It is known that some of us enjoy giving our characters voices. To imagine them narrated by some high-end voice actor or some no-name vtuber from the depths of an obscure streaming site.
That often-ignored tab of TRP3, the Voice Reference.
Do you have a specific voice in mind when you write your character? Why did you choose THAT voice, over any other potential tones? Any specific dialogue from that voice that you see your character pronouncing?
Gar’than Corpseburner, voiced by Lenval Brown.
The narrator of Disco Elysium / Sisyphus in Ultrakill.
Why did I choose this voice? It’s deep. Gravelly. An accent that’s not often associated with an orc. And it has that oomph and ennunciation I like to convey in his dialogue.
" A visitor ? Hm… Indeed. I have slept long enough. The kingdom of Heaven has long since forgotten my name. And I am EAGER to make them remember. The blood of Minos stains your hands… And I must admit, I’m curious about your skills, Weapon.
And so, before I tear down the cities and CRUSH the armies of Heaven… You shall do as an appetizer.
Come forth, child of Man. And, DIE. "
Why did you choose THAT voice, over any other potential tones?
Calorfax is a bloated, stitched abomination of a Death Knight, covered in writhing mouths, weeping and whispering faces, chittering teeth and black, oozing sores, boils and warts underneath gilded layers of calloused filth, fungus, and necrotic parasites. There’s a sense of humour that comes from the contrast with his loud, boisterous, jolly personality. He always looks on the bright side of death.
Any specific dialogue from that voice that you see your character pronouncing?
“Hello, my dame! I am Count Calorfax, Knight of the Ebon Blade! Ohohoho- terribly good day, isn’t it? Oh! Do watch the drool- really, watch it! It’ll burn your skin right off…hoh-oh…TALLY HO!”
This specific thing is a huge brainbug of mine. Even if a character is very tertiary, I like associating a voice of my own choice to them, so this list for me is vast, to the point where I even made a video reel of voice claims for all my main, secondary AND even tertiary characters.
For the sake of staying consistent I’ll just add my main, Zuukas voice claim here, who is Cindy Robinson. You might’ve heard her as Detective Anaya from Mass Effect, or a plethora of other supporting voices in games like New Vegas or Guild Wars 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaHvDR8Vdi8
(If I mentioned all the rest I’d run out of room to type.)
Viggo Mortensen, Aragorn. Just because he’s not only a good guy, but a very cool good guy. And because I think the voice fits, since in a way him and Des are the same. Both good men that are just trying to do their best for those around them.
It’s also for this reason I have Des swear as little as possible, because let’s be honest, a swearing Aragorn would break immersion even faster than ten Stormwind Giant Growth Drachtyr together.
As for the moment in which I envision their voices to be most alike, it’d have to be this:
After year of roleplaying, i come to conclusion that describing in “Voice Reference” note how voice is sound like works for me better than name of actor/character there.
Something like: “Nasal voice” or “Young, excited voice”
Simply because i, myself, do not bother to google what character’s voice reference is during RP conversation, and i do not want to force it on other people either.
Distantpeak’a voice reference is a Thunder Bluff brave.
You know the ones with the deep, slightly gravelly voice that’s still gentle? That’s the voice.
John Shaft - Samuel L Jackson, Richard Roundtree or hell, even Isaac Hayes. Take your pick.
A little seriously though, I don’t care who you pick for your voice actors. I aint got the time to look up your choice, find a voice clip of them or their character and then try to imagine every word you type in that voice. Voice “claims” (and I really cringe at the word claim) are for you and you alone, I don’t see the point of using TRP to display it.
