100 Topics - Topic #15

Do you do any "Funny Voices" or Accents when Portraying? If so what are they?

I try. Then two things happen. First, I forget what accent I gave that one NPC five sessions ago. Second, they suck, and I remember I'm not a voice actor.

I can do some okay-ish accents like french or german. But they are generic, so french dude #1 speaks about the same accent as french dude #2. Whenever I try to do a scottish accent - short tangent here. why are dwarves always scottish? - it will at some point drift into a russian accent.

What works much better is to give certain NPCs (more on that later) specific quirks in their speach. Like a stutter, agonizely slow speak or really fast. These things are much easier to implement than a specific dialect or accent. You shouldn't also give each NPC their own unique voice. A random citizen in a town, that were asked for directions doesn't need their own voice. I often default to passive speak, and just tell the players the needed information without going into a specific dialogue. Give the "important" NPCs their own voice, but mostly with a specific quirk. This you can prepare (and maybe train) beforehand or it is just a quick note and can be easily reimplemented at a later stage.

I think the whole thing about accents and funny voices, is overly exaggerated by online actual plays. Most notably Critical Role. I mean it is their job and in the end they sell an experience. And I think even they vary more their speak pattern than really their accent(s). Especially the players tend to evolve their voice over many sessions (and thus hours).

I repeat here what has been said many, many time before. You don't have to do funny voices to enjoy your game. Do it because it is fun to you, not because the players expect it. As a player: Do not expect your GM to make funny voices. In all my years playing, a game was never worse because the GM didn't make funny voices. I would argue that 90% of games have no funny voices and that was the norm for a long time. Before we had the internet. Before we had voice actors playing D&D.