silly voices and accents

[Gentlegamer]

As I think about it, I once played a Gnome Titan Knight Errant in a HACKMASTER demo with a rather thick Scottish accent . . . I was voted session MVP by the other players!

 

[Crothian]

When you DM do you do different voices and accents for NPCs? Do any of your players have a distinct in-character voice?

no and no. I have no talent for it and it never has the effect I want.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have tried but either end up talking the rest ofthe night in the voice or hurting myself.

I just place a line on my NPC cards: Voice is hissy, or lispy, or loud, or mumbles, or...

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Yes and yes. Despite my players mocking me occasionally when I hit upon a voice that's comical, it's worth it. Last session in fact I was doing a croaking voice for some tsathar NPCs and it bothered the mageblade enough that she said "No! I'm just not ready to negotiate with frogs."

Here's a trick though. Start strong, and then taper it down. If you introduce a distinctive voice, after a minute or two you can modulate. The PCs still retain the impression of the NPC.

I have noticed that when I DM now, which is only every 2-3 weeks, it is harder to remember distinctive NPC voices. Maybe I need to take notes....

 

[Desdichado]

Maybe I need to take notes....

That's my big weakness as a GM too. I'm always doing the "how did we finish up last session again?" routine or the "what was this NPC's name again?" and the players always know better than I do. It's embarrassing.

As an aside, I had a character pick up a Mexican accent mysteriously one session, and then stick with it. Prior to that, he was a redneck Union worker from Chicago.

 

[GlassJaw]

I do voices and accents once in a while. Although I'm playing a French character in an upcoming pirate campaign and I'm debating how much I want to use an accent. The problem with accents (especially French) is that they can quickly become comical even if that's not your intent - definitely a fine line.

 

[punkorange]

taking notes is my weak point. I find myself to be a lazy DM. I have however had no complaints, ever, from my group so it isn't a big deal with them, but I feel that I would like to improve myself.

 

[Umbran]

Frequently I do voice characterization and accents for NPCs. Only occasionally are they "silly".

I find that doing the voice makes it readily apparent to the players when the NPC is speaking, and when the GM is speaking. Cut down confusion and increase immersion at the same time? You betcha I do voices.

I don't tend to do as much voice work when I run a PC, because PCs spak more, and keeping the voice consistent is more difficult. But I do do some. And I certainly change my word choice based upon what character is speaking.

 

[Celebrim]

I try, and have on occassion done a good job of it, but I'm nowhere near as talented with voices as some DM's I've meet. In fact, I consider it one of the areas of good DMing that I most need to work on.

What I'm much better at than 'voices' is varying the speaking pattern and vocabulary of a character. My lowlife can speak in a clipped gutter cant spiced with curses. The educated will speak in a more formal and expansive manner. Country folk will speak with a twang and offer lots of rural homilies, and so forth. Introverts and children will punctuate their talk with verbal tics ('eh', 'um','ya').

If I want to have an NPC with a very distintive speaking pattern, I have to 'study' it ahead of time and I'm not really good enough at it to keep several distintive speaking patterns in my head at a time. So, actually my PC's tend to be more strongly vocally characterized than my NPC's.

 

[the Jester]

Not as much as I should. :\