Do you do a voice when roleplaying your characters?
Does your GM?
How important do you consider voices to roleplaying? Does it depend on the character?
If you do voices does that include when/if you're playing crossgender?
What's the worst voice you've ever encountered in a game? And the best?
>>47074921
I feel like speech patterns or the particular words a character uses are more important than their accent or whatever.
That being said, when playing male characters I'll attempt a voice if it's one I can do without making it ridiculous. I NEVER do this for female characters because, let's face it, that's cringe-inducing for everyone at the table no matter how convinced you are that you can do it well. You are 110% That Guy if you even try.
I've tried to do voices but its very hard to stay consistent. My GM has tries as well but he unfortunately has a pretty nasally, nerdy voice naturally so they're often the worse voices I've ever heard.
Yes.
Yes (I am the DM).
Literally one of the most important things. I'm 100% serious, if you can't be bothered to even put a tiny bit of effort into not making your character just sound like you do, why should the DM put effort into running the game for you?
Yes.
I don't have an answer to this.
>>47075057
Really? If all your players over the years do voices (or had to) surely you'd have an opinion of them, right?
>>47075007
>let's face it, that's cringe-inducing for everyone at the table no matter how convinced you are that you can do it well. You are 110% That Guy if you even try.
It's really not. You're the one making it awkward by insisting it is. How the fuck else are you supposed to make female NPCs have any depth or personality if you just say "Fuck it, I'm not even gonna try because someone might think it's silly"? You don't have to try and convince people you're a girl, you just have to put some effort into altering your speech pattern so the players know who's talking.
Maybe try ditching the "lol its so silly I literally am incapable of being immersed if you do this" and let the DM do his job?
>>47075007
I've heard some passable female voices done by guys. You can usually just get by with talking in a softer tone, not every female character has a squeaky anime voice.
>>47075076
I mean, I've had players do all kinds of voices, but I don't think any of them really broke the mold or stood out. I've certainly heard shitty ones, but those are mostly due to players starting to do one, and then giving up halfway through instead of just committing to it.
>>47075082
Just practice until your girl voice is convincing if you play female characters. Problem solved.
>>47074921
I tend to do voices, yes. I don't even try female voices, I simply attempt to imply their manner of speaking to convey personality. But for male characters, I'll go the extra step with accents and whatnot, usually subdued but it depends on the character. I do this as both as a GM and as a player.
The worst I've encountered in games is when males attempt female voices and vise versa. It's why I go with the "manner of speech" approach and advise others to do the same.
The best is probably my brother. He actually kind of sucks at accents but he is fucking AMAZING at personalities and making sure what he says matches the character perfectly, each time. Down to common phrases, manner of speech, etc. It's uncanny. I'm actually pretty jealous of that skill. I'm a bit better of an ad-libber when it comes to the nuts and bolts of running a game though so I guess it balances out. Still, his living worlds are pretty awesome because he makes immersion easy.
>>47075123
You don't need a "convincing" female voice, you just need a consistent one that is identifiably different from your normal speech patterns.
I mean, I don't attempt to pass for a female, but I still need a way to make the bubbly, energetic bartender sound different than the serious, methodical elven ranger.
I've stopped doing voices over time unless I'm sure that I can use them well. One of my favorite attempts was a faux Chinese accent, but it made it very hard to talk in character or to take my character seriously. I ended up dropping it, and I ended up having a lot more fun as a result.
One time I did try a female voice, and at least to me, it sounded okay, but I'm completely unable to do any other female voice aside from 'vaguely Hermione," so again, I'd probably just use my own voice even if it might cause confusion.
>>47075007
>I feel like speech patterns or the particular words a character uses are more important than their accent or whatever.
I agree.
For dwarves, I usually have particular tic that they tend to share, Elves generally tend to be verbose and demanding. I'll keep it consistent for characters.
>>47075057
>why should the DM put effort into running the game for you?
As a GM, I think this is garbage. If you feel like the players owe something to you, you've got a problem (in my eyes). I'm running the game because I like running the game and I need players to make it happen. As long as they're on time, participatory, and at least make an effort to make their character have a unique tone that fits with what I've established the race/faction does in setting, I'm happy. If they don't, I'll coax them in that direction.
A side note, I don't understand >forever DM and I've been DMing exclusively for many years and have games lined up for the future. Can someone explain why they'd continue to do something they don't care to do?
>>47074921
One time I played a leprechaun. Used an Irish accent. I was good enough at it to be consistent, and it got really good by the end of the campaign.
