How many of your players [or "your fellow players"] voice act at the table?

I've been thinking lately about how different our games are from others'; this is probably because Paul and I started roleplaying together 20 years ago, and have basically just picked up players along the way, most of whom weren't previously roleplayers. As such, we don't have a lot of cross-group interaction, so we do things our own way. But a few months ago, we were playing in front of some other roleplayers, and their jaws dropped when our players started using distinctive vocalizations [and taking actions that fucked the character or the game, but were in-character; that's apparently rare, also].*

Of our, say, four regular players, three always voice-act. [Two have been actors, and both have done improv.] One always tries to, and sort of aspires to getting good enough to always do it. And our GM was an actor, and did improv a lot with me. For us, it's part of the escalation from rollplayer to roleplayer, if you take my meaning; the better you get at taking on the role, the more portions of that role you take on. [Always short of, you know, grabbing swords and acting shit out. LARP is fine, just...not for us.**]

Do you voice act at the table? If not, why don't you? Is it a bridge too far into LARPland? Do you just not have the ability to do a different voice for every character? Has it just never occurred to you? It feels like a lot of people here have player-centric games, and not character-centric games, so it seems to me like a lot of them wouldn't bother, but I just don't know.

*One witness said to Paul, after about five minutes of the players talking to each other in-character, often in heated tones, "You just let them do this?" Paul wasn't quite sure what to say, since these characters would likely have been doing exactly what the players were doing with them, and thus thought it was the GM's job to let them do it.

**Now that I think about it, this may well be because of Paul, who could not possibly LARP, since his ability to be "fake-deadly" is just fucking awful. He's broken more people's bones accidentally than I have on purpose.

I don't voice act at all, more of a "he/I say..."

This is because, while I can do voices very well, I can only do a very few, and I suck at improvising in-character.  And while I occasionally suck at improvising in the third person, I feel that the suckitude doesn't show as much in those cases.

EDIT: It's also tough for me to come up with new voices on the fly...

Be careful with the "escalation from roll-player to role-player" bit, Engine. It's not an escalation, just a preference, and it's got insulting connotations. It won't get you banned - unless you're a sockpuppet or a spambot, it's pretty hard to do - but people will be pissed, your posts will be sneered at, and you will hit a lot of people's ignore lists. That's what pundit calls being a "swine."

As for the question - I do. Every character has a voice, mannerisms, a tonal pitch, and possibly an accent. Most of my players don't do this, and most of them can't do this. Some of them occasionally essay accents, more often they might use vocal mannerisms. I don't care one way or the other. One of my best roleplayers - one who consistently nails complex, real characters - couldn't do any of these things to save his life. I do it because it's fun, and helps me get into character - as the usual GM, I have to switch between characters often.

I don't think it's a sign of a better roleplayer. I just think it's a talent some people have, like being funny, or being able to sing.

-clash

Quote from: EngineDo you voice act at the table?

Yes, a wee bit.

Sometimes the players do, but it generally leads to poor results - i.e., the player whose orc sounded like he stepped out of cartoon and whose modern day French Canadian sounded like Pepe LePew. Makes it tough to take him seriously.

Seanchai

As the GM I do this all the time. A couple of my players do too but the roleplaying is more or less consistent throughout the whole group, voice acting or not.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: EngineHow many of your players [or "your fellow players"] voice act at the table?

Sometimes, as long as it isn't too much work. Part of the reason I don't like playing female characters, my voice doesn't really bend that way. As a GM few weeks ago I did a mexican skunk. That was fun.

QuoteBut a few months ago, we were playing in front of some other roleplayers, and their jaws dropped when our players started using distinctive vocalizations [and taking actions that fucked the character or the game, but were in-character; that's apparently rare, also].*

Define "fucked". Because there is good fucked and bad fucked. I consider it very poor etiquette (and frankly bullshit) if you are using the "charater made me do it" excuse. But if the other players are fine with it *shrug* I've racked up a TPK as a player before.  You just want to keep a tight leash on that as some players deal better with it than others, you have to make sure it's about the characters and not the players, and a few other things to watch for.

Quote from: flyingmiceBe careful with the "escalation from roll-player to role-player" bit, Engine. It's not an escalation, just a preference, and it's got insulting connotations.

