Hey all, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were on using accents to differentiate between your NPCs? I'm definitely no voice actor, but I do want my players to be able to tell apart my NPCs so along with changing the pitch, vocabulary and pace, I also use accents sometimes. I've been using accents including broad Australian, news-reader English, Irish, Californian, Scandinavian (which is actually really hard to stick to and keeps turning Irish on me...) and similar. I'm careful that NPCs who have similar accents have them because they come from the same area and try to make sure that the characters vary (i.e. not all bad guys are British...), but I still wonder sometimes. There are accents that I definitely avoid because they have been used in negative ways in media portrayals of certain groups. But, there are also some accents that I'm unsure of if using them could be racist, or accidentally denigrating any cultural or geographic group. Do you guys have any thoughts, or advice?

First off, most of my NPC voices are impressions (of varying quality) of characters from Game of Thrones or another show I enjoy. Once you start trying to imitate a character you know well, you’ll have a very distinct voice, even if the impression is bad. Plus it gives more variation: if you asked me to do a Scottish voice, I can only do one, but if you asked me to do Jon Snow, Ned Stark, Professor McGonagall, etc, I can do a lot more! So that’s my #1 piece of advice.

As for potentially racist accents, I definitely share your trepidation: I and all my players happen to be white, so I could use some guidance on that myself. I think imitating characters or celebrities has also helped me here: I remember being a little nervous about my Samuel L. Jackson voice, but I don’t think it came across as insulting.

They don't always have to have a different accent. They could have s simple affectation like rubbing their chin or always squinting.

My DM (My son) and myself, when DM-ing, use voices, accents, pace and lingo to give our NPC's character, personality and life.  He has created 4-5 that our group LOVE and as a result, our group spent 3 sessions searching for one who wandered off and we thought was in trouble.  Marvin, a very strange little Gnome.  My character doesn't like him any more, due to his costing our group all that time (I think it was like 5 days in game time we lost hunting for the little turd!!)

Adding this kind of distinction to your NPC's is HIGHLY recommended (by me, at least) as it is a big step in creating an immersive world for your crew to adventure through.

I am horrible at accents and would not try it. More likely than not it would turn the scene from dramatic to comical.

One idea that I have seen work very well (it is a non-D&D context but I do not see why it couldn't work in D&D) is in the Wildcards YouTube channel, the GM, Jordan Callarman, uses different props for different NPCs. He sometimes alters his voice but he doesn't generally do much of that or do accents. Instead, he'll put on a cowboy hat for the TA, or a pair or mirror shades for the annoying room mate, or wear a bandanna around his neck for the pretty damsel in distress. This is not something I have ever tried or in fact seen done, but it works amazingly well and the players can easily tell which NPC they're talking to. When he says "You feel a tap on your shoulder," and then puts on the mirror shades, all the players instantly react to "Barrett" the annoying room-mate as such.

It would definitely take more work to do this in a fantasy setting than in a modern one, but if accents are not your thing, I think using props can be a good method for differentiating NPCs. I actually prefer the prop method to the accent method, at least while watching (and probably would while playing). Can't speak to it as a DM... but I do think I'd be more able to do that than voices. 

Of course I DM over the internet, so I am not sure how well the props would work on camera. Not that one can't see them but most of the players don't have multiple monitors, and I think the VTT is often covering up the Zoom window, so I am not sure if they'd see it.

I usually just do voices for NPCs of the more unusual variety... aging tortles, bullywugs, etcetera. Tend to do very light accents for gnomes.

Tend to use accents and voices with every npc my players encounter. It just adds flavor for them and it lets me role play a bit more which makes it more fun. 

Voices and range are limited to the person. I have my limitations as well. Somewhere. My players decided to try and troll me in a small town. They decided to talk to as many npcs they could. For information and just chit chat. 

That was 5 hours of roleplay. At the end. It was a lot of fun. They only got through maybe 20npcs that night. I still had some they didn't come across. 

So it's important for me to take notes and bake sure every npc in my games have a sheet and description and a backstory. Right along with what they sound like. It's a lot of work. But better to be prepared. 

Ssi just practice voices. Find someone willing to help teach you what they do which might help. In the end it's all about having fun. Voices are not necessary. But when a npc has a backstory. Even the one just sitting on a bench feeding them birds will help immerse the players into your world. 

I would not be terribly concerned about "sounding racist." There's nothing inherently wrong with attempting to mimic accents, as long as you're not going out of your way to make them *sound* racist. If you play it straight and aren't going South Park levels of over-the-top, your players won't mind and will likely get a kick out of it.

Best advice would just be give it a try and gauge your party's reaction to it.