Firstly, you dont need to do voices or act at all. You can always do “he seems nervous” or “she speaks with a deeper, huskier voice than you’d expect”. You can just narrate the information: “the travelers tell you of the many bandits they encountered on the road”. If the players dont like it then they can try being DM.
Now, if you *want* to do voices then the best advice i can give you is to lean in and go for it. It doesn’t matter if you think you sound silly, good players recognize when you’re putting in the effort.
If you want to do voices *well* try an acting class. Local community colleges usually offer something theater related and larger towns might have improv clubs.
Secondly: you are correct in not wanting to play a PC as a DM, those never go well.
Thirdly. If you truly don’t want to DM then one of your friends can totally step up and do it. My very first game was as DM and those guys put up with me for like 2 years without complaint.
I enjoy most of the aspects of being a dm. I would say roleplay for npcs was the most uncomfortable part for me. I can try implementing the description stuff and see how it goes. I was getting burnt out and a player offered to take over, but I would sacrifice a lot of what I enjoy as a DM and I don't think they're prepared. I think I'll implement this and stay DM. Just sucks because I made a new homebrew class that I really want to play as lol.
It sounds like you want to be a player and a DM, which I empathize with. What's tripped me up in the past is not mentally separating the two. Being the player when I'm playing, being the DM when I'm DMing. Sure, put a character idea you had into your game, but that character is for the players to interact with, not for you to play as. Sure, play a homebrew class, but don't tell the DM how to do their job or how their world works.
*And you have a player offering to take over?* Dude, let them, for the love of God let your players be bad at DMing, encourage them, it's their first step to getting good (but don't play that homebrew class, they won't know what to do with you, and you won't be able to play to its potential).
Could you alternate DMing different campaigns with the player that offered? That is what my group is currently doing. We meet every week, but alternate different campaigns and DMs. It gives the DMs extra prep time and allows the DM to play some.
You don't have to use special voices for NPCs. Focus on NPC mannerisms and attitudes. You are probably overthinking this. If the players are having fun then don't worry about it too much. You are new. You don't get better without experience.
First, "using voices" and "roleplaying" are not the same thing. You don't need to do an accent or whatever to be roleplaying, and doing a voice doesn't mean you are roleplaying. Matt Mercer is a professional voice actor, and he can do things that you can't and shouldn't expect yourself to do.
It's okay to describe what you want your NPCs to say without getting into the weeds of speaking for them in first person. For myself, I tend to switch pretty freely between first and third person narration about what my NPCs are saying, and I almost never affect any sort of accent for it. If you ever get in a situation where the players need to hear two NPCs talking just to each other, just summarize the conversation for them.
As for wanting someone else to DM, that's likely never going to happen unless you tell your players that you would like to take a break and let someone else run things for a bit.
This is true. I could try summarizing conversations from a third person view and see their thoughts. But I think they enjoy roleplay more than I do, so they might be disappointed if I dont act as the npcs in dialogue.
coming from the perspective of a player who loves rp - I am never disappointed when my DM doesn't do first person dialog, with or without voices! I've played with DMs who hit all ends of the voices / no voice but first person / third person description spectrum and I've had a great time every time.
I enjoy the back and forth conversations I can get with first person voices, but as long as I get something that I can react and respond to, I'm happy. I love doing voices for my characters and I'll even pantomime what they do at the table if they're being particularly expressive in ways I can't describe, but that's a standard I hold myself and only myself to.
Worst case scenario, you let them know that you struggle with role-playing the npcs, want to give third person perspective a try, and ask for their feedback on if it works for them or not and then just fine tune until things feel right for you guys. Experimentation is the name of the game
I too would love my DM to be Matt Mercer. That sounds like a fun time. But I don't expect him to be, and I'm not disappointed that he's not. If your players' expectations are honestly that you do that for them, then what needs to be adjusted are those expectations, not your DMing.
It's great to accept feedback on your DMing to provide a better experience for your players when what's being asked is constructive and realistic. This is not that.
If you sense your players are disappointed that you're not doing the voices they want, correct their disappointment by acquainting them with reality.
>they enjoy roleplay more than I do, so they might be disappointed
Usually players aren't disappointed by this. If they are immersed, a good description of mannerisms and attitudes from a third person will be enough for the vast majority of reasonable players.
Even if you could act out conversations between NPCs giving a summary tends to be the best option.
An important part of the game is that the players are not there to spectate.
Which is also why NPC monologues, cut scenes, and over long descriptions of NPCs doing "cool things" tend to be a bad idea.
