A point on real world accents in-game: They don't have to be perfect! Even if you don't use accents, sometimes all that's needed is a slight change of pitch or cadence to your voice. Another trick, which I find works great, is to pick a few often used words and change their pronunciation. Anyone watch Markiplier?!?! Pay attention to how he pronounces Room. Makes me smile every time!
For a current game i'm in I play a tribal human that knows sylvan because he lives with satyrs but can only speak common at a 10-11 year old level. Its been really unique to have two different voices. One for when i'm speaking in sylvan(fast, intelligent) and one for my common(which is slow, basic, and sometimes confusing). I don't change my accent, I change the speed, word choice, and length of my sentences.
All good and valid methods. Also the of two worlds is a convention we enjoy. Ryan was talking about doing a web-comic with a character that was going to have that be hist schtick. -Nerdarchist Dave
I don't know about anybody else, but I'll always remember the first insane necromancer that I did and how crazy he went when the party bloodied him. It was fun getting to scream like a villain.
I once nailed the voice of a kindly old man who ran a local shop. My players were visibly impressed and he seemed to almost instantly became one of their favorite npcs. Ten minutes later, we went back to talk to him again, and I couldn't replicate the voice. I could feel the drop in enthusiasm. Voices, done right, can really transform your game.
I'm thinking a bonnet Nate is the next nerdarchy tee......... Another solid show, I'm definitely watching this episode with my group before we play this week. Its one of those simple things that's often over looked because a voice may seem intimidating. so people turn from it. But the narrative of your voice and mannerisms, as a whole it adds a new layer to the story from both DM and players.
As far as voices, one of my players going to play a female. Instead of doing a female voice, he asked me to find a seductive female voice saying "Hello", a gave him a few choices, and he wants to play that sound clip upon meeting the party and just say "This is what I sound like."
Props (or pantomiming them) also help give individual characters personality. Grab a hat for your wizard, "hold" your character's weapons (for a monk, try a certain position for your hands, both in combat and at rest), or use your dice bag as a component pouch.
Cyril Ya'ule III Lol. That's a scream! I once wanted to play a leprechaun so I made a forest gnome transmuter Guild brewer with an Irish accent. He even wore all green. In retrospect, I should have made him a cobbler.
To make a different voice, the easiest method is to focus on a party of your mouth. Near the throat, roof, nose, left, right and front of mouth make distinct changes.
I was trying to find a flavorful personality for my Wizard/Mage to interact with the party, and I didnt really have a voice for him. I pulled inspiration from Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes mixed with some "Rummy" Jack Sparrow. Behind the mic (roll20) I was Mage handing books off my wall, writing in the air with a quill, and generally trying to keep busy/distracted while I talked to the players quickly. I pulled it off fairly well imo, and I think I really captured what I was going for. Even though my voice didn't really change, just my body movements and the speed and manner in which I spoke really helped me stay in the character the whole interaction. My PC's left befuddled but rewarded and were eager to return for another quest.
My problem is that once I find the space in my thoat where i get the voice...I forget that i'm still doing the voice when i'm not the character.... which sometimes ends up in the complete and utter destruction of my voice
I don't do Character voices per-say, but rather change the tone of my voice, like if I was playing a Dwarf I might get real serious in my tone and add an ye and Lad and Lass, where as if I was playing a Human, I just talk in my normal voice.... I think that's just my range.
