impersonations and hoarse voice

[Entessa]

I tried to impersonate an orc, and damn, after a couple of hours my voice got hoarse as hell and it actually felt painful to speak.

Do you do impersonations yourself, use programs to alter your voice or...?

Because I feel like I will probably stop soon if I can't find a damn way to fix this issue. Beside, I was wondering who could teach me to do impersonations without hurting my own voice (in real life, I mean)

[Mastikator]

Yes I do impersonations but only the first lines for an NPC for the exact same reason. I have looked for apps that can do instant voice modulation for some voices that I can't do but haven't found anything that fits my needs.

The only thing I know that helps against hoarse voice is to constantly take small sips of water. And to encourage intraplayer roleplay to give myself a pause and more time to prep.

[Keltest]

I usually try at least for a speaking pattern distinct from my normal one so that people can recognize when an NPC is talking vs when the DM is talking, if that makes sense. Sometimes it will be rough on my voice, but only if its a really dialogue heavy session.

[Thrudd]

Yeah, if you're going to do a voice for long periods of time you need to pick a style that doesn't require straining. There are methods that singers use to train their voices for harsh vocals, such as the growls you hear in death metal, that help them do that safely, which could probably be researched. However, I wouldn't recommend doing that without consulting an actual trainer to make sure you're doing it correctly...some people have caused real damage to their vocal chords.

Doing a voice for a random NPC for an RPG isn't worth hurting your voice over. Just practice a voice that has less distortion/growl in it.

[Cygnia]

I find that shifting my body language can help with NPC interaction, so it's not all just on my voice in bring an NPC to life.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Yes I do impersonations but only the first lines for an NPC for the exact same reason. I have looked for apps that can do instant voice modulation for some voices that I can't do but haven't found anything that fits my needs.

The only thing I know that helps against hoarse voice is to constantly take small sips of water. And to encourage intraplayer roleplay to give myself a pause and more time to prep.

This. And I don't do voices as much as speech patterns. And then lapse into a more summary style for most things, with exact phrasing only for important people.

[Imbalance]

I haven't done a voice like that for hours on end since I was a kid. I'm trying to imagine a scenario that would warrant that much of any one NPC speech in a session, and coming up with zero reasons to want to do that. That'd be like doing a full set of AC/DC covers.

For orcs and such I do use a low gutteral, but they seldom have very much to say. There was one recurring goblin that started with a high gutteral that may have become painful, but once the party started interrogating him I dropped the gruff quality and went higher pitch, squealing out the exposition according to how successfully their intimidation checks rolled.

I'm nothing close to a trained voice actor, though, so I only get into characters to the extent that is fun for me. I think a lot of nerds get into doing accents for giggles, trying out Star Wars quotes in Yoda speak, singing like Kermit the Frog, etc., but it takes a real weirdo to want to do a bunch of different ones in front of other people during a game. So, at least you're in good company.

[Easy e]

I do not have great advice, since I am terrible at voices and accents so I just skip them.

As others have said, here are a couple things I do:

1. Unique mannerisms/pantomime for an NPC
2. Speech cadence, word pronunciation, and placing where the NPC accents words
3. Signposting with "They said, she said, he said" etc before giving the dialogue
4. Narrating long dialogue/exposition dumps into bullet points

Unless this is a key NPC moments, I do not role-play every Tom, Richard, and Harriet that the PCs interact with. Much of the non-important NPCs just get narrated talking points. For example, if the PCs are going around talking to the locals to find out if they know any rumors I just tell the PCs the rumors I want them to know instead of narrating every single conversation.

[Psyren]

Yeah, if you're going to do a voice for long periods of time you need to pick a style that doesn't require straining.

This. Go with an orc voice you can keep up, not one that perfectly matches orcs you've heard in media. (There are a bunch of different kinds anyway, Orcs in Warcraft sound very different than Orcs in LotR which sound very different from Orks in Warhammer which sound very different than Orcs in Skyrim etc etc.)

[Anonymouswizard]

I find that shifting my body language can help with NPC interaction, so it's not all just on my voice in bring an NPC to life.

This. You can get away with not changing your voice if you can change how you sit or stand, and gestures can really sell it. I can't do accents and I dislike moving my voice too far from it's natural pitch, so I have to rely on a mixture of body language, verbal tics, and speech patterns.

As a side effect everybody in my settings has a vaguely RP accent.

[Tawmis]

Practice. And vocal training.
I trained for voice acting, and done trivial things; so I ended up doing my own internet show called "Neverending Nights" - where I voiced one of the main characters, and a wide assortment of the extras.

In the current "Curse of Strahd" game I am in - I play a Tiefling Paladin, and do the growling deep voice when I speak in character.

[Incorrect]

I know some guys that larp as LOTR orcs, and do the voices full time.
They swear by sparkling water with lemon, to ease the throat.
That, and practise of cause.

[Cygnia]

Practice. And vocal training.
I trained for voice acting, and done trivial things; so I ended up doing my own internet show called "Neverending Nights" - where I voiced one of the main characters, and a wide assortment of the extras.

In the current "Curse of Strahd" game I am in - I play a Tiefling Paladin, and do the growling deep voice when I speak in character.

One of the classes I took in acting school was called "Improv for the Actor". Which, despite the name, had nothing to do with improv comedy. It involved working with blank masks to remove our own personal character tics and traits, then moving on to masks that weren't blank to build on character work through body language, movement and eventually voice work.

The goal was not "Me playing So-and-So", but rather "Becoming So-and-So".

[Tawmis]

The goal was not "Me playing So-and-So", but rather "Becoming So-and-So".

And that very skill creates really immersive RP if you can carry that into a game!

[Rynjin]

This. Go with an orc voice you can keep up, not one that perfectly matches orcs you've heard in media. (There are a bunch of different kinds anyway, Orcs in Warcraft sound very different than Orcs in LotR which sound very different from Orks in Warhammer which sound very different than Orcs in Skyrim etc etc.)

Elder Scrolls orcs in particular are very easy to do without straining yourself, because it can all be done front of the throat. You don't need to squeeze your vocal cords uncomfortably to sound like this.

In general it is good advice, as others have said, to pick voices that you can do without hurting yourself, and paraphrase otherwise.

I don't typically do girl voices for this reason, though I've gotten (disturbingly, as my players say) good at doing a "madame" voice.