There is a particular kind of player who can apparently do any accent on command. I can do a handful of voices that are passable accents, but if you put me on the spot and ask me to do a convincing South African or Liverpudlian or Malaysian accent, I’ll sound like a Midwestern American with a speech impediment. And you know what? That's OK.
Despite what you may think from Critical Role or Dimension 20, you don't need to be an actor to play an RPG (nor do you have to be good-looking, but that’s another post). We’re trying to keep track of initiative, adjudicate the rules, describe the room, remember what happened three sessions ago, and keep the adventure moving. Now we're supposed to be Meryl Streep, too? Besides, some of the most successful actors in the world have built entire careers without using different voices. Clint Eastwood is Clint Eastwood in pretty much everything. Bruce Campbell has a little more range, he’s always clearly Bruce Campbell. Harrison Ford has played a wide variety of characters, and yet Indiana Jones, Han Solo and plenty of his other characters still sound like Harrison Ford. Nobody seems to mind. So why should your players or your GM?
The trick is to stop thinking about doing an accent and start thinking about giving a character a voice. You don't have to sound French. You just have to sound different enough that everyone knows they're talking to the French guy.
Change Just One Thing: This is probably the most useful trick of all: don't try to change everything. Pick one thing and exaggerate it slightly. Maybe this character talks very slowly. Maybe they talk extremely fast. Maybe they pause before answering every question. Maybe they speak very quietly or much louder than everyone else. Maybe every sentence sounds like a question. Maybe they carefully pronounce every word. You can create a completely different character without changing your accent at all. Once you've established the voice, you don't have to work very hard to maintain it. If the bartender always talks slowly, the players will recognize him the next time he appears. If the halfling thief always talks too quickly and too much, you don't have to remind anyone who it is (I’m looking at you, Marm). The group will do the remembering for you.
That trick applies to accents, too. I've picked up the following tricks from various sources over the years, and I freely admit that they are more theatrical than accurate. That's fine. We're not trying to win an Oscar. We're trying to make the players go, "Oh! This guy's German." Sometimes that's all you need.
Just Speak Properly: Let's start with the easiest and most common one: British. You can't do British? Don't. Just speak clearly. Slow down a little. Enunciate your words. Finish your consonants. Use slightly more formal language. Instead of "Uh, I dunno," try "I'm afraid I couldn't say, old boy." Congratulations. You're British now. Well, no, you aren't. But this is one of the cool things about accents: the listener’s brains will do the work for you. You don't need to reproduce a real British accent. You need to give them enough so that they can imagine one. Of course, we’re talking posh British. For a Cockney accent, flatten your vowels and drop some consonants. Or just call everyone "guvnah." It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough for a tabletop RPG.
You can do the same thing with other accents. I've been told that hitting your consonants harder can give you a glimmer of South African. Try changing what you do with your R's. Don't pronounce them at all, pronounce them very strongly, or roll them a little. You can play with TH sounds, too. Turning some TH sounds into something closer to Z or S can give you a useful French or German flavor. None of these tricks is likely to fool even a casual listener, let alone a native speaker, but that's not the point. They’re just little bits of stagecraft that give your friends’ ears something to grab onto.
Change the Rhythm: Changing the rhythm of your speech may actually be more useful than changing individual sounds. A character who speaks very slowly feels different from one who rattles off every sentence. A southern American character can be suggested by slowing down and stretching the vowels. An Italian character can have a more musical rise and fall to the voice. An Irish character can have a noticeable bounce or lilt. A Russian or Eastern European character might speak in a more controlled, deliberate way, with hard consonants. A stereotypical New Yorker might speak quickly and forcefully. Again, these are just theatrical impressions. The important thing is that rhythm is easy to hear. You can forget exactly how you were supposed to pronounce a particular vowel. You're much less likely to forget, "Oh yeah, this guy talks really slowly."
Your Group Will Help You: Here's perhaps the biggest difference between acting and running an RPG: an actor has to convince an audience. A GM has players who, like Fox Mulder, want to believe. That's a huge advantage. If you say, "The old man speaks with a thick French accent," and then give the old man a slightly nasal version of your normal voice, your players will probably hear a French accent. They aren't sitting there scoring you. Give them something to work with and they'll fill in the rest.
You can even tell them what you're attempting. "This guy is supposed to be German. I can't actually do German, so I'm going to do this." Then do your terrible German accent. That's it. The players now know what you intended, and they'll meet you halfway. In fact, admitting the trick can make it more fun. "My character is from Scotland. I can't do Scottish, but I'm going to roll my R's and talk really fast." Now everyone knows what they're listening for, and you can stop worrying about whether you're doing it correctly.
Don’t Forget the Words: Here's a trick that has absolutely nothing to do with accents: change the words. An educated wizard might say, "I'm afraid that would be inadvisable," while the local thug might say, "That's a bad idea, mate." Even with the same accent, it sounds like a completely different person. This is where I think the idea of "doing voices" gets a little misleading. What we're really trying to do is communicate character. Sometimes the best voice for an NPC is just your normal voice with different vocabulary and attitude.
Change Your Mouth: Another useful trick is to change the physical way you speak. Try talking with your lips pushed forward. Try barely opening your mouth. Try keeping your jaw tight. Try moving your lips more than usual. Your voice will change automatically. Pitch helps, too. You don't have to become Kermit the Frog. Just move your voice a little higher or lower than normal. Maybe the ancient wizard has a surprisingly high, dry voice. Maybe the assassin speaks in a deep monotone. Maybe the enormous badass fighter has an ironically soft, gentle voice. In fact, contrasting a character's appearance and voice can be more memorable than a perfectly appropriate voice.
One Last Trick: This is actually my favorite trick and it always works for me. Try doing an impression of a particular celebrity, but don't tell anyone who you're doing. This is especially useful if you're terrible at impressions. You probably won't sound much like the intended celebrity, but you won’t sound like you. And sometimes that's all you need. You may not have successfully become Christopher Walken, but if you've accidentally created a weird little voice that isn't your normal voice, congratulations: you've succeeded.
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