I use one voice for a spectrum of characters, all thugs almost growl their words, merchants are proud but helpful, servants are shy but helpful, females tend to be timid unless bucking gender trends when they become proud, my elves always come off a bit camp but that's just bad voice acting. This limits the number of voices I need to remember as well as taking techniques I need to practise, which I do on my young kids which they find hilarious. Any chance you guys could do a video on hurrying along a party? I'm hosting session 4 of the starter set on Friday and the party has cleared the goblin cave and is only just about to enter the mansion ruins
That's not a bad method at all. It does accomplish several things like you've stated and probably makes it easier to stay in character. Thanks for sharing how you do your voices. Our channel is becoming such a great resource for gamers from the stuff you guys add in the comments. As to your request can you elaborate a little bit more? -Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy my party takes for ever to do anything, two of them are quite new players but the more experienced have taken leadership but each action still has a discussion. Last night they entered the cellar of the manor in the starter set, ignored the Nothic, cleared a room of bug bears spent half an hour discussing how to cross a bridge that just collapsed as they stood on it, entered a room with one door and had a long rest
DevDeedSquire I am glad they are role playing and discussing things with each other but maybe they need a bit of "the building is on fire, the castle is collapsing into a sink hole, or the volcanoes lava flow will soon cut off your escape" what do you do... - Nate the Nerdarch
Correction: Saying "Canadian" is an accent is like saying "American" is an accent. What most Americans refer to as the "Canadian" accent is a mish-mash of some Ontario and Manitoba dialects. I assure you, it's completely different from The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and not even remotely close to anyone from Newfoundland. Quebec is it's own beast entirely. The Maine accent, the several New York accents, the several southern accents, the mid-west accent (Heck, Chicago has it's own accent to my ear) are all "American" accents but are not "The American Accent". The same could be said for the variety of accents that come from the UK. The variety is astounding. That said: Finding "the voice" for a character, NPC...even a monster...depends on if you need to know "who" it is as much or more than "what it is". A good example - in my recent start up of my campaign, the players found themselves in a Halfling village, and I gave the Halflings all a "west country accent" from the UK. (See "Time Team - Phil Harding" as an example. Most of the non-star role Halflings in LoTR were "west country"). Later, I introduced an Imp to the group. He was based on "The Mole-sters" from Spliced. Pure Brooklyn Italian American gangster (or as close as I could do). Even though he first appeared in Raven form, I did the accent and had him produce contracts, cigarettes/lighters, and other modern affectations out of thin air to add to the comedy. Before you look at a stat block, or equip something, picture what this character/NPC looks like and hear them. Practice in front of a mirror if you have to. This is for important NPCs and characters, mind you, not every possible NPC. That would be exhausting. But taking the time can make the game even more memorable. Consider giving each "race" in your world a particular accent, as opposed to every person. In my world of Tholl,: The Dwarves of Barjoden speak with a rough German accent. My Halflings are all "west country" UK My Orcs/Half-Orcs of The Iron League are Russian The Elves of The Republic of Eolas are "London/Stephen Fry" in the south and "Scots" in the north. My Gnomes are high pitched and frenetic, constantly trying to hatch a bargain. The massive and mostly Human region known as The Cargynnian Empire has a difficult accent which blends the diction and precision of German and the cadance of a romance language like Spanish or Italian. It's hard to pull off, so I only hope to do it a few times. One of players has set the standard for Teiflings by making her character speak with a subtle Eastern-European accent. Sounds Romanian to me. (think Dracula) Much of the inability to do accents comes from the fear of embarrassment. Don't be embarrassed. Have fun. Laugh along with your players on how good or awful it is. And if you can't do an accent, follow Nate's lead and give the NPC some sort of action or habit like his aforementioned shoulder roll, or maybe constant gesticulation (hand movement). Even lowering or raising the pitch of your voice slightly, coupled with a specific hand movement (a la "Mr Burns - Simpsons") is enough to generate authenticity to a character.
All good suggestion. Hey we are just doing are part keep the ignorant American stereo type alive and well. What if instead I said a Canadian accent opposed to the Canadian accent? I'm blown away with your attention to detail with your campaign setting. Good stuff. -Nerdarchist Dave
Mike Gould Allow me to give you an idea to the variety of accents in England alone (not including the various Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish accents). Cumbrian, Geordie (Tyneside area), Lancastrian (Lancashire area), Mancunian (Manchester area), Yorkshire, Scouse (Liverpool area), Brummie (Birmingham area), Black Country, Norfolk, Cockney, Essaxon, Estuary, Kentish, "Multi-Cultural"/Inner London, Sussex, West Country, Bristolian... And the one people recognise as 'posh' or 'upper class' English which is called 'Received Pronunciation'. All of which are highly distinct, and easy to look up. Not necessarily easy to emulate, but if you're good with accents you can at least try, if you want something different.
I dmed a campaign where one of my players was a half elf bard. Instead of finding a unique voice or accent he bravely proclaimed that he was cursed to rhyme every single sentence he spoke or the gods would strike him dead. And he did in his normal voice but it added a wonderful (and annoying) personality to his character.