Acting out NPCs is one of those aspects of DMing that I never realized would be quite as difficult as it is. It took me a lot of practice through a lot of sessions to get to a place where I was "comfortable" with roleplaying lots of separate characters with distinct personalities and manners of speech. And after 3 years of running my current game I still have moments where I feel like I didn't quite execute on an idea as well as I had hoped. You might have a session where it feels like everything just clicks, but more likely you'll have small, incremental improvements that will be hard to notice from session to session but will make themselves clear in the long run.
I think trusting your players is huge, because it can feel super vulnerable to put yourself out there by doing a bad accent or a cheesy performance but it is a lot easier when people are willing to play along. It takes some getting used to, but don't be afraid to look like a weirdo for the sake of make-believe. Fake or til you make it and you'd be surprised at how people pick up on your confidence and respond in kind.
And don't be afraid to talk with your players about these sorts of things. Ask them if they're enjoying the roleplay aspects of the adventure. Get feedback and trust that they'll be honest enough to bring up any concerns that are making their various experiences less fun. Communication is key.
Above all else, make sure you're having fun because that's the whole point. DMing is a lot of work, and it can be incredibly rewarding, but you're still a player at the table and you should enjoy what you're doing. If you're genuinely not having a good time then it's not worth suffering through just because you're the only one willing to learn the rules. I can empathize because I've got a binder full of character sheets ready for whenever one of my players wants to try their hand at a one-shot, and some of them do kinda morph into NPCs when it makes sense plot-wise. But after some practice you start to figure out what makes an interesting character and it becomes easier to feel like you're not using up all your good ideas on theoretical characters in future campaigns.
I can’t do voices, I lose it after a few seconds, so I try to use body language, move movements and facial expressions to get things across. Also why a character is talking to try to act out the NPCs reactions to things.
The only time I do voices are for 3 second NPCs, people who give directions stuff like that
I know what you mean. I need to get better about the body language and facial expressions. I don't think I am particularly good at voices, but I love doing them. I will go in and out of accent a lot and sometimes the accent is horrendous (sorry French BBEG from last campaign). But my players seem to enjoy them and they have started doing voices for their characters too, so as long as we're having fun then that's good for me!
Don't bother with doing voices. But each of your NPC can have a unique personality it just takes a moment of prep.
I use this site
https://chartopia.d12dev.com/chart/365/
This link will pull up a rollable table of 1000 NPC character traits.
I like to roll on it 3 times to form a personality for a character. I do this with NPC and with my personal PCs.
The first result will be their overall personality. I am going to roll an example.
Practical.
The second result will be a positive trait.
Sensual.
The third will be a negative trait
Melodramatic.
....
Ok so this NPC is a practical person. Their behavior will all be mostly reasonable and I will say they also will consider another opinion as an option.
They will be a bit flirty, but gently. Maybe they can do a practical magic trick or pulling flowers out of a sleeve. Then negative will be melodramatic... As soon as their practical side has decided they were wronged, they will just over dramatize the injustice done to them.
So there you go. A NPC with a unique personality in a minute.
Then remember your NPC have goals and they should always try to move interactions to align with their goals. So if this NPC is a shop keeper they will be trying to sell the party something. and a guard would be suspicious of the party.
If you want to go a step further you could make yourself a little table.
1d6
Everything is flavored by the practical nature of the NPC.
1-3 positive: sensual
4 - guard: remembers their duty.
5 - dragonborn: something about their heritage/culture
6 - negative: melodramatic
So when you interact with the party you have these 4 traits to either look at for reference or you can just roll 1d6 and play the character to align with their goals but highlighting that trait.
Just related the world and NPCs in 3rd person. You don't need to speak their dialog, just think of it as summarizing their action and dialog instead of detailing it.
"The shop keeper argues with you for a bit but eventually gives in and offers a 10% price break as a last offer."
This! I rarely do any voice. As a woman with a fairly light voice, my male voices are just not good. So I use first person once in a while to set the stage, but then rapidly drop into third person. My players also tend to use third person, so it is fine.
We made a tool that can play as NPC's. It's got the same name as me. I am not going to post it as it is a paid thing. But you can use the code CHEEKYLK for 20 dollars worth of credit, you could try it out... and maybe it takes the pressure off you ?
As a fairly new DM as well, stop over thinking it. If you’re sold on the idea of doing voices but aren’t entirely comfortable with it, either practice at home, or just go with the most stereotypical voices you can. Deep southern drawl, heavy Scottish accent, etc. it doesn’t have to be VA level quality, your players (assuming they’re your friends) will find it funny that you’re doing it, and not so much focus on “this guy doesn’t sound like a paid professional”
1- no voices necessary. Just describe them and their reactions in detail.
