Honestly feels like sour grapes that you aren't good at doing voices. Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean it's wrong.

I will always encourage roleplaying over rolling dice for persuasion skills. To me there's nothing worse than just rolling a binary pass or fail just for talking to someone. ACTUALLY FUCKING TALK TO THE NPC! Convince them with your own wits. If you can't do that, then don't do that. That's part of the intriguing way systems interact with human ingenuity that goes all the way back to Braunstein. Which enables far more interesting scenarios and game mechanics than  gormlessly saying "I ummm... I hit it with my axe." all the time. You're playing these weird and wonderful characters. Have fun with it.

I do understand how annoying it is with the Critical Role lot with their amdram bullshit to start overacting without any interest in engaging with the systems of the game. But I've really started to come down hard on those people in my games. And I've actually found once they understand how roleplaying and mechanical systems can work together to enhance each other they have a much better time than just constant theatre performances with  a captive audience.

Quote from: King Tyranno on June 17, 2023, 09:29:44 AM
I will always encourage roleplaying over rolling dice for persuasion skills. To me there's nothing worse than just rolling a binary pass or fail just for talking to someone. ACTUALLY FUCKING TALK TO THE NPC! Convince them with your own wits. If you can't do that, then don't do that. That's part of the intriguing way systems interact with human ingenuity that goes all the way back to Braunstein. Which enables far more interesting scenarios and game mechanics than  gormlessly saying "I ummm... I hit it with my axe." all the time. You're playing these weird and wonderful characters. Have fun with it.

I do understand how annoying it is for the Critical Role lot with their amdram bullshit to start overacting without any interest in engaging with the systems of the game. But I've really started to come down hard on those people in my games. And I've actually found once they understand how roleplaying and mechanical systems can work together to enhance each other they have a much better time than just constant theatre performances with  a captive audience.

Yeah, I remember our DM pressing us on wits against the NPC's, and mixed with the game mechanics that was more than enough. Only rolling a dice for "fasttalk" and adhering too strict to a characters weaknesses and strength on paper is not my thing, you learn nothing from doing that and the game is reduced to luck, not wits. Heck, I don't even mind DM as a gods hand. He presents the tidbits, clues and subtly directs us towards the goal and players fill in the gaps in the narrative.

Quote from: Zelen on June 17, 2023, 09:13:27 AM
Honestly feels like sour grapes that you aren't good at doing voices. Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Who said I am not good at doing voices? That's not my point at all. Over the top and cringey voice acting is just not my thing, so it's quite wrong for me, but not for others, fine as well. I'm not sour, if someone rejects playing with me because I don't enjoy these lame theatres, thats his problem - I am perfectly happy without.

I've been playing since the dawn of the hobby and in pretty much every game the players have tried to speak how they think their characters would sound.  I haven't encountered anyone who used stupid sounding voices, but if I did, whatever, stupid is in the eye of the beholder, we're all just doing our best, and people with professional training in this skill are rare. 

If someone's being an overdramatic twit then that is the problem, not the particular voice they choose to use.

And while it is entirely possible to roleplay without first person conversation, that's an essential part if my rpg fun. If a group didn't want to do it, I would leave too

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 09:45:40 AM

Quote from: Zelen on June 17, 2023, 09:13:27 AM
Honestly feels like sour grapes that you aren't good at doing voices. Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Who said I am not good at doing voices? That's not my point at all. Over the top and cringey voice acting is just not my thing, so it's quite wrong for me, but not for others, fine as well. I'm not sour, if someone rejects playing with me because I don't enjoy these lame theatres, thats his problem - I am perfectly happy without.

IME voices are almost always good. It's engaging with the game world at an immediate level.

Over the top theatricality is easy to deal with (as a GM, at least) because you can just move on, or have NPCs start sniping at the character's mannerisms. None of the actual problem behaviors that derail games like spotlight hogging or going off on weird tangents depend on doing a voice at all.

Use some humility and introspection about what actually motivates this feeling.

Quote from: Zelen on June 17, 2023, 10:13:18 AM

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 09:45:40 AM

Quote from: Zelen on June 17, 2023, 09:13:27 AM
Honestly feels like sour grapes that you aren't good at doing voices. Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Who said I am not good at doing voices? That's not my point at all. Over the top and cringey voice acting is just not my thing, so it's quite wrong for me, but not for others, fine as well. I'm not sour, if someone rejects playing with me because I don't enjoy these lame theatres, thats his problem - I am perfectly happy without.

IME voices are almost always good. It's engaging with the game world at an immediate level.

Over the top theatricality is easy to deal with (as a GM, at least) because you can just move on, or have NPCs start sniping at the character's mannerisms. None of the actual problem behaviors that derail games like spotlight hogging or going off on weird tangents depend on doing a voice at all.

Use some humility and introspection about what actually motivates this feeling.

Like I already explained thoroughly, but I will do it again for you: I don't enjoy pretentious, self-centered, people who suck at scottish accents ruining a game. If you cannot deal with that, thats ok.

Quote from: Mishihari on June 17, 2023, 10:06:55 AM
I've been playing since the dawn of the hobby and in pretty much every game the players have tried to speak how they think their characters would sound.  I haven't encountered anyone who used stupid sounding voices, but if I did, whatever, stupid is in the eye of the beholder, we're all just doing our best, and people with professional training in this skill are rare. 

