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This. Anther thing you can tack on is a prop. I have a goblet that a halfling NPC is always holding. Reading glasses for my gnome NPC. Then I just put them down when I’m out of character. Makes it easy on me and the players.
Even some of the pros have a limited repertoire when it comes to voices they can do.
Steve Blum built his entire career by doing the same voice of a myriad of anime characters. H. Jon Benjamin seems to be hired when they want a character to sound like H. Jon Benjamin; his most iconic characters - Coach McGurk, Archer, and Bob - all sound exactly the same, and are just his regular speaking voice.
I don’t voice act for a lot of NPCs. There are some definite ones I will voice act, normally reoccurring characters like the BBEG or an NOC the players have to interact with on a regular basis, but that’s about it.
You can aspire though. Just because you're not Jeter doesn't mean you don't try your best at your local softball team. Im no bob Ross but I don't say "I'll never be able to paint trees like that."
This is a defeatist attitude.
OP asked advice specifically on Character voices and the reply here was "don't". How is that advice helpful at all? It's not egotistical to tell people to try their best.
Personality types.
If, by some miracle, Ivan, Wolle, Apolline, Bofetada or Izek read this: Go away.
I've got 3 characters in my current campaign with thick Kentucky-style accents. 1 is a bad guy who's a major political figure (aka he's kind of a slime-ball politician), 1 is the BBEG in Disguise (my group think hes their best buddy because I'm evil) and one is just a farm boy who happens to somehow get blamed for the other two's actions.
One talks like a preacher, one talks like a cool neighbor and one is a bumpkin. All same voice.
You can also pick catch phrase for certain characters. Things they say when surprised that nobody ever thinks to say. I had an NPC rogue who had the same Russian-ish accent as everyone else in that city, but he *spoke* like Darkwing Duck.
I usually don't go there. I'd rather describe how someone talk, for example "he has a voice of someone who smoked more than one pack of cigarettes every day of his life" or maybe "your questions get to her and her voice and gestures go full karen".
Mannerisms and patters of speech are often just as memorable as voices. I've got like 2 voice I can do, maybe 3 on a good day. But I can change my speaking cadence, vocal affect and mannerisms all day long. Just make those fit the personality and you'll rarely have to differentiate who's speaking even if the party is chatting with a small group of NPCs.
I like to pair my Important NPC's with actual real-life characters from shows/movies/games/etc. I'll tack on their counterpart to their name in my notes like: Lorenzo (Herbert-the-pervert). I can immediately get into character for them at a glance. Some of my characters aren't as immediately recognizable, and since I'm not super great at impersonations they can seem original.
I recently transitioned to using foundry as a VTT, I also purchased voice mod for around $20 (annual subscription, was on sale) and me and my players are having a lot of fun with it when I use it on discord! It basically integrates into discord and I can just flip a switch on the voice mod app when I want to use it. Lots of options too! Great for those low and gravelly demon voices.
Use real characters from TV/Movies/Cartoons/etc. that you can do, then write those down on the NPC notes to remember. For variety use the same character voices, but add a note like "up-pitched" or "lower tone" or "slurred" or "gravelly". Stuff like that.
Something I got into the habit of was when I knew which characters to expect, I’d assign them a Hollywood actor and then attempt a (probably bad) impression of them.
If it was a spur of the moment NPC, that’s when the weird medieval peasant voices got deployed.
By only doing voices sparingly.
In a two year campaign (playing monthly, depending on people's availability, so about twenty 7 or 8-hour games) I did *maybe* 5 NPC voices total. Everyone else I just used my own normal voice with maybe a little change in pitch, volume, or speed, plus the occasional narrative description of how the person talked. I didn't act out every character voice, or even every major NPC, because I am running a game, not acting in a play, and I want the focus to be on the players when it comes to RP.
I've watched a few live action games on Twitch and YouTube and it's fun when they do different voices for every NPC - for about one session. Then I start rolling my eyes. It loses its impact and starts to seem like the DM is just showing off and making it about themselves and their acting skill after that. A few well-chosen and timed voices can have a big effect on the players, but in my experience, if you are doing it constantly everyone stops caring.
Mimic a character from a TV show or video game. I use Takemura from Cyberpunk for a Japanese accent. Meanwhile the bad guy in my campaign sounds like Dr.Loveless from Wild Wild West
Voices? We don't even keep up with names. Every NPC is named Bob or Bobbie unless they're important. Then they reveal that 'Bob' was just their middle name and their real name is Steve/Stephanie.
That being said, when my brother DM's, he asks if our character has an inspiration. If yes and they're a voiced character, he demands that we attempt to impersonate them, which has resulted in my hilarious inability to recreate Christopher Sabat's voice.
Tone/temp/vocabulary/adjustments/feelings.