Another time, I was playing a high elf, and I began the campaign with something of a voice. Now, so many level and cancelled sessions later, I can't even remember what the voice started out as. Now it just sounds like me when I'm trying to pretend I'm better than everyone.
I like when people do voices because it helps distinguish in and out of character talking, but it's also hard to come up with a voice for every character.
I used to NEVER do voices. Never ever. I thougjt that if you even tried any kind of voice, you're That Guy. Voices are absolute shite.
Then I watched Matt Mercer and Critical Role. Now I am adamant about doing voices, even if they're terrible.
>>47074921
>get into a discussion about character/NPC voices with my group
>we start sharing our weird voices
>I do my best impression of the Gnomes from Fable 3
>the others fucking love it
>my next character is supposed to be a gnome with that voice
>I fucking hate gnomes
Send help
>>47075318
The solution is to play a human raised by gnomes who is utterly convinced he is gnome.
>>47075141
You don't go to bars much do you? Oh wait.. Right... Cocaine
>>47075127
i want to run with you and your bro, you two sound like a hoot.
>>47075780
Thanks anon. He's probably more amusing, but I'm the one that's less likely to scramble if the players decide "fuck this shit we want to steal that castle" or something.
How do you do a female voice if you're a guy? I haven't got the most manly voice as it is so that kinda helps but it still sounds fake as fuck.
>>47075946
It doesn't matter if it sounds "fake". You're not trying to be realistic or passably female, you're trying to give the players enough of am impression of the character that they can fill in the details in their head.
Honestly? The biggest advice I can give you is to stop trying to change your voice to sound like a woman, stop trying to do a "female voice". 99% sure what you end up doing is one of those shitty falsetto things people do when they're making a joke. Instead, just try and express the personality of the character in a SERIOUS way. If you can't take it seriously, don't bother doing it.
And seriously, watch someone like Matt Mercer or some shit, a pro voice actor. Does he try and sound like a real female? Fuck no. But he gets the idea across, and he plays it straight.
Depends on the situation.
Some of my toons I've done it, some I haven't.
GM NPCs get a voice.
>>47075007
Actually we've got a little fem boy in our group. Dude can convincingly impersonate a female over the phone. Doesn't roll any female characters though, always seems to roll big beef cakes probably because that's his type. Cannot convincingly voice a big guy.
>>47075179
Sometimes you're the only one in your group that can do it right. I would rather be a player but if I didn't dm for my group the majority of the time NOBODY would enjoy because the only other guy who is willing to dm is a retard. At least he isn't a selfish lazy prick like the others though.
>>47074921
>If you do voices does that include when/if you're playing crossgender?
Our GM does a very nice woman's voice by doing something with the vowels I can't quite pin down. He doesn't really actually make it higher.I speak slower when I play guys.Polite sage.
>>47074921
Yes.
Yes, well, he tries but he's a little autistic so he can't really keep his voices straight, makes for some pretty funny moments.
It's not crucial but it helps a lot. It's generally better when people play characters who match their own ability. We've got this guy with a nasal voice in our group and he tried doing a grizzled tough guy who sort of throws his weight around. Whenever he tried being overbearing it fell flat because his voice just couldn't conceivably be intimidating so it just kind of ruined the moment. Also leads to some pretty funny moments.
Yes, though it sometimes leads to ^^^ that. For this reason I don't roll feminine females anymore, always big loud masculine ones.
Worst is my own when I rolled a feminine female, but it was all good fun. Best was my DM when he had this prolonged problem with his voice box, he could only speak in a deep voice and had this one gunslinging lawman character who he then gave an even deeper voice. I was like rich dark chocolate for the ears.
>>47076008
>toons
As a DM, I try to do voices as much as I can. I feel like changing your voice for different characters, even if only slightly, does add to the game and is especially useful for game flow during dialogue with multiple NPCs. Instead of having to say "X says," before every sentence, I can simply switch my voice and players will know who is speaking. I also have the advantage of being an actor and singer, so along with the repertoire of accents and impressions I have acquired through the large amount of media I consume, I also know a couple tricks about how to place my voice so I can achieve different qualities of sound.
I do attempt to do female voices, but I never attempt to sound like a girl. I have a fairly low voice, so when I am acting as I girl I usually place my voice in a higher register and slightly more forward than where I normally speak. This makes my voice a higher pitch and it removes some of my natural resonance which helps to separate the voice from my regular voice. I also usually soften my female voice by speaking by speaking at a sort of sotto voce, which helps to distinguish it from my other, fuller voices. Granted, this female voice isn't convincing at all, and without the context of knowing a female is speaking in-game it would probably just sound like a soft-spoken male with a higher voice, but it serves its purpose.
