Post/Author/DateTime	Post
rudie 05-09-06, 12:53 AM	A little bit is fun (for my taste), I don't do it a lot or get REALLY into it, but it can be fun to do that at times. But what really gets me are the people who have to roleplay in nothing but British accents (Americans that is), and not very good accents at that. Yes it is a fantasy setting, yes that usually implies Europe in the middle ages, but I doubt every character and every person in a fantasy world speaks with a British accent! Another thing, why must people use big words when roleplaying with their bad accents. This may sound...whiny or stupid, but it bugs me, don't know why, it just does... Is there any other annoying or weird roleplay quirks that I'm missing?
Altar_Boy 05-09-06, 01:00 AM	But what really gets me are the people who have to roleplay in nothing but British accents Guilty as charged. :D
Vaalingrade Ashland 05-09-06, 01:21 AM	Yes it is a fantasy setting, yes that usually implies Europe in the middle ages, but I doubt every character and every person in a fantasy world speaks with a British accent! As a rule, they don't speak English either, but we don't snap at that either.
Tempest Stormwind 05-09-06, 01:31 AM	Amen, Vaal. :clap: I see more bad Scottish accents than bad English ones when I game. And yet, I remain the only person I have gamed with in person to have ever used a bad Australian accent in character. Accents are a handy tool to use in RP. Mostly because it easily distinguishes what you say from out-of-character context*, but also because it helps make you feel like you are not you, which is sort of the point of roleplaying in general. *I must admit: EVERY LAST FREAKIN' DM I've gamed under has insisted on 100% RP, to the point of not ever being able to simply say "Okay, during the upcoming two weeks downtime, here's what I'll be working on" or "In town, here's a few things I'd like to buy before we set out again". Instead, every single merchant must be hunted down and bartered with, and everything you say MUST be in-character. Personally, I've found nothing more anathemic to roleplay than a setup like that, but in environments that rigid, the accent helps (much like a different font/format/character setup used to denote OoC speech if you game in an online setting -- OpenRPG comes to mind as the best, though IRC is more common.)
rudie 05-09-06, 01:31 AM	As a rule, they don't speak English either, but we don't snap at that either. Point, but I don't think many people know how to speak Orc.
StruckingFuggle 05-09-06, 01:45 AM	Point, but I don't think many people know how to speak Orc. And Common wouldn't be english, either.
DIESCUMDIE 05-09-06, 03:31 AM	haha :) In England we don't bother doing that of course! (Although when people choose the fighter class they often for some reason do an uber austrian arnold accent). When I play grizzled tough guys (normally) I put on a whisky drinking quasi american accent. I tried making my voice go higher for elves and such - but that gets annoying very quickly.
Ranger REG 05-09-06, 05:18 AM	A little bit is fun (for my taste), I don't do it a lot or get REALLY into it, but it can be fun to do that at times. But what really gets me are the people who have to roleplay in nothing but British accents (Americans that is), and not very good accents at that. Yes it is a fantasy setting, yes that usually implies Europe in the middle ages, but I doubt every character and every person in a fantasy world speaks with a British accent! FINALLY!!! Someone who understand that not everyone in England speaks like Alan Rickman but like Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Thank you for defending Kevin! :P :P :P :P Kidding Aside... Personally, it depends. Some can pull it off, and some can't. In my group, we gamers tell the person not to do the accent ever again if performed badly, regardless if we hurt one's feeling ... and probably scared one potential fan away from the RPG hobby permanently. But at least we try to encourage roleplaying. :devil:
aotrscommander 05-09-06, 09:22 AM	In our group, we always have English accents*. Especially the bad guys. Or if playing Imperial characters. Besides, everybody in the universe knows that Common, Basic, Westron etc are really all English. Those aliens/fiends/dragons/orcs/elves/etc are just making those other languages up, just to be annoying!! Which always seems so strange, since it must be such hard work translating your thoughts into foreign everytime you want to say something. It could be worse though; all your players could be speaking in highly unconvincing, comic French accents! *Except on the rare occasion somebody (often me, actually) does another accent (as in my Cyberpunk highly unconvincing GLA accent). When we played a campaign based in a Russain-like setting, most of us attempted Russian accents, with varying degrees of success (except, ironically, our pure roleplayer, who couldn't do it).
