The use of accents/voices in your game

[Hermit]

It was brought up in another thread that Dwarves are very often portrayed as sounding Scottish. I've been with some good game masters who were pretty good mimics who tended to use various accents for different races or realms. I've tried to effect a few (though I'm sure it was the 'hollywood' version ) myself. Anyone else do this? What accents/voices do you use for what groups?

[Fitz]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

My accents are, frankly, pretty much crap. All peasants, no matter what culture or language, always sound as though they come from deepest Somerset, and that's about the extent of my attempts at accents

[Thia Halmades]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

It's not always accents, it's also dialects and tone. My Aelves tend to sound haughty; my dwarves sound like blue-collar construction workers (or they would, but hardly anyone has ever seen 'em). My Sea Orks sound like pub goers who love their friends and a good time. I think of the concepts that symbolize the race, and then I try to find a voice or dialect that brings that out best.

[Lemurion]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

You can do an awful lot with dialect or even simple vocabulary. Give characters particular ways to say things and it will work wonders.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

Well, I'm the one that brought up the "Scottish Dwarves" in that other thread, and I have to admit that I use a very thick Scottish brogue when I speak as a dwarf... including, but not limited to, spending as much time as possible rolling each R.

 

My other racial accents include Irish halflings, a variety of accent (including "Redneck" and Cajun) for humans, ethereally haughty elves, and animalistic orcs.

 

I've also found that an excellent source for accents to emulate can be found in Disney movies. For instance, you want a voice for your main boss villain, who could ask for a better voice than that of Shere Khan, the Tiger (voiced by George Sanders).

 

I've also given thought to using accents that inspire diametrically opposed feelings... like a hissing, sleezy sounding voice for the only honest merchant in town, or a vile, sadistic king who sounds like Edward Everett Horton (for all you children who've never heard of him... Google It!).

[Sketchpad]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I use accents all the time in my games ... for the most part, I do them well, but occasionally I fumble one (like Christopher Lambert's accent). My players and I always believed that it enhances the game

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I have a fairly good ear for accents and pick them up readily, although many of them are the movie versions (my Cinematic Russian is a cross between Yakov Smirnov and Chekov). I try and use them when approriate; but I try not to overdo it. I think of accents as a strong spice used sparingly - I try to do other stuff with dialect and word choice.

[Erkenfresh]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I've always used Scottish for dwarves. I really don't know where I picked that up but it seems a common choice.

 

Generally, I like to have different characters have unique sounding voices, especially if they are in the same room. This makes conversations with NPCs much less confusing. Sometimes I do a bad job of this and the players continually have to ask me who was just talking.

[austenandrews]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I don't generally have "races" in my fantasy games, but I do give different nations a distinctive accent. Last campaign I used American (midwest), British (various), Scottish (non-highland), Irish and Italian accents. They definitely lend flavor to each nation and allow the players to immediately recognize an NPC's origin, which would generally be the case in real life as well.

[keithcurtis]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I tend to use a variety of accents and dialects in my games. In the Savage Earth, I use them willy-nilly with very little rhyme or reason. It's just a character identifier.

 

When I ran my Star Hero Solar Colonies campaign, I used them as cultural identifiers.

Mars was primarily settled by Americans (United States-ians), and so they had US regional accents.

Selenites (Loonies) were either British or Russian, since they were the primary lunar colonists, and so on. I had a huge space station called New Los Angeles, that picked up a lot of refugees from smaller (or less tech-powerful) ethnicities after the disaster that ended most of the life on earth. They tended to congregate in separate communities within the ship, like in a New York had Chinatown, Little Italy, Spanish Harlem and so forth.

 

Mostly I vary tone, pitch and grammar for different characters unless they are very broad.

 

Keith "chaotiglot" Curtis

[Deucex]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I use them as cultural identifiers but also as language barriers. Poor players would try to buy a sword and would get offered pants. One player wanted an arbalast and got a goat. "I am... you yes... buy?" The poor guys had to deal with currency exchange too. In the world I live in there is on "common."

 

'Course, one player started figuring out currency exchanges and started making money by trading currency.