You just gave a shout out to where I am from, Upstate NY LOL! People think I am Canadian on the phone, I live super close to the border so it makes sense. You would be surprised (or maybe not) by how many people here think they don't have an accent and that everyone else does =P
I loved this video! Around my party I think I was the first who started trying to get a voice for a character. And I started with something I was familiar with. Playing Mage: The Ascension my PC was a philosophy teacher from germany, I was already into the german sound, and I'm from Argentina, so for me it was easy to incorporate not only the sound of the german accent into the spanish but also the misuse of common words out of the philosophy specific vocabulary. And I was really happy with the outcome 'cause it added a lot to the roleplay and to the snob persolatity of the character. Now years have passed and it semms like the party became kinda lazy about finding the voice and/or the body language for the PC. Although, since our actual DM enjoys it as much as I do, I'd like to recover that aspect of the game. Even if it starts to fail after many hours of game, on the other hand it may also make the point for some really memorable moments and characters. So I'm gonna share this video on the party facebutt group. Thank you for another nice job!! Stay nerdy!
It was great getting to game with you and I'm glad I can now respond your comments. Glad this vid hit the spot for you. Also really cool hear we've penetrated into Argentina. -Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy It was my pleassure, Dave! I'm sorry my voice was at a 30% because of my cough and the audio quality was also awful. But I'll try to work it out for the next time. I'm always looking forward your videos and articles and I share them with my nerd friends. And I also love to leave comments to cooperate whenever you're making some homebrew stuff, like Nate's Psionics and your Eberron Feats.
If any of you guys are like me (Uses all the voices!) I tend to take inspiration from generic game voices, add the hiss to a lizardfolk, speak with a crackly voice for a ratfolk, talk smoothly for elves and bruntly for dwarves. And most importantly, ABSOLUTELY INSANE FOR EVERY GOBLIN!
Sometimes, if some humanoid roamer mob or the like is a particular bother, (crits, players constantly fumble vs. them, ect.) just make up a voice for them. It makes the voice's purpose more than just "That guy has a different voice, follow that lead. Boy do you see that carrot on a stick? Looks great lets follow it".
Nerdarchy Presents The Trouble with Prospectors (D&D 5E) ruclips.net/video/QXsTKaD07lU/видео.html Provokers Game ruclips.net/video/IwwSEnZIEHo/видео.html TMNT Game ruclips.net/video/QTZmgmj7yX4/видео.html _Nerdarchist Dave
I try to do Half-Orcs and Orcs like the Uruk-Hai from the Shadow of War/Mordor games. Mostly the voices done by Matthew Mercer. Deep, gravely, and plainly wanting to be done with talking.
I have a bit of a GM 911. I have been trying the always say yes rule, but now have players who are starting to use the same things over and over (such as one who tied a torch to his battle axe one time so he could still use both hands, and now he does it every time). I still want to encourage creative play, but if the reptitive actions start to become a problem how do I curb this without out just saying "you can't do that anymore".
+Nerdarchy well, 1st of all, I came back to ask when about when This would be addressed, secondly, I will apologize about all the repeat comments, my phone was acting funky that day while I was trying to post.
+Gilliam Logan If they overuse/abuse such solutions, you might try finding creative yet believable ways of having that misfire on them. Like the peck of the torch seeping on to the axe; the top of the axe catching fire and burning in (thus weakening the axe to the point where it might break in battle); the torch falling off at a really inconventient moment, etcetera. This is key: put yourself in the situation and imagine what could happen if someone would actually acted like this in the real world. For instance: in real life no-one could extend their arm above or in front of them holding a heavy object (like an axe) for an extended period of time without suffering from a sore and fatigued arm - because of lactid acid build-up in the muscle tissue. Now, if a character is using an axe for a torch, he would either have to extend his arm (thus getting a sore arm in the process) or hold the axe closer to the body, thus having the flame singe his beard and face (ouch!). During play, inform the player that his arm is getting sore, and make him roll a strenght check to keep his arm raised; if he succeeds, get on with the game until you find it time to make him do another strenght check; and if he succeeds again and again, make him roll with disadvantage on his next fight rolls until he rests up, because now he has managed to get himself a case of acidosis. Make the players suffer a bit for their abuse, yet make it engaging (and preferably comical) for them as well.
A character's "voice" doesn't even have to be an actual voice. My very first DM had a recurring villain, who was dressed in a red cloak with a very specific rune on it. After a while, he would just have to mention seeing someone "dressed in red" to have us all on full alert. It's about making the characters memorable.
What are your guys' thoughts on personal theme songs for PCs, and important npcs. Only played when meeting the party, rejoining the party, or doing something pretty epic in game. While npcs with theme songs would be villans (especially recurring ones) and party npcs in the same instances as the pcs. Stole idea from another gm, and players have loved the idea all already have songs picked out for characters.
