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I'm tired of all my NPCs having my droning monotone, so I've decided to play around with accents with this AP.
My party has gone though the winter portal so I've decided to make all the locals speak in a Russian accent. Unfortunately my 'Russian' turns Italian mid-sentence, and sometimes Indian.
Does anyone have any good advice for holding down accents? I can mimic quite well, but I'm terrible a freeform.
((amusing side note: I RPed the greater witchcrow in the voice of George Takei. The players seemed to enjoy that))
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Practice in the shower. Seriously. Or in the car on the way to work.
Create lines that you could imagine the character saying in game and practice over and over. You'll pick out the words that aren't quite right and fix them. Do it enough and you'll be able to carry the accent more reliably.
Another idea is to listen to a stand-up comedian who has the accent you're after. I can remember honing my Scottish brogue listening to a heap of Billy Connolly. The big yin is absolutely brilliant!
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
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My turnover for Rasputin Must Die! actually had all of the dialogue written out phonetically. I can only imagine Rob's frustration as he painstakingly converted each line like "Zat ees zee vay auf zings--I 'ave zee crone" back to normal English. :-)
Akzent? What akzent? I am zpeakink normally, it iz all of yu whu haz a funny akzent. Feh, mammalz!
just occasionally say
slappin' da basssss
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Watch some Rocky and Bullwinkle, pay particular attention to Boris and Natasha. Rinse. Repeat.
I'm sure he'll let me post the phonetic stuff from my turnover...let's just let people enjoy the final product for a bit first.
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OK--here's what I culled from my turnover, with some of the surrounding text pared down to get to the goods:
Area B4--The Burning Corpses:
Rasputin poses few questions, and instead states things matter-of-factly (and perhaps disarmingly) in a halting Golarion Common with a broken Russian accent; “Yoo ave com vor mai mather.” If questioned, he stares down the inquiring PC with a cold intensity, and gives only vague, cryptic responses in a mocking tone, preferring to use this opportunity to scrutinize the PCs' abilities. He points toward the hill: “Vat look—her convused leetle haus growes saddened at her loss” and indeed PCs can witness the dancing hut pacing agitatedly on the hilltop. “Mai mather left no more vreadcrumbs...her trail 'as grown cold heer.”
Eventually, Rasputin grows weary: “Mai mather's thrice-teenth keendom vill soon be mine. Yoo vere most voolish to com.”
Rasputin acknowledges the smoking corpses: “Vat look—even heer, thees village served as midvives for generations of mai mather's daughters, and yoo see their service vrings only death. Even they not vant yoo here.” With this final taunt, Rasputin casts terrible remorse on PCs as his image fades and the burning corpses animates to attack.
Area C5--Monastic Cemetery:
Polina is gruff and cautious, yet eager to help free Baba Yaga. With a deep Slavic accent, she reveals anything she knows—sometimes with a sneer, and other times with a wicked grin. She knows “zee von ooh vill claim grandmather's throne” now lurks “in zee zame church...only var var avay in zee land vrom vhich I come,” and describes in knowing whispers the coming and goings of “zee vons who vuilt zee anchors ov zee vorld”—an allusion to the engineer.
Area F1--Forbidden Library:
Area G3--The Monk in the Presbytery:
But if the girl has already been recovered and her true heritage revealed, Rasputin is arrogant, hostile, and engages PCs for approximately 4 rounds before then breaking into peals of snarling laughter and mocking taunts as his image fades: “Yoo cannot vind me. Yoo vill nevar vind me.”
Surprisingly, I didn't include dialogue for the finale--had too much to fit in there as it was. Enjoy!!!
you want to hear about funny accents 15 years ago i worked in catering for a big hotel downtown and we had a convention from fargo for a week and i made the mistake of coming to work baked off my ass:) right after watching Fargo no less! BIG MISTAKE!!, you would not believe how hard it was to keep a straight face:) i can only imagine what the people from fargo thought of me:)
karma got me back tho, because a week later we had a convention of EVERY sheriff in the state and because my mom is a well regarded investigative reporter a good few of them knew me!!
i never went to work lit up again:) ah good memories
Maybe I'll ask my cousin's husband (who's Russian - Moscow region) to read the dialogue for me and I'll record it and have it ready for my group. When they reach this point in two or three years at this rate....