Recently I have become very attached to my dwarf, Eberardus Malvern. Suffice to say that he is fast becoming a main character of mine and, as a result, I’m planning to thrust him into the realm of roleplay.
Whilst contemplating his character, backstory and throwing general ideas around; the issue arose when I came to how he would sound. The general stereotype for a dwarf is to sound Scottish. Let there be no confusion, I’ve nothing against the Scots at all. However, I wanted to make my character sound slightly different and unique. I thought about the brummy (Birmingham) accent, for example. Or perhaps a mancunian (Manchester) dialect like the infamous Gene Hunt.
The big question is, am I breaking the lore by selecting a different accent for my dwarf? But this got me thinking, why is this specific to the dwarf? I am sure a human for example can have any accent the roleplayer chooses. But with that in mind, are human British accents limited to Gilneans? How would someone from Westfall sound? Is this up to the roleplayers interpretation and imagination or are there rules we must follow?
In conclusion, within the real world we obtain accents through our upbringing; influenced through our parents or the area in which we are raised. Therefore, I ask you; what is your take on accents and lore?
I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and feeling on this. Perhaps, even, give me examples of your characters and their accents?
Yo! I say; as it’s “role-play” - if you feel the accent helps you tell your characters story, the go for it! As at end of the day it’s interactive storytelling this whole Ho-hum!
Sadly my character here was made with the intent to be inspired by Glaswegian … suffice to say; I am pretty much doing it all wrong haha! Although, no I’ll-intent is made or intended Just, Morgrim is supposed to be a dark iron from deep within the mountain; hence an accent that would be heavy and hard to comprehend.
And being around 190 years, old habits are hard to change - but he is learning … slowly.
But my only question is - why would your dwarf sound the way they do? As that question gives you ground to explore IC reasons for their speech patterns / manners. Very fun way to make nuances and differences in RP imho.
Happy to meet the lad if you ever wish to test or trial ideas though, always happy to help!
I was once the menace in another community because I lead a group of Geordie-speaking Dwarves. Was splendid as our players were largely from the north of England and two of us were living around Newcastle at the time.
It started as a meme but stuck around - though at the point where people no longer comprehend the accent it returns to just that: a meme.
One thing worth mentioning is to not use accents when you are speaking in Dwarfish or when you write IC letters or books. I know Blizzard is guilty of the latter, but both practices are silly when you think about it.
Damn, one minute short on posting my accent-related peeve. Bonus points if they have different speech patterns in their native language!
Honestly, I don’t think there is any lore to break when it comes to accents. Dwarves don’t have a scottish, or irish, or british accent. They have a dwarvish accent, a fantasy amalgamation. Do whatever you feel like.
Sometimes I feel like Gilnean human rpers put on an even stronger accent than most dwarf rpers. That’s just their interpretation, I suppose, as there are clearly different accents for different human kingdoms. A person from Westfall, assuming that Stormwind has an ““american”” accent across the board, might have ye olde southern twang. But they may aswell sound like the peasants from Monty Python as far as I’m concerned.
As long as I’m not reading some incomprehensible minefield of apostrophes, I’m fairly alright with however people write their dialouge. I do think it often helps a lot to characterise their speech without having voice refs.
Is perfectly fine. Given that the human kingdoms have, to some extent, been shown to have different accents in different regions, dwarves could probably be the same.
English accents seem so far limited to Gilneans, but Kul Tiras have a more broader range of British accents.
It’s been a while since I read it, but if I don’t remember wrong, Jago in it spoke with a bit of a Southern drawl. But if not that, given the way both Anduin / Varian and other characters from Stormwind speak, it would probably be a broad range of American accents.
You should be absolutely fine to use accents! As long as it’s legible (unless you intend them to be hard to understand) and makes reasonable sense.
Dwarves with a Troll accent wpuld be iffy, for example.
As for my view of accents? I try to lightly generate them with mannerisms and how i type, more than with punctuation. Effective use of how you “talk”, be it short simple sentances, or rapid groans and grunts, grumbles and such can have an enormous effect on how an accent is percieved.
My dwarf? I tend to let his typed Dwarven accent drift, as he’d well travelled he’s used to speaking with varied peoples so his accent is light. Among Dwarves? It thickens.
Accemts are great fun to play with, and I emvy Morgrim playing with his characters thick, soot spewing dark iron accent.
Blizzard’s accents can be all over the place. Looking back to those Scarlet bosses who inexplicably speak with a strong “German” accent, despite every other Lordaeron Human speaking “American fantasy”(?).
I wouldn’t worry about it too much! And like others have said; there could be regional dialects within the realms too - just try and avoid t’kin’ l’k’ thi’ in’it.
(And if you ever try playing a Draenei please don’t du zonk. Plez. I don’t know where it came from. No Draenei lore character or any other NPC talks like that.)
My Troll uses a heavy accent like her Mother did akin to a Jamaican patois accent.
So when she be talkin’ in ‘er accen’ den tings star’ gettin’ strange and she be doin’ ‘er bes’ tah help mons undahstan’ bu’ sometimes dey no’ be able tah.
If its one you’re comfortable typing in and find natural. Like myself and the Geordie accent, which I use IC, you can quite easily make a good justification for it. Just make sure it’s something you can find natural for yourself. Nee Kul Tiran NPC talks like they from Byker like, but if ye gan in on et, ye divvent gotta worry as long as worr story for its consistent.
Every person is unique, shaped by their upbringing and surroundings and in a world as magical and diverse as WoW I see no reason why a dwarf can’t develop an accent that accords to the place they live in. I saw a Westfall dwarf rancher once, thought it was great.
But most of my dwarves maintain a vaguely Scottish accent in Common. However, when speaking Dwarvish I usually have Baradhun or Grazgha speak eloquently and without a heavy accent to compound words. Since in my opinion their language differing from Common and the way Dwarvish is pronounced is the reason for their accentuated speech.
Just go for what makes you enjoy your dwarf the most, and think up a nice reason for it!
I disagree here because everyone still has an accent when speaking their native language. The English language has American, Australian, Yorkshire, Brummy - people don’t just slip into Received Pronunciation when being monolingual.
https://youtu.be/le3cBRlWSE8
I know Scots and Dwarvish obviously aren’t the same thing, but listen to this Scottish-accented person speaking in a ‘native’ Scottish language. You can still very clearly and broadly hear their native accent, and it’s the same for any language.
Frankly I can’t do accents all to well, so when I do use them they tend to be light, a “lad” or “laddie”, or me instead of I. but speech patterns and similar is very important to me.
each of my characters have a very distinct way of greeting and saying goodbye, as well as a level of literacy.
With Thuzar I try to make him speak long sophisticated words while at the same time his sentences are broken up by an irregular raspy breath, written as * rrrrg* which interrupts normal sentence structure but has accurately conveyed to others that he isn’t a healthy and young character.
I have had someone tell me in their headcanon he sounds like Gandalf with a german accent.
My wizard has the odd och and aye, and laddie in his speach.
My druid? Rumbles a lot, as a tauren wpuld.
“Ahhh yes, hmm-hrm, indeed…”
The “hmm-hrm” comes up in every third sentence. A slow, chesty speach method.
My old orc grumbled a lot, and i strove for him to give snappy, almost mean one word answers. Made him seem mean with a throaty way of speaking.
These little nuances really do deliver on how an accent or speach pattern is percieved by others. All by presentation rather than punctuation (or lack thereof). It’s great.
Just, Morgrim is supposed to be a dark iron from deep within the mountain; hence an accent that would be heavy and hard to comprehend.
I don’t know where it came from. No Draenei lore character or any other NPC talks like that.)