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I know that accents aren't really necessary in most games (and certainly not in the fiction), but if one did want to give characters a regional distinction, accents are a way to do it. Even cultures that primarily speak the same language may pronounce things in different ways—just look at the differences between Bostonians and Southerners—so it's not unreasonable to imagine that people can speak Common differently in different places.
What accents do you use for various regions/nations in the Campaign settinng? Some of them are obvious (like Osirion, Qadira, and Jalmeray) and other cultural connections have been stated (such as Varisia having a more Spanish influence). Others aren't so obvious.
Lastwall, for example. What accent would you use? Would their connection to Ustalav make them more Eastern European in flavor? What about other places?
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Meraki |
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The accent I used for a character from Brevoy was sort of a bizarre Irish-Scottish hybrid. It was fun, but man, did it kill the throat.
My Androffan accent for an Iron Gods game that I was GMing (added a couple of survivors from the wreck to the game) was a French-Russian hybrid, much thicker than most of the other ones I've done since they had to learn Common as the game progressed.
Currently, the Varisian character I'm playing mostly speaks without an accent, but he tosses endearments in Varisian at everyone because he's an inveterate flirt. (Which I have made up, along with a few basic grammatical rules, because I'm a giant linguistics nerd.)
And my vishkanya bard talks like the Black Sails version of Anne Bonny except with the addition of hissing most of her Ss and a more American accent.
...I'm gonna have to start gargling honey lemon tea at this rate.
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Razcar |
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Different nationalities/races in Golarion only speak in accents that I as the GM can manage (or think I can manage, as my poor players surely would attest). Strange! But that's just how Golarion works. Also, if I'm not driving and thus might be drinking beer when we play, the accents tend to get thicker; at least until they all mush together.
The country the campaign is based in doesn't get an accent, since people don't hear their own, but really because of convenience.
BTW, we play in Swedish.
Taldor - US accent
Galt - thick, guttural French
Andoran - a light, snobby French, évidemment
Cheliax - Italian/Spanish with a generous helping of cartoon villain, or some squeaky Herr Flick type.
Shoanti (and many "barbarians") - a thick Finnish macho voice
Land of the Linnorm Kings - North Swedish accent (illogical, since they weren't vikings, but it's quite a short and gruff inflection)
Ustalav - some Slavic-sounding mish-mash
Irrisen, Brevoy - Russian
Dwarves - German
North-West Garund - Arabic accent
North-East Garund and Quadira - more Indiana Jones type of intellectual Arabic
Gnomes, Halflings, and good-aligned Fey - Norwegian inflection
Ogrekin, giants - Skåne (south of Sweden) accent
City people, if the campaign has a rural focus - snotty Stockholm accent
Country accent, if campaign has an urban focus - goofy Värmland or Småland (Swedish regions) inflection
Ogres - always speak Danish
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Daw wrote:Why harsh and clipped?Hallit is spoken in Brevoy, Galt, Mendev, Nirmathas, Numeria, Razmiran, the River Kingdoms, and the Worldwound. Give these places Germanic accents, often harsh and clipped.
According to the relevant texts, it's because the Kellids who developed Hallit are practical folk who live in harsh, almost hostile environments, so their words are short, harsh affairs meant to be shouted quickly to determine if a person is friend or foe, as taking the time to say something longer than a few syllables can be hazardous to your survival, whether from a thrown spear or a natural disaster. Plus, they fear arcane magic, so something that takes a long time to say might be mistaken for a verbal component, prompting the Kellid to quickly kill you to protect themselves.