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Adamantrue
2020-10-31, 02:42 PM
Sometimes a playgroup can develop weird habits.

In old playgroups I've been in, when we were speaking in a non-Common language, we would do impressions. Celebrity impressions, specific movie or TV characters, sometimes just an impression of someone we all knew.

I'm sure its not an original idea, though I haven't seen it mentioned before.

It was effective for the games, but it was also surprisingly fun. Especially if someone couldn't do a "good" impression. Not necessarily a good idea for something like a horror campaign, but to add some levity or light-heartedness its great.

So, I was thinking of "formalizing it, for future games I would run, and I'm compiling a new list. I'm trying to get rid of the inside-jokes, so I can roll into a new playgroup without having to come up with something new on the fly. Problem is, there were a LOT of inside jokes, so I have to fill in a lot.

I figured I'd toss it out here in case others would want to try it, or give better ideas than I could come up with.

Fair warning and a Suggestion- If you already have an established "voice" for an NPC, remember to do an impression of a person doing an impression. It is challenging, but hilarious.

Common: Normal voice (or character voice) Note: In non-Human games where another language is dominant, we used Larry the Cable Guy
Abyssal: Megatron from Transformers Beast Wars (...yes...)
Aquan: Mer-Man from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (lots of gargling while talking)
Auran:
Celestial: Castiel from Supernatural (I don't understand that reference)
Draconic: Sean Connery
Druidic: Tamarian from Star Trek (Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, but use pop-culture references)
Dwarf:
Elf: Elvis (singing is allowed)
Giant: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Gnome: Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride (tribute to a character in an old game, NOT giving this up)
Goblin:
Gnoll:
Halfling:
Ignan:
Infernal: Tim Curry (try for "Darkness" from Legend, often devolves into Frank N. Furter, don't try too hard to fight it)
Orc: Grimlock from Transformers G1
Sylvan:
Terran:
Undercommon: Normal, but muffled with your hand over your mouth (sometimes comes across as Bane from Dark Knight Rises)

EggKookoo
2020-11-01, 10:10 AM
I don't know where it would go but one definitely has to be Ricardo Montalban.

"Fine Corinthian leather armor..."

Adamantrue
2020-11-01, 11:24 AM
I should probably mention that often times, I would do impressions for specific characters as well. Think of that Big Bang Theory episode when Howard was the DM.

This can complicate things, when vocal styles are similar. Jeff Goldblum and Adam West can easily be distinguished in real life, but an impression of either can be harder. More so with something like Jack Nicolson and Christian Slater.

I mention this because of the specific example of Inigo Montoya (my Gnomish) and Ricardo Montalban.

My personal solution would be to give a specific Gnome character the voice of Ricardo Montalban when speaking in Common, and something closer to Inigo Montoya when speaking Gnome. But finding that balance is... weird.

Stattick
2020-11-03, 07:00 AM
My recommendations:

Dwarf: Shrek
Goblin: Beavis & Butthead
Gnoll: Mark Hamill's Joker
Halfling: Smurf
Ignan: Khan, Star Trek II
Sylvan: The Merovingian, Matrix
Terran: Simba

wheelmaker
2020-11-10, 10:50 AM
This is a great idea. I'll have to use it with some of my groups!

Adamantrue
2022-09-27, 09:44 PM
I apologize for bumping this thread, but it seems inappropriate to start a new one while this one exists...

I recently started playing a new game with a new playgroup, and they were immediately exposed to my "quirks" when it comes to languages.

I have to modify the list, based on the groups limitations. I am DMing for a family, which includes their 12 year old and 21 year old daughters. With the generation gaps, and different frames of reference, there are few commonalities to work with.

The moment came when one of my players decided to speak to Goblins in their own tongue, and I said "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." I immediately followed with a Last Airbender reference, an MCU reference, and (if memory serves) a different Star Trek reference.

Most of the players just looked at me in utter confusion. My wife, knowing what I was doing, held her tongue. Then one of the other players realized what I was doing, and shared the Darmok reference with the group.

What followed was the the PC and the DM struggling to find common pop culture and nerd references, which entertained the group immensely.

We all enjoy speaking "Goblin" outside the game now...

*

Current list of languages in my current game so far:

Common: Normal Speech
Goblin: Tamarian (Darmok)
Dwarf: Normal Speech, but you have to make a beard with your hands
Sylvan: Normal Speech, but you have to rhyme
Giant: Normal Speech, but each sentence has to begin and end with "Kerbull Kerbull" (the 12 year old is playing a Minotaur)

The advantage of this version is everyone can maintain their "voice" or accents, which makes it easier to tell who is talking (for us DMs that do impressions)