[Rick]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I have a fairly good ear for accents and pick them up readily' date=' although many of them are the movie versions (my Cinematic Russian is a cross between Yakov Smirnov and Chekov). I try and use them when approriate; but I try not to overdo it. I think of accents as a strong spice used sparingly - I try to do other stuff with dialect and word choice.[/quote']

 

Heh, my Russian Accent is usually Boris of Boris and Natasha fame, I have to say "We are looking for moose and squirle.." just to get it started.

[Walter]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I don't GM much, but as a player I've done accents ranging from Inigo Montoya to Sylvester the Cat (as a wise-cracking alien martial artist in a champions game). That last one drove everyone nuts, I loved every second of it.

[SCUBA Hero]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

We had a player who gave his dwarf a German accent... worked well, for him.

 

***************

 

In a Champions campaign, after the streetwise character met with an informant:

 

Player (OOC): Why do all your informants sound like they're from New Jersey?

 

GM (knowingly): *All* underworld contacts are from New Jersey.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

True. All underworld informants ARE from NJ. The Soprano's ain't too far off base.

 

It's good to be from Philly. We only have crack smoking mayors!

[austenandrews]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

Long ago we had a dwarf who sounded like Sean Connery. I guess that counts.

[Lucius]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

Somehow, I've always imagined Dwarves sounding German.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

"Barook Kazad!" Cries the palindromedary, "The Dwarves are upon you!" not sounding particularly German.

[Edsel]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I can do a Russian accent pretty good, at least that's what I have been told. I think that comes from playing the part of Colossus in our X-Men campaign for several years. That comes in handy nowadays in my Dark Champions campaign when I do the voice of Russian Mafia types. I also do Italian, French, British and a generic Scandinavian from time to time but Russian is certainly my best. I don't ever recall anybody in our Fantasy campaigns using an accent for non-humans.

[Springald Jack]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I sometimes use accents, but I'm not that good at it.

 

What I make effective use of (IMO) is what I call register, which consists of vocabulary, emphasis, and rate of speech.

[Barton]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I do not GM Fantasy Hero, but I do GM two Pulp Hero games.

 

My ability to do accents are almost zero (my Russian is good cinematic, my French accent is barely passable, and that is about it). So when I need to do a accent, before the NPC speaks, I say "upper crust British accent" or "German accent" or the like. My players then have to imagine the accent.

 

Does anyone know of a good free source on how to teach people to do accents???

[keithcurtis]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

Does anyone know of a good free source on how to teach people to do accents???

 

This site doesn't teach, but it is an amazing repository of accent samples.

 

Keith "Mr. Helpy-Guy" Curtis

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

If I've learned anything from Disney movies, it's that all villains have an upper-class English Accent.

[Kortay Mirlor]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I sometimes use accents, but I'm not that good at it.

 

What I make effective use of (IMO) is what I call register, which consists of vocabulary, emphasis, and rate of speech.

 

I've lived all across the USA, so I'm pretty good at USA accents.

 

I'm with you on "register"; emphasis especially is a good tool.

 

The best way to learn accents I know is to go to a "college town" and hang out where the Exchange Students do. Listen to how real life people sound. Surprising how much they vary - - - - there's not really a Such-and-such-istan accent.

[Vondy]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

I tend to use different idioms, but not accents and voices. Unless you do an accent or a voice very well it comes off an hackneyed and is a good way to get people to poke you with sticks. I have, however, done impressions of real people for characters, occassionally. Two examples, I did a pretty good Clinton and Bush II, so I did an impression for presidential cameos (which allowed the interjection of subtle humor in a game that, aside from some ongoing in-jokes, was very gritty); I also did Art Bell for Coast to Coast, which I'd do monologues for when they were driving around on missions and whatnot.

[prodigyduck]

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game

 

In our campaigns, my group "bodycasts" the PCs and important NPCs. That is to say, if the game were to be a TV show, who would play the character...

 

As such, we do our best to sound like whoever the bodycast is. If a player casts Sean Connery or Arnie for their character, they had better know how to talk like them. Otherwise, pick someone else.

 

In my fantasy campaign, some races have distinctive accents. My humans tend to sound British, elves speak with an American accent, dwarves are Norse, orcs are... just plain gruff-sounding.