>>47074921
This is why I prefer text only.
I heavily rely on online for my ttrpgs these days and tend to play with a multinational group of people. Most of them while extremely fluent and eloquent with the written word tend to have trouble actually pronouncing them which sends the immersion crashing down.
Text only has none of these problems so I enjoy RP without being distracted or losing my immersion.
My shadowrun elf is Welsh, so I do an accent for him, and my d&d sorcerer has a Cornish accent, as I like the idea of the son of a Lord speaking with a strong accent.
Before DMing I paid little attention to voices. The main reason I use voices as a DM now is, honestly, not to make the character feel more special to the players, but so that I can use the voice to make myself remember the NPCs personality more. It's a neat trick.
I honestly don't pay too much attention to character gender for the voices, I do generally speak in a higher voice when roleplaying a female character. But I don't go into the extreme with that.
My currently most played character is my Warlock (PC). I voice her kind but haughty. Like a princes with a good hard, but who has been taught that she is superior most of her life.
My favourite voice would probably be my own personal voice for when my group cast tongues on a kenku and I started roleplaying that NPC talking, my tongue hanging out of my mouth. The most annoying is a fellow PC roleplaying his high pitched pixie voice. Which was quite annoying.
>>47074921
I do it subconsciously. It's not like I think "oh, this guy has this voice" but if I pretend big and burly dude my voice naturally goes down a bit and darkens. Sometimes accents come up this way as well. If I play a character from a rural area I usually place my tongue closer to the middle of the mouth, rounding the words more, because that's how rural people talk here and thus the type of speech that I subconsciously associate with that type of character.
>>47075007
>I feel like speech patterns or the particular words a character uses are more important than their accent or whatever.
'
I too find changing syntax and choice in idioms to be an effective way to differentiate multiple characters. Takes a bit of skill to use well, mind you. Helps if you read quite a lot, get a lot of exposure to the ways multiple writers express themselves.
>>47076172
Voicebox as in the little machine for people who had a tracheoctomy? Did he have a tracheoctomy or just the machine?
I vtt without a mic, so I can't really do funny voices to my players... but if an NPC has an accent or funny speech patterns, I'll try to type with it.
>>47075127
Basically this, although I think accents can be fun if you don't take things too seriously. We once had a Texan player do an amazing impression of Foghorn Leghorn as a rogue trader captain.
>>47075179
>players don't owe me anything!
>I'll happily slave away in my GM-cuckshed for them as long as they show up to shit all over whatever I made!
You're the worst kind of GM. Players are a dime a dozen, if they act uppity then you boot them and get a new one.
>>47081397
This, a million times this.
Although if it ever becomes a question of who owes what to whom, I honestly think the whole relationship has already failed and you might just kick them out. If I ever find that I'm not working together with my players but against them, that's not good enough for me.
Though part of that includes them recognizing their inferiority and bowing down to me, their rightful master.
>>47081397
You're making a pretty big assumption about my players.
>Players are a dime a dozen
Good players aren't.
>as long as they show up to shit all over whatever I made!
Go learn to read.
>cuckposting
You're a fucking moron.
TTRPGS are about collaborative storytelling. The GM really is a player. He just has a little/lot more to manage than a regular player.
>>47076099
>not attempting the manliest voice possible
>>47082174
Fuck no, that was scarring for everyone involved.
My group almost always incorporates some kind of speech differences into their characters, even if it's just word choice or inflection rather than a full-blown character voice. It's typically how we denote in character versus out of character talk. I don't adopt an accent, but every character I play has some kind of identifiable marker. My Ventrue has a breathy quality to his voice that is different from my normal speech, my dwarf infiltrator growls and swears more than he talks, and my cleric of Pharasma uses the shortest sentences possible to convey his meaning.
I'm always grateful to my usual GM for everything he puts into acting out each NPC. Not only voices, but the postures and facial expressions of each character are conveyed clearly through his efforts. Sometimes he'll even get up and act shit out if he thinks it would better get the point across. It really enhances the experience at the table and everybody enjoys the shit out of his games.
>>47076386
But then you get people trying to insert weird shit they'd never do outside of a text only game.
>>47084664
Good, I'd never want to play MAID in person.
>>47074921
I can't do voices because I can't do voices so I just don't please help.
