Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dog_As_A_Devil_Deified 05-09-07, 01:24 PM	I'm curious, who here uses (or sees others use) accents in the game? I know some people post about dwarves having German accents or somesuch. Personally, I can't quite bring myself to cross that gulf and use them, mostly because I'd feel silly, but also because I don't trust my ability to stay within the accent. Most of my characters and those of people in my group sound very much the way we normally do.
Aliquid 05-09-07, 02:18 PM	I'm curious, who here uses (or sees others use) accents in the game? I know some people post about dwarves having German accents or somesuch. Personally, I can't quite bring myself to cross that gulf and use them, mostly because I'd feel silly, but also because I don't trust my ability to stay within the accent. Most of my characters and those of people in my group sound very much the way we normally do.As a player... no, my characters have the same voice that I do. As a DM... almost. I don't use full accents for different characters, but I use different speech patterns. For example talking fast and hyper, talking slow and careful, speaking "proper" and polite, speaking rude and vulgar, stuttering, getting confused and drifting off.... So the way I talk is different, but I don't bother with an accent.
Loki5654 05-09-07, 02:22 PM	Ach, nay. I cannae doo any accents! Vhy vould you ahsk such a rrrrrrridiculous qvestion!
SlanderPanic 05-09-07, 02:45 PM	I do all the time. I try, subtly, to get the other people I game with to do so as well. Some of them are more successful than others. Then again, not everyone's a highly-trained voice artist.
The_Rouge 05-09-07, 03:02 PM	I use accents when they fit in. Examples: French accent when a chef or a posh noble The clashic vanpire accent when lalking to vampires german accent where it fits i find that thy liven up play a bit, and they are funny too
MHolland 05-09-07, 03:09 PM	I use some accents but I am not very good at most. Those I can't replicate myself I just prelude with a mention of the accent being used.
RobbyPants 05-09-07, 03:13 PM	I do periodically. It depends on the NPC. I had a merchant from a foreign land who talked like Borat. It worked out fairly well in that none of my player's had seen the movie, so they didn't realize what I was doing at first. That's probably the easiest accent to replicate I can think of. I also talked sort of like Mickey (the pikey played by Brad Pitt in Snatch) when the PCs were dealing with a group of gypsies. That was fun. They couldn't make out half of what he said, and if they asked for clarification, he became indignant. Him: I'll givya twohunrafortafertharing. It'sa good deal! Take it! PCs: ... what? Him: Whayafokkindef? Cleaouyourears mate!
Silversheen197 05-09-07, 03:17 PM	I like using accents. In fact, one of my characters was only great because of his accent: Angus Mcangus, the anthropomorphical scotty dog. He spoke with the heaviest (and loudest) scottish accent I could muster. He was a barbarian and a psychopath: he believed every single person in the world was out to try to mimic him and take his place (except, of course, for the party, which consisted of a dark werewolf swordsage and a psychotic oriental-shapechanging-thing fox ninja; ironically the two creatures in the campaign who were closest to mimicing him). He also had a sword. The sword's name was Mcdonald, who was an intelligent, psychpathic sword whose only goal was to kill everybody, and who also speoke in a very heavy and loud scottish accent (voiced by the werewolf, because that character didn't talk vey often). Aside from the fact that the back of my throat was bleeding by the time we were finished every session, that was the most fun character I've ever played, because of the silliness of the accent.
Aseran 05-09-07, 03:22 PM	Absolutely.
Catzilla 05-09-07, 03:30 PM	I use them for NPC's when it seems appropriate for their personality. But I sometimes find it hard to keep the accent consistent. Especially if it's heavy. This has lead my group to adopt the phrase: "He must be evil. His accent keeps changing."
maskimus 05-09-07, 03:30 PM	I'm playing a character right now who is a human Binder, and he sounds like Londo Molari. Lots o'fun!!:)
jorgediz 05-09-07, 03:35 PM	We mostly don't. If it's a dwarf though, we sometimes extend the R's in a russian manner. Oh, and I played an arabian cleric once that spoke like Apu from The Simpsons. But he was killed very soon, unfortunately.