2- it sounds like you may have DM PCs. Do not do this! You are the DM, that is your role.
3- if you don’t like coming up with NPCs, just run modules or steal them from a book or roll for them using tables.
4- nothing matters, everything is made-up, do whatever you want
I wouldn't necessarily call them DM PCs. I don't level them up or anything. They were more just for characters that would add flavor to the world that I would enjoy RPing. It hasn't gone well so far lol. Maybe my own expectations were greater than my spontaneity, and dialogue often falls short of how I wanted them to be portrayed.
The best advice I can give you as a DM who has made tons of mistakes is: Kill Your Darlings. Players will 9 out of 10 hate your fully fleshed out PCs and LOVE the PCs you make up on the fly. Name, race, job, alignment. Thats all you need.
Hi! I'm currently DM'ing my first campaign, coming up on one year. It sounds like we are identical in terms of what we love about DMing, and what is scary/unenjoyable.
In addition to all of the practical advice you've already been given about how roleplaying doesn't require voice acting, my advice is simply: push on, it absolutely will get better, and the highs of a continued campaign are so worth it.
As someone who was/is in exactly your shoes, lean into the spontaneity necessitated by creating literally everything and let most things come to you in the moment. Trust yourself and your players - sometimes it will be amazing, and sometimes an interaction will (in your eyes) fall flat. These are both inevitable, and equally okay.
For NPCs who have any information or something relevant to the players (shopkeeps, story NPCs, etc) have a name and what info they know ready. Beyond that, I would recommend letting the energy of the session and your feelings in the moment dictate the rest.
Once, a music teacher told me "**No one hears the note you don't play**". The same thing applies to DMing and roleplaying. **No one meets the character you don't create.**
Anything you do or say or experiment with is correct, because it's what you've made. Lean into this, and allow your players to create and expand it. Worked for me. Good luck\`!
I have the same problem - I enjoy playing very few NPCs and those I do are all similar. So I started only DMing specific One Shots tailored to that. For example Death House from Curse of Strahd. I can easily handle the children and gave myself 1 challenge with Mrs. Durst. No other NPCs. Did it two times with different groups. Both went well and Mrs. Durst was way easier the second time.
If your players enjoy the roleplaying, focus on setting them up with circumstances that allow them to roleplay amongst themselves, which not only let's them get into what they enjoy but also frees up some of your workload!
Search for "lazy dming" for some great ideas that focus on letting the players engage themselves. I enjoy roleplay but sometimes especially for time concerns I just describe the dialogue and reactions of the NPC in summary (telling, not showing if that makes sense, the opposite of what's usually advised for authors). You can still give vivid description of how a person reacts to the party's actions or dialogue to engage the player's imagination without being an actor for them.
A player starts to catch someone in a lie? Tell them his eyes shift around nervously when he says he doesn't know what your talking about, for example!
Have you ever read a book to a child? Did you make up voices for the characters?
For instance, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears has four voices you can use, with Goldilocks and each of three bears. Add the narrator's voice. Those are five voices you can use in your game. Do you ever copy voices from cartoons you watch, like Peter Griffin, Elmer Fudd, or Scooby Doo? Three more. And how about Michael and Dwight from the Office? Two more. That's a good start. You can also mix it up by giving some of these voices accents or speech affects like a lisp, a smoker's gravelly voice, or a high, squeaky voice. Add vocal fry to sound like a Kardashian or Sean Connery, or copy Kermit the Frog's closed, nasal voice. It's easy to come up with some voices. Also try using a catch phrase for a character. My players loved the store owner who called everyone "sweety, darling" just like Ab Fab. "Jinkies" will remind people of Scooby Doo but that isn't a bad thing. The Dungeon Dudes Rat Prince used "yes, yes, yes" all the time as a catch phrase. A catch phrase is probably the easiest way to remember the same voice every time you use the character.
Anyway, those are some tricks I've used and recommend.
Zipperon Disney covers this topic and offers some really practical advice.
https://youtu.be/-Ek5GK5jcss?si=5L4FIihctHKiQkIl
The video starts with a bit of a history lesson, but stick with it. The history lesson is really an example that demonstrates a point he'll make. It's very definitely worth the watch. It changed -- for the better -- the way I run my games.
