How tones do your characters express?

[Kupotepo]

Hello, my friends and acquaintances. I wish you stay safe and well.
Do you create accents in the dialogues? I do not know-how. How much is being offensive?
How about you tone commoner vs. royalty?
Do you have a dragon race or a wolf race speaking unintelligent sound?
I think it is subtle but, I do not know how to execute.
Do you think it important for immersion? Or just use Standard English.
How the level of education? Are educated characters use different vocabularies than uneducated characters in your RPG world? Is it too cumbersome for a pc? [I am happy with satisfied with this question.]
Would you please give me examples of your explanation and go into a little more detail. Thank you
I ask before the finalized approach. Thank you for your time.

Thank you and you all have a good day. [Sorry anyone for the wild goose chase. if questions are unclear, please tell me.] I understand what I talking about it doesn't people understand what I talking about. Sorry for the difficulty.

 

[ScorchedGround]

I don't particularly give anyone accents. I just make their dialogues dependent on their personalites and occupations.
But obviously royalty talks differently than a farmer so that should be fine.
Letting characters talk in different manners is definitely important for immersion, because it distinguishes and builds up characters.

 

[Kupotepo]

@ScorchedGround, thank you. Would you please give me examples of your explanation and go into a little more detail. Thank you, I am not experienced in writing a script. Experience writers probably laughed at me by now.

 

[ScorchedGround]

I'm not sure what you mean by examples. Each character should have a distinct personality so
you as the player can understand how their mind works and how they perceive the world.

Let me try this:

Imagine the characters are exploring a dungeon, when suddenly a horde of skeletons
appears and block the way.

Now the character could react in different ways:

#1 : "Oh my god do you see this? There must a dozen of them! Can we run?
We should run while we still can!"

#2: "Hmm... this situation is looking pretty grim. We should probably retreat
and come back later when we are prepared."

#3: "Look at these brainless fools. They think they can take me on.
Let 'em taste some my steel!"

The most important thing when it comes to creating characters is consistency and growth.
Basically; don't suddenly change their behavior for no reason. And if you do, do it slowly and coherently
to create character growth.

 

[KoalaFrenzy]

Personally, I dislike reading characters where the author tries to pull in a strong "accent."

As an example, in the Trails of Cold Steel series, there's a character named Becky, who has a Kansai dialect in the Japanese version. The English localization team decided to turn this into a Glaswegian Scottish accent.

The result? "Here, ye know that massive corporation Kleist & Co.? Well, this wea bam's fae there!"

I haven't ever lived in Scotland, so when I read this, I have to read it multiple times to figure out what the heck "wea bam's fae" is supposed to mean. Rather than adding immersion, it takes you out of it.

Similarly, I find things like "thou" and "verily" annoying. It's generally best, imo, to have speech limited to "informal" speech and "proper" speech in readable English.

 

[Kupotepo]

@ScorchedGround, sorry I did not complete the sentences. I ask for examples of your explanation. I have an easier time digesting tangible [I can see] concepts more than intangible concepts. I appreciate your dedication. I see the reaction base on a different personality. How the level of education? Are educated characters use different vocabularies than uneducated characters in your RPG world?
@KoalaFrenzy, I see. Thank you. You will laugh. I watch the Chewbacca sounding in Star Wars.

[Below comment]
@ScorchedGround, thank you I get it now. I agree that people use synonyms to convey more subtle. It is funny that you bring up that educated people use curse words always the time. I am more concerned about direct and indirect convey dialogues.

 

[ScorchedGround]

In my game, some of the educated people use slightly different vocabulary, yes.
I mostly change the adjectives and adverbs they use. (ex. ugly -> filthy, enough -> sufficient)

For example, instead of saying "well done" they say "splendid work".
Insead of saying "kill them all" they say "dispose of them".
Insead of saying "pretty girl" they say "attractive lady".

But that's for you to decide. They don't necessarily need to speak differently because they
are educated, but it can also serve as a character distinction.

I mean, in the real world there are a lot of educated people that use profane language regularly.

 

[Wavelength]

I do think that it's really important to give your characters all a different "voice" (not meaning actual Voice Acting, but meaning that they each have a different way of expressing their thoughts - sometimes this is called "diction"). As a player, when I hear characters all using a very similar "voice", I feel more like I am listening to a single writer, instead of listening to a cast of people - and that's true even if the characters have different personalities and motivations.

It's the difference between okay writing and good writing.

I wouldn't recommend actually muddling the words, as @KoalaFrenzy warns. If you do have voice acting, you can have the voice actor use the accent, but be sure that the written text and can be read and parsed easily. (A few affects, like schoolin' rather than schooling for a country boy, or ain't rather than isn't, can be fine, though.)

Word choice and sentence structure are really important for making your characters sound different, and driving home that they really are different people. Take for example the different ways that someone might express the same exact sentiment of apology after a misunderstanding:

• (Formal upbringing/environment, Humble) "Please accept my apologies for my boorish behavior!"
• (Common, Well educated) "Sorry about that, my friend."
• (Urban, Young, Tough environment) "Yeah, my bad!"

