Not sure how this site feels about links but here are some sites that are helpful and fun for role-playing purposes. These are not cannon canon chiseled in stone or anything, just fun places I found that some might like and use.

(Click links below) Speak like a Dwarf Elvish Elf name generator Drow Dark tongue of Mordor (Orcish)

Usstan kestal nindol zhah naut biu priqual, ka ji fridj elgg nindol post... RIP

I vastly prefer sprinkling a few dwarven or elvish words into your dialog rather than the HORRIBLE "dwarven accent" which is done with no consistency, rhyme or reason, and generally is nothing more than a slaughtered effort to make a Scottish accent in a world that has no Scots.

What do you mean slaughtered Dwarvish accents? I always imagine the shorter folk and their beards to look and sound just like Sean Connery - just a bit shorter. Now that's one dead sexy race of people!

PD

9lives TASTE ME AXE

TASE MOI STEEL YEH FECKIN IGET!

Dr Dragon TASE MOI STEEL YEH FECKIN IGET!

See slaughtered.

Sean Connery doesn't speak like that at all.

No but i can assure you that the neds in govan speak just like that, i know i am scottish. Sean Connery is from Edingburgh and as far as i am concerned has not been Scottish for years.

Away an bile yer heed ye tatty bogle.

Oro,

Why does a main character in the Lord of the Rings trilogy speak with such an accent?

There aren't scots in Middle Earth either, but that didn't stop Peter Jackson from having Gimli speak that way. I think its entertaining.

And doesn't Bruenor Battlehammer, arguably the most famous dwarf in the genre speak that way?

Personally I don't have my character speak that way, but she lived in Sanctuary for over sixty years, so it faded - at least that's how I'm RPing it.

On a side note...

I understand that there is a segment of the player base that seem to hate dwarves. Negative comments about dwarves have popped up repeatedly about dwarves in the two-plus years I've been here. Many players and maybe even DMs think they have too many bonuses, are always min/maxxed, and are usually blatant powerbuilds. And where there is smoke, there is fire. I get that.

But explain something to me. It's ok if a half-orc has a STR of 20 and RPed as dumb as hell, or a halfling has a DEX of 20 and is annoying, but dwarves with axes that say "aye" suck?

Some people just enjoy playing them. It's a classic element of any fantasy setting. There is great comedic potential in a well-played dwarf. The stereotypical dwarf is Archie Bunker, Sipowitz from NYPD Blue and Bruce Willis' character in the Die Hard series. Full of piss, vinegar and character.

And Helkesst's dwarf bard was one of the most entertaining characters I've seen on the server. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud from things he did or said, and he's missed terribly here.

In my opinion, the RP is very good in our faction, and we are exploring the culture and heritage of an interesting race quite thoroughly in the EfU setting. Much RP occurs about what a "proper dwarf" would do. And to my knowledge, we don't have any fighter/rogues with 18 STR/ 20 CON/toughness feat/KD/maxxed taunt/sneak attack pwning every PC that looks at them funny, and exploiting the mechanical advantages of the build.

This rant may sound overly defensive, but I think players who interact with our faction can attest that our dwarves spend quite a bit of time engaging in good RP - and more importantly - have fun RPing with us.

I guess I'm just trying to suggest that there's a lot more than "aye, give me an ale, laddie" behind our dwarves, and hopefully it has added some flavor to the EfU setting for others in addition to being a lot of fun for us.

Nobody likes a dwarf until they need a frontliner. :lol:

Coincidentally, I think that was very well said Gwydion. I have a lot of fun in the Mithrilsouls and are currently engaging in positive interactions with other characters and groups that have nothing to do with hitting up trolls every reset, which to me is extremely exciting. To be perfectly honest, this is the most fun I've ever had on EFU.

So, I guess that means there's only one thing left to say...

TASTE ME AXE YE' BUGGA'S!

Peter Jackson is HARDLY an expert or authority on the existence of Scottish dwarves. That is the most bizarre reasoning I've ever heard.

But you ask, so let me answer. 1) Tolkien sought to create an epic myth for the English people. To accomplish this, he used languages based on variants of those the English people have within their boundaries or have come into contact with. Hence, his characters *would* have accents similar to the real world because Tolkien sought to create a mythological history for the real world.

The Forgotten Realms are not the mythic past of England. There is no logical reason to stuff a Scottish accent into them.

Now that you know a little more, stuff the Peter Jackson argument because the day I use him as an expert to understand even what Tolkien's world was suppose to look like, let alone what Ed Greenwood was imagining when he created the Forgotten Realms is the day I take a flying leap onto a cactus in the nude. :roll: :roll:

That said, I hate the way most the non-human races are played. Far too often they're just blanket stereotypes without any real thought put into them to create depth. They *are* just chosen for the stats far too often.

How many players really sit down and consider what an elf, facing six or seven centuries trapped in the Underdark would really act like. What about a dwarf cut off and trapped from a real clan? The aching sense of separation due to loss of kin and hearth? What about gnomes who are spiritually in tuned to living plants and gentle forest animals, whose first friends were mice or chipmunks?

I think most the complaints that you hear Gwydion comes from a combination of min/max builds and a lack of creative energy in creating a character concept.

Oroborous I think most the complaints that you hear Gwydion comes from a combination of min/max builds and a lack of creative energy in creating a character concept.

First of all, just to note, While I lack the skill at typing in a accent to play one, I have enjoyed a majority of the Dwarven playerbase on EfU. Unlike Oro, I quite like the accent.

But, I have to agree with him here. Just like clerics and paladins are almost always personality and weakness lacking copies of their god, the other races then human and half-elf do tend to be played as their stereotype. Halflings are almost always ADD rogues, Dwarfs Scottish fighters, Elfs noble wizards, Gnomes comical wizards.

