role-playing accents, dialects, voices, etc.

[Dannyalcatraz]

In a campaign a few years ago, I played a fighter/rogue, and my in character voice was Christopher Walken. It was pretty funny and everyone at the table knew instantly when I was speaking in character and when I was just asking the DM a question. Experiment and have fun.

He should have been a Bard with a cowbell...from Kansas. Yes, Kansas. Proficient with soldering iron.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

How do I develop my accents? I listen to native speakers and try to imitate them.

Speech Accent Archive

Swiped for the Arcana Wiki!

 

[RavenBlackthorne]

I want to second a lot of the advice given here (and well found cmrscorpio). But I think the most important piece of advice I can give you is to just have a go. Experiment and don't be scared to mess up a little. Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do and also equips you to deal with "mistakes" in the future. It's about fun! And, honestly, you know what the character should be/sound like/act like, but no-one else does. So a "mistake" could quite easily become a character's idyosyncracy. It's the way most of us work in rehearsals: don't be afraid to play.

 

[Wombat]

Kevin Costner in Robin Hood proves that A) having a good accent and B) maintaining it during dialogue are NOT requirements.

8999 to go.....

Goodness! This is the first time I have heard someone defend this film.

Give me Errol Flynn (with his accent) every time.

 

[Stoat]

Everybody else has given good advice. Think about specific people/actors and deliberately pattern your NPC's on them. Use body language. Come up with a catch phrase or verbal tic for each NPC.

A tip I haven't seen in this thread yet: Pay attention to the rhythm and pacing of your speech. As an extreme example, think of William Shatner playing Kirk. Anyone. can. imitate Kirk. If. they get the rhythm right.

So some NPC's talk fast, some slow, some break in the middle of sentences.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, i try to emulate well known characters from film and TV. I used Billy Bob from Slingblade as Splug in KotS, that worked out really well, mmm-hmm.

I'm not actually GOOD at doing voices like sketch comedians do, but i'd love to replicate certain actors. Sometimes i'll just say, "Pretend i sound like James Earl Jones."

I have an upcoming character actually that is supposed to sound like a Russian Elmer Fudd. I have no idea how that's going to turn out. Probably laughable (in a bad way).

 

[NewJeffCT]

I'm not actually GOOD at doing voices like sketch comedians do, but i'd love to replicate certain actors. Sometimes i'll just say, "Pretend i sound like James Earl Jones."

If you only knew the power of The Dark Side

but, nobody can really sound exactly like him, so probably a good call on your part.

 

[Stormtalon]

Another good trick -- reversal. Character is a massive slab of muscle? Be softspoken and maybe even a bit hesitant, as if he's possibly afraid of his own strength. Pipsqueak? Be loud, insistent and florid -- make up for your lack of size with sheer force of personality and flamboyance.

 

[Nebulous]

I guess i should mention to our 21+ year old gamers that a beer or two can REALLY help those character improvisations.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I only try accents where I know I can do a capable job. I did one pretty good Southern accent when the PCs were in a city known for its racism and hostility towards outsiders. The players though the accent made the character more memorable, especially when he started insulting the PCs, "I can't believe the fate of the world is in the hands of an elf and a girl fresh off daddy's farm. We might as well give up now if this pathetic lot is going to face The Overlord."

However, when the players moved on to a region where the humans were dark skinned, a la Africa, I struggled with coming up with a proper accent there, so I just ditched the accents altogether and just tried to give the players the proper attitude when encountering the local king, or the high priestess of a certain religion...