PattonBeowulf Sounds like a great idea. For us the problem is we record all of our games so using music would be problem. Other wise it's a great idea we did a video about music a while back. ruclips.net/video/ZDQbpJQacPI/видео.html -Nerdarchist Dave
PattonBeowulf It's a great Idea. The right type of music can heighten the presence of an NPC and define him in much the same way it does with the ambiance and tone of the game. Added to voicing and acting the NPCs, these theme songs will help your players keenly differentiate and recognize NPCs as you present them. Not to mention that it can compensate for the lack of voice acting skills.
If there's just sooooo many NPCs that the PCs are encountering, i'll describe how they sound like. but if its just one or two NPCs they come across... or if its an NPC that they talk to but wont talk to for awhile or ever again? i'll play the voice. ACTUALLY, since i run my casts on twitch.tv/xTimmyx i actually have guest NPC players that come on and volunteer to play NPCs and role play to the players. this way that person thats the guest, gets a one off time of Role playing for that night, plus another thing, it takes a load off my DMing responsibilities, so i can concentrate on the story and figure out what happens next.
Because of the group of friends that I play with are all very random and love to make side jokes in the story all the time I love to actually threaten them saying okay you know if you keep doing that I'm gonna make you do a will, well at this time it would just be a wisdom, but I'll make you make a save to see if you actually say or do what you were just joking about and they thought it was hilarious
my dm is pretty set on us doing character voices and its my first time playing a male character and its super weird to try to go a gay male elf voice as a female. I tried describing what actions he does but it didn't fly with my dm honestly, anyone have any tips?
I drove my party crazy doing the voice for a thri-kreen. They have no lips so they have no B's, P's, f's and all the others are a bit distorted. My oldest brother had a gnome that spoke with a Scottish accent. It ended with my youngest brother out of breath laughing. In our most recent game, we are round table gming. My brother reintroduced the gnome. I take every opportunity to direct the PC's back to that gnome.
i have this sorcere named Al Litte who talks with a nigh incomprehenseble irish accent while being drunk, witch he is all the time oh and he gets really pissed when someone mispronaunse his name, calling him little. litter or something worse he is a member of a gang that proudly wears thier coulors and will write a recipt for whatever crime they do to whom ever they do it to for examble there was this "one" time where he wrote a recipt to someone he had just been spying on walking up to him, interupting him mid conversation, handing him the recipt and demanding cash for his service lets just say it didnt end well
Don't use character voice, it breaks immersion. Immersion is strongest with the player becomes the character rather than an out of body experience. You can be very descriptive and tell a great story, but it has to sound authentic. A hint of an accent and nothing more.
Ted really was great as the Gnome; Freckle was it? I didn't comment on the video like I wanted to, sorry. It was a great mission though, The mushroom's dialog was great, Dave. "Singing? Well now I'm going to do that all the time!"
Thanks for the compliments. It's always nice to know something you did was well received. I came up with the basic outline while I was putting the kids on the bus that morning, wrote down some notes a hour before the game started, and everything else was on te fly during the game. -Nerdarchist Dave
On the "not stroking your beard while playing a female character," what if you're playing a female dwarf?
or my gran
A point on real world accents in-game: They don't have to be perfect!
Even if you don't use accents, sometimes all that's needed is a slight change of pitch or cadence to your voice. Another trick, which I find works great, is to pick a few often used words and change their pronunciation.
Anyone watch Markiplier?!?! Pay attention to how he pronounces Room. Makes me smile every time!
Great tips. Little changes can make a big difference.
-Nerdarchist Dave
For a current game i'm in I play a tribal human that knows sylvan because he lives with satyrs but can only speak common at a 10-11 year old level. Its been really unique to have two different voices. One for when i'm speaking in sylvan(fast, intelligent) and one for my common(which is slow, basic, and sometimes confusing). I don't change my accent, I change the speed, word choice, and length of my sentences.
All good and valid methods. Also the of two worlds is a convention we enjoy. Ryan was talking about doing a web-comic with a character that was going to have that be hist schtick.
-Nerdarchist Dave
I don't know about anybody else, but I'll always remember the first insane necromancer that I did and how crazy he went when the party bloodied him. It was fun getting to scream like a villain.
Hey if you can't scream like a villain what is even the point of being the DM at all.
-Nerdarchist Dave
I once nailed the voice of a kindly old man who ran a local shop. My players were visibly impressed and he seemed to almost instantly became one of their favorite npcs. Ten minutes later, we went back to talk to him again, and I couldn't replicate the voice. I could feel the drop in enthusiasm. Voices, done right, can really transform your game.
