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Episode 2243: A Little More Action, Please

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The rise of the Critical Role podcast (which began eight years after Darths & Droids) has promoted the idea that a Game Master can use different voices or accents to portray various NPCs within the game world, and make them recognisable as individuals. It's an old technique which has been used since the dawn of roleplaying games in the 1970s.

But Critical Role has also made it seem to many new players like this is a necessary part of running a game. There are many posts in D&D forums by beginner DMs lamenting the fact that they find it difficult to do accents or voice acting, so they feel they will be inadequate as a Dungeon Master.

Rubbish. You don't need to do this. Matt Mercer is a professional voice actor. Very very few GMs can hope to be as skilled as he is. Regular people have been running games successfully for decades without needing to be Oscar-winning performers. Give silly voices or accents a shot if you want, by all means, but you don't have to. Your game will be fine without it.

The important thing is to play and have fun. Not to emulate how other people play.

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Hah, all that's missing is a hat, a mustache, and a Maple Leaf doncha know! We've already got the colour scheme! That red glow, while a bit harsh to look at, is a pretty visual indicator that we're looking at something with First Order. I think. It could just be the director's lighting choices again of having lots more primary colors everywhere and just mean "danger" or something like that.

It's interesting that technology's progressed enough to have mini-holograms for communications instead of grainy videos. It's probably just due to the limitations of movie creation with the original trilogy being older, and the prequels being newer, but it's still a curious thing to lose out on being able to carry your boss in your pocket so visually and only now having the small holograms again.

And really Sally? That pun; wow.

Transcript

GM: <roll> Surface guns fire. They have trouble tracking you at such close range.
[SFX]: Pow! Pow!
Allan: I blast them!
[SFX]: Pow! Kaboom!
General Hux: Captain Canady! Destroy that fighter!
Captain Canady: I’m sorry, sir, yes. Aboot time, eh? We always get our man!
Goneril: Do you mark that, my lord? We must do something, and i’ th’ heat.
Captain Canady: Sorry, yes, scramble fighters, eh?
Goneril: Combine together ’gainst the enemy. Pray you let’s hit together!
Captain Canady: And afterwards we can watch hockey and eat poutine, eh?
Goneril: At your choice, sir.
General Hux: Whoa. I think I’m suffering from accent whiplash.
Kylo Ren: That was said a bit snidely.


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Published: Tuesday, 13 December, 2022; 01:11:03 PST.
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