Quote from: Spinachcat;1041009I find LARPS are better venues for acting and theatrics than TTRPGs.

There used to be quite a few Vampire LARPers back in the day, though I don't think the police took well to edgy people in trenchcoats creeping around at night.

I've recently started doing "this is how they sound" accents OOC so that the players' theatre of mind is more in-sync with mine. I find I only need to say a short phrase and the players instantly get the kind of character it is, for some it's really helped them RP (I know I've done well when I get smiles and the players hit back with their own attempts to speak like their characters, w/ or w/o accent).

I have no problem doing a variety of accents but many of them fall apart outside of practised/oft-repeated phrases. And then dialects can make it harder (Northern Ireland is easy-peasy 'cause its got a drawl and my voice is very bass-y so it mixes but Southern Ireland is twee and quite light so it can hit my chords). There's a NYC mafia streak of NPCs (and a PC) right now so I have both the "Jersey/Sorprano" and the "old-school/Gotti" accents ready to fire. It's not just the accent itself, it's how you characterize -- how you express it. When I do my Generic West African accent, I keep my speech short and stoic. When I'm doing Generic Eastern European, I draw out the words and sprinkle "hmm"s and "yeass?" in there ("I give you good deal on Ka-lash-nee-coff", anyone?).

But the biggest thing for me of all is the expression of the character. That is it. Usually people fuck up because they don't put the energy in the right things. On top of that they usually do really crummy or corny lines or accents. I always advise my GMs that if in doubt to go larger-than-life. And also try to think like that character and actually say things that sound "authentic" and describe things that NPC is doing while they're talking to the PCs or other NPCs. Simple stuff like "he raps his fingers on his shotty" or "she talks to you through mirror while kissing her lips with the lipstick" -- don't just do "he crooks his eye sideways" or "she gives you a `what?` look".

I've had a few good players in my time who could really get in character, to the point that it actually kinda freaked some other players. We had one guy do a slowly degenerating knight, classic fallen paladin type. The PC had managed to hit Morality 4 and for several seshes he really embraced the character and really acted like a fucked-up Hunter:  increasing amorality, minor torture aplenty, "quirks", an all-around sociopath pretty much. He had his character torture a Ghoul and actually did stuff like laugh quietly and psychotically, cut her lightly, threaten her loudly with worse things. He got a metric shit-ton of bonus EXP from me because of his authentic portrayal. Honestly, it cemented to me again that I've managed to attract some of the best RPers in London to my games.

Pro tip: know your latin phrases. I had a player a few seshes back spout some latin that know he'd looked up to say just because "that's so cool" (it turned out to be a whole sentence that he Google translated , he admitted he didn't know what it meant) -- I hit back wicked-fast with "caveat emptor" and it sounded much more authentic because it actually fit the conversation and the NPC I was portraying (and, again, I knew I had done well because the other players tensed when they realised that this NPC wasn't fucking around just from that).

Quote from: Mike the Mage;1040956I have played with a lot of beginner players and even those could give their location and actions. "Most" you say?

Damn.

You have it rough.

I'd also be more of a contemptible prick if I had that situation, just being honest.

Quote from: Headless;1040955I like doing voices.  Actully I have started loving doing voices.

But its a new development for me.  It started in a game of Rouge Trader.  I don't take the setting seriously at all, I can't stand Grim Dark.  So I came up with a character and a VOICE I had the other players rollin, DM too.  

Lately I have a New Jersey hood on the Orient express.  And I had some success with a mid adlantic Accent.  By some success I mean I enjoyed it and it was recognizable.  It still jumps between sessions and wanders durring.  

I want to break out an African accent and I have been working on John Wayne.  John Wayne is terrible but I enjoy it.  

I do a voice if I have a voice.  If I don't or if the voice I want to do I can't pull off I don't do it.  Some of it might be Hammy.  Over the top is much easier to do than subtle.

Don't just "break out" an African accent. You'll just sound racist.

Black people (esp. Nigerians/Ghanains) know I am half-Black when I'm able to say "Jollof" or "Egu" or "Maate" or "Afuwete" in just that right way that they know I grew up around West Africans. And if you wanna go African-American, don't go all "Ebonics minor", it's about the swagger and it's about know how certain phrases, modes of speech are linked that make it sound authentic.

Quote from: Ras Algethi;1041091My self I will say what my character says but I don't act (no voices, no accents, etc).

My experience is most can't really act all that well and, to me, it is usually distracting. Even some "pros" I've watched doing it (like Critical Role) seem hammy and distracting to me.

