I saw this on another unrelated thread and thought it was an interesting subject... How well do you entertain your players as the Dungeon Master? Do you use different voices for NPCs and monsters? Do you like being able to "perform" for your group?
Myself, I'd say yes to all of the above. As a younger DM I had maybe one or two little voices I would use for creatures and NPCs. Pretty safe stuff because I was afraid of looking like a complete fool if I tried to do more.
However, something happened around the time I turned 30 several years ago... I stopped giving a crap what anybody thought. I started experimenting with off-the-wall voices or impersonations of well-known characters from movies, tv, and books and surprisingly my players ate it up! I dumped my former inhibitions and just went for it and it's turned out to be the funnest stretch of DMing I've ever had. Yeah, I often look like a fool, but my players don't care since half the time they join in with me and it's made for some very memorable and fun gaming.
I heard a couple of DMs on another thread bemoaning their lack of skills in being able to do more than one or 2 voices or characters even with practice. Personally, I think it's just a matter of letting go and just going for it. It's a whole new game when you do
I've never been one for voices, though I might occasionally do an impromptu voice or two if I've had a few beers, but I do try to keep my players entertained. I try to keep my plots and characters serious and interesting, but at the same time I toss in a few ridiculous situations, which are made even funnier by the fact that the characters are treating it seriously. I made an entire three month campaign for seven players based on a drunken rant after I'd hit my head on a doorway: the mow infamous "Midget Mayhem" campaign, where the PCs must stop the evil midget empire from conquering the known world. Situations were serious, but the fact that the bed guys were a bunch of evil, knee bashing midgets made things a little humerous throughout (they weren't halflings or gnomes, they were midgets, and they were mean little suckers). Especially funny was the dwarf finding a maul of the titans in a dragon hoard and proceeding to squash midgets left and right; he got that thing about midway through the campaign and killed no less then fourty midget warriors with it.
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I'll typically do a fair amount of voice-work. If I've been sippin' on a gin and tonic or rum and coke (I don't like beer) I get a bit looser and more demostrative. I have a stable of voice types that I am really comfortable with and can slip into pretty easily. My players like my 'fat, greasy merchant' voice (a la Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca) and bombastic villians are loads of fun and easy to get behind. I'll normally accompany bad guy voices with lots of gesticulations, but don't really do much 'acting out'.
Probably my favorite one so far has been Kreech Bluescale, a kobold sorcerer turned circus frontman.. a kobold P.T. Barnum. He was lot's of fun to play, theatrical as hell, had a great, corny laugh (Hnark! Hnark! Hnark!) and was a really fun voice to do...very quick and clipped. The only problem was I had to really have a second to think about how he would phrase things, Common not being his best language. For such an upbeat, peppy character, I didn't want to have the tempo of his speech peter out mid-sentence.
But, yeah, just loosening up and not worrying about 'chumping it up' a little really makes it more fun. Of course, it's harder to do in the beginning when you are just getting a group together and sussing out everyone's different playing style. Once you get a bit of familiarity, it's not nearly so hard to play a bit of the fool.
I'll typically do a fair amount of voice-work. If I've been sippin' on a gin and tonic or rum and coke (I don't like beer) I get a bit looser and more demostrative. I have a stable of voice types that I am really comfortable with and can slip into pretty easily. My players like my 'fat, greasy merchant' voice (a la Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca) and bombastic villians are loads of fun and easy to get behind. I'll normally accompany bad guy voices with lots of gesticulations, but don't really do much 'acting out'.
That's hilarious I use his "Fat Man" character from the "Maltese Falcon" for the voice of the Sagacious One (an old Critical Threat - a beholder posing as a fat thieves' guild master). The players haven't figured it out yet.
"Here's to plain speaking and seeing eye to eye."
GGG
I'll typically do a fair amount of voice-work. If I've been sippin' on a gin and tonic or rum and coke (I don't like beer) I get a bit looser and more demostrative. I have a stable of voice types that I am really comfortable with and can slip into pretty easily. My players like my 'fat, greasy merchant' voice (a la Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca) and bombastic villians are loads of fun and easy to get behind. I'll normally accompany bad guy voices with lots of gesticulations, but don't really do much 'acting out'.
Heh heh . . . my greasy merchant voice sounds like Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard. Not really medieval, but alot of fun. That particualr character was called "The Judge," He was a gross ^#%$@.
My favorite voice is the dumb commoner. It varies as I play them, but once I used a New England Islander accent for a local farmer. . . "aye, e' 'ole noteast'er gonna blow on tomarrah. . . best bring ou' ya rainin' geah... boots n' such..."
Unfortuantely, I can't keep it up for the length of an enocounter, so I usually start with the full accent, then pull back. I'll WILL continue to describe little habits and stuff, like "furrows his brow and chews on his corn cob pipe for awhile, then he says," and so on. . .
One of my favs is this screeching monster sound when I've got a big baddie attacking. It's kind of an inhale type of thing, but comes out sounding like an eagle screech, kind of...
It's both annoying and funny at the same time and usually cracks my players up, especially when I get right up in the face of the player whose character the monster is actually attacking!
For NPC clerics the group goes to for healing or to bring a PC back from the grave I like using an exaggerated TV evangelical kind of voice, "Now let us pray for the soul of this dearly departed one. Can I get an AMEN?!" And there's a ton of others.
I do voices for a few characters. My big problem is that every voice I do (or when I'm reading text aloud) turns into an English accent. The ironic part of that is that I can't do an English accent when I try to do one.
However, I do try to get mannerisms and characteristics across with body motions. Even if you can't get the voices, you can still get movement down well typically.