The point of roleplaying is playing a role. How boring if every role just looks and sounds like you. I agree with the storing telling point obviously, but if story is all that matters then read a book, or write one lol. Not arguing with you, you clearly have a negative outlook. Good day!
If done well, as very few people can do, it potentialy beneficial to the story. If done poorly, as most people will, I find it distracting - detrimental to the story. It's something that the GM needs to gauge based on the table. It doesn't matter how much the GM likes doing voices, if it doesn't increase engagement for the players, it's a bad idea. That's not "a negative outlook", it's realistic.
As an aside, all the roles a GM takes look like the GM, so half of your counter-point is moot.
I think it depends on the voice being used. I have found that some voices make a character more annoying than they should be. Yet..as long as the group is ok with what you are doing and seems to enjoy it..or be able to suffer through it..then hey have as much fun as you wanna.
Hardly any of my voice acting is premeditated, I just run with whatever "voice" comes out when I first open my mouth!
I remember one character I had in the Vampire: The Masquerade, I was joining in an existing campaign with a new character. I hadn't really thought much about background as I had joined with late notice. When I first started talking in character this pompous voice came out and all the other players took an instant dislike to my character (not an intense dislike mind you). Afterwards the GM approached me and thanked me for introducing a group dynamic that wasn't just "We are all team-mates and like each other".
As a DM I have pretty much always used different voices and accents for important characters. I find it helps the players pick apart who is who and keep track. Besides, it helps with the drama if you've used a specific voice for an NPC and they suddenly hear that voice in a place it's not supposed to be.
As a player, I at least try to fit my diction better with the character. Coming up with some curses or swears that fit Kelemvor rather than something from a US vernacular is really fun and rewarding when it settles in to be part of the character. If I'm playing a female character, I usually elevate my voice a bit (as I am a male player with a normally baritone voice), but I usually find something that sticks.
As a group, we have some who do it and some who don't. Some people just don't hear it well in their head or they aren't comfortable with it. In terms of the OP's group, if you like it, do it. D&D is about having fun and if it helps your immersion and fun then that is a valuable part of roleplaying your character. You may start a trend! One Dragonborn Barbarian from our first 5e adventure happened and now all Dragonborn in our games have Slavic accents. It's become part of our groups signature or interpretation and from what we know it's unique to us and that's cool!
Speaking of birds, I think a Kenku character would be a really interesting challenge to voice act as a player. It could come out amazing though, keeping track of the different ways your Kenku has heard things so they can repeat them with mimicry. A challenge I am not yet confident enough in my own abilities to accomplish.
My bad advice for playing anything even remotely Orc-related is to just give up and do that faux-cockney accent that Warhammer Fantasy and 40k Orks do. Just be all like "Oi, let's duff 'em all up!" and "I'z gonna 'it em ard when dey ain't lookin' cuz it's right kunnin'..."
It might be worth it to try to get them to just pick a certain speech pattern, if not a voice. I also love the voices. My fighter sounds like Patrick Wharburton. My bard has an awful Irish accent. But I've also got an orc barbarian. And to save my vocal chords I just have a certain tone/quirk for how he talks. his name is Wront and he just speaks in the third person. All it takes is a little difference.
A good way for the DM to encourage character play is inspiration points or some other type of reward till they get into the habit. Seal train them.
I'ma newbie, but I have to read stories to my younger siblings a lot, and have gotten decent at doing voices. My suggestion is that if what you're trying is only a little variance with your voice, and you keep on slipping, change it to a more distinct one that you have to concentrate on a bit. And vice versa if your doing the latter.
I recently ran a one shot for some members of my family. The campaign didn't go too well but my grandpa was incredible at role playing and voice acting. I was expecting him to be good because he does a lot of musical theatre but he came out with some Critical Role worthy stuff and it ended up really adding to the fun of the game.
if he is super mistrusting or standoffish because hes a shady street urchin, but when we have a series of missions he seems to just jump right into taking control and mapping out our routes and plans of attack and whatnot, which seems strikingly out of character for that character.
My character was also something like that. When I realized I built on its failures to make it more introvert.
Luckily we had a session with an irregular, unexperienced DM. And he was like "you rolled 19 to open the door and you're even expert rogue in the subject... well, I don't care, you can't open it." even though, the warlock could open it by hitting it with lots of Eldricht Blasts...
So from that time on the character has a deep wound in his soul, and anytime he has some epic fail, or a minor failure in his expert subject, he starts cutting himself, or punish himself for that. Kind of a bad Dobby. :) And as someone with low charisma, I had to learn to keep my mouth shut finally, or else I had to loose tons of hitpoints just before the encounters. ^^
Speaking of birds, I think a Kenku character would be a really interesting challenge to voice act as a player. It could come out amazing though, keeping track of the different ways your Kenku has heard things so they can repeat them with mimicry. A challenge I am not yet confident enough in my own abilities to accomplish.
I have toyed with the idea of setting up a sound board with a bunch of sound effects/other audio clips to play a Kenku, that way you get the perfect recreations of noises you just can't get right as a human, like a wagon on cobblestone.