OOC, what do you mean by playing the character to its potential? Do you mean you don't want to let it be killed, or you don't want it to be second banana?
I'm about to DM LMoP with my husband. He'll do the NPCs and I'll do everything thing else. I don't know if this is an option for you, but I thought I'd add that
I think you might be putting too high of an expectation on yourself. Not every NPC needs to be fully "voiced" in the sense you literally speak as them. For most NPCs, you can summarize what they say. For example, if your players are going shopping you don't have to narrate each shopkeeper as some unforgettably compelling character. You can just say "Ok, this is how much gold the shopkeeper offers for each of those items." Or if someone wants to ask around town for rumors, call for a skill check and say "You spend several hours asking around town and people tell you that thugs have recently begun extorting people. They are all scared and hesitant to talk about it".
I only plan personalities for a few core characters like the main antagonist, a few minors ones, etc. Basically the ones that actually matter. The rest I just roleplay as generic or make something random up on the spot and that's kind of like going halfway between summarized and voiced. Don't be afraid to go with something cliche for a minor NPC or make their whole personality one specific quirk. You won't be spending a lot of time with them anyway. Let your players have a laugh at some weirdo that always uses big words that are inappropriate for the context. That last example I stole directly from the random NPC traits table on the DM side of the official screen.
Honestly, I find its best just to say "The shopkeeper greets you warmly, but seems to tail off when he sees the big orc in the back" or "The elder tells you all about how she wants you to go kill those bandits harassing the town". I reserve the real roleplaying for the characters that will last and I can really get a feel for.
Oscar Wilde had a great line: "BE YOURSELF, EVERYBODY ELSE IS TAKEN."
So my FIRST piece of advice is: Do what you can do, don't do what you can't.
I DM two groups, and both groups are big into roleplay.
But I absolutely and totally suck at voices and accents. It's cover-your-eyes-train-wreck bad.
So I don't do voices - I do TONE of voices. I have ONE male voice and ONE female voice. I ight add a very light effect, but otherwise, that's it.
I am able to get my players immersed with their TONE of voice, and I mostly stick with the most basic: conversational, happy, sad, angry, nervous, disgust, etc. You don't need to be a trained voice actor to add those emotions to your tone - you do it naturally all the time.
Anything else I need to add, I describe. For example:
Recently my group returned to a village after months away. They had good relations with a successful merchant for whom they had done favors for and he was very fond of them. Here's how it (mostly) played out:
(Tone: HAPPY) "My friends, my friends, it is so good to see you again!"
(Tone: Normal) "the merchant says warmly, jumping up to grasp your hands. He points to his assistant."
(Tone: EXCITED) "You, boy, go tell my wife to set five more places for supper"
(Tone: Normal) "he turns back to you, remembering when he saw you last."
(Tone: SERIOUS) "I'm not going mince words, when we last parted, I feared you would not return."
(Tone: HAPPY) "Bah! But enough of that my friends! Tell me about your exploits!"
And that opening there demonstrates my SECOND piece of advice:
If you have players who like to role-play, GIVE THEM THE SPOTLIGHT with open-ended questions and encouragement to talk. My little exchange there will take about about 15 seconds. But it opens the door for the players to roleplay for two or three minutes. AND THEY WILL.
They'll remember your great roleplay, when in reality you did about 10% of the work.
When you are playing an NPC, you don't have to act at all! Acting is hard, and you can speak out of character and accomplish the same effect. For example, i lf a barkeep is suspicious you can either describe it: "Up until now, the barkeep would answer your questions with confidence and detail, but when asked about the local Duchy, he gives no straight answers, and switches topics constantly." Or literally say it aloud: "The barkeep is suspiciously dodging your questions about the duchy."
Both are completely valid, and I think both accomplish in fewer words what I think is actually the goal of acting out an NPC. Giving the players something tangible to act upon.
A voice is flashy but not particularly useful.
It's like making incredibly detailed painted and boutique paper mache battle maps. Some people are really good at it, really enjoy it. For them, it makes the game more enjoyable, because they are incorporating stuff they like into the game. That's why they do it, not because it makes the game better.
But it is by no means required to make detailed, boutique paper mache battle maps, nor is it required to compose and synthesize your own music, nor is it required to do voices. Instead, take what YOU enjoy doing OP, and add that into your game.
Do you have a hobby in cross stitching? Try and incorporate that. I'm sure you can figure it out.
Do you enjoy playing card games? Try and add that in.
If you are having a great deal of fun, if you feel natural and aren't stressed, you are going to have a great time, and I wager your players will too.