Phrennzy 05-09-07, 04:17 PM	Apu isn't Arabic, he is from India. I use accents in game all the time as DM. I get lost between my british and australian accents. Aussies are easier to do. I have given my recent PC, a half orc Barbarian Druid, a deep gruff, serious voice. Much different from my own tone. He sounds like I do when I am mad, lol.
celtredleg 05-09-07, 04:27 PM	I use them a lot, it seems to help the PCs keep the NPCs straight. But, I dont strive for something I dont think I can pull off.
LCD2YOU 05-09-07, 04:31 PM	Of course. All dwarves speak in a falsetto lisp. All elves have deep scottish baritones. All Orcs speak in High German. All Demons have a French Accent. Kobolds speak as if they were in the court of St. James. But of course all human scum speak as if they're from Hoboken.
Prof. Pacali 05-09-07, 04:33 PM	I'm curious, who here uses (or sees others use) accents in the game? I know some people post about dwarves having German accents or somesuch. Personally, I can't quite bring myself to cross that gulf and use them, mostly because I'd feel silly, but also because I don't trust my ability to stay within the accent. Most of my characters and those of people in my group sound very much the way we normally do. Dinnae be silly! E'ryone knoows Dwarves speak wi' a Scottish burr! Seriously, I use Scottish, British, French, Russian, and Middle Eastern accents, often to great effect. (I recently ran a Living Greyhawk module set in Zeif, and the players all said that the various accents I used, some silly, some much more serious, helped add to the feel of the adventure.) Some people are good at mimicking an accent, others aren't. Those who aren't are just going to lead to a round of laughs. Even if you can pull it off, know when to use it and when not to. For example in the LG mod I gave one character a very exaggerated middle eastern accent. Then when things got more serious, I dropped my voice down a little, speaking more harshly, not using the accent as strongly. This helped show the gravity of the situation, and based on the comments after the game I managed to pull it off. If you're going to use an accent, practice it, generally in private and in front of a mirror. Watch some actors who use accents other than their own (for example Hugh Laurie from the TV show House is British, but manages to pull off a superb American regional accent), listen to how they use inflection, and look at their faces while they read their lines. This is very useful advice as well for players and DMs who wish to broaden their portrayals of PCs and NPCs, without using accents. Look at their faces, try to learn some upper body language (since you will be sitting at a table, unless you're into LARPing). Good Luck.
Tethka 05-09-07, 04:48 PM	I'm playing a character that is a druid from the wild. When she speaks I try to speak with limited English (fragmented sentences). Its a challenge sometimes to have the party understand her.
DoveArrow 05-09-07, 04:49 PM	Are you kidding? I love accents! I know what you mean, though, about crossing that gulf between using them and not using them. The first time I used an accent in game, it was for a paladin that I had based off of Don Quixote. I figured if I was going to pull it off, I needed to be loud and boisterous, and that I should use a kind of bastardized English accent. It was a little embarassing at first, but after one or two sessions, I could slip into it without a problem. Now I use accents all the time. The thing you need to do is just try it for a while and you'll soon get over the embarassment. Note to the wise: Try not to use growling voices too often, because they tend to tear up your throat. Also, if you decide to ignore my advice about growling voices, make sure you have a glass of milk, or a jar of honey, on the table, because you'll need it.
Fabius Maximus 05-09-07, 04:49 PM	Dinnae be silly! E'ryone knoows Dwarves speak wi' a Scottish burr!For this reason alone I refuse to use accents.
jorgediz 05-09-07, 05:04 PM	Apu isn't Arabic, he is from India. I know, but the accent is very similar. At least when speaking Spanish.
Ariath Ska'Vhor 05-09-07, 05:11 PM	I tend to use one or two accents when I'm DMing and speaking through particularly interesting NPC's. My favorite NPC's tend to have cool accents.
fdailey 05-09-07, 05:16 PM	Yes, I use accents when playing and DMing. I feel that it gives a little extra to the game.
Tequila_Sunrise 05-09-07, 05:18 PM	I try to use accents as much as possible, though sometimes I just don't have the energy or confidence. I'm no actor or linguist, so I probably sound horrible to others. But hey, you learn by doing, not by thinking, right?
Millennium 05-09-07, 05:20 PM	I tend to use Canadian accents for my kender. I don't claim to know why this works: it just feels right for some reason.