You are correct. "Escalation" is a loaded word, which is why I preceded it with, "for us," despite the fact that none of the people who would take offense at it bother to provide such disclaimers. But your point regarding their rampant hypocrisy is well-taken!

Quote from: DwightDefine "fucked". Because there is good fucked and bad fucked. I consider it very poor etiquette (and frankly bullshit) if you are using the "charater made me do it" excuse. But if the other players are fine with it *shrug*

Our players are not only cool with it, but so is our GM. Now, of course, that's provided you're not really doing it as an excuse, but we've got a tableful of people who don't do that shit. [They do other shit, don't get me wrong, but not that shit.]

And there's a limit, even for us: often, you're trapped in a situation where what your character would really do is shoot the Johnson, shoot the other characters, and walk out, but so doing is frowned-upon, unless you've got a pretty good reason. If you've got a good reason...well, fire away. We'll start another session. We use our judgment.

But we're pretty flexible about that shit. We also know not everyone is! Paul guested as a player at another GM's table recently, and kept his instincts at bay. And if Paul can do it, anyone can. [He has...strong convictions.]

I've never really done it as a player, but when i GM i'll try and, say, make my voice more gruff for a Barbarian-type or whatever, but not with any consistency.  It's also one of those things that has always made me kind of uncomfortable...like nose-picking.

For me it goes like this:

 Speaking in Character ----> Standing up and using your whole body to act out attacks and speaking in Character ----> LARP'ing

Quote from: kregmosierFor me it goes like this:

 Speaking in Character ----> Standing up and using your whole body to act out attacks and speaking in Character ----> LARP'ing

That's how it goes for us, too. Every so often, in order to get a point across, one of our players will demonstrate something physically, and the whole time, everyone has this look on their faces like, "Shit, are we crossing the line?" Funny.

Quote from: EngineThat's how it goes for us, too. Every so often, in order to get a point across, one of our players will demonstrate something physically, and the whole time, everyone has this look on their faces like, "Shit, are we crossing the line?" Funny.

haha...yeah, then i suspect we're on the same page wrt this subject.

Quote from: kregmosierI've never really done it as a player, but when i GM i'll try and, say, make my voice more gruff for a Barbarian-type or whatever, but not with any consistency.  It's also one of those things that has always made me kind of uncomfortable...like nose-picking.

For me it goes like this:

 Speaking in Character ----> Standing up and using your whole body to act out attacks and speaking in Character ----> LARP'ing

I stand a lot, and move around a good deal. Speaking in Character = body language.  I don't nomally swing fists/weapons at other players....in-character. But I will use sort of a body language mime for when I expect words might fail me.

A while back I had one of the shyest players you are likely not to meet stand up and give a speech from a chair (their PC was giving it from a raised platform to the local rubes). Besides me worrying the chair was going to break and I'd have to put in an interesting call to 911, it was great.  I've never really thought a line was being crossed, other than going further than I think I've seen a player go before.

Though at a con once a DM did that and it came off very different, it didn't seem to fit the situation for me and it felt like he was hamming it up for some sort of DM competition (well it was Living Greyhawk so I guess he sort of was in one). It felt forced and wierd.

Quote from: DwightA while back I had one of the shyest players you are likely not to meet stand up and give a speech from a chair (their PC was giving it from a raised platform to the local rubes).

This sounds pretty cool, IMO. Shows that this player really got into the moment. One of my players at the end of the session normally gets up and says "Bow before my superior roleplaying skills, bitches"....which we normally do, because we realize, yes she does indeed have mad roleplaying skillz.

Regards,
David R

If I can do the character, I do the character. Voice, Accent, Pitch, Habits. A lot of the guys I play with are pro-wrestlers or theatre wannabes, so they like to Ham it up too!

If I can't do the character (say a Female Femme Fatale), Then I'll just describe what they say and how they say it.

For my own part, I have moved to always using a character voice. Actually, it got so pedestrian - I'm a voice actor in my, whatever, spare time - that I ended up making a Shadowrun character who could physically imitate anyone, and thus I needed several accents or voices every session. I like to challenge myself at the table, and that sure as hell did the trick.

It definitely seems to help immersion: one character had a voice so sinister that every player assumed he was Chaotic Evil, and just generally A Bad Guy, when in fact he was Neutral and just kind of self-serving. But he sounded so bad that everyone assumed he was. After we sorted everything, the GM [Paul] made certain the same reactions happened in-game: art imitating life.