I'm thinking a bonnet Nate is the next nerdarchy tee......... Another solid show, I'm definitely watching this episode with my group before we play this week. Its one of those simple things that's often over looked because a voice may seem intimidating. so people turn from it. But the narrative of your voice and mannerisms, as a whole it adds a new layer to the story from both DM and players.
Great another vote for Nate in a bonnet. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for bringing us to your gaming group we appreciate the love.
-Nerdarchist Dave
As far as voices, one of my players going to play a female. Instead of doing a female voice, he asked me to find a seductive female voice saying "Hello", a gave him a few choices, and he wants to play that sound clip upon meeting the party and just say "This is what I sound like."
That works. Especially if he could grab a couple sound bites and breaking them out every now and again.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Props (or pantomiming them) also help give individual characters personality. Grab a hat for your wizard, "hold" your character's weapons (for a monk, try a certain position for your hands, both in combat and at rest), or use your dice bag as a component pouch.
The arms flailing around almost makes me want to make a male cheerleader-type bard. See how long it takes the other players to kill me off lol
G-O F-O-R I-T! Go for it and let me know how it goes.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Dave, if I kick a smurf in the nuts with my size 13, it'll probably just sound like "Splat! "
XD I was thinking exactly the same thing! Right on!
Oh no Smurfs are magical creatures therefore highly resilient.
-Nerdarchist Dave
I have a lizardfolk warlock who has a cajun accent
Cyril Ya'ule III Lol. That's a scream!
I once wanted to play a leprechaun so I made a forest gnome transmuter Guild brewer with an Irish accent. He even wore all green. In retrospect, I should have made him a cobbler.
To make a different voice, the easiest method is to focus on a party of your mouth. Near the throat, roof, nose, left, right and front of mouth make distinct changes.
Every character generally has particular word choices and may shorten a word or use more elaborate vocabulary.
I was trying to find a flavorful personality for my Wizard/Mage to interact with the party, and I didnt really have a voice for him. I pulled inspiration from Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes mixed with some "Rummy" Jack Sparrow.
Behind the mic (roll20) I was Mage handing books off my wall, writing in the air with a quill, and generally trying to keep busy/distracted while I talked to the players quickly. I pulled it off fairly well imo, and I think I really captured what I was going for. Even though my voice didn't really change, just my body movements and the speed and manner in which I spoke really helped me stay in the character the whole interaction. My PC's left befuddled but rewarded and were eager to return for another quest.
My problem is that once I find the space in my thoat where i get the voice...I forget that i'm still doing the voice when i'm not the character.... which sometimes ends up in the complete and utter destruction of my voice
I don't do Character voices per-say, but rather change the tone of my voice, like if I was playing a Dwarf I might get real serious in my tone and add an ye and Lad and Lass, where as if I was playing a Human, I just talk in my normal voice.... I think that's just my range.
That is still doing voices and it's fine if that is your comfort zone. As long as you are having fun then kudos to you.
-Nerdarchist Dave
I just started roleplaying my character. I liked it. I didn't do anything crazy at all. I just used my normal voice, but I roll played.
I use one voice for a spectrum of characters, all thugs almost growl their words, merchants are proud but helpful, servants are shy but helpful, females tend to be timid unless bucking gender trends when they become proud, my elves always come off a bit camp but that's just bad voice acting.
This limits the number of voices I need to remember as well as taking techniques I need to practise, which I do on my young kids which they find hilarious.
Any chance you guys could do a video on hurrying along a party? I'm hosting session 4 of the starter set on Friday and the party has cleared the goblin cave and is only just about to enter the mansion ruins
That's not a bad method at all. It does accomplish several things like you've stated and probably makes it easier to stay in character. Thanks for sharing how you do your voices. Our channel is becoming such a great resource for gamers from the stuff you guys add in the comments.
As to your request can you elaborate a little bit more?
-Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy my party takes for ever to do anything, two of them are quite new players but the more experienced have taken leadership but each action still has a discussion.
Last night they entered the cellar of the manor in the starter set, ignored the Nothic, cleared a room of bug bears spent half an hour discussing how to cross a bridge that just collapsed as they stood on it, entered a room with one door and had a long rest
DevDeedSquire
I am glad they are role playing and discussing things with each other but maybe they need a bit of "the building is on fire, the castle is collapsing into a sink hole, or the volcanoes lava flow will soon cut off your escape" what do you do... - Nate the Nerdarch
Correction: Saying "Canadian" is an accent is like saying "American" is an accent. What most Americans refer to as the "Canadian" accent is a mish-mash of some Ontario and Manitoba dialects. I assure you, it's completely different from The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and not even remotely close to anyone from Newfoundland. Quebec is it's own beast entirely.
