

How do other people solve all these problems?

By not using accents at all. I think 99% of the time it sounds silly and embarassing. I want to concentrate on the storyline and the adventure, not on how good my accent for my current character is. I leave this kind of stuff to the LARPers

Also the rules talk is easily managed by announcing an OOC-timeout to the DM. What the players discuss then is up to them and not to the DM. It is a game with rules so the players should be free to discuss them. Sure, the DM will can always give the group a certain amount of time for OOC rules chatting like "OK folks, you have one minute to discuss the situation, then we continue". After that everyone goes back into PC mode and the story continues. Other than that the DM never had a problem distinguishing between OOC and character talk and in the rare cases he was not sure he just asked "does your character say this?".

 

[Insight]

Being a DM really changes how I view speaking in character. Since so much of what you do is switching between running NPCs and describing actions, scenes, effects, etc., you learn to evoke a certain reaction from the players when you use a voice for your NPCs. At least I have. And it does translate to when I am playing and not running the game. I am so often the DM that I cherish my own characters when I get to play, and I make sure that each is unique, and this often includes a special voice and/or attitude.

But whether or not you choose to use a voice for your character, or even choose to speak in character, I think that should be a personal choice and not something dictated by the DM. After all, not everyone is a voice actor (or actor period), and those people without the dramatic chops to do so should not be forced to embarrass themselves in front of the group.

In our group, we speak in character about 25% of the time at most. Some players are more comfortable with this than others, and we have had sessions with much more of a ratio of in-character speaking (over 50%), but this is a rarity.

 

[MonsterMash]

My current group doesn't tend to use accents or special voices much, as a DM I try to do it a bit, especially if there are several NPCs in the same conversation as it saves me having to say: NPC1 says "the dragon went east" NPC2 interrupts "no, no, it went west".

 

[DragonLancer]

Around my group, character voices don't really get used. Mainly because everyone justs starts laughing, and even if they don't, it gets tiresome real quick.

 

[apesamongus]

On the other hand, speaking in-character is important. I see too many times players metagame ("Have you still got that +2 Frost Longsword coz we should stab this guy in the back with it")

I fail to see how a player asking another player that particular question is metagaming.

 

[DragonLancer]

On the other hand, speaking in-character is important. I see too many times players metagame ("Have you still got that +2 Frost Longsword coz we should stab this guy in the back with it")

I fail to see how a player asking another player that particular question is metagaming.

I agree.

There does seem to be a issue with players discussing things in games speak ("I'm on 2 hp, I could do with healing" or the above mentioned +2 Frost Longsword question). But is that really a bad thing? It is a game after all.

 

[maddman75]

I fail to see how a player asking another player that particular question is metagaming.

It is if they are in the middle of a combat on opposite sides of the room.

I've used accents and almost always use some kind of voice. Right now I'm playing a Panderan monk (Warcraft - kung-fu panda bear ), and he sort of has a very precise manner of speech, and comes off...I suppose like a foreigner? He tends to stumble into conversations, doesn't seem to realize when he's offending or annoying someone, and lacks social graces. Hey, if I'm going to dumpstat Charisma I'm going to play it, dammit.

Before him I had my orc barbarian, who yelled everything and kind of talked like Worf on Star Trek TNG. I keep threatening to make a pirate if my current character dies - an' them land-lubbin scurvy dogs will be a' hearin me pirate speak for the whole game! Arr!

 

[Mallus]

To ham it up, or not to ham it up??

I use accents when the mood strikes me as DM, and almost all the time for PC's. Its just part of my fun...

Chana Saag Krishna-Gandhi "Eastwood" West speaks with a sloppy mix of cowboy twang and genteel Southern drawl.

Aaron Aleph Zohar speaks like a mean upper-class British prick.

Grenache Shiraz (my God fetch a good price auctioning off his soul), spoke like a three-pack day Jewish mobster. Despite the fact he lived in the World of Greyhawk.

 

[apesamongus]

It is if they are in the middle of a combat on opposite sides of the room.

And?