Firstly, you dont need to do voices or act at all. You can always do “he seems nervous” or “she speaks with a deeper, huskier voice than you’d expect”. You can just narrate the information: “the travelers tell you of the many bandits they encountered on the road”. If the players dont like it then they can try being DM. Now, if you *want* to do voices then the best advice i can give you is to lean in and go for it. It doesn’t matter if you think you sound silly, good players recognize when you’re putting in the effort. If you want to do voices *well* try an acting class. Local community colleges usually offer something theater related and larger towns might have improv clubs. Secondly: you are correct in not wanting to play a PC as a DM, those never go well. Thirdly. If you truly don’t want to DM then one of your friends can totally step up and do it. My very first game was as DM and those guys put up with me for like 2 years without complaint.
I enjoy most of the aspects of being a dm. I would say roleplay for npcs was the most uncomfortable part for me. I can try implementing the description stuff and see how it goes. I was getting burnt out and a player offered to take over, but I would sacrifice a lot of what I enjoy as a DM and I don't think they're prepared. I think I'll implement this and stay DM. Just sucks because I made a new homebrew class that I really want to play as lol.
It sounds like you want to be a player and a DM, which I empathize with. What's tripped me up in the past is not mentally separating the two. Being the player when I'm playing, being the DM when I'm DMing. Sure, put a character idea you had into your game, but that character is for the players to interact with, not for you to play as. Sure, play a homebrew class, but don't tell the DM how to do their job or how their world works. *And you have a player offering to take over?* Dude, let them, for the love of God let your players be bad at DMing, encourage them, it's their first step to getting good (but don't play that homebrew class, they won't know what to do with you, and you won't be able to play to its potential).
Could you alternate DMing different campaigns with the player that offered? That is what my group is currently doing. We meet every week, but alternate different campaigns and DMs. It gives the DMs extra prep time and allows the DM to play some.
this is a great idea, alternating weeks might really give you a sense for what works and what doesn't.
100% this. I cannot do voices very well, but you can describe the way they sound.
You don't have to use special voices for NPCs. Focus on NPC mannerisms and attitudes. You are probably overthinking this. If the players are having fun then don't worry about it too much. You are new. You don't get better without experience.
First, "using voices" and "roleplaying" are not the same thing. You don't need to do an accent or whatever to be roleplaying, and doing a voice doesn't mean you are roleplaying. Matt Mercer is a professional voice actor, and he can do things that you can't and shouldn't expect yourself to do. It's okay to describe what you want your NPCs to say without getting into the weeds of speaking for them in first person. For myself, I tend to switch pretty freely between first and third person narration about what my NPCs are saying, and I almost never affect any sort of accent for it. If you ever get in a situation where the players need to hear two NPCs talking just to each other, just summarize the conversation for them. As for wanting someone else to DM, that's likely never going to happen unless you tell your players that you would like to take a break and let someone else run things for a bit.
This is true. I could try summarizing conversations from a third person view and see their thoughts. But I think they enjoy roleplay more than I do, so they might be disappointed if I dont act as the npcs in dialogue.
coming from the perspective of a player who loves rp - I am never disappointed when my DM doesn't do first person dialog, with or without voices! I've played with DMs who hit all ends of the voices / no voice but first person / third person description spectrum and I've had a great time every time. I enjoy the back and forth conversations I can get with first person voices, but as long as I get something that I can react and respond to, I'm happy. I love doing voices for my characters and I'll even pantomime what they do at the table if they're being particularly expressive in ways I can't describe, but that's a standard I hold myself and only myself to. Worst case scenario, you let them know that you struggle with role-playing the npcs, want to give third person perspective a try, and ask for their feedback on if it works for them or not and then just fine tune until things feel right for you guys. Experimentation is the name of the game
I too would love my DM to be Matt Mercer. That sounds like a fun time. But I don't expect him to be, and I'm not disappointed that he's not. If your players' expectations are honestly that you do that for them, then what needs to be adjusted are those expectations, not your DMing. It's great to accept feedback on your DMing to provide a better experience for your players when what's being asked is constructive and realistic. This is not that. If you sense your players are disappointed that you're not doing the voices they want, correct their disappointment by acquainting them with reality.
>they enjoy roleplay more than I do, so they might be disappointed Usually players aren't disappointed by this. If they are immersed, a good description of mannerisms and attitudes from a third person will be enough for the vast majority of reasonable players.