If someone's being an overdramatic twit then that is the problem, not the particular voice they choose to use.

And while it is entirely possible to roleplay without first person conversation, that's an essential part if my rpg fun. If a group didn't want to do it, I would leave too

But having a particualarly annoying voice AND demanding attention. That sucks even more.

I never wrote first person was an issue, I use it as well as third person as I see fit, it does not matter one bit. It's more how you want others to play theater or you wont play with them at all (like forcing people into character with ridiculous voice, dress up and all that..) That is a no from me. It's not a Hollywood production, just a fucking game.

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 10:28:27 AM
But having a particualarly annoying voice AND demanding attention. That sucks even more.

I never wrote first person was an issue, I use it as well as third person as I see fit, it does not matter one bit. It's more how you want others to play theater or you wont play with them at all (like forcing people into character with ridiculous voice, dress up and all that..) That is a no from me. It's not a Hollywood production, just a fucking game.

Dude, you've pretty much answered your own question in this thread.  Look at how many responses you've gotten here that immediately want to turn this personal (against you and puffing up themselves).  There have been people getting high off sniffing their own farts since the beginning of the industry.  Sometimes it manifests in cringy voices or theatre wannabes.  But, look at the posting history of some of the folks who tried to make this personal with you, and you'll see that the big problem is exactly what was stated from the beginning: they want to make everything about them (and, specifically, how they are better than you).  Avoid these people and their opinions, and be happy that one person left your group.  You'll be better off, and your game will be more fun...

Our group has three people (including the GM) that do voices.
And three people that don't.

None of us are bothered by people doing, or not doing, voices.

But nobody does annoying voices (except as jokes) or as a way of getting attention.

Quote from: Tod13 on June 17, 2023, 04:10:15 PM
Our group has three people (including the GM) that do voices.
And three people that don't.

None of us are bothered by people doing, or not doing, voices.

But nobody does annoying voices (except as jokes) or as a way of getting attention.

Sounds like your crew has a great balance.

Quote from: Rift on June 17, 2023, 05:51:58 PM

Quote from: Tod13 on June 17, 2023, 04:10:15 PM
Our group has three people (including the GM) that do voices.
And three people that don't.

None of us are bothered by people doing, or not doing, voices.

But nobody does annoying voices (except as jokes) or as a way of getting attention.

Sounds like your crew has a great balance.

Yup. It's awesome. We're playing Traveller.

Quote from: Zelen on June 17, 2023, 09:13:27 AM
Honestly feels like sour grapes that you aren't good at doing voices. Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Sometimes it feels that way.
 
But I totally get why some dislike it. An early bad experience can also mar the outlook too.
 
But like everything D&D there are those sanctimonious fucks who try to suck every last drop of fun from RPGs. It seems to have gotten worse with the so-called OSR.

Hey look, another "people that game differently to me are wrong" thread.

30+ years ago I started with just changes in inflection or tone, and over the years I've realized I can do a few accents and personas that players and GM's like, so I do. I consider it part of my maturing skill set, like producing better handouts and soundtracks.

Who plays for any length of time and still talks in third person? It's a ROLEplaying game, not a Wargame.

I encourage my players to attempt accents and such, and some blossom, but the terminally embarrassed are under no pressure to do so.

PS - Using ham acting clowns from Critical Role as examples of people that do voices during a game is, at best, disingenuous. That's like equating people that sleep in coffins and change their name to Orloff, with LARPers.

Quote from: Grognard GM on June 18, 2023, 06:09:33 AM
Hey look, another "people that game differently to me are wrong" thread.

30+ years ago I started with just changes in inflection or tone, and over the years I've realized I can do a few accents and personas that players and GM's like, so I do. I consider it part of my maturing skill set, like producing better handouts and soundtracks.

Who plays for any length of time and still talks in third person? It's a ROLEplaying game, not a Wargame.

I encourage my players to attempt accents and such, and some blossom, but the terminally embarrassed are under no pressure to do so.

PS - Using ham acting clowns from Critical Role as examples of people that do voices during a game is, at best, disingenuous. That's like equating people that sleep in coffins and change their name to Orloff, with LARPers.

The Critical Role video was what the guy send me as a measuring stick of what we should aspire to in play. In his world a perfect way to play and the long winded theatrics was for him the most important thing. For me, acting/theatre is the least important aspect of roleplaying games, I would be bored to death.

So, I was wondering if this is expected/normal, and if so, loud RPG theatre is simply not for me. There are surely diverse opinions on the subject, each to their own! As I mentioned I played in a few groups back then and no one did any form of acting - and we might have done it wrong, but for us, that was good enough.

I don't mind playing in first person at all, but it's not a dealbreaker for me if we don't. We had plenty of dialogues back then first person, PC to NPC, worked great. Also you would often say: "I'll go through the door first." or "My wizard goes through the door." Not important. We did not think about wether it was first or third person.

I also don't mind if people do a few voices, but demanding that others do it and play 100% in character, is an entirely different matter. In my world less is more, overdoing it will ruin it for me (and my other player).