Sunrider 05-09-06, 09:59 AM	I don't care what accent people speak in, but what I really can't stand is people speaking, to the best of their ability, in archaic English. I mean, we all know that Common/Dwarven/Infernal/Draconic is not English/Russian/Sanskrit/Swahili, and that whatever the player says is merely a translation of what the character would be saying (whatever ou'asdfa'wea translates to, anyway...). So why not translate it into modern English, which everyone can understand and doesn't grate on the ears, instead of a poor rendition of Shakespearean English? For all we know, Common might sound more like Aurek Besh than English, Dwarven may sound like Huttese and Draconic like Shyriiwook...
Legendarius 05-09-06, 10:28 AM	*I must admit: EVERY LAST FREAKIN' DM I've gamed under has insisted on 100% RP, to the point of not ever being able to simply say "Okay, during the upcoming two weeks downtime, here's what I'll be working on" or "In town, here's a few things I'd like to buy before we set out again". Instead, every single merchant must be hunted down and bartered with, and everything you say MUST be in-character. How do you put up with that? I have to say we've been playing for 20+ years now and have never insisted on speaking in-character and it's worked just fine. I suppose if you have a whole bunch of method actor/roleplayer/storyteller types and they really enjoy getting into character it can be fun to insist on using accents and whatnot but I think it's usually pretty obvious when a person is referring in-game vs. out-of-game. L
celtredleg 05-09-06, 10:31 AM	I like players to use accents. British seems to be the one most americans are comfortable to try. I dont really care if it is good or bad. Bad beats monotone every time.
locksley92 05-09-06, 12:19 PM	Well, I dont know about most of you but though I encourage roleplaying, I don't make my players speak in weird accents. Does anyone force their players to speak in strange accents? And who on earth would force you to speak in character 100% percent of the time. That would be a nightmare!
Bruunwald 05-09-06, 12:23 PM	Yeah, it sure pisses me off when people do things well or put any effort into anything. I definitely hate all that collaboration and icky trying stuff. Yeah, gettin' into it is a real bummer. Can't have anybody cooperating, either. Really peeves me. And encouragement? Praise? Don't get me started. I wouldn't want to have to give anybody a moment to shine or anything. On a related note, I was thinkin' of tellin' my wife I love her... Naw, it's not worth it.
Callahan 05-09-06, 12:24 PM	It's nothing untill the DM gets carried away and starts having an NPC with NPC discussion in two bad accents. NPC1: So did thow see eth the play NPC2: Eye, I saw der' play etc. etc.
Pandaemoni 05-09-06, 01:57 PM	A little bit is fun (for my taste), I don't do it a lot or get REALLY into it, but it can be fun to do that at times. But what really gets me are the people who have to roleplay in nothing but British accents (Americans that is), and not very good accents at that. Yes it is a fantasy setting, yes that usually implies Europe in the middle ages, but I doubt every character and every person in a fantasy world speaks with a British accent! Another thing, why must people use big words when roleplaying with their bad accents. This may sound...whiny or stupid, but it bugs me, don't know why, it just does... Is there any other annoying or weird roleplay quirks that I'm missing? I have a similar pet peeve. I hate all American movies set in the past that use British accents out of context. Troy, Alexander, HBO's Rome, Gladiator...as if the ancient Greeks and Romans spoke with modern English accents before "English" even existed as a language. As if "American" accents would be "less authentic" or "more anachronistic". While no RPers I've played with have ever used English accents, I suspect it's the same phenomenon...it provides some sort of strange sense of verisimilitude for some people.
Platonix 05-09-06, 02:03 PM	I'm all for accents, but anyone who can only think of British has imagination issues. Heck, sometimes when I'm playing a half-orc I'll use this gravelly voice that I really shouldn't use because doing it regularly would damage my throat.
Callahan 05-09-06, 02:23 PM	Anyone play the D&D online demo? The narrator has a deep booming voice which is really cool because he narrates... but then he does the voice of a goblin/kobold and you just start grinding your teeth to the the gums.
DIESCUMDIE 05-09-06, 03:01 PM	On a related note, I was thinkin' of tellin' my wife I love her... Naw, it's not worth it. Tell her in an archaic english high pitched goblin voice! :D On the gladiator thing, theres no reason they should tax Russel Crow into a bad accent, (Kevin Costner didn't even bother, the bum), but it has to be said Christian Bale does a really good English accent
Bruunwald 05-09-06, 03:41 PM	... but it has to be said Christian Bale does a really good English accent Probably because he's English (Welsh). Christian Bale is awesome. Amazing actor. But the English accent part? Comes naturally. Now, his American accent: that's praiseworthy. I think another reason English accents get around is because the English got around. Let's face it: they occupied nearly everybody at one time or another. Otherwise, I think Roman or Greek epics get English accents for three reasons: 1. Shakespeare wrote plays about Romans and they were presented in that great classic English way, thus influencing how Western culture would view them. 2. The English and Romans have a mixed up history, and we sort of identify both (conquering nations) in a similar way. 3. Upper class English is easily adaptable to snooty, self-obsessed villains. Historically, our own original oppressors had English accents. It stands to reason, in a collective memory sort of way, to portray other oppressors as the same. Thus, Romans get English accents.