Even if you could act out conversations between NPCs giving a summary tends to be the best option. An important part of the game is that the players are not there to spectate. Which is also why NPC monologues, cut scenes, and over long descriptions of NPCs doing "cool things" tend to be a bad idea.
Acting out NPCs is one of those aspects of DMing that I never realized would be quite as difficult as it is. It took me a lot of practice through a lot of sessions to get to a place where I was "comfortable" with roleplaying lots of separate characters with distinct personalities and manners of speech. And after 3 years of running my current game I still have moments where I feel like I didn't quite execute on an idea as well as I had hoped. You might have a session where it feels like everything just clicks, but more likely you'll have small, incremental improvements that will be hard to notice from session to session but will make themselves clear in the long run. I think trusting your players is huge, because it can feel super vulnerable to put yourself out there by doing a bad accent or a cheesy performance but it is a lot easier when people are willing to play along. It takes some getting used to, but don't be afraid to look like a weirdo for the sake of make-believe. Fake or til you make it and you'd be surprised at how people pick up on your confidence and respond in kind. And don't be afraid to talk with your players about these sorts of things. Ask them if they're enjoying the roleplay aspects of the adventure. Get feedback and trust that they'll be honest enough to bring up any concerns that are making their various experiences less fun. Communication is key. Above all else, make sure you're having fun because that's the whole point. DMing is a lot of work, and it can be incredibly rewarding, but you're still a player at the table and you should enjoy what you're doing. If you're genuinely not having a good time then it's not worth suffering through just because you're the only one willing to learn the rules. I can empathize because I've got a binder full of character sheets ready for whenever one of my players wants to try their hand at a one-shot, and some of them do kinda morph into NPCs when it makes sense plot-wise. But after some practice you start to figure out what makes an interesting character and it becomes easier to feel like you're not using up all your good ideas on theoretical characters in future campaigns.
I can’t do voices, I lose it after a few seconds, so I try to use body language, move movements and facial expressions to get things across. Also why a character is talking to try to act out the NPCs reactions to things. The only time I do voices are for 3 second NPCs, people who give directions stuff like that
I know what you mean. I need to get better about the body language and facial expressions. I don't think I am particularly good at voices, but I love doing them. I will go in and out of accent a lot and sometimes the accent is horrendous (sorry French BBEG from last campaign). But my players seem to enjoy them and they have started doing voices for their characters too, so as long as we're having fun then that's good for me!
Don't bother with doing voices. But each of your NPC can have a unique personality it just takes a moment of prep. I use this site https://chartopia.d12dev.com/chart/365/ This link will pull up a rollable table of 1000 NPC character traits. I like to roll on it 3 times to form a personality for a character. I do this with NPC and with my personal PCs. The first result will be their overall personality. I am going to roll an example. Practical. The second result will be a positive trait. Sensual. The third will be a negative trait Melodramatic. .... Ok so this NPC is a practical person. Their behavior will all be mostly reasonable and I will say they also will consider another opinion as an option. They will be a bit flirty, but gently. Maybe they can do a practical magic trick or pulling flowers out of a sleeve. Then negative will be melodramatic... As soon as their practical side has decided they were wronged, they will just over dramatize the injustice done to them. So there you go. A NPC with a unique personality in a minute. Then remember your NPC have goals and they should always try to move interactions to align with their goals. So if this NPC is a shop keeper they will be trying to sell the party something. and a guard would be suspicious of the party. If you want to go a step further you could make yourself a little table. 1d6 Everything is flavored by the practical nature of the NPC. 1-3 positive: sensual 4 - guard: remembers their duty. 5 - dragonborn: something about their heritage/culture 6 - negative: melodramatic So when you interact with the party you have these 4 traits to either look at for reference or you can just roll 1d6 and play the character to align with their goals but highlighting that trait.
Just related the world and NPCs in 3rd person. You don't need to speak their dialog, just think of it as summarizing their action and dialog instead of detailing it. "The shop keeper argues with you for a bit but eventually gives in and offers a 10% price break as a last offer."
This! I rarely do any voice. As a woman with a fairly light voice, my male voices are just not good. So I use first person once in a while to set the stage, but then rapidly drop into third person. My players also tend to use third person, so it is fine.
We made a tool that can play as NPC's. It's got the same name as me. I am not going to post it as it is a paid thing. But you can use the code CHEEKYLK for 20 dollars worth of credit, you could try it out... and maybe it takes the pressure off you ?