DarkNick 05-09-07, 05:36 PM	Not so much as a player - more often as the DM. I don't think you need to be great at accents to use them - you just need to be consistent. Simple is the way to go - start with your own country and use stereotypes. I'm sure if you are an American you could mimic a number of different American accents from the hill billy to the gangster rapper. I find it easiest to use characteristics from a specific personality like Woody Allen, Bill Clinton, or chief wiggum (not that I am American but we get a lot of American TV). I might have John Luke Pikard as the mayor of a town and worf as the head guard. This helps you remember the accent for your NPCs and also gives you a nice prepackaged personality that your players can readily relate to. I find simpsons a good inspiration - actually most cartoons have something good you can use. I usually have a few practice goes before a session to sort out some sentences or phrasing. I think it is well worth it and adds a lot to the game. Having 3 or 4 standard accents you use for cut out NPCs can be really handy. Admitedly while I often start with an accent but during any drawn out exchanges I slip back into my own voice. It is easier. But I think that image of your NPC you create with an accent still sticks in your players heads.
The Ubbergeek 05-09-07, 05:38 PM	I tend to use Canadian accents for my kender. I don't claim to know why this works: it just feels right for some reason. Well, my own quebecker accent do very well for gnomes, humans or halflings, :)
Zousha_Omenohu 05-09-07, 05:40 PM	I try to avoid doing so, but as I've been playing a wizard lately, I find myself slipping into a faux British accent, as if to accentuate his high opinion of himself. Our DM has been using to NPCs to assist the group in combat (and quite frankly the group needs them at this stage). One was a dwarven fighter with the traditional fake Scottish accent, while the other was a barbarian who sounded like Ahhnold, except stupider.:D
Dotac 05-09-07, 05:41 PM	Yea, as a DM, i love using accents, and do so often. Especially with pirates. As a player, i know that i won't be able to maintain speaking with an accent every session, and so have been afraid to try.
Aise 05-09-07, 05:42 PM	Well I do acting for a fun so I use both subtext(thinking what your character would be thinnking) and accents. As a PC, I use more of a dialect. Like if I'm from a small farm family I slurr my [s] and [r]. If i'm from a nobel city family I usually talk with somewhat of a stuck up accent using the subtext, "I'm better then you." As a DM I use accents all the rime and even act out the character's facial expressions. Usually this is when I add comedy into my game. Such as the time I was acting a small town gaurd from a thorp who constantally hung his tounge out licking his lips. It enhances the game I think and I suggest it to everyone.
CryoSilver 05-09-07, 08:21 PM	I don't really use accents. Sometimes I'll dip into my unusually large vocabulary for particularly learned characters, but usually I'm content to use my normal voice.
Optimized_Commoner 05-09-07, 08:41 PM	I'll flavour a character's voice with a small dash of accent, but I usually won't use the whole thing. Same when I play a female character, I might raise the pitch of my voice a little, but it's just for flavour, not an accurate depiction of a female voice.
Chaos Theory 05-09-07, 09:48 PM	Only for simple Characters where I can take the time to do it right. If, For instance I am playing a fast talker, like my last campaign I won't bother because it might ruin my concentration. Particularly dangerous since I hate diplomacy checks and RP everything.
Stardrake 05-09-07, 10:13 PM	ALL the time--but that doesn't mean everyone should. I've been an accent, dialect, and sound-effect shark for years (that theatre degree has to be good for something other than covering that hole in my bathroom wall....:blush: ) My current 2 characters both have accents--Stardrake (the Paladin) has the typical heroic-Brittanic accent, while Ombert (the halfling Wizard) has yer basic Bronxlyn accent--think Bugs Bunny. (His family has no idea where it came from....) Of course, my NPCs tend to have accents, too--as well as my monsters making appropriate noises (in other games, I've done a decent Wookiee, Dalek, and Cyberman) But voices are a cruel master--to paraphrase the WEG STAR WARS rulebook: You might want to reconsider playing a Wookiee if your best attempts sound more like a rusted carburetor....
