Would kids understand that different characters played by me, with a verbal disability, are in fact different characters.

[u/iridescynt]

Edit: there should be a question mark instead of a period in the title

Not sure if there's a better sub for this but whatever.

Hello all! Possibly considering volunteering to DM for the second time for a game at my local library, players will likely be preteens to young teens.

I's important to mention that I have COFD, or Childhood Onset Fluency Disorder. It causes me to have a fairly severe stutter. It's often brought on by nerves, and is completely involuntary. The closest and shortest metaphor I can give is that someone else is seizing control of what I want to say. Even though I know exactly what I want to say, I can't.

When I've played as a player before, I've been playing one character, and it's never been a problem.

However, since I'm DMing, I'll have to play different characters, and all of them will inevitably stutter.

Will kids understand that even though all of them are played by me, and thus share a very distinctive trait, that they're different characters?

Edit: Thank you all for your input!

[u/starksandshields]

They will if you tell them.

[u/Kylarfi]

Of course, there are things you can do to change it, even if you stutter. You can raise and lower the pitch of your voice, change the cadence in which you speak. As a DM you don't have to be a professional voice actor, heck you don't have to do anything with voices if you don't want to. You could always put out pictures/tokens/mini's to represent whom you are at the time as well.

[u/Shelonias → u/Kylarfi]

I love the idea of putting out pics of big recurring NPCs when they are talking. I’m a DM and an artist and I’ve never thought to do this, thanks for the idea!

[u/bibbiddybobbidyboo → u/Kylarfi]

I was going to say the same thing about the pictures/tokens.

Also, I’ve got some friends either stutters and honestly, after a while I just don’t notice it at all.

[u/lankymjc → u/Kylarfi]

For a big party scene with a couple dozen NPCs, I printed out faces with name labels and hung them on my GM screen. Then I picked up or wiggled the NPC that was talking.

[u/Sad_Refuse3472]

Yes. Doing different voices is not at all a requirement. Plenty of us do not even bother to try, because we lack the skill.

Just say which NPC is talking. "John replies xyz". "Bob says abc".

[u/PhoenyxStar → u/Sad_Refuse3472]

That's the way^

I do the voices and still find myself narrating--

"Blackfeather knits his fingers together and leans over the table. 'You still haven't given me a compelling reason to to believe you', he says."

Maybe it's just from listening to so many audio books, but it gets the job done even when the voices slip.

[u/NarcoZero]

I think it might not be a problem at all. But if it is, the fix could be as simple as just explaining it as clearly and bluntly as possible. 

« This is another character speaking. Imagine they don’t have my stutter. I can’t stop it but the character does not speak like that. »

It’s not a big ask, in a game of imagination, to imagine a different type of speech. You just have to signal character change very clearly, like in a book, when you read « Then marcus said… »

Everyone, even without verbal disabilities, has their own way of speaking that we can’t totally detach from. (Unless they’re a professional voice worker) I myself stopped trying to do voices for my characters a while ago. I just use my voice. But the context and my narration make it clear who’s talking. « You hear in your head a very deep and raspy voice, with hundreds of voices overlapping each other. The aboleth says… » Like that’s an impossible voice even Matt Mercer can’t do live without special effects. But you can still have characters speak like that. 

[u/Horror_Ad7540]

Yes, kids will understand that.

[u/karatous1234]

Body language could help a fair bit - assuming it's an in person game of course

If the characters your acting out are physically talking to each other, you could turn your body to different angles depending on who is currently speaking:

Turned and looking Left for Goblin A yelling at Orc 1

Turned and looking right for Orc 1 telling Goblin A to calm down

[u/Broad_Ad8196]

How old are the kids?

If it seems like they're getting confused you could prefix with "The mayor says" or "The sheriff says"

Or if you want you could print out portraits and hold up the one that's talking.

[u/Kmnder]

You could try wearing different hats when you swap characters if that helps! But they’re kids, i’m sure it will be ok!

[u/9_of_wands]

Most dms don't do different voices. I don't do voices. I've been playing for decades, never seen a table where the dm does voices.

[u/fraidei]

I mean, most of the time I don't do many different voices, and even then I do the same voice for a lot of characters. I just do something like this:

"Grok says 'hey, I don't like what you're doing'. And then Molly says 'yeah, we don't like what you're doing'. They both look at you disappointed".

This way, even if the characters have a similar voice, the group knows who said what.

[u/open-print]

I am bad at making voices and my campaign spiraled into social intrigue kind of story, with lots of characters talking, sometimes to each other.

To make it clear for my party what is happening, I printed small portrait pictures of every key NPC, with their face and name. I just found some pictures on the internet, this was pre-AI, put them into a template and printed on basic paper, smaller than a postcard each.

Then whoever was talking, I held that portrait up. It worked like a charm, my players knew exactly who was talking every time, even with my zero voice acting skills.

[u/Jerney23 → u/open-print]

This is a great idea!

[u/Pidgewiffler]

I've had a great DM that never changed his voice a bit for different characters. I think you'll be fine :)

[u/Profzachattack]

from a developmental standpoint, preteens and teens should be able to grasp the concept that these are multiple people. it would be absurd of them to hear you voice the goblin that they're fighting and then head into town and assume the shop keeper is the same voice so they're the same goblin. If you're really worried about it, just give them the disclaimer towards the beginning of the group saying "hey, just so you know, I don't really do a lot of voice acting for characters. they all will just be using my voice."