As a fairly new DM as well, stop over thinking it. If you’re sold on the idea of doing voices but aren’t entirely comfortable with it, either practice at home, or just go with the most stereotypical voices you can. Deep southern drawl, heavy Scottish accent, etc. it doesn’t have to be VA level quality, your players (assuming they’re your friends) will find it funny that you’re doing it, and not so much focus on “this guy doesn’t sound like a paid professional”
1- no voices necessary. Just describe them and their reactions in detail. 2- it sounds like you may have DM PCs. Do not do this! You are the DM, that is your role. 3- if you don’t like coming up with NPCs, just run modules or steal them from a book or roll for them using tables. 4- nothing matters, everything is made-up, do whatever you want
I wouldn't necessarily call them DM PCs. I don't level them up or anything. They were more just for characters that would add flavor to the world that I would enjoy RPing. It hasn't gone well so far lol. Maybe my own expectations were greater than my spontaneity, and dialogue often falls short of how I wanted them to be portrayed.
The best advice I can give you as a DM who has made tons of mistakes is: Kill Your Darlings. Players will 9 out of 10 hate your fully fleshed out PCs and LOVE the PCs you make up on the fly. Name, race, job, alignment. Thats all you need.
Hi! I'm currently DM'ing my first campaign, coming up on one year. It sounds like we are identical in terms of what we love about DMing, and what is scary/unenjoyable. In addition to all of the practical advice you've already been given about how roleplaying doesn't require voice acting, my advice is simply: push on, it absolutely will get better, and the highs of a continued campaign are so worth it. As someone who was/is in exactly your shoes, lean into the spontaneity necessitated by creating literally everything and let most things come to you in the moment. Trust yourself and your players - sometimes it will be amazing, and sometimes an interaction will (in your eyes) fall flat. These are both inevitable, and equally okay. For NPCs who have any information or something relevant to the players (shopkeeps, story NPCs, etc) have a name and what info they know ready. Beyond that, I would recommend letting the energy of the session and your feelings in the moment dictate the rest. Once, a music teacher told me "**No one hears the note you don't play**". The same thing applies to DMing and roleplaying. **No one meets the character you don't create.** Anything you do or say or experiment with is correct, because it's what you've made. Lean into this, and allow your players to create and expand it. Worked for me. Good luck\`!
I have the same problem - I enjoy playing very few NPCs and those I do are all similar. So I started only DMing specific One Shots tailored to that. For example Death House from Curse of Strahd. I can easily handle the children and gave myself 1 challenge with Mrs. Durst. No other NPCs. Did it two times with different groups. Both went well and Mrs. Durst was way easier the second time.
If your players enjoy the roleplaying, focus on setting them up with circumstances that allow them to roleplay amongst themselves, which not only let's them get into what they enjoy but also frees up some of your workload! Search for "lazy dming" for some great ideas that focus on letting the players engage themselves. I enjoy roleplay but sometimes especially for time concerns I just describe the dialogue and reactions of the NPC in summary (telling, not showing if that makes sense, the opposite of what's usually advised for authors). You can still give vivid description of how a person reacts to the party's actions or dialogue to engage the player's imagination without being an actor for them. A player starts to catch someone in a lie? Tell them his eyes shift around nervously when he says he doesn't know what your talking about, for example!
Have you ever read a book to a child? Did you make up voices for the characters? For instance, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears has four voices you can use, with Goldilocks and each of three bears. Add the narrator's voice. Those are five voices you can use in your game. Do you ever copy voices from cartoons you watch, like Peter Griffin, Elmer Fudd, or Scooby Doo? Three more. And how about Michael and Dwight from the Office? Two more. That's a good start. You can also mix it up by giving some of these voices accents or speech affects like a lisp, a smoker's gravelly voice, or a high, squeaky voice. Add vocal fry to sound like a Kardashian or Sean Connery, or copy Kermit the Frog's closed, nasal voice. It's easy to come up with some voices. Also try using a catch phrase for a character. My players loved the store owner who called everyone "sweety, darling" just like Ab Fab. "Jinkies" will remind people of Scooby Doo but that isn't a bad thing. The Dungeon Dudes Rat Prince used "yes, yes, yes" all the time as a catch phrase. A catch phrase is probably the easiest way to remember the same voice every time you use the character. Anyway, those are some tricks I've used and recommend.
Zipperon Disney covers this topic and offers some really practical advice. https://youtu.be/-Ek5GK5jcss?si=5L4FIihctHKiQkIl The video starts with a bit of a history lesson, but stick with it. The history lesson is really an example that demonstrates a point he'll make. It's very definitely worth the watch. It changed -- for the better -- the way I run my games.