The Maine accent, the several New York accents, the several southern accents, the mid-west accent (Heck, Chicago has it's own accent to my ear) are all "American" accents but are not "The American Accent". The same could be said for the variety of accents that come from the UK. The variety is astounding.
That said: Finding "the voice" for a character, NPC...even a monster...depends on if you need to know "who" it is as much or more than "what it is". A good example - in my recent start up of my campaign, the players found themselves in a Halfling village, and I gave the Halflings all a "west country accent" from the UK. (See "Time Team - Phil Harding" as an example. Most of the non-star role Halflings in LoTR were "west country"). Later, I introduced an Imp to the group. He was based on "The Mole-sters" from Spliced. Pure Brooklyn Italian American gangster (or as close as I could do). Even though he first appeared in Raven form, I did the accent and had him produce contracts, cigarettes/lighters, and other modern affectations out of thin air to add to the comedy.
Before you look at a stat block, or equip something, picture what this character/NPC looks like and hear them. Practice in front of a mirror if you have to. This is for important NPCs and characters, mind you, not every possible NPC. That would be exhausting. But taking the time can make the game even more memorable. Consider giving each "race" in your world a particular accent, as opposed to every person.
In my world of Tholl,:
The Dwarves of Barjoden speak with a rough German accent.
My Halflings are all "west country" UK
My Orcs/Half-Orcs of The Iron League are Russian
The Elves of The Republic of Eolas are "London/Stephen Fry" in the south and "Scots" in the north.
My Gnomes are high pitched and frenetic, constantly trying to hatch a bargain.
The massive and mostly Human region known as The Cargynnian Empire has a difficult accent which blends the diction and precision of German and the cadance of a romance language like Spanish or Italian. It's hard to pull off, so I only hope to do it a few times.
One of players has set the standard for Teiflings by making her character speak with a subtle Eastern-European accent. Sounds Romanian to me. (think Dracula)
Much of the inability to do accents comes from the fear of embarrassment. Don't be embarrassed. Have fun. Laugh along with your players on how good or awful it is. And if you can't do an accent, follow Nate's lead and give the NPC some sort of action or habit like his aforementioned shoulder roll, or maybe constant gesticulation (hand movement). Even lowering or raising the pitch of your voice slightly, coupled with a specific hand movement (a la "Mr Burns - Simpsons") is enough to generate authenticity to a character.
All good suggestion. Hey we are just doing are part keep the ignorant American stereo type alive and well. What if instead I said a Canadian accent opposed to the Canadian accent? I'm blown away with your attention to detail with your campaign setting. Good stuff.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Mike Gould Allow me to give you an idea to the variety of accents in England alone (not including the various Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish accents).
Cumbrian, Geordie (Tyneside area), Lancastrian (Lancashire area), Mancunian (Manchester area), Yorkshire, Scouse (Liverpool area), Brummie (Birmingham area), Black Country, Norfolk, Cockney, Essaxon, Estuary, Kentish, "Multi-Cultural"/Inner London, Sussex, West Country, Bristolian... And the one people recognise as 'posh' or 'upper class' English which is called 'Received Pronunciation'.
All of which are highly distinct, and easy to look up. Not necessarily easy to emulate, but if you're good with accents you can at least try, if you want something different.
eni Wow. And I'm only familiar with half of those, and can barely emulate two or three.
I dmed a campaign where one of my players was a half elf bard. Instead of finding a unique voice or accent he bravely proclaimed that he was cursed to rhyme every single sentence he spoke or the gods would strike him dead. And he did in his normal voice but it added a wonderful (and annoying) personality to his character.
You just gave a shout out to where I am from, Upstate NY LOL! People think I am Canadian on the phone, I live super close to the border so it makes sense. You would be surprised (or maybe not) by how many people here think they don't have an accent and that everyone else does =P
Boss Paw You are welcome for the shout out. Yeah there are accents everywhere. Nerdarchist Ted
I loved this video! Around my party I think I was the first who started trying to get a voice for a character. And I started with something I was familiar with. Playing Mage: The Ascension my PC was a philosophy teacher from germany, I was already into the german sound, and I'm from Argentina, so for me it was easy to incorporate not only the sound of the german accent into the spanish but also the misuse of common words out of the philosophy specific vocabulary. And I was really happy with the outcome 'cause it added a lot to the roleplay and to the snob persolatity of the character.