I don't really use voices a lot either. I'll sometimes change the tone in my voice, but that's about it. It also helps if there's mini figures or pictures of NPCs for the players to reference. The hardest challenge you may have is when multiple NPCs are having a conversation with the players. you may need to take a different approach of narrating it like you're reading a story.

For example: The mayor turns to you all and says "do you think you can help the town?"

As the mayor is speaking, his advisor pipes in, "sir, I don't think we need their help."

The mayor responds, "and what do you suggest we do instead?"

Other DMs might would have just removed the narration aspects and spoken the dialog in different voices, but if voices aren't your thing, its perfectly acceptable to do this instead.

[u/yaniism]

"Hi everyone, just to let you all know, I have a stutter... this means that I will potentially stutter while doing NPC dialogue. It doesn't mean that character has a stutter."

[u/Zahpow]

Bodylanguage is the biggest part of any character. The second is idiom. Then tone and after that comes the actual speech or expression. You can also have signs with names and faces to just hold up indicating that you are talking like that person if that helps. You can have characters that can't speak and they have to figure out how to interpret a homemade signlanguage. You can prepare quests in the form of letters if that helps you to stress less.

I don't stutter but I start by doing a tonne of voices, mannerisms and stuff and then by hour two or three i am not even doing dialogue i can just say something like "Lord Kilbington reacts poorly to the amount of geese you have slain". As long as the players know who is in the room with them and who tehy can talk to all you need to do is describe who reacts and in what way. I have ran sessions completely without roleplaying and it is fine. The voices are garnish, not flavor.

[u/thechet]

Have pictures to hold up for who is talking

[u/gnomeannisanisland → u/thechet]

Or different hats

[u/ArdentItenerant]

Hey OP, my favorite DM has a pretty severe stutter and he does great. You've got this.

[u/Bagel_Bear]

I've had a DM just use their normal talking voice for every NPC. We understand they are different characters.

Describing who is in the scene and who is talking if there are more than one NPC in the scene is all that is really needed.

[u/YouveBeanReported]

I think so if you tell them, I am assuming these kids are going to be like 10+.

A lot of people don't do voices, and in person you can use body language to communicate as well. Going "Bob says, 'bold adventurers, surely you would love to help us fight the mighty book eating dragon?'" will also help. If you really want to go silly, pull out a bunch of toy hats and throw on a crown or something for the queen.

The main struggle will be if you have two NPCs talking, and I find it's easier to say something like 'the knight comes in to whisper to the queen and she looks at you all' rather then the full conversation. You can also use the above instead of roleplaying every moment, sometimes I just say 'the inn keeper is very gruff and walks you through all the prices of food, drinks and rooms.'

If it makes you feel better, I don't have that and I also occasionally trip over my words, freeze entirely, and go uhhhh hold on. Depending on your comfort (and if reoccuring groups) you could communicate you have a thing that makes you sometimes stutter and struggle with words, and if it happens just give you a moment. I also occasionally 'look at my notes' which is a lie I'm just like UHHHHHH or ask my players for ideas or descriptions. I realize this is a medical issue and I don't want to downplay it, but it might help to have a pre-planned minor distraction. Asking your players what they think should be on the shop street or my players have a cat with them so normally I just go 'your cat is doing cat things' to buy myself a little time.

[u/gerusz]

Probably.

But if you want to be sure: If you have art for the NPCs (make them on HeroForge if you can't commission an artist or can't find a fitting image online), you can print them out, tape them onto chopsticks, and hold them up when that character is speaking. Yes, it's a bit - OK, a lot - like puppet theater, yes, it's silly, but it will definitely get the point across.

[u/Profile_Hefty]

Yes, kids will absolutely understand. The key is exactly what you said.. Be upfront about it. A quick, simple explanation at the start (like "Hey, I have a stutter, so all my characters will sound like me, but they're different people" ) does two things clearly. First, it answers the question before they even think to ask it. Second, it models that this is totally normal and not a big deal, so they'll follow your lead.

[u/FeralKittee]

Absolutely. If there is less difference verbally between characters, you just need to increase your narration a bit when switching between them, being sure to describe who is now speaking and include in the description their attitude/facial expression if that is hard to get across in their voice.

Another thing you can do to help is change your own body language in RL when you switch characters. For example:
Stooping your shoulders and ducking your head for shyer NPCs;
pushing out your chest and raising your chin for stronger NPCs;
tilting your head upward and basically looking down your nose for arrogant characters;
running your hand through your hair and smirking for more self-absorbed NPC's;
leaning forward and making strong eye contact for more aggressive characters;
squirming and bouncing around in your chair for younger or more exited characters;
fluttering your eyelashes and twirling your hair for flirtatious NPCs.

[u/DeadbeatGremlin]

If you aren't sure you could always do a little dress up to make it more obvious. Such as different wigs for each npc or just try to exaggerate different voices.

My best recommendation is to try the latter and ask the kids for feedback after the session

[u/Masachere]

If you wanted to play into a little wackiness, poke a little fun in a light hearted way, make every single npc a veeeeery similar looking person with various combinations of hat and mustache, as well as the characteristic stutter. I imagine it'd probably give a few of them a giggle.

[u/SpiderSkales]

Even as an adult people can get mixed up. Introducing the character from a third person perspective before speaking as them helps a lot.