Hello friends, Ginny Di here
And while you may know me as a person who likes to do a lot of goofy accents
I firmly believe that you do not need to use accents
in order to create a unique voice for your role-playing character
Unless you're talking about role-playing in the bedroom
in which case they are absolutely essential
[Cockney accent] Oi!
If you think I'm showin' you me april you're 'avin a laugh
Piss off
Today we are going to talk about how to create a unique voice for your character
And then we will talk about how to actually learn to use it during roleplay
There are already a bunch of great videos out there
about how to create character voices
But I've found that a lot of them are targeted specifically at actors
And they lean a lot on the vocabulary and the skill set of actors
Most D&D players are not actors
Critical Role George who lives in LA
and is eight actors in a trench coat
is an outlier and should not have been counted
My hope is to make this video basically just a more accessible version of those tips
Specifically targeted at players who don't have much experience with acting and improv
And just want to learn some skills to make their games more interesting and more fun
This is the 101 class
But if you want some higher level stuff
I will link to some resources that go more in depth on these topics in the description
Also surprising no one, I need to add a disclaimer
I just want to make it clear that you do not have to do this
You can have a ton of fun role playing with just your regular voice
Not all tables will be the kinds of tables that welcome character acting
And that is up to you and your DM and your party
This video is just a resource for those who, for whatever reason
want to develop and use a character voice
Alright consider yourself disclaimed
Please feel free to ignore it, make your own assumptions about what I'm saying
and yell at me about it in the comments
Now, let's talk about creating a voice
There are a ton of different factors that can go into creating a voice
But I'm gonna break them down into three main sections:
Physicality, personality, and quirks
Making unique decisions within each of these three categories is what makes your voice unique
It's why Mickey Mouse and Princess Peach don't sound the same
even though they both have high pitched voices
The pitch is not the only identifying feature of each character's voice
Let's start with the physicality
I'm using this to refer to the actual nature of the voice
The things that mostly don't change with different emotions in different circumstances
The pitch, the pace, the texture...
If someone has a husky or raspy voice
It's gonna sound husky or raspy no matter what they're saying or how they're feeling
Kristin Chenoweth is always gonna be speaking at a higher pitch than say, Scarlett Johansson
I'm a person who tends to talk really fast
And it takes real intentionality to slow myself down
All these are features that you can apply to a character voice
How is your character's voice pitched?
For Clio, the tiefling bard I recently got to play as a guest
in two episodes of the D&D podcast: Cast Party
I knew I wanted her to have a deeper voice than my natural speaking voice
To me, it felt like it had more gravity
And gave an impression of someone who wouldn't take any shit
Meanwhile, when I played Brilliance the tiefling sorcerer on the Roll for Charity stream
I wanted to give an impression of a naïve, inexperienced, young girl
So I pitched her voice higher than my natural tone
What about the pace?
Does your character speak quickly, or are they more thoughtful and deliberate?
Does their voice have a specific texture to it?
Like a hoarse voice, or a nasal voice, or a breathy voice
Their physical body can influence some of these things
For example a younger character may speak with a higher pitch
or an older character may have a rasp to their voice
A very small gnome might speak in a high squeaky voice
And a huge goliath might speak in a huge deep voice
If you're not sure of what features to consider for this section
Try checking out some YouTube videos or put on a TV show
And try to take notes on each person's voice
What traits make up the sound of their voice?
What makes these two people sound different from each other
Actively listening for the features of a voice
can help you just wrap your head around all the different options
Now let's talk about personality
Is your character often angry? Are they a nervous person?
Do they have a sultry sexy vibe? Are they talkative?
All these things can impact the way that your character speaks
It can be easy for a talkative person to say "my character is a quiet loner"
while they're writing up a character sheet
But then default to their own chatty nature while actually playing
But learning to incorporate those personality traits
into the way your character actually speaks
can really bring depth to your roleplay
For example, a person who has an angry nature
might speak sharply with strong emphasis and hard consonants
even when they're not actively enraged
A character who's flirty or seductive might have
a breathy low voice that feels inviting and evocative
A nervous character might, um, stutter a little a-and repeat themselves
A-and they might be anxious to say anything too firm...if that works for you
As an exercise to translate personality into voice
Try making a list of three to five adjectives that describe your character's personality
For example, my matchmaker, Edith's list might say: lonely, optimistic, curious
Then go down that list and try to brainstorm ways
that each of those traits might influence how someone speaks
A lonely person might be very engaged speaking quickly or maybe in a very high volume
Because they're just excited to be involved in the conversation
A curious person might use a lot of upward inflection
Because they're asking a lot of questions
Finally I want to talk about quirks
This can totally have some crossover with personality
But while the personality section is still about how your character says something
This one is meant to be more about what your character actually says
Think about characters who have well-known verbal traits
Like Alexis from Schit's Creek saying "like" in between like every third word
Or Hermione granger using a lot of big vocabulary words
This can be subtle like Jester repeating a word at the beginning and end of the sentence
Like, "Technically that's not really how it works, technically"
Or it might be more obvious, like Velma saying "Jinkies"
Or Buzz Lightyear saying "To infinity and beyond"
It can also be more general, like are they the kind of person who apologizes a lot
Or says "Does that make sense?" after they explain something
Are they the kind of person who makes a lot of puns or a lot of innuendos
Are they the type to use metaphors or similes while describing something
You don't have to have a lot of quirks
But coming up with at least one can help differentiate this character from others
Plus it can give you a quick shorthand way to characterize someone in roleplay
My DM Harlan has a great video where they talk about the acting principles
that go into character voices
Specifically for use by DMs to give unique voices to NPCs
It's a little more technical than what I've just gone over
But it's a great resource if you want to learn more
I will link it in the comments as well as another video for actors
about how to come up with hundreds of different sounding voices
using just a handful of specific factors
Of course brainstorming a character voice
is not the same thing as actually being able to use it in your game
A lot of people have fun ideas for voices but feel self-conscious
Or even incapable of using those voices on the fly during sessions
So next I'm going to talk about actual practical tips for using the voices that you've designed
But first...