KingGolem 05-09-07, 10:18 PM	I like using accents, and do so frequently. Mostly to distinguish the different races. I use these accents the most frequently: Scottish: Very frequently for dwarves and some humans Brittish: Three main kinds. The stuck-up sophisticated type (elves, royalty), the halfling, and the filthy peasant (most humans) Super White: Ever played a human on WoW? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Mostly for paladins. :P Gnomish: Imagine if Verne Troyer (the actor who played Mini Me in the Austin Powers movie[s]) was a Jewish used car salesman. :D Arabic/Indian: When not in Arabia/India analog land, they're spice/rug traders. Always. Spanish: I use the European kind for lizardfolk, and the Mexican kind ysually for goblins and kobolds. Russian/Transcaucasian: Primarily humans and some urskans (see FB for urskans) German: Very strong German. Used for the Duergar and Hobgoblins. French: Chefs and BBEGs. The BBEGs I'm not sure why. Pirate: Obvious applications. African: Darfellans and tribal humans.
docballen 05-09-07, 10:33 PM	Oh yes. A character I'm currently playing is one that I absolutely love-- he started in Star Trek as a descendent of Malcolm Reed-- so Travis Reed has an accent too. I have had my "fake" British accent for years-- I don't think I've ever broken out of it if I didn't want to. When I'm DM'ing GURPS I get to use all my regional American accents as well as some of the world ones for the NPC's. My group used to try to get conversations going among my NPC's-- they thought it was funny to hear me talking to myself.
Optimized_Commoner 05-09-07, 11:04 PM	Also I have a speech impediment, so talking normally is hard enough without trying to focus on an impersonation at the same time. If you need a character with a stutter though, I'm your man.
Devil Gnasher 05-10-07, 01:31 AM	Some sample accents. German: for dwarves, gnomes (with the gnomes as Swiss) and some humans. 17th century English: goblins and some humans. Scottish: wood elves, some fey and ogres.:D (modern day) Northern English: wood elves. Welsh: gray elves and some fey. Irish: for high elves and some fey. Cockney: orcs. Persian: sun kobalds (mostly Lawful Good kobald variant) and some humans. Italian: standard kobalds and human. French: some fey and humans. Greek: some fey, humans, centaurs and minotaurs.
Pandaemoni 05-10-07, 02:25 AM	I'll flavour a character's voice with a small dash of accent, but I usually won't use the whole thing. Same when I play a female character, I might raise the pitch of my voice a little, but it's just for flavour, not an accurate depiction of a female voice. When I do female characters I come off like like someone playing a woman in a Monty Python sketch. I've been told my falsetto has all the feminine charm of a prostate exam. So I've started laying off of that (I'm saving it for my next cross-dressing NPC). As for accents proper, I avoid them simply because I am so poor at them. I would merely wind up using inconsistent accents from one session to the next. I try to vary the tone and word choice to suit the NPC or PC, not so much the accent.
Shadowhowler 05-10-07, 02:38 AM	I use accents... but more then that, I am always creating speach patterns, tones, manerisims, and other voice changes from character to character. Very few of my characters have sounded much like myself. Mostly, the ones that do the most talking, I try to keep the character 'voice' close to my own... so I don't trip over my words and can come across as at least slightly close to as persasive ane verbose as that character. The one poster was right about the 'growly voice' tho... use with cuation and sparingly, it does much harm to your throat. I used to Run LARP games where sometimes I'd play 7-9 differant character in a given night. In those instances, I parked my car near the play area, and had 7-9 differant outfits for each character. Then I had to change clothes, voice, tone, manerisims and infliction... as well as walk, posture, gestures. I tried to make it VERY clear from character to character that who I was was differant. I'm a big of an immersion junky. :)
Neutronium_Dragon 05-10-07, 04:26 AM	I've done the full "funny voice" routine for a few characters (not just an accent, but entirely different speech patterns/vocal sound), but not all that many. It takes the right kind of character to click with a voice set of their own.
DragonSamurai 05-10-07, 04:35 AM	I use them all the time. It is an easy way to differentiate between who is talking. Sadly though I am not very good at them and my Spanish accent sounds exaclty the as my french but it's fun anyway.
Another Gnome 05-10-07, 04:48 AM	I have enough trouble coming up with a consistent accent and mannerisms for characters in written form, so I certainly won't bother trying to do it live... One thing I do keep consistent though is that all elves always speak without shortening words. It's not to make them seem more "British" or to imply that every single elf regardless of station and education has a perfect grasp of the language, but a simple means to convey how their speech is more drawn out by their very nature; an elf would actually find it physically difficult to speak fast, and without careful training couldn't fool anyone if he or she tried to sound like a human, anymore than a human could perfectly imitate elven intonation.