Elthbert 05-09-06, 03:52 PM	I have a similar pet peeve. I hate all American movies set in the past that use British accents out of context. Troy, Alexander, HBO's Rome, Gladiator...as if the ancient Greeks and Romans spoke with modern English accents before "English" even existed as a language. As if "American" accents would be "less authentic" or "more anachronistic". While no RPers I've played with have ever used English accents, I suspect it's the same phenomenon...it provides some sort of strange sense of verisimilitude for some people. You do realize that Troy, HBO's Rome, and Glatiator all had people from England and or Australia in them don't you?
Elthbert 05-09-06, 03:55 PM	Anyone play the D&D online demo? The narrator has a deep booming voice which is really cool because he narrates... but then he does the voice of a goblin/kobold and you just start grinding your teeth to the the gums. I love that!! I mean I just think the bad attempt at doing differant voices is awesome-- it makes me feel so much more that I am actually gaming.
Veraciraptor 05-09-06, 04:00 PM	Never really did accents as a player, but as DM I can't help voicing NPC's in various accents, pitches, or timbres. The venerable dwarven cleric just shouldn't sound the same as the young gnomic druid or the elven aristocrat. My voice is the only thing that's going to make the characters stand out to the players.
Ranger REG 05-09-06, 04:42 PM	I'm all for accents, but anyone who can only think of British has imagination issues. Heck, sometimes when I'm playing a half-orc I'll use this gravelly voice that I really shouldn't use because doing it regularly would damage my throat. For half-orcs, I use heavy Brooklyn, NY accent. VERY appropriate. :devil:
The_Levitator 05-09-06, 05:04 PM	I've talked to my group about this, and the consensus is that speaking in bad accents is the gateway drug to LARPing. :D That was actually a joke by one of my players, but they all agreed, as there are no actors in our group. My group oddly encourages me to do it though. I don't do the British thing though. I think its because I'm a professional performer, so I have an easier time coming out of my shell and hamming it up a bit. Once in a while, they will try and get into it by altering their way of speech, but not with accents. They speak in a different manner that feels more "in character" to them. The paladin speak loudly and assertively, the rogue almost whispers, that sort of thing. Bad accents are hard to listen to and can be more distracting to immersion than someone with a monotone delivery. The worst thing you can do is mandate accents. Let those who want to ham it up, ham it up. Just encourage them to put some effort into it so they do it well! ;)
Chrono Nexus 05-09-06, 06:54 PM	Oddly enough, we don't use british accents unless we are speaking goblinoid.
aotrscommander 05-09-06, 07:04 PM	For half-orcs, I use heavy Brooklyn, NY accent. VERY appropriate. :devil: I have a talking sword that one of my players carry. I envisoned her speaking with such an accent, but sadly, my 'talents' do not stretch that far. My sister, annoyingly enough can do entirely convincing accents, to the point that people actually have thought was wasn't English. She did a perfect Scottish accent for a Shadowrun game we played. My range tends is limited Imperial English, Darth Vader, Emporer Palaptine, Generic Wiltshire/Yorkshirish Farmer, a very bad Global Liberation Army (for C&C Generals), a vaguely plausible Russian (which took a lot of perfecting), generic Arnie and an applaing Amercian accent. I have tried French, but it always ends up sounding German. I just have no talent for languages. Still that's enough to populate my campaigns worlds, which sort of tells you what sort of adventures I run...(!) Bad accents are hard to listen to and can be more distracting to immersion than someone with a monotone delivery. The worst thing you can do is mandate accents. Let those who want to ham it up, ham it up. Just encourage them to put some effort into it so they do it well! Very true. Extra XP is awarded to players who 'do the voices'. Provided they aren't too silly, obviously. Squeaky-voiced Elves would join the Ewoks, Gungans and Vampires in the 'I really wouldn't play this if you wish to live past encounter one' pile. Yoda is fair game though!
Ranger REG 05-10-06, 09:12 PM	Yoda is fair game though! Yoda is easy. Combine Bob Dylan and James Brown with a dry, scratchy throat. "Good, I FEEL. Heh!" :P