Now years have passed and it semms like the party became kinda lazy about finding the voice and/or the body language for the PC. Although, since our actual DM enjoys it as much as I do, I'd like to recover that aspect of the game. Even if it starts to fail after many hours of game, on the other hand it may also make the point for some really memorable moments and characters. So I'm gonna share this video on the party facebutt group. Thank you for another nice job!!
Stay nerdy!
It was great getting to game with you and I'm glad I can now respond your comments. Glad this vid hit the spot for you. Also really cool hear we've penetrated into Argentina.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy It was my pleassure, Dave! I'm sorry my voice was at a 30% because of my cough and the audio quality was also awful. But I'll try to work it out for the next time. I'm always looking forward your videos and articles and I share them with my nerd friends. And I also love to leave comments to cooperate whenever you're making some homebrew stuff, like Nate's Psionics and your Eberron Feats.
Andrés Ruiz
It's all good thanks for hanging out with us.
-Nerdarchist Dave
If any of you guys are like me (Uses all the voices!) I tend to take inspiration from generic game voices, add the hiss to a lizardfolk, speak with a crackly voice for a ratfolk, talk smoothly for elves and bruntly for dwarves. And most importantly, ABSOLUTELY INSANE FOR EVERY GOBLIN!
Sometimes, if some humanoid roamer mob or the like is a particular bother, (crits, players constantly fumble vs. them, ect.) just make up a voice for them. It makes the voice's purpose more than just "That guy has a different voice, follow that lead. Boy do you see that carrot on a stick? Looks great lets follow it".
Can you link to those videos you're recommending at the beginning?
Nerdarchy Presents The Trouble with Prospectors (D&D 5E)
ruclips.net/video/QXsTKaD07lU/видео.html
Provokers Game
ruclips.net/video/IwwSEnZIEHo/видео.html
TMNT Game
ruclips.net/video/QTZmgmj7yX4/видео.html
_Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy Thanks dude. I'll check those out.
Nerdarchy Thanks again Dave. I'm listening to the Provokers Game now.
Paul Renault
Cool. Good stuff over there at a Fist Full of Dice.
-Nerdarchist Dave
You're right Dave there is lots of good content on Fist Full of Dice. Thanks man.
I try to do Half-Orcs and Orcs like the Uruk-Hai from the Shadow of War/Mordor games. Mostly the voices done by Matthew Mercer. Deep, gravely, and plainly wanting to be done with talking.
I have a bit of a GM 911. I have been trying the always say yes rule, but now have players who are starting to use the same things over and over (such as one who tied a torch to his battle axe one time so he could still use both hands, and now he does it every time). I still want to encourage creative play, but if the reptitive actions start to become a problem how do I curb this without out just saying "you can't do that anymore".
your on the list.
- Nerdarchist Dave
+Nerdarchy thanks, for the quick response and all the great advice on this channel! My GMing has improved tenfold with all the advice you guys have.
+Nerdarchy well, 1st of all, I came back to ask when about when This would be addressed, secondly, I will apologize about all the repeat comments, my phone was acting funky that day while I was trying to post.
+Gilliam Logan If they overuse/abuse such solutions, you might try finding creative yet believable ways of having that misfire on them.
Like the peck of the torch seeping on to the axe; the top of the axe catching fire and burning in (thus weakening the axe to the point where it might break in battle); the torch falling off at a really inconventient moment, etcetera.
This is key: put yourself in the situation and imagine what could happen if someone would actually acted like this in the real world.
For instance: in real life no-one could extend their arm above or in front of them holding a heavy object (like an axe) for an extended period of time without suffering from a sore and fatigued arm - because of lactid acid build-up in the muscle tissue.
Now, if a character is using an axe for a torch, he would either have to extend his arm (thus getting a sore arm in the process) or hold the axe closer to the body, thus having the flame singe his beard and face (ouch!).
During play, inform the player that his arm is getting sore, and make him roll a strenght check to keep his arm raised; if he succeeds, get on with the game until you find it time to make him do another strenght check; and if he succeeds again and again, make him roll with disadvantage on his next fight rolls until he rests up, because now he has managed to get himself a case of acidosis.
Make the players suffer a bit for their abuse, yet make it engaging (and preferably comical) for them as well.
+Tjerk Muller Great advice mate!