TheChilliGod 05-10-07, 04:56 AM	I do use accents. Speech patterns, mannerisms, I don't know the difference. I usually base the accent on both the personality and the race of the NPC. For example, a pompous elf bureaucrat would sound like a half-whispering human with a pair of wooden pipes stuck up his nose. A dwarven thug would sound like a human with bad vocal grammar and a very bad cold, who is overcompensating for it by talking loudly. A human wizard would sound a bit crotchety, and a bit nose-pluggy. And so on. One of my favorite accents is for a warforged, who spoke in a half-Terminator, half-British accent, always in two tones of voice (keeping on the higher tone until just finishing a sentence). However, speech is usually just the half of acting out the NPC; the other half is expression and gesturing. If you want to portray the human wizard as fidgety (dangerous combination, I know, but bear with me), then do lots of things with your hands when you speak - drum them against each other, for example. The pompous elf would always look down on the PC's, craning his neck upward if he has to, with hands usually behind back unless making a diplomatic gesture. The dwarf would have a constant scowl on his face. I've had loads of fun with one NPC, a Yuan-ti Swashbuckler that made a tenuous alliance with the party, and used both voice and gestures to make her very effective. She was always sure of herself, and made extremely risky moves that could have had her killed by the party. Since she was a yuan-ti, I had to do a little bit of the stereotypical accentuation of 's' sounds, but otherwise gave her a little bit of a Jack-Sparrow accent. Including incredibly dangerous and witty comments. I always had a smirk on her face, as if daring the party to kill her, and hands were almost always away from weapons, usually holding the back of her head in a relaxed position. I even did stuff with feet, putting them on top of the game table to give a more relaxed impression. I actually cannot believe the party did not attack her!
AffableDoomwalker 05-10-07, 05:04 AM	Yes I do. Aside from the general stereotypes for Dwarves, I tend to not make any one character or NPC sound like "every other one." Humans are great because they accent can change from one side of a city to the next, much less towns, counties, and countries. My current favorite is the Scottish/Irish-mix accent that I've applied to the Dalelands. I've got one NPC in particular I use as a friend to the party, when a serious question came up in-game one day, I decided to borrow a bit from the Simpsons to make him even more awesome: PC: So, why is it the Dalelands are always embroiled in conflict? NPC: Hrmm, well la' s'a good question yer' askin' there, I s'pose s'on accounta tae fact tha' Dalesmen hie many nat'ral enemies... Dalesmen an' Zhents, Dalesmen an' Sembians, Dalesmen an' Drow, Dalesmen an' other Dalesmen... damned Dalesmen, they ruined the Dalelands!
Steely_Dan 05-10-07, 06:59 AM	No, and anyone who does is banned from the table, along with having a beard or body odour.
alangriffith 05-10-07, 08:38 AM	At trhe start of any campaign I run, I always declare my most important house rule (imagine written on a stone tablet): THE GM CANNOT DO ACCENTS OR VOICES, AND THUS WILL NOT CAUSE HILARITY AND FAILURE BY TRYING. I SHALL DESCRIBE THE VOICE (e.g. "he speaks in a sort of squeaky scottish accent) AND YOU WILL IMAGINE IT YOURSELF. ANYONE TRYING JOKES LIKE "This guy sounds the woman we spoke to yesterday" WILL BE SMITED MOST MIGHTILY! I do try to do modes of speech somewhat (poncy words for wizards, particular bits of slang for certain NPCs of relevance).
Steely_Dan 05-10-07, 09:05 AM	I SHALL DESCRIBE THE VOICE (e.g. "he speaks in a sort of squeaky scottish accent) I do try to do modes of speech somewhat (poncy words for wizards, particular bits of slang for certain NPCs of relevance). Yeah, that's what I do.
Prof. Pacali 05-10-07, 10:36 AM	No, and anyone who does is banned from the table, along with having a beard or body odour. Out of curiousity, what's wrong with beards? :confused:
Steely_Dan 05-10-07, 10:58 AM	Out of curiousity, what's wrong with beards? :confused: I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience the people that play this game who have beards are the worst sort of stereotypical gamer. "Worst, episode, ever."