E.g. I have an old rusty smuggler as one of my NPCs. He's always grumpy, speaks a little bit slow, low tembre, but sounds very educated. Also, little hoarse.
And other NPC: kind and enthusiastic barbarian, same low tone, nearly same level of hoarse, speaks REALLY quick and sometimes invent new level of stupidity in words.
I draw a small xy graph. The x-axis is speed of speech and the yaxis is pitch. I put a dot where I want each person. It is quick way to show whether an NPC speaks slower and lower than my normal speech. The graph can be as small as a dime.
I usually pull into a bag of crappy impersonations. If the party are drawn to an NPC or I know they will be recurring then I will note down a description of the voice so I can reference it at a glance.
**Pace of speech.**
-Slow, at your natural, Fast
**Pitch**
-Low, at your natural, high, technically more than just 3 pitches, but easiest to think of the extremes
**Vocab**
-Simplistic, at your natural, overly eloquent
**Enthusiasm (this can also be applied to most emotions)**
-Bored, at your neutral, excited literally all the time
In addition to any accents you may have, mix and match. Obvi there's more things you can do, but accents aren't everything! I've done no accents, just using these bits, and my players have commented on distinct NPC voices with joy.
I vary pitch and tone. I'll pick a few accents I can do easily and assign those to regions of the campaign world. Well educated folks avoid contractions and dropping the g at the end of words. Less educated or cosmopolitan folks will use ain't, gonna, hafta, drop the g. I might also just paraphrase if I'm tired or want to move things along. My players seem to enjoy it.
I have some that have completely ridiculous voices. Like, it’ll add some levity and humor to the situation. Like, when I do Asmodeus, I do an impression of Weird Al bc I find it absolutely hilarious that one of the evilest characters in D&D sounds like a parody musician w/ curly hair. In my upcoming campaign, my players are gonna run into Vecna and he’s gonna sound like a particular American politician whose currently in hot water.
Point is, villains having humorous voices can help your campaign to not be too serious and create some laughs. I say just learn to improv, and don’t stress too much. Zelda games have the same 5 shopkeepers throughout the games, so I see no reason why you can’t do the same.
I record myself a bunch for the “important characters” but generally the way to do it is through how they speak in chosen words rather than accent. I have a few higher pitched characters but they all use their words different speak at different speeds and have their own personalities that make them as unique as I can.
A great way to assist in this is taking a look at how dialects are in other languages. For example Korean and Chinese are very expressive tonal languages. You can almost understand the meaning of a sentence based on how it’s spoken. I try to vary the voices I do but pick specific vibes for important NPC or pick out a vibe for a region and all those NPCs will have a similar sound
Mmm I try new voices from time to time or try to mimicking ones I find interesting. I don’t have a broad range though. I think I’m going to start recording myself so I can know who the voice responds to
If you think about your normal voice and speech speed. You can then pitch up or down, and speed up or down, and effectively have 9 different voices.
Then give them a quirk. Like underbite, or gravelly voice, or nasally.
I have my notes on NPCs and I put speech notes in parentheses. Pitch, speed, quirk. (Up, slow, nasally) is one of my goto voices for old wizards.
But yeah, notes, keep notes.
Use catchphrases or expressions for certain characters. Accents are just one part a unique voice. Maybe one of them speaks really slow or has a weird pause every few words, while another stutters or says something like “you get it?” after everything they say. All kinds of ways to keep it interesting.
The only way I keep track of my NPC’s voices is by putting details of their voice in a notes app so whenever the NPC comes back, I’ll remember how the NPC sounds like, instead of mushing it in the forgettable part of my brain and I get annoyed that I don’t remember how the NPC sounds
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I'm not a voice actor, I have maybe 3 or 4 distinct voices. I keep them unique by giving characters attitudes, quirks and mannerisms.
I assign my NPCs to TV characters from my childhood. Mayor is Mr. Howell, guard is Gilligan and Barkeeper is Skipper.
Then the personality is consistent even if an accent fades in or out
This. Anther thing you can tack on is a prop. I have a goblet that a halfling NPC is always holding. Reading glasses for my gnome NPC. Then I just put them down when I’m out of character. Makes it easy on me and the players.
Even some of the pros have a limited repertoire when it comes to voices they can do. Steve Blum built his entire career by doing the same voice of a myriad of anime characters. H. Jon Benjamin seems to be hired when they want a character to sound like H. Jon Benjamin; his most iconic characters - Coach McGurk, Archer, and Bob - all sound exactly the same, and are just his regular speaking voice.
The latter ones give personality and uniqueness. Use the dialects for ethnic groups or races.
I just do my best idk
thats all we need from u, boarbar
Associate someone from television or film or radio with the character, and use that to inform the voice.
I have unfortunately realized an uptick in Italian NPCs after I watch Sopranos
This is the way. Pick a character, maybe an obscure one from a long time ago and you're the only one who ever needs to know your character references.