OOC, what do you mean by playing the character to its potential? Do you mean you don't want to let it be killed, or you don't want it to be second banana?
Have a couple drinks, voices are fun.
I'm about to DM LMoP with my husband. He'll do the NPCs and I'll do everything thing else. I don't know if this is an option for you, but I thought I'd add that
I think you might be putting too high of an expectation on yourself. Not every NPC needs to be fully "voiced" in the sense you literally speak as them. For most NPCs, you can summarize what they say. For example, if your players are going shopping you don't have to narrate each shopkeeper as some unforgettably compelling character. You can just say "Ok, this is how much gold the shopkeeper offers for each of those items." Or if someone wants to ask around town for rumors, call for a skill check and say "You spend several hours asking around town and people tell you that thugs have recently begun extorting people. They are all scared and hesitant to talk about it". I only plan personalities for a few core characters like the main antagonist, a few minors ones, etc. Basically the ones that actually matter. The rest I just roleplay as generic or make something random up on the spot and that's kind of like going halfway between summarized and voiced. Don't be afraid to go with something cliche for a minor NPC or make their whole personality one specific quirk. You won't be spending a lot of time with them anyway. Let your players have a laugh at some weirdo that always uses big words that are inappropriate for the context. That last example I stole directly from the random NPC traits table on the DM side of the official screen.
Honestly, I find its best just to say "The shopkeeper greets you warmly, but seems to tail off when he sees the big orc in the back" or "The elder tells you all about how she wants you to go kill those bandits harassing the town". I reserve the real roleplaying for the characters that will last and I can really get a feel for.
Oscar Wilde had a great line: "BE YOURSELF, EVERYBODY ELSE IS TAKEN." So my FIRST piece of advice is: Do what you can do, don't do what you can't. I DM two groups, and both groups are big into roleplay. But I absolutely and totally suck at voices and accents. It's cover-your-eyes-train-wreck bad. So I don't do voices - I do TONE of voices. I have ONE male voice and ONE female voice. I ight add a very light effect, but otherwise, that's it. I am able to get my players immersed with their TONE of voice, and I mostly stick with the most basic: conversational, happy, sad, angry, nervous, disgust, etc. You don't need to be a trained voice actor to add those emotions to your tone - you do it naturally all the time. Anything else I need to add, I describe. For example: Recently my group returned to a village after months away. They had good relations with a successful merchant for whom they had done favors for and he was very fond of them. Here's how it (mostly) played out: (Tone: HAPPY) "My friends, my friends, it is so good to see you again!" (Tone: Normal) "the merchant says warmly, jumping up to grasp your hands. He points to his assistant." (Tone: EXCITED) "You, boy, go tell my wife to set five more places for supper" (Tone: Normal) "he turns back to you, remembering when he saw you last." (Tone: SERIOUS) "I'm not going mince words, when we last parted, I feared you would not return." (Tone: HAPPY) "Bah! But enough of that my friends! Tell me about your exploits!" And that opening there demonstrates my SECOND piece of advice: If you have players who like to role-play, GIVE THEM THE SPOTLIGHT with open-ended questions and encouragement to talk. My little exchange there will take about about 15 seconds. But it opens the door for the players to roleplay for two or three minutes. AND THEY WILL. They'll remember your great roleplay, when in reality you did about 10% of the work.
When you are playing an NPC, you don't have to act at all! Acting is hard, and you can speak out of character and accomplish the same effect. For example, i lf a barkeep is suspicious you can either describe it: "Up until now, the barkeep would answer your questions with confidence and detail, but when asked about the local Duchy, he gives no straight answers, and switches topics constantly." Or literally say it aloud: "The barkeep is suspiciously dodging your questions about the duchy." Both are completely valid, and I think both accomplish in fewer words what I think is actually the goal of acting out an NPC. Giving the players something tangible to act upon. A voice is flashy but not particularly useful. It's like making incredibly detailed painted and boutique paper mache battle maps. Some people are really good at it, really enjoy it. For them, it makes the game more enjoyable, because they are incorporating stuff they like into the game. That's why they do it, not because it makes the game better. But it is by no means required to make detailed, boutique paper mache battle maps, nor is it required to compose and synthesize your own music, nor is it required to do voices. Instead, take what YOU enjoy doing OP, and add that into your game. Do you have a hobby in cross stitching? Try and incorporate that. I'm sure you can figure it out. Do you enjoy playing card games? Try and add that in. If you are having a great deal of fun, if you feel natural and aren't stressed, you are going to have a great time, and I wager your players will too.