[Sobbing]
-What's wrong?
Did they cancel Glow?
-No
I mean yes, and it was a terrible move, that show is incredible
But that's not why I'm crying
Today's sponsor is just so tragic
-What's the sponsor?
-Penny Dragon Games Kickstarter for Aizendore’s Vault of Tragic Treasure
It's 300 pages of magic items and lore compatible with 5th edition D&D
Some of the items come from tragic origins
But others are tragic by nature
And may bring tragedy to your players
-You seem to be taking it pretty hard
-Oh I am, and that's not all either
It's chaos!
-Oh?
-There's an adventure book too
Order of Elemental Chaos which takes your players to the elemental planes
in an epic tug-of-war between gods and titans
If they can't stop genies and ancient primordials
from upsetting the balance between order and chaos
the material plane could be torn asunder!
-Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want a hug?
-That would be a lot of compositing effort for an ad
-Fair enough
-You could always visit the link in the description and pledge on Kickstarter
alongside the two books they're also offering .stl files for 3D printing miniatures
And the first pack of seven creatures is free to all backers
-There there
Alright, let's talk about how to learn to actually use character voices at the table
The first and most obvious answer is the one that nobody wants to hear
But I have to say it anyway, practice
You just gotta practice
The more you do it, the less it feels like work
And the more you can just kind of slip into that voice like a pair of shoes
And just like a new pair of shoes, it takes time to break them in
At first you'll have to be really conscious of exactly what's coming out of your mouth
You might need to remind yourself of some of the traits that you wanted to use for this voice
Maybe you'll catch your voice drifting back into your natural register
and you'll have to consciously shift it back up or down
The more you do that, the more you can focus on what you're saying
instead of how you're saying it
I really think that's the hardest part about using a voice in-game
If you have to think about doing the voice
it's a lot harder to also think about the game itself
The key to successfully adding a voice to your character
is to just get comfortable using that voice outside of sessions
I talked about this a little in the video that I made about how to do Jester's accent
But practicing a voice is super easy as long as you have room in your life
to just talk to yourself
I practice while I'm doing the dishes, or folding laundry,
while I'm in the car, while I'm in the shower
You can narrate whatever you're doing
You can try to recite quotes or song lyrics that you already have memorized
but in the voice that you're practicing
If you really want to dedicate some focused time to it
Pick up a book or a magazine and try to read it out loud in that voice
It probably won't take long to get used to it
I only practiced Jester's voice for a few weeks before I felt like I had really settled into it
and for a voice that doesn't use an accent it would probably be even faster
Another trick that I've learned from doing accents also applies here
And it's having a phrase that puts you into character
Someone once told me that the phrase that they use to get into an Australian accent
is "razor blades"
that is "Rih-zoh-blihds"
When I worked at the Renaissance Festival
some people would actually have trouble dropping their English accent
after a full weekend in character
And the phrase that my friends used to push them back into American English was
"The beer is in the pickup truck"
Find a phrase that you think really suits your character
It could just be a combination of words
Or it could even be some existing quote or lyric that fits their character
Make sure it's a phrase that really highlights
the things that you identified in part one as defining the voice
The physicality, the personality, and the quirks
For example, since I wanted Clio in Cast Party
to have a low kind of sarcastic sassy voice
I used some Meg quotes from Hercules to get into that headspace
"Well you know how men are
They think 'no' means 'yes' and 'get lost' means 'take me, I'm yours'"
Finally, and this one's really important
It'll help a lot to just accept that it'll be a little uncomfortable for a while
It's definitely nerve-wracking to try something new in front of other people
And I think as a society we often shame people for trying too hard or caring too much
Which can make it scary to do something new and just expose that you give a fuck
I think it's a good idea to talk with your table about it
Just let them know, "Hey, I really want to try this
And it might feel a little silly, but I just want to give it a shot"
Who knows, maybe other people at your table also want to try voices
but don't want to be the first to break the ice
But even if they don't, just letting them know that you're gonna test out a voice
can take some of the fear factor out of it
Also you don't have to stick with it
It's okay for your character voice to change over time
Or even for you to later decide that you just don't want to do it anymore
If you find that you're just not that into it, you can stop
It's a game
Some of the stress I've felt about doing a character voice
is thinking what if I end up hating it or having trouble keeping up with it
But there's no roleplay police who are going to put you in jail for changing your mind
Even though I love doing voices and accents and character gimmicks on this channel
Like Na'Krasha's accent or Edith's or Clover the bard speaking in rhyme
Full disclosure, I'm pretty shy about voices in actual gameplay
It feels like a big commitment especially on a streamed or recorded show
So don't feel bad if you're nervous, trust me you are not alone
But doing voices can also be so much fun and if
you're interested in trying it out, I really think you should
Just remember to have reasonable expectations for yourself
Don't compare yourself to professional actors if you can help it
Start small and build up to more extreme voices over time if you're scared
By the way, I released a new music video last week
and judging by the analytics, a lot of you haven't seen it yet
So maybe go check that out!
I worked really hard on it, and I think it's super cute
It's called roll up your attributes, and I will link it on this screen