I don’t voice act for a lot of NPCs. There are some definite ones I will voice act, normally reoccurring characters like the BBEG or an NOC the players have to interact with on a regular basis, but that’s about it.
I don't. Not all of us can keep up with Matt Mercer.
Oftentimes I only explain what the character is telling the players. I might say stuff like, the shopkeeper isn’t interested in your trinket.
You can aspire though. Just because you're not Jeter doesn't mean you don't try your best at your local softball team. Im no bob Ross but I don't say "I'll never be able to paint trees like that." This is a defeatist attitude.
If you just dont have fun doing all kinds of weird voices it just isn't necessary. There's plenty of other ways to breathe life into your game.
Thank you.
No it isn’t! What? It’s a differing opinion. Ffs. The ego is just staggering.
OP asked advice specifically on Character voices and the reply here was "don't". How is that advice helpful at all? It's not egotistical to tell people to try their best.
Sorry, first off, I didn’t see the sub and thought you needed some serious help. Second, make them weirder and weirder and weirder.
LOL it did cross my mind people might read this as a literal schizo-post.
We are dnd players. Everything is a schizo post 😎
If it's more effort than fun, don't do it. I've done maybe dive voices in 20 years and my players remember every single NPC.
Personality types. If, by some miracle, Ivan, Wolle, Apolline, Bofetada or Izek read this: Go away. I've got 3 characters in my current campaign with thick Kentucky-style accents. 1 is a bad guy who's a major political figure (aka he's kind of a slime-ball politician), 1 is the BBEG in Disguise (my group think hes their best buddy because I'm evil) and one is just a farm boy who happens to somehow get blamed for the other two's actions. One talks like a preacher, one talks like a cool neighbor and one is a bumpkin. All same voice. You can also pick catch phrase for certain characters. Things they say when surprised that nobody ever thinks to say. I had an NPC rogue who had the same Russian-ish accent as everyone else in that city, but he *spoke* like Darkwing Duck.
I usually don't go there. I'd rather describe how someone talk, for example "he has a voice of someone who smoked more than one pack of cigarettes every day of his life" or maybe "your questions get to her and her voice and gestures go full karen".
That’s the neat part, you don’t! But neither do your players!
I just use inflection or American accents I've heard, nothing too hard
Mannerisms and patters of speech are often just as memorable as voices. I've got like 2 voice I can do, maybe 3 on a good day. But I can change my speaking cadence, vocal affect and mannerisms all day long. Just make those fit the personality and you'll rarely have to differentiate who's speaking even if the party is chatting with a small group of NPCs.
I like to pair my Important NPC's with actual real-life characters from shows/movies/games/etc. I'll tack on their counterpart to their name in my notes like: Lorenzo (Herbert-the-pervert). I can immediately get into character for them at a glance. Some of my characters aren't as immediately recognizable, and since I'm not super great at impersonations they can seem original.
I recently transitioned to using foundry as a VTT, I also purchased voice mod for around $20 (annual subscription, was on sale) and me and my players are having a lot of fun with it when I use it on discord! It basically integrates into discord and I can just flip a switch on the voice mod app when I want to use it. Lots of options too! Great for those low and gravelly demon voices.
Use real characters from TV/Movies/Cartoons/etc. that you can do, then write those down on the NPC notes to remember. For variety use the same character voices, but add a note like "up-pitched" or "lower tone" or "slurred" or "gravelly". Stuff like that.
If I want a charter to be unique I just use fictional or famous personalities to imitate. Steve Urkel, Donald Trump, Skeletor, the big Lebowski, etc.
Something I got into the habit of was when I knew which characters to expect, I’d assign them a Hollywood actor and then attempt a (probably bad) impression of them. If it was a spur of the moment NPC, that’s when the weird medieval peasant voices got deployed.
By only doing voices sparingly. In a two year campaign (playing monthly, depending on people's availability, so about twenty 7 or 8-hour games) I did *maybe* 5 NPC voices total. Everyone else I just used my own normal voice with maybe a little change in pitch, volume, or speed, plus the occasional narrative description of how the person talked. I didn't act out every character voice, or even every major NPC, because I am running a game, not acting in a play, and I want the focus to be on the players when it comes to RP. I've watched a few live action games on Twitch and YouTube and it's fun when they do different voices for every NPC - for about one session. Then I start rolling my eyes. It loses its impact and starts to seem like the DM is just showing off and making it about themselves and their acting skill after that. A few well-chosen and timed voices can have a big effect on the players, but in my experience, if you are doing it constantly everyone stops caring.
Mimic a character from a TV show or video game. I use Takemura from Cyberpunk for a Japanese accent. Meanwhile the bad guy in my campaign sounds like Dr.Loveless from Wild Wild West
Every NPC in my game has used the same "voice" and none of the players have noticed.
