After looking to get back into tabletop roleplaying and having found new friends to play with 2 so far, that has now been reduced to 1 because one insisted on making odd voices in-character and me and the other guy, who is older than me, did not want to. So the odd voice guy decided not to play with us as it was for him the most important aspect of roleplay. After some search I found voice acting i RPG is now "a thing" on youtube.

He is younger than me (20 years or so), and I found that alot of new/younger players make strange voices when they play. Mind you I played well over 30-35 years ago so inevitably things have changed. Back then we had a Dungeon Master, a few years older than us and who was very intelligent studying engineering, he was great at building stories and tension when required. His scenarios were awesome and we felt we were part of the story. 

But, none of us used funny voices than our own, the most we did was change the tone and cadence, which comes natually as the game intensifies. We had great fun, and used third person mostly to describe NPC and player actions, sometimes we used first person, it just came naturally and was not important.

We were not pretending to be our character but we played the character within these limits. The aim of the game was to make use of the characters skills for puzzlesolving and combat, not dress up and create funny voices and scottish accents. Sorry if I step on anyones toes here, but I just can't take dress up and funny voices seriously.

It was the same experience with the few other groups I was part of. No voices, no dress up, no theatrics and no drama and no long winded discussions "in-character" that bores the hell out of the rest of the group - just a game where we had a quest and happend to kill off a few monsters or NPC's while we were at it, a bit of dialogue and puzzles.

Lets face it: most people are extremely bad at making voices, and it just ends up being cringey and unnecessary. It adds absolutely nothing of value to the game, on the contrary it ruins the experience - as the voices are so false it's hard to feel immersed at all, they seem forced and unatural - no one talks like that, only in exceptionally bad movies and videogames. The people doing it often end up sounding ridiculous and full of themselves. If that is the norm today, no wonder many people shy away from RPG just from the start.

Am I just an old boomer? When did all this change? Or did the groups I was in do it wrong in the past? Voice acting ruins pen and paper RPG.

Greetings!

Hey there Rift! OOH RAH!

Yeah, I thin some element o voice acting n characterization has always been in the hobby, and attractive in varying degrees. I remember in one of my first games ever, playing with my own mother and father, and my best friend at the time, Tim. My mother was playing some savage barbarian woman, while my father played a righteous, Crusader Cleric. My mother was suitably comical, bloodthirsty, and dramatic, while my father was especially good at voicing and characterizing a wise, stern and pious warrior-priest. *Laughing* My father spoke Latin fluently, so he could really do these voices very well. He very much played the role of a Norman Catholic Crusader-Priest.

It is all good fun.

However, I also recognize that some people have this weird, annoying obsession, and seem to try and monopolize every game session to center around *THEMSELVES*--and whoever they are talking to, i.e.--the whole extended "In-Character Conversations." Again, that can be appropriate at times, but there are these dramatic, narcissistic failed Theater students that want to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else at the table. That kind of thing needs to be watched carefully, and if needed, checked promptly!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK on June 17, 2023, 03:24:28 AM
Greetings!

Hey there Rift! OOH RAH!

Yeah, I thin some element o voice acting n characterization has always been in the hobby, and attractive in varying degrees. I remember in one of my first games ever, playing with my own mother and father, and my best friend at the time, Tim. My mother was playing some savage barbarian woman, while my father played a righteous, Crusader Cleric. My mother was suitably comical, bloodthirsty, and dramatic, while my father was especially good at voicing and characterizing a wise, stern and pious warrior-priest. *Laughing* My father spoke Latin fluently, so he could really do these voices very well. He very much played the role of a Norman Catholic Crusader-Priest.

It is all good fun.

However, I also recognize that some people have this weird, annoying obsession, and seem to try and monopolize every game session to center around *THEMSELVES*--and whoever they are talking to, i.e.--the whole extended "In-Character Conversations." Again, that can be appropriate at times, but there are these dramatic, narcissistic failed Theater students that want to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else at the table. That kind of thing needs to be watched carefully, and if needed, checked promptly!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yeah this is exactly what I mean. Granted, I don't mind putting a little effect into it as long as it does not sound overly dramatic, forced and pretentious, and if you have a great and natural story telling voice, by all means use it! They keyword here is not to overdo it as they do in the worst B movies, it should be natural and not bad acting like the kids on youtube who wants to "become" their character.

