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Thursday, September 29, 2011

It's All in the Way You Say It

As a GM, do you use accents and unique voices for your NPCs?

Back in the days of weekly (or more often) gaming, I would try to instill certain NPCs with unique voices. I felt it made them more memorable, and judging from my player's reactions, it did.

I used it mostly with shopkeepers and such that I knew they would deal with repeatedly. Yeah, the stereotypical Scottish brogue for the Dwarven Armorer, a kid's voice for the Halfling Thieves Guildmaster, a German accent for the Bartender of their favorite tavern... stuff like that.

Needless to say, there were times I got my voices crossed, and they would always call me out on it when it happened ;)

Still, it was fun and effective. Then again, I have a bad habit of talking in accents ;)


4 comments:

  1. I'm just a little too self-conscious to bust out the accents, but I do find myself slipping into different speech patterns for different characters; sometimes it's deliberate, but often it's not and I don't realise I'm doing it.

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  2. I've done different voices for characters from time to time. Most often I don't give it much forethought and it just happens, sort of the voice of the character in my head making itself heard. Often adds to the fun.

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  3. I wish I could do more accents and funny voices at my games, but my vocal chords just will not hold up long enough to do this for more than an hour or two tops. When I can type stuff out, I tend to use more accents.

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  4. One of the things I miss about I Hit it With My Axe is hearing Zak do some really bad accents and watching Mandy simultaneously cringe and flare her nostrils in annoyance while having to speak with his PCs. Pretty much sums up how it feels at the table.

    ReplyDelete

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