Why do you think they're absolutely cheesing on their spot on the shows? Do you rate them enough for an Academy Award or Oscar? I'm not even being funny -- acting is fucking hard at the top-tier.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1041110Why do you think they're absolutely cheesing on their spot on the shows? Do you rate them enough for an Academy Award or Oscar? I'm not even being funny -- acting is fucking hard at the top-tier.

They have an audience that likes it. It's just not me. Not sure what your point was.

I've done some voice acting, so I do the funny voices but I have never required my players to do so.

Quote from: Ras Algethi;1041112They have an audience that likes it. It's just not me. Not sure what your point was.

These shows have a lot of people who didn't make it in the traditional acting/Hollywood game -- without these shows, they'd still be doing open mic nights and waiting at Red Lobster. Some of these guys are legit and have serious work under their belts OR I can see potential in a few if they can get a big break but other than that, errghh.

Somewhat tangentially but indirectly related, I want people to be their very best. Then again, I'm probably gonna be that perfectionist asshole ten years from now who's a rockstar at the game but end up being the CTO version of Anna Wintour.

[video=youtube;GEOEBrdnQq4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEOEBrdnQq4[/youtube]

Don't much care if a player "acts" or not, whatever the player wants to do to make it fun is fine.  Some are highly descriptive, some do the "I roll dexterity" thing, and I'll come up with something descriptive to help them along.

Voices and accents can be a little more of a thing - not everyone can do it well.  Done well, it adds to immersion.  Done poorly, it rubs the nerves raw.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1041110I've recently started doing "this is how they sound" accents OOC so that the players' theatre of mind is more in-sync with mine. I find I only need to say a short phrase and the players instantly get the kind of character it is, for some it's really helped them RP (I know I've done well when I get smiles and the players hit back with their own attempts to speak like their characters, w/ or w/o accent).

Yeah this is my approach.  Shitty attempts at funny voices/accents is actually less immersive than just saying "please consider this to sound like this."  I could try to do my Dresden Files version of Pan as Devito's rendition of Philoctetes and I could try to do all my native Chultans in the Black Panther accent but I will fail and my players will be totally taken out of the moment.  I'm the Joey Tribbiani of DMs.

Quote from: jeff37923;1040888Ran across this on Reddit....



This seems pretty obvious to a lot of us, but which do you prefer and which do your players prefer? Do you prefer acting to role-playing when you game? Do your fellow players prefer to act or role-play when they game?

For me, I'm an amateur thespian and I love to act, usually doing that. When I am just role-playing, then it means that I have low energy (just woke up, hung over, don't have a particular hook for a PC or NPC,  etc..).

So what about you?

I don't really go for it and have gotten annoyed when someone does. Maybe it's because most "acting" I've seen has taken the form of  a wanna-be Al Pacino getting into a pissing contest with an NPC or PC. Luckily my friends don't go for that crap either.

I'm not interested in including actors into my game groups.  My style of roleplaying is to make decisions as if you were there, but not to affect a distinct personage from yourself.  Very occasionally, when the moment and mood is right for it, someone at the table may seize a moment to embellish it with that sort of acting but no one is forcing it.

"Forcing it" is how most people who really like the acting and inject it at the slightest opening feel to me.

I don't mind a mix of acting and not-acting. It seems odd theoretically and we see many online discussions  about it but it never seems to cause major at-the-table problems. When I GM, I try to make each NPC sound a bit different from the others but only the most important NPCs get real effort. When I play a character I do "affect a different personality from" myself, as FOTB put it. Most people in our group do their dialogue in first person but, for some, that is all the acting that they do. And that's fine. I was in eleven plays, never went to an audition and didn't get a part, got paid to play Mercutio, and I like stretching those old muscles.

When I play, I "perform" my speaking in first person. I describe my actions. I initiate actions/make choices based on what I believe my character would do with a small caveat... "don't be a dick". So, I tend to make choices that align with what the group is doing, that won't jarringly screw over a fellow player, or ruin the situation.

I think acting is fine. I however do not appreciate people who purposefully ruin others' experience with the "it's what my character would do" excuse. You can play in character, and speak in character without "Painting the walls with your bullshit" (see the amazing talk by Henry Rollins).

First person roleplaying =/= Theatrical acting or voice-acting.  Those are separate things that can get added in to first person roleplaying, or not.

Cheese is important.

"Don't let yourself get too worried about all this talk about roleplaying [...] the ultimate object of all this is for everyone to have fun, not to recreate some form of high dramatic art." - Dungeoneer

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1041252Cheese is important.

Stale cheese with cheap ham makes me barf.