It's fine to decide that someone's diction might not quite match what would be expected from the upbringing, usual environment, or even personality (be careful on this last one though, it can send mixed messages unless you do it well), especially if your setting is a modern, well-connected world. For example, a prince could talk in a plain and straightforward way, or (if he's been sneaking away often to hang with friends from the slums) could even use a lot of disrespectful slang. The important thing is that you pick a way of speaking for each character, keep it consistent for that character, and make sure it's different from other characters' ways of speaking.

People in the same family will usually use similar diction.

Diction can also reveal a lot of other things besides a character's upbringing and environment. Knowledge is one thing - for example, a character who knows technology well might refer to another character writing "code" at a "terminal", whereas a tech-ignorant character would call it "babble" at a "machine"; a character who's familiar with cold weather would know the world "blizzard" but someone who's not would be more likely to call it a "snowstorm".
Outlook is another - let's say two characters walk into a bakery and they both find the scent really pleasant. An optimistic character who sees excitement and romance in everything would be delighted by the "aroma", whereas a more grounded, cynical character who's hard to excite would say they like the "smell". Same reaction, different way of expressing it.

 

[Kupotepo]

@Wavelength, thank you very much for your information.
You are bringing up an interesting point. That is a professional and specialized job have their own technical words.
Another thing, you point out which it in my mind too.
Thanks for showing me how to professionally use of diction properly.
The psychology personality test and how people react based on bring optimistic or cynical. However, if a person is being cynical often, it could led to corrosive cynical. Then, it could finally let to depression or insanity. Optimistic is a happy outlook of the world and it is great to be happy if they can all the time. But too of that a person could be manipulate by others or be gullible which might led to happiness or death. I think ordinary people have mixed attitudes depending on a situation to balance their mind between naive and madness.

For example, a prince could talk in a plain and straightforward way, or (if he's been sneaking away often to hang with friends from the slums)

That is reminding me of Noctis Lucis Caelum that what him literally doing.

@Wavelength, I have questions about slang. Isn't slang is local word? Do you think it confused people who didn't live their? Thank you for answering questions.

@Slimmmeske2, would you like to add something? Most people here is older than me. Most of you experience the world more than me for sure. Thank you.

 

[Wavelength]

@Wavelength, thank you very much for your information.
Thanks for showing me how to professionally use of diction properly.
The personality test and how people react based on bring optimistic or cynical. However, if a person is being cynical often, it could led to corrosive cynical. Then, it could finally let to depression or insanity.
(...) I think ordinary people have mixed attitudes depending on a situation to balance their mind between naive and madness.

You're very welcome! I'm certainly no master of writing dialogue. But I thought I'd point out a few things that I've noticed games (and books) get right or wrong with diction.

As to people's attitudes and outlooks changing depending on their personal circumstances, that's absolutely true. The most well-rounded characters are the ones that you get to see in both their shining moments and their insecure ones, and who feel believable in both. They are going to be happy and engaging sometimes; they are going to be angry or neurotic sometimes. However, what's interesting is that their manner of speaking actually shouldn't change too much between these times. That's why I pointed to word choice - a character who's used to thinking in kind, romantic, quixotic ways would think of a word like "aroma" often enough that it just becomes second-nature to them, so even if they've been in a dark mood lately (because, say, their love interest was kidnapped last month), it's still a word they might use to describe a nice smell from a bakery they pass. A more practical, earthy character, perhaps one who considers their sense of smell to be a survival tool (think a miner or a steampunk mechanic), wouldn't have the word "aroma" anywhere near the top of their mind - so even if that bakery scent is making them feel amazingly happy, they'd probably call it "a really nice smell" as to the romantic's description of "such a delightful aroma".

That's the type of subtle voice that I think doesn't change throughout a story, even while character's outlooks should and often do change.

@Wavelength, I have questions about slang. Isn't slang is local word? Do you think it confused people who didn't live their? Thank you for answering questions.

Yes, but - maybe because using such local-isms could confuse or accidentally insult people who don't understand the meaning well - heavy amounts of slang tend to be found exclusively in very informal conversations, or in places (like ghettos) where people have not have the opportunity to become either worldly or educated. You won't find royalty using a lot of slang, even their local slang.

A lot of slang also tends to describe people (and the things that certain types of people do), which makes it... very good for being crass or for slinging insults. In the real world, as well as in fantasy worlds where you might make up your own slang, even people who don't totally understand the full connotation of a slang phrase will kind of "get the point" of it.

Imagine a steampunk world where I'm competing in a mech battle race against other teams, and I turn to the rest of my team, gesture at another team, and dismissively say:
"When we race tomorrow, those rubber-eatin' frumballs won't even know what left their cronker in the dust!"
and then the rest of my team snickers.
You get the gist, right? And within that, I used an English idiom, an idiom I made up, and two completely made-up words.

 

[Kupotepo]

@Wavelength, I am truly appreciative of your time. Thank you. I see your point that fantasy world slang is ok to use.

 

[mlogan]

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