literati 05-10-07, 12:36 PM	I use accents, but I'm really quite terrible at it, which leads to a good time by all. I was using one accent for a troglodyte, one I thought was completely original. Until one of the players said "Apparently, troglodytes speak common with a Mexican accent." Yeah, that's right! They did from then on, anyway. And sometimes I'll accidently switch accents in mid-stream, unaware. I went from a Scottish accent to a Jamaican accent in a Cthulhu game one time, leaving the players convinced that an NPC was possessed - until I said "whoops, heh"
Stardust 05-10-07, 01:02 PM	I sort of use accents, insofar as I try and have a speech pattern and a concept of a 'voice' for my major NPCs. I'm born and raised in England, but according to my players I have a habit to voice many of the more 'generic' NPCs with an American accent, I'm not sure why. Elves speak very softly with a hint of a french accenture creeping in. Humans often sound American, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about. Gnomes I haven't used much of, but will be popping up very soon and I intend to play them with a ridiculously over-the-top Yorkshire accent and dialect, which will be great fun (and authenic, as it's where I'm from). There's a friendly Kobold-and-Orc duo who the PCs keep randomly encountering named Kizpah and Klobb respectively. Klobb the orc very rarely speaks, but Kizpah is much more vocal, albeit with something of a speech impediment. He inadvertently adds 'mmmmm..Kiz-pah!' to the end of every few sentences. One of my players with Polish parents and family can't help but crack up every time he starts talking because apparently he sounds exactly like her Aunt. I think accents and speech patterns in general should definitely be used for anything more than a hack-and-slash game. They add so much depth to a personality and make it easier to bring out the mindset of the character.
rudie 05-10-07, 01:06 PM	its usually silly to use accents unless you are very good at the particular accent you are going for. Though sometimes its necessary when you need to capture the feeling of a specific character if only for one sentence.
Sunic_Flames 05-10-07, 01:08 PM	I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience the people that play this game who have beards are the worst sort of stereotypical gamer. "Worst, episode, ever." ...So is this the part where I stroke my beard and do one of those villain laughs? Stereotypes are bad, mmkay?
Prof. Pacali 05-10-07, 01:28 PM	I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience the people that play this game who have beards are the worst sort of stereotypical gamer. "Worst, episode, ever." Well, its just that I happen to have a beard, which last time I checked is rather common among human males of my age and ethnicity. When did it become a Comic Book Guy stereotype? Or is it only gamers who refuse to brush the crumbs out of their beards that can't game with you? :)
secher_nbiw45 05-10-07, 03:28 PM	I like accents and can do several well, but i try to do more with word choice, tone, and speech patterns. although i had a dwarven cleric who had a southie boston accent :) a friend of mine almost always throws down an accent with his oddball characters, and i love hearing it start out scottish, slide to irish and end up aussie, then back again!
Shadowhowler 05-10-07, 03:31 PM	I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience the people that play this game who have beards are the worst sort of stereotypical gamer. "Worst, episode, ever." I was with you on not wanting smelly people at your game table... but between your rather miopic viwe of people with facial hair and your aversion to immersive roleplay, I must say I'm glad I will never play with you. :)
Castegyre 05-10-07, 03:47 PM	I wonder if goatees count... Anyways, I have been playing for over two decades now in all sorts of games and still cannot do it right. I try accents, but I just stink at them.
Pandaemoni 05-10-07, 04:23 PM	I wonder if goatees count... Anyways, I have been playing for over two decades now in all sorts of games and still cannot do it right. I try accents, but I just stink at them. I think they are worst of all. They show that you are the evil twin from the parallel universe.
Shinryouga 05-10-07, 04:34 PM	I'm captain accent-pants. I change em fast and wear em hard. Wait, that sounded bad. But yeah, accents for the win. My half-ogre arcane heirophant in our local Age of Worms game has been a blast, going from intel 9 to intel 14 over the course of five ability ups has been awesome to voice, as he goes from sounding like Adam Sandler in "Waterboy" to more like Billy Zane in "Kingdom Hearts" (I'f you've played that game to the end, you know what I mean). Course, when his legacy item falchion Bloodwind picked up a curse from the Fountain of Fortune's Folly, the accents and voice got even better! Curse: genderswap! I love that even as a 6'2", hairy man chest, obvious male, I can do a voice for a charisma 16 half-ogre female, and not wierd out my fellow players, or get laughed at.
