Voice Acted Roleplay

[Vgirl]

Often times when I'm reading my old roleplay posts or writing new ones, I often find myself drifting in and out of the characters voice or what I imagine the character would sound like. And then I got to thinking, what if the other person/people I was roleplaying with also gave their characters voices, adding new dimensions to the character and perhaps giving a better understanding as to what the character is truly thinking or saying.

Sure I've thought about it, but I'm not too sure how it would turn out. Would the posts be read out entirely with voices added only to the dialogue or would separate files be sent for each piece of dialogue, allowing the reader to take in the story and character at their own pace and place the audio when they felt it appropriate? Would the addition of music in the background be yet another thing that could be added as if they were in a tv show or movie themselves?

And then of course there are the downsides like: would there have to be auditions? Sure in normal roleplaying you sometimes pick and choose your partners but the audition process would, depending on how particular the person was about their partner, be rather hard. Often times as the story progresses I add a voice in my head to the other characters and would that be ruined by the addition of a real voice? Or perhaps it would make me feel a greater connection to the character.

This right now is just something that I'm thinking about. I would like to hear what other people think and suggestions as to this idea. Maybe one day this will actually come to life or maybe this ship is meant to sink but I can't see either side without the help of some other creative minds.

[Wreck]

Well, I can't say I haven't thought about your idea before. It would be interesting, yes. But I'm not too sure it would work out correctly. The 'auditions' you mentioned could add another dimension to roleplays, but don't you think it would require much more time to actually post in an RP if there was the acting element introduced? And furthermore, what if you can't find the correct voice your looking for? Would you need two actors to read the dialog and the narrative? There's too many 'what-ifs' in this case. I'd rather have others imagine how my character's voice is in their head. It also gives the other roleplayers some mystery or what have you about my character, as I think having a voice actor would be a bit perfectionist.

[Vgirl]

It may take quite a while depending but I once saw a drawn roleplay interest check where it was going to be...hmm now I can't remember this correctly but I think it was a post and a drawing and it was supposed to be a post once a month kind of thing. The girl looking was also looking at the drawing styles of the interested though I'm not sure if that effected anything.

The what ifs are why I am here, asking people for their opinions and ideas.

[MissCapnCrunch]

I GM'd a voice acting like roleplay on the old guild before it got shut down. It is a lot of work, but TOTALLY a blast. It was fun to see how alive people's characters became when there was a voice behind it. (: If you were to ever create one, I'd love to join in- and i'd be more than happy to show you the tools and guidelines I used to create mine.

[Vgirl]

Wow I didn't think like anything like that has ever existed. I would actually like to know more about the roleplay that you ran and learn how to GM since I've never done it before.

[MissCapnCrunch]

Most definitely!

I'm glad I save all my stuff, I can post a little about my rp below and if you have any questions after that; just ask :D
But before I show you all that, GM'ing is a bit scary and complicated at first; but it's just being the leader and main brain of a role play.

Usually when I am GM, I try to create a world where I dont have to push people too much- but when in a rut, I move the group a long the road a bit to help them out. I've ran a few roleplays; some successful, some not very. (: But, i'm still learning, and will probably be hosting one again here real soon.

---

So my roleplay was called

Summary

Lhivoria. A kingdom of adventure, betrayal, greed, and power.
If you were not born a child of Lhivoria, you would not go out of your way to travel there. That is unless..you've came for the Labyrinth. What is so special about this Labyrinth you may ask? Over 500 years ago the kingdom's oracle that lives on top of the mountain of Basile took the first trip down the mountain since he went up to the summit over thousands of years ago. His message was spread across the nation: "In the midst of the Labyrinth there lays a stone. Upon my death, this stone will become enchanted with my powers. Powers that can bring you happiness, love, wealth, anything you truly desire." As the oracle spoke this to the king; his last visitor on the path- the king became quite invested in this idea. Taking his sword, he ran it right through the oracle, spilling his organs onto the floor of the castle. "That stone will be mine! Do not come home until you have it in your grasps!" the king declared, sending his many of noble knights into the depths of the maze.

None returned to the king, as they either never made it out of the depths and dangers, or they gave up after years of struggle. The king of Lhivoria became quite obsessed with the idea of the stone, that one day he left his pregnant wife and went to go find the stone himself. With the king's determination he finally found the stone, but died upon reaching it. As fate declared; the legend of the stone disintegrated with the king's body. It was now only a tale people told their offspring. As the rise of the new king; the great-grandchild of the king, he became quite interested in the old story and sought out to find out if the story was anything but that.

Intro

Hi everyone! I'm MissCapnCrunch, or you may refer to me as Tori if that is too much to type! This is a medieval fantasy- but what makes it different from most medieval fantasies and most roleplays you've participated on this site? Well- take a look at the title again for a moment; [VC] What could that ever mean Tori!? Well- my friend, it means that this is a [Voice Chat] active role play. Which means you will be speaking along with your writing. Whether you want to narrate your whole piece or just say your speaking parts- I'm leaving that up to you.