I'm having this problem too. It get's the fantasy mood going if you use your voice, and the mood is important because it changes the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is the most important.
Also, I can't find a consistent voice for a White Dragonborn Paladin. Should it be gruff and scary, or more deep-friendly?
Voices are awesome but I am cursed with a strong Welsh accent. So every voice i do comes out Welsh. So if there is anyone is like me and can't do voices but wants to I recommend using using speech traits/patterns.
For example things like talking with a stutter, purposely mispronouncing certain words or talking faster than normal. This has worked well for me and has helped give some personality to my characters even though I can't do voices myself. Hopes this helps anyone else with my curse :) haha
To be fair, Csabalogh already gave you a link to the first episode of the first Critical Role campaign, I just went looking more specifically for a shorter video on Tiberius :P
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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I think it depends on the voice being used. I have found that some voices make a character more annoying than they should be. Yet..as long as the group is ok with what you are doing and seems to enjoy it..or be able to suffer through it..then hey have as much fun as you wanna.
Hardly any of my voice acting is premeditated, I just run with whatever "voice" comes out when I first open my mouth!
I remember one character I had in the Vampire: The Masquerade, I was joining in an existing campaign with a new character. I hadn't really thought much about background as I had joined with late notice. When I first started talking in character this pompous voice came out and all the other players took an instant dislike to my character (not an intense dislike mind you). Afterwards the GM approached me and thanked me for introducing a group dynamic that wasn't just "We are all team-mates and like each other".
As a DM I have pretty much always used different voices and accents for important characters. I find it helps the players pick apart who is who and keep track. Besides, it helps with the drama if you've used a specific voice for an NPC and they suddenly hear that voice in a place it's not supposed to be.
As a player, I at least try to fit my diction better with the character. Coming up with some curses or swears that fit Kelemvor rather than something from a US vernacular is really fun and rewarding when it settles in to be part of the character. If I'm playing a female character, I usually elevate my voice a bit (as I am a male player with a normally baritone voice), but I usually find something that sticks.
As a group, we have some who do it and some who don't. Some people just don't hear it well in their head or they aren't comfortable with it. In terms of the OP's group, if you like it, do it. D&D is about having fun and if it helps your immersion and fun then that is a valuable part of roleplaying your character. You may start a trend! One Dragonborn Barbarian from our first 5e adventure happened and now all Dragonborn in our games have Slavic accents. It's become part of our groups signature or interpretation and from what we know it's unique to us and that's cool!
Soon, I am going to play an Aarakocra. To do some voice acting, I should probably inhale a bunch of helium...
Speaking of birds, I think a Kenku character would be a really interesting challenge to voice act as a player. It could come out amazing though, keeping track of the different ways your Kenku has heard things so they can repeat them with mimicry. A challenge I am not yet confident enough in my own abilities to accomplish.
I am not into the voice acting either. Mild voice altercation is okay but really over the top voices I find silly and distracting.
My bad advice for playing anything even remotely Orc-related is to just give up and do that faux-cockney accent that Warhammer Fantasy and 40k Orks do. Just be all like "Oi, let's duff 'em all up!" and "I'z gonna 'it em ard when dey ain't lookin' cuz it's right kunnin'..."
It might be worth it to try to get them to just pick a certain speech pattern, if not a voice. I also love the voices. My fighter sounds like Patrick Wharburton. My bard has an awful Irish accent. But I've also got an orc barbarian. And to save my vocal chords I just have a certain tone/quirk for how he talks. his name is Wront and he just speaks in the third person. All it takes is a little difference.
A good way for the DM to encourage character play is inspiration points or some other type of reward till they get into the habit. Seal train them.
I'ma newbie, but I have to read stories to my younger siblings a lot, and have gotten decent at doing voices. My suggestion is that if what you're trying is only a little variance with your voice, and you keep on slipping, change it to a more distinct one that you have to concentrate on a bit. And vice versa if your doing the latter.
I recently ran a one shot for some members of my family. The campaign didn't go too well but my grandpa was incredible at role playing and voice acting. I was expecting him to be good because he does a lot of musical theatre but he came out with some Critical Role worthy stuff and it ended up really adding to the fun of the game.
I'm having this problem too. It get's the fantasy mood going if you use your voice, and the mood is important because it changes the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is the most important.
Also, I can't find a consistent voice for a White Dragonborn Paladin. Should it be gruff and scary, or more deep-friendly?
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Voices are awesome but I am cursed with a strong Welsh accent. So every voice i do comes out Welsh. So if there is anyone is like me and can't do voices but wants to I recommend using using speech traits/patterns.
For example things like talking with a stutter, purposely mispronouncing certain words or talking faster than normal. This has worked well for me and has helped give some personality to my characters even though I can't do voices myself. Hopes this helps anyone else with my curse :) haha
"Toss a coin to your [Insert class here]"
You're welcome :)
To be fair, Csabalogh already gave you a link to the first episode of the first Critical Role campaign, I just went looking more specifically for a shorter video on Tiberius :P
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games