Quote from: SHARK on June 17, 2023, 03:24:28 AM
Greetings!

Hey there Rift! OOH RAH!

Yeah, I thin some element o voice acting n characterization has always been in the hobby, and attractive in varying degrees. I remember in one of my first games ever, playing with my own mother and father, and my best friend at the time, Tim. My mother was playing some savage barbarian woman, while my father played a righteous, Crusader Cleric. My mother was suitably comical, bloodthirsty, and dramatic, while my father was especially good at voicing and characterizing a wise, stern and pious warrior-priest. *Laughing* My father spoke Latin fluently, so he could really do these voices very well. He very much played the role of a Norman Catholic Crusader-Priest.

It is all good fun.

However, I also recognize that some people have this weird, annoying obsession, and seem to try and monopolize every game session to center around *THEMSELVES*--and whoever they are talking to, i.e.--the whole extended "In-Character Conversations." Again, that can be appropriate at times, but there are these dramatic, narcissistic failed Theater students that want to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else at the table. That kind of thing needs to be watched carefully, and if needed, checked promptly!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yes, I agree with this. A bit of in-character play can add a lot. The danger is when it becomes narcissistic "LOOK AT MEEEE!!!" self-centredness.

Re voice acting, I normally only do a bit of "change the tone and cadence" - one thing I really dislike is males doing falsetto voices for female characters, I definitely think with voice acting 'less is more' - this goes for mannerisms too.

RPGs are not drama club. It is perfectly possible to roleplay without ever talking in first person much less doing voices. Extended in character chatter gets a sweep transition to the next scene for the sake of pacing.

I'm 41... I started RPGs when I was 12 with Werewolf the Apocalypse 1st edition. I became a forever GM shortly after becoming 16 back in 1997.

"Funny voices" have always been part of the hobby. Some people do them, some people don't. In particular my group loved a game called "7th sea" back in the 90s and early 00s about a fantasy Europe. Most of my players tried to do the accent of their 'country' when talking in character, some didn't.

Getting into character has been part of the hobby forever, it's not some 'new' thing my dude.

Quote from: S'mon on June 17, 2023, 03:38:18 AM

Quote from: SHARK on June 17, 2023, 03:24:28 AM
Greetings!

Hey there Rift! OOH RAH!

Yeah, I thin some element o voice acting n characterization has always been in the hobby, and attractive in varying degrees. I remember in one of my first games ever, playing with my own mother and father, and my best friend at the time, Tim. My mother was playing some savage barbarian woman, while my father played a righteous, Crusader Cleric. My mother was suitably comical, bloodthirsty, and dramatic, while my father was especially good at voicing and characterizing a wise, stern and pious warrior-priest. *Laughing* My father spoke Latin fluently, so he could really do these voices very well. He very much played the role of a Norman Catholic Crusader-Priest.

It is all good fun.

However, I also recognize that some people have this weird, annoying obsession, and seem to try and monopolize every game session to center around *THEMSELVES*--and whoever they are talking to, i.e.--the whole extended "In-Character Conversations." Again, that can be appropriate at times, but there are these dramatic, narcissistic failed Theater students that want to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else at the table. That kind of thing needs to be watched carefully, and if needed, checked promptly!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yes, I agree with this. A bit of in-character play can add a lot. The danger is when it becomes narcissistic "LOOK AT MEEEE!!!" self-centredness.

Re voice acting, I normally only do a bit of "change the tone and cadence" - one thing I really dislike is males doing falsetto voices for female characters, I definitely think with voice acting 'less is more' - this goes for mannerisms too.

Greetings!

"LOOK AT MEEE!" So funny, S'mon! It's true though. Those kinds of gamers that are more like narcissistic Theater Students that want to play "Drama Club" can really ruin the game for everyone else at the table. As a Player, and as a DM, it can get very annoying and frustrating as the pace of the adventure gets entirely derailed into " LA-LA Land" and meanwhile, half the group sits there yawning in boredom or stewing in frustration as the ONE PLAYER Character decides to engage in a deep Kumbaya session with an encounter with a friendly Dryad in the forest.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Let me give some examples of what I am talking about, the overly dramatic:



Self centered/Talk to much/Bad voiceactor:



LOOK AT MEEE!! Overthinking/Redundant/Talk too much.