Sunic_Flames 05-10-07, 05:41 PM	I think they are worst of all. They show that you are the evil twin from the parallel universe. Bearded and evil huh? http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dx200702 Like this guy? :D
MagicMouth 05-10-07, 05:52 PM	I do accents occasionally, when I feel it´s appropriate and/or funny. The most memorable instance must be the time I used a Yuan-Ti as the villain and decided to give him a really phoney Transylvanian accent, Dracula style. Not sure why I did it, but it played out well. :D
Aryxbez 05-10-07, 05:56 PM	I don't really use accents much, since I don't really have the skills for it. But I do try to make a good amount of my important NPCs have a different voice of some kind.
Silversheen197 05-10-07, 11:51 PM	Another accent I used was for my puss in boots character (anthropomorphic cat rogue/swashbuckler). Puss in boots is originally from Germany (I believe), and since I'm german, I decided to give him that accent. It was great fun.
AffableDoomwalker 05-11-07, 03:09 AM	I guess that makes me the neutral triplet... I wear a handlebar mustache from time to time...
Nihzlet 05-11-07, 03:31 AM	i played a character with a British accent once(Brelish character in an Eberron game). the DM liked it so much he gave me a bonus action point during the first session i played him. most other people in our gaming group at the time didnt get that into it. most of em still dont, im pretty much the only one that does voices and sound effects. a running joke has become, after ive done some particularly ludicrous sound or impression, to say 'wait, he did what?' in an effort to get me to repeat it.
Steely_Dan 05-11-07, 04:03 AM	I must say I'm glad I will never play with you. No sweat off my sac.
Rogue Elendae 05-11-07, 04:55 AM	Personally, I find that it depends entirely upon the character whether an accent or merely a change in vocal attitudes is necessary. I'm currently (well, I was before going back to university, and will likely be again over summer break) DMing one campaign and playing in one our group's usual DM is running, so I'll give examples from both. My PC is a Rogue/Ranger who speaks with a trace (or sometimes more than a trace) of an Irish accent, and is rather harsh-voiced, her vocal mannerisms very clipped and tight. The PC I used in a game before this one was an Elf Rogue with a lighter voice that had a heavy dose of a purr, especially when amused. She tended to always sound like she was coming on to someone, except in a fight. Then she was cold and curt. NPCs I've used in my campaign range from a Gnome shopkeeper who's a frantic chatterbox, who uses the upper end of my register (I'm lucky to have a fairly middling-range voice; I'm a low alto, but I can hit high tenor and low soprano without much strain--makes a variety of characters easier for me to cover), to a snarly Drow who ran a black-market shop in the bad end of a town, who growled and had what could almost be a New Jersey accent. I've done meek, mousy innkeepers with high, singsong voices, gruff Dwarves that sound kinda Scottish or Irish, a novice Cleric who sounds perpetually put-upon, etc. It all sort of depends on the character, whether or not I give them an accent, a particular vocal styling, or both. The voice both I and the other DM developed for Kobolds employs both, for example; it's high, scratchy, and sounds a bit like the stereotypical image of an Italian trying to speak bad English (or perhaps a bit more Jewish, in some instances). It all depends on what works and what doesn't. I'm good at doing accents, partly because my gang of friends and I all have a silly tendency to suddenly slip into strange accents in the middle of talking just because; we're an odd mix of actors, singers, writers, artists, etc., many of us play various RPGs, so it all kinda builds on itself. My BF and I both pick up accents we hear with annoying ease; we went to see The Lonesome West recently, and spent a few weeks after slipping into Irish accents complete with slang, for an example, or I'll pick up a Texas drawl when talking about my favorite wrestler (the Undertaker, a Houston native). However, at least one of our friends can't do accents comfortably, so we don't push him to try; he's shy enough without the extra effort of maintaining such things while trying to give his character personality. I'd say it depends upon the player/DM and their ability or willingness to try, the character and their mannerisms, and what's the general comfort zone of the group. Does it put players off if the DM uses a lot of accents or stylistic voices for certain characters? Do the players care to try it themselves, or do they just want to speak in their own voice? I got lucky, ending up with groups that're perfectly casual about these kinds of things, and like to play around with various character voices and personae.
