Funny game voices

[Guyon]

Do you ever change you voice when you play for different NPC characters? Well I try, sometimes more successfully then others. Here are few voices in our game.

 

This is one of my favorite NPC's a 21 year old nerd hero, that quotes comic books, never had a girl friend, and plays video games when not fighting crime.

http://www.protectors.frih.net/Heros/CaptainKayless.html

 

This was a hard one. Two jewel thieves are surprised by The Burgh, a super hero with a Pittsburgh accent. It was hard switching between the 3 voices. Yes I know one of the Jewel thieves sounds a little like the Burgh, but I did the best I could.

http://www.protectors.frih.net/Heros/TheBurgh.html

 

 

Of cource this is not my voice, but my neices. She did a great job for this scenario:

http://www.protectors.frih.net/scenarios/Season01/KillerFashions.html

 

 

This goes to show that gaming can be creative, work on acting abilities, and not just rolling dice. My wife was once a little upset that I play geek games till I pointed out that I do go out all night drinking, I am home with nice friends that she knows, it is relatively inexpensive, and there is zero chance of talking to strange women. She now supports this activity. LOL

 

 

Anyone else use voices in there games? What kind?

 

 

web site:

http://www.protectors.frih.net/index.html

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I try, but I'm always I'm going to sound stupid rather than effective. I usually stick more to accents and odd speech patterns than voices, per se. It largely depends on what I feel capable of that night ... I've been having a spat of throat problems lately, so sometimes it's laborious enough just to speak for 3+ hours, much less adjust my voice in the process.

 

My players always get the same cabbie every time they take a taxi anywhere; the accent and speech pattern are stolen from Clay from Xiaolin Showdown; cowboy accent, preference for 'good ol' boy' similes ("Now if that ain't lower than a snake's belly button!").

 

I do a wicked Cockney accent, or so I'm told ... I need to play one of those again sometime.

 

Of course, I'm also told I do a mean impression of Dr. Teeth ... so I'm not sure what to make of that.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I always try to use a different voice for NPCs. That way I don't have to preface everything with, "So-and-so says...."

 

Then again, I'm a fairly talented voice actor with a good grasp of pitch, texture, and cadence, and a good ear for accents. I can make Doctor Destroyer sound like James Earl Jones with a German accent, and give Foxbat a high-tenor Boston sound. (I don't know why Boston; it just seems to fit somehow.) Probably most other GMs can't do that.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I always try to use a different voice for NPCs. That way I don't have to preface everything with, "So-and-so says...."

 

Then again, I'm a fairly talented voice actor with a good grasp of pitch, texture, and cadence, and a good ear for accents. I can make Doctor Destroyer sound like James Earl Jones with a German accent, and give Foxbat a high-tenor Boston sound. (I don't know why Boston; it just seems to fit somehow.) Probably most other GMs can't do that.

Of course, your skill at voice acting is matched only by your humility.

 

 

I keed, I keed....

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Of course, your skill at voice acting is matched only by your humility.

 

 

I keed, I keed....

Of course! There are only a few things to which I will happily toot my own horn, and voice acting is one of them. I'm pretty happy with my stage acting, game writing, and fact-finding abilities as well.

 

To quote Flynn Carson in "Librarian: Quest for the Spear": "I don't get facts wrong! It's everything else I screw up...."

[Korvar]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I don't do it enough, really. Although at one point the PCs avoided certain clues in a Dark Champions game I ran, so they wouldn't have to hear my Jamaican accent again. Personally I didn't think it was that bad...

[Guyon]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Lol

 

 

Web

http://www.protectors.frih.net/index.html

[The Souljourner]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I generally try to do less with voices and more with how they speak and what they say.

 

My black rapper from the wrong side of the tracks doesn't have an accent to match, but he's always throwing down tha' street speak, a'ight?

 

My norse god of storms doesn't have a norse accent, but he talks in a loud, booming voice, and tends to refer to people as "puny mortal".

 

-Nate

[teh bunneh]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I had a recurring villain whose speech patterns were based off of Kiefer Sutherland's crazy doctor from Dark City. My players loved him.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I think using speech patterns, accents, or whatever you can muster is a great way to add interest and fun to NPCs. Tragically, I am terrible at it. For one campaign I made a concerted effort to give at least all the main NPCs unique voices; sadly I mostly just confused my players.

 

But every so often some voice will just click with a particular NPC and I can pull it off effortlessly. Those are invariably are my best NPCs. I wish I knew why I can't do it all the time. Do I lack character conception? Technique? Talent? Caffiene? Who knows. Right now I just enjoy it when it works, like a surfer hitting the perfect wave.

 

_____________________________________________________________

I have never actually gone surfing. It just seemed like a good metaphor.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I love doing voices for unique NPCs in the games I run, or just do them to make some of the rank and file charactes stand out a bit more. I have a natural talent for voice acting, though I've never done it professionally (hey if Greenwade can toot his own horn, I can toot mine). Among my player's favorites are the voice I use for the base's computer (a base monotone with a hint of infernal grating), the voice of the team's benifactor (who sounds like the father from Out of This World, and I apparently can do a convincing Burt Reynolds, but I don't believe it) and the voice of Nightblade (a villain with the power to control darkness). Unfortunately, I don't have a recording of myself doing these voices like Guyon has done, but perhaps that might make an interesting alternative for the quotes section on the web published character sheets.