I could not be in room with these people for very long, it just gets annoying and exhausting to listen to this.

I have no stake in either using a "funny voice" or not. I think individual players should feel comfortable participating. If that means they use 3rd person, or talk in a particular voice, that's up to them.
I will say, my group would usually use a very bad "Monty Python" accent for in character voice, and it was handy as a shorthand for when a character was saying something versus when a player was saying something. As a GM, I tend to switch between methods depending on my mood and what I think will fit the moment and the players.

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 06:10:26 AM
I could not be in room with these people for very long, it just gets annoying and exhausting to listen to this.

As long as they're (a) mindful of the other players and not showboating (b) don't sulk when their special snowflake bites the dust, I really don't have a problem with them. I had Jack a male professional voice actor playing in my games, he did some in-character accounts of early sessions. Stuff like https://simonsprimevalthule.blogspot.com/2019/03/excerpts-from-scribe-of-zerda-of-house.html would probably drive you nuts. 

Quote from: Ratman_tf on June 17, 2023, 06:37:11 AM
As a GM, I tend to switch between methods depending on my mood and what I think will fit the moment and the players.

I'll generally try to make it clear which NPC is talking by using a few tricks, such as cadence and (if in person) body language. Too much acting can harm immersion as much as too little, so it's a balance. Most NPCs need to be drawn in broad strokes of course, to make any impression on the players. I think it's ok to describe the NPC in third person too, eg "she talks in a refined manner" "he seems unsure of himself" - anything that helps get across what the PCs are perceiving.

Quote from: S'mon on June 17, 2023, 06:46:16 AM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on June 17, 2023, 06:37:11 AM
As a GM, I tend to switch between methods depending on my mood and what I think will fit the moment and the players.

I'll generally try to make it clear which NPC is talking by using a few tricks, such as cadence and (if in person) body language. Too much acting can harm immersion as much as too little, so it's a balance. Most NPCs need to be drawn in broad strokes of course, to make any impression on the players. I think it's ok to describe the NPC in third person too, eg "she talks in a refined manner" "he seems unsure of himself" - anything that helps get across what the PCs are perceiving.

Yes, this is what we did, third person descriptions, perhaps it's because most of us had adventure computergame backgrounds:

GM: "You see a scruffy bearded man that looks like a pirate, hes seems very uncomfortable by your precense and nervous. As you approach him you notice he is holding something behind his back in the right hand."

I think this works better as it caters to the imagination (like reading a book) rather than a B-Movie:

(GM has shows ticks and makes a stereotype irish sounding pirate voice and has put on an eyepatch, paper hat and a fake parrot on his shoulder) "AAARGH MATEY! GET AWAY FROM ME!!! I FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE BY YOUR PRESENCE! DON'T GET ANY CLOSER ".

GM (still wearing his costume but in normal voice): "Uhm.. ok, Out of character: you notice he is holding his right hand behind his back, what do you do?"

Not much is left to the imagination, you're just hearing GM's shitty irish accent and seeing him look odd, and now you have to speak in character to him in your silly voice. Not really convincing for anyone above 4 years of age.

How not to do roleplaying:

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 02:47:24 AM
After looking to get back into tabletop roleplaying and having found new friends to play with 2 so far, that has now been reduced to 1 because one insisted on making odd voices in-character and me and the other guy, who is older than me, did not want to. So the odd voice guy decided not to play with us as it was for him the most important aspect of roleplay. After some search I found voice acting i RPG is now "a thing" on youtube.

He is younger than me (20 years or so), and I found that alot of new/younger players make strange voices when they play. Mind you I played well over 30-35 years ago so inevitably things have changed. Back then we had a Dungeon Master, a few years older than us and who was very intelligent studying engineering, he was great at building stories and tension when required. His scenarios were awesome and we felt we were part of the story. 