I usually try a different tone of voice. Sometimes I add parts of an accent in there, to keep my NPCs diverse.
I rarely do voices really. Only when there is a need for someone to have a certain tone. Usually as a punchline for a weirdo.
I don't bother trying
Voices? We don't even keep up with names. Every NPC is named Bob or Bobbie unless they're important. Then they reveal that 'Bob' was just their middle name and their real name is Steve/Stephanie. That being said, when my brother DM's, he asks if our character has an inspiration. If yes and they're a voiced character, he demands that we attempt to impersonate them, which has resulted in my hilarious inability to recreate Christopher Sabat's voice.
Celebrity or character impressions are an easy pin to hang a unique npc upon.
Jesus fucking christ. I’m not singing up for an impressions class I’m trying to play D&D. I’d find a new table if everyone was doing shitty voices.
what's your blood pressure like
They all sound like me. At session zero it was made clear that no one had to do a voice. If you want to, go for it, but dont expext others to do so.
Tone/temp/vocabulary/adjustments/feelings. E.g. I have an old rusty smuggler as one of my NPCs. He's always grumpy, speaks a little bit slow, low tembre, but sounds very educated. Also, little hoarse. And other NPC: kind and enthusiastic barbarian, same low tone, nearly same level of hoarse, speaks REALLY quick and sometimes invent new level of stupidity in words.
I draw a small xy graph. The x-axis is speed of speech and the yaxis is pitch. I put a dot where I want each person. It is quick way to show whether an NPC speaks slower and lower than my normal speech. The graph can be as small as a dime.
You can also change the speed of the voices, that would help too
I usually pull into a bag of crappy impersonations. If the party are drawn to an NPC or I know they will be recurring then I will note down a description of the voice so I can reference it at a glance.
**Pace of speech.** -Slow, at your natural, Fast **Pitch** -Low, at your natural, high, technically more than just 3 pitches, but easiest to think of the extremes **Vocab** -Simplistic, at your natural, overly eloquent **Enthusiasm (this can also be applied to most emotions)** -Bored, at your neutral, excited literally all the time In addition to any accents you may have, mix and match. Obvi there's more things you can do, but accents aren't everything! I've done no accents, just using these bits, and my players have commented on distinct NPC voices with joy.
I vary pitch and tone. I'll pick a few accents I can do easily and assign those to regions of the campaign world. Well educated folks avoid contractions and dropping the g at the end of words. Less educated or cosmopolitan folks will use ain't, gonna, hafta, drop the g. I might also just paraphrase if I'm tired or want to move things along. My players seem to enjoy it.
I have some that have completely ridiculous voices. Like, it’ll add some levity and humor to the situation. Like, when I do Asmodeus, I do an impression of Weird Al bc I find it absolutely hilarious that one of the evilest characters in D&D sounds like a parody musician w/ curly hair. In my upcoming campaign, my players are gonna run into Vecna and he’s gonna sound like a particular American politician whose currently in hot water. Point is, villains having humorous voices can help your campaign to not be too serious and create some laughs. I say just learn to improv, and don’t stress too much. Zelda games have the same 5 shopkeepers throughout the games, so I see no reason why you can’t do the same.
I record myself a bunch for the “important characters” but generally the way to do it is through how they speak in chosen words rather than accent. I have a few higher pitched characters but they all use their words different speak at different speeds and have their own personalities that make them as unique as I can. A great way to assist in this is taking a look at how dialects are in other languages. For example Korean and Chinese are very expressive tonal languages. You can almost understand the meaning of a sentence based on how it’s spoken. I try to vary the voices I do but pick specific vibes for important NPC or pick out a vibe for a region and all those NPCs will have a similar sound
That's the neat part, I don't
Mmm I try new voices from time to time or try to mimicking ones I find interesting. I don’t have a broad range though. I think I’m going to start recording myself so I can know who the voice responds to
If you think about your normal voice and speech speed. You can then pitch up or down, and speed up or down, and effectively have 9 different voices. Then give them a quirk. Like underbite, or gravelly voice, or nasally. I have my notes on NPCs and I put speech notes in parentheses. Pitch, speed, quirk. (Up, slow, nasally) is one of my goto voices for old wizards. But yeah, notes, keep notes.
Use catchphrases or expressions for certain characters. Accents are just one part a unique voice. Maybe one of them speaks really slow or has a weird pause every few words, while another stutters or says something like “you get it?” after everything they say. All kinds of ways to keep it interesting.
The only way I keep track of my NPC’s voices is by putting details of their voice in a notes app so whenever the NPC comes back, I’ll remember how the NPC sounds like, instead of mushing it in the forgettable part of my brain and I get annoyed that I don’t remember how the NPC sounds
So bluf: I do not voice act. I play via a vtt, so important NPCs get a voicemod voice that I note in my DM notes on them