[fwcain]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Different voices.

 

Sound effects, too...oh, OK, lots of sound effects.

 

(glances at players from gaming group)

 

*sigh*

All right, "so many funny voices and sound effects, you'd think he was channeling Billy Crystal and Robin Williams both!"

 

Franklin

[keithcurtis]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Stuff I posted in an earlier thread:

 

The first is a short one and is an anthropomorphic porcupine scout debating the wisdom of crossing a ford infested with anthropomorphic gators. It takes place at the edge of the large rushing ford, with rain coming down as well.

 

The second is a pathetic attempt at an apology by a loudmouthed NPC after an aborted fistfight with a PC, over an insult to yet another PC. This takes place in a jungle encampment at night.

 

Click on the character to hear them speak. Warning, the second download is over a MB in size.

 

 

 

Keith "From Radio Savage Earth" Curtis

[Bloodstone]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I'm pretty good with doing voices and imitating accents. It's as important to me as a background story or a character sketch. I don't really consider a character complete until it has a unique voice, or at the very least a voice that is somewhat different from my own.

 

I'm slighlty less demanding with NPC's though. Still, most prominent NPC's in games I run have a destinct voice.

 

My players usually enjoy it, though sometimes I have to drop the accent so they can understand what I'm saying. This hapens a lot with my character Master D'rrsa, a Mrlssi jedi master that sounds like Stitch from the movie Lilo & Stitch.

[Alibear]

Re: Funny game voices

 

All the people I roleplay with are non native English speakers so if I 'do' an accent no-one can understand me.

[Guyon]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Very nice keithcurtis. Cool pictures too.

I am just glad no one made fun of my NPC voices. LOL But truth be told Players seem to like it no matter how good or bad you are at it.

 

 

Just as an idea maybe we can make voices for each other games. What a surprise for the players when we use them during the game.

 

 

http://www.protectors.frih.net/index.html

[Cancer]

Re: Funny game voices

 

My only memorable case of speaking-with-contrived-accent was an NPC named Wimpledon Putz. He was as he was named: a weak, utterly deferential little man. Had fun with him making moronic nonagressive statements in a voice that drove some people (like my wife) absolutely up a wall. (It was a fantasy campaign. He specialized in defense magics and Aid effects, but could turn very nasty when pushed too far.)

[Dust Raven]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I am just glad no one made fun of my NPC voices.

 

Make fun of, no. Laugh hysterically at while playing it for everybody in the room, absolutely!!! Especially Burgh.

[Guyon]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I deserved that. :-) But I have to say that was hard to switch voices so quick.

 

The Burg is cool, and love playing that NPC.

"Come mere. Ja-wanna go to jell now, or do I hafta teach yinz a lessin?"

[Nevenall]

Re: Funny game voices

 

Like some others, the quality of my NPC voices depends upon how "on" I am that night.

I haven't GMed anything but The Jedi Academy campaign for a long while, so I have a pretty good stable of voices. Luke, Mon Montha, Admiral Akbar.

Though I think they sometimes get tired of my female voices.

 

My friend runs a Conan game and we have a strange assortment of character voices in that one. My noble swordsman is very soft spoken. There is a guy who does a killer West? African accent and northern barbarian who is, ya he is vary sweedish. It's a hoot.

[input.jack]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I always try to give NPC's (and PCs for that matter) their own "voice". SOmetiems I do better than others, and sometimes I suffer from "drift" when i get tired, but overall, people seem to like it.

 

And yes, Im a frustrated would-be actor

[catsman]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I love using different voices and accents for NPCs, of course I don't think some are very different from others but my players seem to know who they are talking to. My proudest moment is the NPC who used a voice modulator (and I didn't), I think the effect worked really well .

 

and yes, I too wish to be a voice actor. Alas, I don't have the skills .

[Silbeg]

Re: Funny game voices

 

While I have, on occassion, attemped "funny voices", such as the slow... deliberate speach pattern of The Seattle Mariner, coupled with the high-speed babble of his side-kick, The Seattle Supersonic, I have been asked not to do it again.

 

Granted, the roar of Terrorsaurus is still memorable in my head...

 

[Edsel]

Re: Funny game voices

 

During our old X-Men Hero game I played the part of Colossus aka Piotr (Peter) Nikolaievitch Rasputin. When speaking in character I would do it in a Russian accent. The group I was gaming with said I did a pretty good job of it. I'd play Banshee ocationally as well and I'd do my best Irish accent for that part.

 

When we played Avengers I was Iron Man aka Tony Stark. Of course that called for no accent.

[Barton]

Re: Funny game voices

 

I do accents generally badly. So when I need to have a NPC say something I will preceede the comment with "in a heavy southern accent" or the like.

 

However, I have a few accents that I do. My refined older lady voice is like Dame Edna (at least that is my wife says it sounds like). I do a uber Nazi accent well (think WWII film Nazi accent). My last pulp game I did a voice of four year girl who thought a PC was a gangster. I did a decent job with her accent, including the screech that little children sometimes do.

 

My advice is try new voices, sometimes you can pull it off.