>>47076008
>toons
>One player has a character that speaks in whispers
>Gets angry if people talk over him
>Yells loudly out of game for people to shut up if he happens to want to speak to an NPC while other people are talking
What the fuck did you expect man?
>>47074921
>Do you do a voice when roleplaying your characters?
>Does your GM?
I've taken over as the forever!GM, so the answer to both of these is, "Yes," because every NPC is, effectively, my character.
>How important do you consider voices to roleplaying? Does it depend on the character?
Not super important, and not really? But it's definitely easier and less verbose/cumbersome than describing their voice in detail if you're actually in-person and talking.
>If you do voices does that include when/if you're playing crossgender?
Yes, but I have a fairly androgynous voice anyway. I'm somewhere between, "a bit too high-pitched to definitely be a man," and, "a bit too low-pitched to definitely be a woman," so it's a little easier for me.
>What's the worst voice you've ever encountered in a game? And the best?
Worst... A prior DM's O-face voice for a female DMPC, complete with the fake-sounding orgasm scream.
Best would have to be a current player's Scottish accent. He's playing a female sort-of-halfling with a thick Scottish drawl, but, having listened to actual Scottish people talk, it doesn't sound like it's a put-on.
>>47075179
It's not-
>>47076082
This sums it up fairly nicely. Tell me about the other person that's willing to DM? Because I've got stories about mine.
>>47074921
One of my friends complained that I was playing roughly the same character in the two different games we have going on, mostly due to how creative I am. I responded by making my Witch-Hunter EXTREMELY Slavic stereotype, and speak like a hyper CS:GO Russian player during games.
I don't get anymore complaints.
>>47090793
>Because I've got stories about mine.
Yes, please share your toxic opinions about your players here on /tg/.
>>47090856
They're mostly about when he was the DM, and had nearly a dozen DMPCs to keep us on the rails of his personal little storyline railroad, and he isn't actually a player, because he moved away, but whatever, I'll take my storytime and go home.
Ya shit.
>>47090793
Tell us your stories!
>>47074921
Yes.
Depends on which one and which characters so yes and no.
Absolutely but I would never go full falsetto. You can do wonders with a slight whisper or breathyness and a mild to heavy accent.
Worst was a misguided teen doing the shrillest falsetto valley girl impression I've ever run across. The sort that makes people think guys can't play female characters. Best was this guy I used to play with who ran a necromancer. You know that weird nasally burbly voice that so many of the creepy Igor type characters used to have on the Warner bros. cartoons? Guy had it down to a T.
The thing about voices is they don't have to be perfect (just not horrendous or ear splitting) and you should be making some attempt at them. They work wonders as verbal short hand for in/out of character as well as communicating aspects of the character without having to go through a 15 minute explanation of your motivations and thought processes and such.
>>47090856
>toxic
Hey tumblr
>>47087180
If your group doesn't do voices either it's no big deal.
I can't VA that much, so I typically avoid accents. But I do adopt speech patterns and verbal ticks for my character.
I'm surprised there's no vocaroos here.
>>47074921
>Do you do a voice when roleplaying your characters?
I have ever since I learned how to roleplay
>Does your GM?
Sometimes my PF DM pulls out some a Russian accent, but we barely get to roleplay in that game, so I'm not usually impressed. Other that that, my other GMs almost never do accents aside from slight voices.
>How important do you consider voices to roleplaying? Does it depend on the character?
Accents are my 'in' to play a character. I'm storytelling a VTM game set in Detroit, but I don't have much experience with black/ghetto accents and it's affecting my confidence in bringing those characters in (being that I am a white bitch). I just have to nut up and pretend to be Papa G until I can do the accent right.
>If you do voices does that include when/if you're playing crossgender?
Yes, though since I have a pretty deep voice, my options are limited. I did some transgender voice training for like a week, but I gave up. I want to start practicing again though, just need the motivation. Honestly, accents help show gender when you use the right ones. I find that high pitched british basically makes you sound like Hermione, also, a nasally jewish accent with high whine makes you sound more feminine. The thing I want to learn is how to sound like a girl with a deep voice, since I could probably match the level of someone like Miley Cyrus easily, but I'm not sure what accent or tone to build off that. I just need to test it I guess.
>What's the worst voice you've ever encountered in a game? And the best?
The worst may be my 16yo harry potter setting witch schoolgirl (I know it's not great, but I can't exactly tell how bad it is), I remember one time when we were playing, the group's friend was there playing videogames in the same room when they interrupted our game just to tell me how terrible my female voice was. To which I basically said, "what the fuck do you expect, at least I'm trying" The GM defended me too, which was nice.
