Voice Acting in Your Tabletop RPGs: How Much/Little?

[Blue]

(The purpose of this poll is to measure a part of the "Mercer Effect," the suggestion that a large number of D&D players want/expect a D&D game to be as close to Matt Mercer's game as possible. One of the most frequently mentioned things in those threads is Matt's propensity for using character voices (which is understandable, since the cast members of Critical Role are all professional voice actors). I wanna know just how big of an expectation it really is.)

I've been doing voices from before Mercer was born. (Literally, he was born in 1982 according to wikipedia.) So my 9 isn't a proxy for a "Mercer Effect"; it's not at all related to expectations nor mimicking CR.

Likely Mercer picked it up from what many have been doing for a long time. Sure CR has been a popular input stream of new players, but other streams of new players would also have chances to get exposed to it - he's just more famous, not the originator or only one who does this.

 

[aramis erak]

Imagine your game is a kick-a stereo system from the 80s, and there is a dial for "In-Character Voices and Acting." Where do you like to turn that dial to?

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Do you like to keep it as close to zero as possible, and hardly ever use character/monster voices? Or do you like to crank it all the way to eleven, and rock out in-character all day long?

(The purpose of this poll is to measure a part of the "Mercer Effect," the suggestion that a large number of D&D players want/expect a D&D game to be as close to Matt Mercer's game as possible. One of the most frequently mentioned things in those threads is Matt's propensity for using character voices (which is understandable, since the cast members of Critical Role are all professional voice actors). I wanna know just how big of an expectation it really is.)

I don't mind it, and do it sometimes as a GM, but I don't reward nor punish it as a GM, unless it's to the "I need subtitles" level.

Never having seen Matt Mercer to my knowledge, I don't care what he does. My teen payers tend not to mention MM/Critical Role, and I don't know if they know of him.

 

[Li Shenron]

As little as possible.

I tolerate the DMs doing voices to help the players sort out who's talking among the NPCS in case of a large social interaction scene, and in general to better differentiate said NPCS so that the players remember better.

But players doing PC voices gets annoying very quickly.

 

[reltastic]

Voices are fine, but I find that the energy for voices is usually better spent on other things when I'm DMing.

As a player, I love trying out goofy voices during one-shots, but in a long term campaign, I know I don't have the chops to pull it off consistently, so it's usually just an inflection or pitch change.

I will say that the most memorable of my NPCs have all had voices, so maybe there is something to it...

 

[Imaculata]

I'm not a voice actor, so I try not to do voices. I'm just really bad at it. I do try to convey emotions, and I'll occasionally do an accent. But that's about it.

 

[MGibster]

I do it once in a while. I used Christopher Walken for my dwarf kurfurst in a campaign years ago and my players still bring it up on occasion. He was a very memorable character.

 

[Bawylie]

I do SOME voices sometimes.

I don’t/haven’t watched Critical Role. I’m aware it exists, I’ve seen like 30 seconds in clips. I’m not actively avoiding it, I just haven’t seen it.

So whatever I do is NOT dependent on anything Mercer is doing.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Coming up with a character's voice is a big part of coming up with who they are for me. I don't do accents, but I do modulate my voice and level of erudition, come up with some catchphrases and mannerisms.

Now, when I'm running a game, only major characters get specific voices. The commander of the city watch always talks with her teeth gritted, and refers to people by last name only. The vampire villain talks rapidly and licks his lips frequently. For random schmoe NPCs I tend to cycle through some generic presets "dwarf 1, dwarf 2, angry commoner, pretentious noble, etc."

 

[Jester David]

I give some NPCs a voice if I can. Always have. And I try and find an inflection or voice for my PCs, so it's more apparent when I'm speaking in or out of character.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Try to avoid real-world accents. But inflection, tone, volume and whatever the word for how fast or slow one talks - i use those.