"if your playing a female char and youve got a beard dont stroke it...the beard that is." what else would you mean...o.0
A character's "voice" doesn't even have to be an actual voice. My very first DM had a recurring villain, who was dressed in a red cloak with a very specific rune on it. After a while, he would just have to mention seeing someone "dressed in red" to have us all on full alert. It's about making the characters memorable.
What are your guys' thoughts on personal theme songs for PCs, and important npcs. Only played when meeting the party, rejoining the party, or doing something pretty epic in game. While npcs with theme songs would be villans (especially recurring ones) and party npcs in the same instances as the pcs. Stole idea from another gm, and players have loved the idea all already have songs picked out for characters.
It's going to happen, lol players(all of whom are cousins/uncles etc) already love the idea. Just wondering what others thought.
PattonBeowulf Sounds like a great idea. For us the problem is we record all of our games so using music would be problem. Other wise it's a great idea we did a video about music a while back.
ruclips.net/video/ZDQbpJQacPI/видео.html
-Nerdarchist Dave
Oh yeah, copyrights are a pain. Need a copyright lawyer in game, evil goblin.
PattonBeowulf It's a great Idea. The right type of music can heighten the presence of an NPC and define him in much the same way it does with the ambiance and tone of the game.
Added to voicing and acting the NPCs, these theme songs will help your players keenly differentiate and recognize NPCs as you present them. Not to mention that it can compensate for the lack of voice acting skills.
My take away from this is to describe my character's voice, and continue talking normal. Thanks a bunch for the advice.
I'm kinda nervous using a character voice it just feels kind of embarrassing and childish
If there's just sooooo many NPCs that the PCs are encountering, i'll describe how they sound like. but if its just one or two NPCs they come across... or if its an NPC that they talk to but wont talk to for awhile or ever again? i'll play the voice.
ACTUALLY, since i run my casts on twitch.tv/xTimmyx i actually have guest NPC players that come on and volunteer to play NPCs and role play to the players. this way that person thats the guest, gets a one off time of Role playing for that night, plus another thing, it takes a load off my DMing responsibilities, so i can concentrate on the story and figure out what happens next.
Nerdarchy: "Stay awhile, and listen..."
Oh, Deckard, you know all the right things to say! :p -Nerdarchist Ryan
Because of the group of friends that I play with are all very random and love to make side jokes in the story all the time I love to actually threaten them saying okay you know if you keep doing that I'm gonna make you do a will, well at this time it would just be a wisdom, but I'll make you make a save to see if you actually say or do what you were just joking about and they thought it was hilarious
I've seen that done as well.
- Nerdarchist Dave
my dm is pretty set on us doing character voices and its my first time playing a male character and its super weird to try to go a gay male elf voice as a female. I tried describing what actions he does but it didn't fly with my dm honestly, anyone have any tips?
I drove my party crazy doing the voice for a thri-kreen. They have no lips so they have no B's, P's, f's and all the others are a bit distorted.
My oldest brother had a gnome that spoke with a Scottish accent. It ended with my youngest brother out of breath laughing. In our most recent game, we are round table gming. My brother reintroduced the gnome. I take every opportunity to direct the PC's back to that gnome.
Where are you guys based out of?
New Jersey and Philadelphia united States
- Nerdarchist Dave
i have this sorcere named Al Litte who talks with a nigh incomprehenseble irish accent while being drunk, witch he is all the time
oh and he gets really pissed when someone mispronaunse his name, calling him little. litter or something worse
he is a member of a gang that proudly wears thier coulors and will write a recipt for whatever crime they do to whom ever they do it to
for examble there was this "one" time where he wrote a recipt to someone he had just been spying on walking up to him, interupting him mid conversation, handing him the recipt and demanding cash for his service
lets just say it didnt end well
Don't use character voice, it breaks immersion. Immersion is strongest with the player becomes the character rather than an out of body experience. You can be very descriptive and tell a great story, but it has to sound authentic. A hint of an accent and nothing more.
How do you voice a female npc
Don't stroke it, you say? Well, then what's the point of playing the opposite gender?
Ted really was great as the Gnome; Freckle was it? I didn't comment on the video like I wanted to, sorry. It was a great mission though, The mushroom's dialog was great, Dave. "Singing? Well now I'm going to do that all the time!"
Thanks for the compliments. It's always nice to know something you did was well received. I came up with the basic outline while I was putting the kids on the bus that morning, wrote down some notes a hour before the game started, and everything else was on te fly during the game.
-Nerdarchist Dave