Do not feel obligated to learn a new trade of voice acting to participate in this roleplay. As long as you have a microphone, and a want to have some fun- then you are more than welcome to join in on this.

Equipment

The hosting program of choice we picked was [url]http://vocaroo.com/[/url] A program that we have suggested, and that I personally plan to use is [url]http://audacity.sourceforge.net/[/url] This is how you can edit your recordings and even if your voice if you'd like. Need Help? Don't hesitate to ask me or any of your fellow role players. We are here for that!

Wow! Sorry for such a long post, ahaha. But yeah (:

[Sicarius]

I dislike the idea because to me that'd limit what kind of characters I can play. I'd be restricted by my voice(which I hate, actually). Also, it'd shatter what I imagine other characters sounding like, it's somewhat a movie vs book thing. Why is the book nearly always better? Your imagination essentially makes it perfect, a voice would shatter the voice I had unconsciously given them. Also, top it off with needing to record and not everyone has the equipment or time(essentially alone time). I wouldn't want anyone hearing me talking like some of my characters do, you can write anywhere, recording voices not so much.

Overall I dislike it. I'm sure someone could be able to pull it off though I've heard many tabletop and skype rps work this way, so perhaps you should look into doing a skype call group.

Tl;dr: In short, I'm a writer not a voice actor.

[Vgirl]

Alright I understand your point. This entire site is based on written roleplay and many people feel comfortable with that and it was why they came here in the first place. Essentially people come here to write a book, using their imagination and the imagination of their partners to help it along and bring about unexpected twists.

However, I know that this type of roleplay would not be for everyone. Maybe only a select few would want to join and put in the time to play. I'm certainly not suggesting it to become the entire point of this site, it would just be for one roleplay. You may dislike your voice but others like me do not and want to bring their characters to life in a different way.

Despite my argument, I have taken your view into account and appreciate that you took the time to write your opinion. Thank you.

[StarWight]

I'd be interested too, never got involved with Tori's RP there, but it's a fun idea! Challenging to be sure, but it seems fun :)

[Vgirl]

Alright. Thanks for your input. :)

[Blondie]

If this was something that could happen I think it would be really innovative and exciting. I'd be interested in playing

[DukeJohn]

It could work really well if someone had a voice that fit their character and was a good actor. But most people aren't good actors. Lots of people think they are, but most people aren't. So like you said in the OP, you'd have to do "auditions".

[ApocalypticaGM]

Honestly, I wouldn't even just mind hearing roleplayers reading their own their posts. It doesn't bother me if someone who sounds more or less masculine reads the lines for some macho brute, nor any other variation, but I do find value in hearing how the author works with the words verbally. I think some of us taste the words as we write them and like them to fit together like ingredients in a meal. If there was a roleplay where each writer was suggested to attach an audio file of their reading, I'd go for that in a tick.

Here's a tangent too. I support anything that expands how we tell our stories. Drawing out characters and scenes, speaking out your post, obviously writing it, all of these are imaginative ways to bring the world to life. The more media to do with your story, the more likely you will tap into that something that really resonates with people. I think it gives everyone an opportunity to invest in that narrative, so hell yeah, I'd say push forward!

[Dinh AaronMk]

I did something like this once.

But it was meant something more of a riffing than anything.

[TheEvanCat]

Dinh AaronMk said
I did something like this once.

Now do PoW.

[Dinh AaronMk]

TheEvanCat said
Now do PoW.

"And then the world was fucked.

"The end."

[Disciple Cain]

I have indeed done this before. I'm pretty sure they call it tabletop role playing where I come from. Or at least I make the efforts to develop an accent and actually voice act and... everyone else just kind of talks.

Point is that I would actually love doing something like this. True, it could restrict the characters I play, but probably not too much if I train my voice properly. Sounds like a fun challenge...

[CupcakePuppy]

You could have the people doing the roleplaying, but then you would have to put it into a script form, perhaps have a narrator for scene changes and to help describe some of the action. But you would need voice actors with decent mics (the ones that you use to play WoW or for skype are not good enough, sorry), sound effects, background music, mixing equipment, etc.

I have done and mixed audio productions before in the past as well as fandubs, demo reels, etc. Same with the voice acting thing. I still do it on a rare occasion. Your best bet would be to let the roleplayers handle the writing/roleplaying and if they have an interest in acting their character (assuming it fits) or another one, give them a chance if they are a good fit. Otherwise I might suggest going somewhere like the Voice Acting Alliance forum which has a lot of people that do this for a hobby and they have tutorials and the like to help you out.

I guess I can be a source as well since I been doing it on and off now for 15 years. Yes, that long. Just seems like yesterday too....

*departs for a trip down memory lane*

[Lanre]

I can agree with what ShonHarris said, I do like just hearing people read. It's one of the reasons I like audio books. I'd be more interested in how into it the person gets instead of how fitting their voice is. That said I utterly despise the way my voice sounds when recorded. So while I'm definitely interested I'm not sure if I'd actually be up for joining. Nevertheless, if something like this does start up I'd give it a look-through at least.

[Wayne]

I've got a voice acting studio set up, so I'm game for a voice acting RP.