Kensan_Oni 05-11-07, 12:02 PM	I try, but I have this horrible habit of sliding from irish or spanish into this Texan Drawl. Curse Speech Therapy.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 05-11-07, 12:18 PM	I use some accents but I am not very good at most. Those I can't replicate myself I just prelude with a mention of the accent being used. There is a simple trick to doing accents: do not try to do an acent, instead do an impression of someone with that accent. If you need Scottish then do your best Groundskeeper Willy or Scrooge MacDuck. Irish? The Lucky Charms leprechaun. German? Sgt. Schultz or Col. Klink. Russian? Pvt. Chekov. It really is a lot easier to figure out how to mimic an individual with whose particualr speech patterns you are familiar then trying to figure out how to "accentify" individual words or phrases.
Fencerboy 05-11-07, 05:51 PM	Lol, Col. Klink... Scottish for Dwarves. People say it sucks, but I don't think so. Elves get their soft voices, Orcs get the German. Gold Dwarves are Jamaican... Halflings don't get much of an accent, but a good cockney works for gnomes, if its nasally enough!
Silverblade The Enchanter 05-11-07, 10:40 PM	I'm Scots, so all my NPCs have accents ;) I generally write down an NPC's mode of speaking if he's important, like "he speaks slow and nasally", or "he speaks like Peter Ustinov" etc. :)
The_Rouge 05-12-07, 07:56 AM	I Just saw "Hot Fuzz", and now i have given the group some assitance. Yes he is a barbarian. He talks like the big, stupid guy in Hot fuzz, but he does not have the mind of a 6 year old - He is just stupid. and yes, i REALY enjoy doing accents while being the Almighty God of that puny Group That Play For My Enjoyment. I justcant seem to manage the german of aussie accents.( even when ive lived in austrailia (when i was 6))
Damior 05-12-07, 08:54 AM	In my campaign, dwarves get a heavy scottish accent. Gnomes, who live in the same region, have less of an accent but its still recognizably scottish. Halflings speak like aussies, I dont exactly know why. My elves tend towards british acccents, its overused, I know, but its all I could think of. They voices vary depending on subrace(greys will sound a bit different from high elves or wood elves for instance) For humans, I just go with whatever sounds right for the particular character.
zvbxrpl 05-13-07, 03:06 PM	No. The world isn't the same and the languages aren't the same, so why would accents be the same? I avoid fictional-type accents because it's hard to establish internal consistency.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 05-14-07, 12:30 PM	No. The world isn't the same and the languages aren't the same, so why would accents be the same? For the same reason that the D&D Common Tongue is English in the English-speaking world, Spanish in the Spanish-speaking world, Dutch in the Netherlands, etc. In other words, they aren't. Rather they are common real-world tools we employ to represent something in the fictional game universe, in much the same manner that a die roll represents and sword strike. I avoid fictional-type accents because it's hard to establish internal consistency. The purpose of using accents is to establish internal consistency. No one is usggesting that Dwarves are Scottish or actually speak Gàidhlig, it is merely an aural cue, a hook to establish "a dwarf is speaking" in the game. By consistenlty using a specific accent for a specific race you establish that internal consistency. In one game I played an Elven Noble who would switch back and forth between Common and Elvish all the time, sometimes in the middle of a sentence. For Elvish I would speak normally - as that was the PC's native tongue - and for Common I would speak with a Russian accent. The other players and the DM picked up on this immediately and so I didn't have to say "I tell him in Common..." or "I say in Elvish..." every time I spoke, I just did it and let the accent speak for me. The DM also picked up on this cue and forevermore in that game when an Elf spoke with a Russian accent everyone knew that meant they were speaking Common and when they spoke normally they were using their native tongue.
the_Luggage 05-14-07, 12:59 PM	Quick question? What exactly do you guys mean when you say a "British" accent? I mean, a Scottish accent is British, as is an English accent, as is a Welsh accent and a Northern Irish accent. I assume you guys mean English, right? Anyway. I ran a campaign that had every NPC speaking with Cockney accents. It was hard to get into but now I can't escape it. I nearly always slip back into it when running any sort of shifty character if I don't concentrate. I had to run a game set in Dublin afterwards to shake it off. I currently run two characters- One, Scrak, is a Goblin. He doesn't have an accent, but does have a particular harsh way of speaking and expressing himself. The other, Sal, is a Lizardfolk Druid. I've been giving him a thick Caribean accent when speaking common, slightly broken and having him sometimes grasp for words. And in draconic he speaks perfectly. As for trying accents, just go for the most obvious stereotype you can lock into. It's interesting that so many use French for villains.