But, none of us used funny voices than our own, the most we did was change the tone and cadence, which comes natually as the game intensifies. We had great fun, and used third person mostly to describe NPC and player actions, sometimes we used first person, it just came naturally and was not important.

We were not pretending to be our character but we played the character within these limits. The aim of the game was to make use of the characters skills for puzzlesolving and combat, not dress up and create funny voices and scottish accents. Sorry if I step on anyones toes here, but I just can't take dress up and funny voices seriously.

It was the same experience with the few other groups I was part of. No voices, no dress up, no theatrics and no drama and no long winded discussions "in-character" that bores the hell out of the rest of the group - just a game where we had a quest and happend to kill off a few monsters or NPC's while we were at it, a bit of dialogue and puzzles.

Lets face it: most people are extremely bad at making voices, and it just ends up being cringey and unnecessary. It adds absolutely nothing of value to the game, on the contrary it ruins the experience - as the voices are so false it's hard to feel immersed at all, they seem forced and unatural - no one talks like that, only in exceptionally bad movies and videogames. The people doing it often end up sounding ridiculous and full of themselves. If that is the norm today, no wonder many people shy away from RPG just from the start.

Am I just an old boomer? When did all this change? Or did the groups I was in do it wrong in the past? Voice acting ruins pen and paper RPG.

My guy WTF is wrong with you that you don't find funny voices funny? Did you not get to enjoy cartoons growing up? Did stand-up comedians scare you? Who hasn't done a funny voice around friends or family and thought it was funny? I can't believe this was even posted.

Rift, get therapy soon. Before you hurt somebody.

Quote from: Theory of Games on June 17, 2023, 07:39:14 AM

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 02:47:24 AM
After looking to get back into tabletop roleplaying and having found new friends to play with 2 so far, that has now been reduced to 1 because one insisted on making odd voices in-character and me and the other guy, who is older than me, did not want to. So the odd voice guy decided not to play with us as it was for him the most important aspect of roleplay. After some search I found voice acting i RPG is now "a thing" on youtube.

He is younger than me (20 years or so), and I found that alot of new/younger players make strange voices when they play. Mind you I played well over 30-35 years ago so inevitably things have changed. Back then we had a Dungeon Master, a few years older than us and who was very intelligent studying engineering, he was great at building stories and tension when required. His scenarios were awesome and we felt we were part of the story. 

But, none of us used funny voices than our own, the most we did was change the tone and cadence, which comes natually as the game intensifies. We had great fun, and used third person mostly to describe NPC and player actions, sometimes we used first person, it just came naturally and was not important.

We were not pretending to be our character but we played the character within these limits. The aim of the game was to make use of the characters skills for puzzlesolving and combat, not dress up and create funny voices and scottish accents. Sorry if I step on anyones toes here, but I just can't take dress up and funny voices seriously.

It was the same experience with the few other groups I was part of. No voices, no dress up, no theatrics and no drama and no long winded discussions "in-character" that bores the hell out of the rest of the group - just a game where we had a quest and happend to kill off a few monsters or NPC's while we were at it, a bit of dialogue and puzzles.

Lets face it: most people are extremely bad at making voices, and it just ends up being cringey and unnecessary. It adds absolutely nothing of value to the game, on the contrary it ruins the experience - as the voices are so false it's hard to feel immersed at all, they seem forced and unatural - no one talks like that, only in exceptionally bad movies and videogames. The people doing it often end up sounding ridiculous and full of themselves. If that is the norm today, no wonder many people shy away from RPG just from the start.

Am I just an old boomer? When did all this change? Or did the groups I was in do it wrong in the past? Voice acting ruins pen and paper RPG.

My guy WTF is wrong with you that you don't find funny voices funny? Did you not get to enjoy cartoons growing up? Did stand-up comedians scare you? Who hasn't done a funny voice around friends or family and thought it was funny? I can't believe this was even posted.

Rift, get therapy soon. Before you hurt somebody.

Well, actually I do find them extremely funny, just in a ridiculous way as seen in the movie clips I posted above.

Each to their own I guess, you enjoy cringey stuff, I just don't, and was rejected by a gamer for it.