Mr. Desborough put up this interesting bit of video regarding GM's using their voice in different ways.
Some of it is stuff I already try to do as Player or GM... but for the most part very few people I've played with have done anything different with their voice. I've even had some mock me for doing it.

It seems like it has a lot of potential for setting atmosphere, and as a Player, doing stuff like accents or keeping a certain tone really helps me stay in character, rather than just playing myself.
How common/uncommon is it for people to use their voice in these ways?

I use voices, accents (albeit poorly), tone and timbre. I assumed all people did this...

Video was too boring. Tried to find where he started talking about voices and couldn't.

I do "some" voices. Mostly because I can't do accents. In one of my games, one NPC, an hour in, suddenly because Scottish, and stayed that way.

Some.

Not every NPC or PC gets a unique voice. Most sound like me. Distinct voices or patterns of speech tend to go to a few major villains, what in the movies would be called a character part or comic relief, and most females. Since I'm not female, I try to use a voice in the higher portion of my voice range. Not falsetto, just higher and lighter.

I find that players often do something similar. The woman who co-GMed a bunch of stuff with me would lower her voice for certain male parts - usually the big and gruff guys. And the PCs who are kind of a wacky or character part PC tend to be given voices. For example, the player of the Hippolyte de Bouchard, the Foul Corsair, talks a lot like Long John Silver...cuz he's a pirate. My wife is a good mimic and she tends to have a much more defined, distinct, and broad range of speech for her PCs.

Sometimes. But it definitely isn't my forte. I do it when I feel like I can pull it off or when it fits. But for normal variations between characters, I just speak normally. My voice is a bit on the low side, and I find that tends to read as being less emotional, more monotone. So I rely more on gestures and word selection.

No.  I don't do voices in the typical sense.  I don't try to do accents or anything.

However, my players have told me that I do slight inflections.  Most notably, I slightly alter the pitch of my voice when I'm voicing a girl or woman.  It's not really an intentional thing or a specific change of voice, just something I do without noticing.

Players have often complimented me on NPCs saying even when I have multiple NPCs talking in the same conversation, no one gets confused as to who is talking.  It's half from characterization and half from the subconscious tone changes I do.

Edit: There is ONE voice I do.  There's a pixie NPC which became a staple of games back in the 90s.  She has a helium sounding voice.  She has a couple of catchphrases: "Whatcha doooin?" and "Ooooooh!"  Everyone who uses her will attempt to do her voice, because it's part of the entertainment.

I use them for any NPC of relevance. Given a few defining adjectives I don't have a problem coming up with something on that spot.

Quote from: Simlasa;917759Mr. Desborough put up this interesting bit of video regarding GM's using their voice in different ways.
Some of it is stuff I already try to do as Player or GM... but for the most part very few people I've played with have done anything different with their voice. I've even had some mock me for doing it.

It seems like it has a lot of potential for setting atmosphere, and as a Player, doing stuff like accents or keeping a certain tone really helps me stay in character, rather than just playing myself.
How common/uncommon is it for people to use their voice in these ways?

I tend to do "African" voices (West, East, take your pick, it all sounds the same to White gamers, hah hah!) and that's because I grew up, in part, around Nigerian and Ghanian people. Plus, having friends over the years who are Kenyan and Somali helps 'round it out. I tend to do a pretty good job -- it helps that my voice is a natural bass-baritone and dat I know de way thachu speak to SPEAK lik a TRUU AFREECAN! (That, by the way, is keeping it West). Hah hah, I did this whole "Heart of Darkness" spiel starting with, "You know the way to keel a maan? Yu see...", my players loved the character, was very intimidating and engaging.

My second-in-command can do a pretty solid generic Eastern-European accent and a decent New Jersey accent too (can make it sound real Yonkers-type, too). If we did OWOD at LDRC, I'd ensure he had a Tzimisce be the enigmatic grand villain at the heart of his upcoming Vampire chronicle.

Often. Depends on a lot of things, most of all the players and our mood. Sometimes it's "The bartender tells you about the missing child" and sometimes it's "Well, young'uns, why don't you wet your whistles whilst I tell ya the story of Clem and the missing monkey."

Yes and often. I can act and role-playing is one of the things I enjoy about this hobby.

When I run games, I don't really do voices/accents other than the occasional and well-timed silly one if the game needs some energy - an overly gruff bartender, drunken fool, shrill hag, super old man, pompous dandy or something. I usually present NPC comments in third person, such as, "The merchant says that..." My players have tended toward the same, though occasionally we slip from third to first person if it speeds things up. Even then, it's not usually done in voices/accents. Just not our style.

Goodness, I have a stock cast of characters. From squeaky kobolds, to accented goblins, to "Slingblade" the dwarf king, to "Schwarzenegger" to warrior NPC to "Goofy" the talking gelatinous cube to...well, enough that players can tell which NPC is talking by my voice.

It's only a problem with certain adventures where the writer was stupid enough to put half a dozen NPCs in a room and have them all talk at the players at once...I really don't know how that gets through playtesting, because I just can't see how anyone can do that.

I used to game with a professional voice actor, who later made the suspect decision to move down to California an be successful (last I heard he was doing one of the voices for the Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon). He was great to play with, for obvious reasons.

I don't do voices so much as cadences. I adapt the way I speak to the character, but don't try to alter my pitch or tone because I'm not talented enough to do it without sounding goofy.

... and hand puppets, too!

No. No, just voices with all their fun inflections and accents.

(But one day, Lambchop, one day when they least expect it... :mad: )

I do, because I can. I don't think the players would care if I didn't, however.