Id personally love to see a Dwarf Spellguard or a moronic CE gnome.

Oroborous Peter Jackson is HARDLY an expert or authority on the existence of Scottish dwarves.

Dwarven accents sounding scottish makes as much sense as common being equivalent to the english language. In both cases (dwarven-scottish accent, common-english), there is a logic, basically one of convenience. It's a completely arbitrary one, but a logic nonetheless to draw analogous parallels that we as non-Faerunians can can understand, i.e. dwarves speak common with a different accent.

As for uncreative non-human races. I think it's a symptom of these races specifically not being humans. We all know what it's like to be human and how varied our personalities and outlooks on life can be and such. But dwarves, elves, halflings are fantasy creatures defined, essentially, but some author. People stick to the stereotypes because they think it's what defines those races to begin with.

Oro,

I know that you are EXTREMELY well versed in canon and history of all things AD&D and FR, so I value your input highly. But I notice you failed to mention that that is exactly how Bruenor Battlehammer speaks in the widely spread series of fantasy books, which happen to be set in the same FR background as EfU.

It's not a bizarre argument I make at all. Millions of fantasy enthusiasts have seen Gimli in the trilogy or read Salvatore's Icewind Dale series, thus making him the blueprint of what a dwarf is all about. Why is is ridiculous to pattern your language pattern off of that?

Are you really telling me to stuff my argument because you don't understand it? Obviously I didn't state it clearly enough, and hopefully I took care of that for you.

Now you may feel that Peter Jackson and R. A. Salvatore don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, and you might be right. I don't know. Haven't studied it that thoroughly.

But I do know that many enthusiasts have seen dwarves portrayed with that accent in those two media, and as a result bring that conception to their RP efforts.

And btw Oro, don't you play a low INT half-orc fighter now? I must not have RPed with the character enough yet to see the depth and creativity behind the concept, because it seemed pretty stereotypical to me.

Perhaps people have to RP a bit more with your character to find out that it's not a typical stereotype? Hmmmm

The stereotypical stuff about dwarves is what a player might use as a guideline when roleplaying their character; conservative, a little greedy, the accent, etc. In some sense one could look at it as a crutch, but I don't see that way. These are fun things that can give players an immediate sense of place in a setting, and can be used as building blocks for very original and exciting characters.

I see only one difference between someone using the standard set of dwarf character traits and a human cultist. The human cultist has selected a Faerunian god and based off of that, pretty much everything they say, do, and feel is going to be predictable, and yet some of these players are heralded as the best in the history of the server. In both cases, the players are using guidelines, the only difference being one is using some aspect of FR as a guideline while the other is relying on fantasy standards. Favoring one over the other is just being elitist, because it requires one to utter something as moronic as "Tolkien sux" or "Greenwood/Salvatore/whoever else writes FR sux."

Personally, I respect the FR setting as the background of the server, but that's about where it ends. I will not study and memorize the setting, nor will I accept Ed Greenwood as my god and personal savior. I will, however, continue to use the "Scottish" accent when playing my dwarf. As anyone could easily come to the conclusion that dwarves encountering each other in the Underdark would all have varied accents based on their background, education, and original clan, I encourage players to use or not use the accent as they see fit.

Scottish accents on dwarves are stupid.

Now Scottish accents on raging humanoid barbarians seeking to regain control of their land from the evil empire which has wrongfully taken it from them? Genius.

This is kinda of a weird debate... i mean this is a fantasy setting, and unless you smoke a lot of strange mushrooms, you won't know how such and such language is spoken. No matter how many dictonaries of dwarven, elf or whatever language you can find in bookstores, it's just, you know, fake? Even if you have the basics of a language, pronounciation varies in time and from place to place. Try learning "school" english and spend a day in Liverpool... Learn any foreign language, and try it in the field... Not even mentionning the fact that languages in ADD seem to be based on racial standards, and not on cultural ones... So how about letting people RP how they see fit until DM sees it fit to pop in? I'm rather more concerned with: 1/ people starting to "speak" elvish and that my PC (elvish) doesn't understand what's going on... Luckily, EfU seems immune to that kinda stuff. :) 2/ people putting more effort in fantasy language studies than in RL school. Anyone concerned? :wink:

Gwydion Oro,

I know that you are EXTREMELY well versed in canon and history of all things AD&D and FR, so I value your input highly. But I notice you failed to mention that that is exactly how Bruenor Battlehammer speaks in the widely spread series of fantasy books, which happen to be set in the same FR background as EfU.

It's not a bizarre argument I make at all. Millions of fantasy enthusiasts have seen Gimli in the trilogy or read Salvatore's Icewind Dale series, thus making him the blueprint of what a dwarf is all about. Why is is ridiculous to pattern your language pattern off of that?

Are you really telling me to stuff my argument because you don't understand it? Obviously I didn't state it clearly enough, and hopefully I took care of that for you.

Now you may feel that Peter Jackson and R. A. Salvatore don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, and you might be right. I don't know. Haven't studied it that thoroughly.

But I do know that many enthusiasts have seen dwarves portrayed with that accent in those two media, and as a result bring that conception to their RP efforts.

And btw Oro, don't you play a low INT half-orc fighter now? I must not have RPed with the character enough yet to see the depth and creativity behind the concept, because it seemed pretty stereotypical to me.

Perhaps people have to RP a bit more with your character to find out that it's not a typical stereotype? Hmmmm

EPIC FAIL

One, no one copies Bruenor's accent. I'd give kudos to anyone who replicates it accurately instead of the brutalized and often pathetic attempt to emulate what they think a "Scottish" accent sounds like. Bruenor has a Northern accent. Really try to look carefully sometime, I went back just to double check. Sure, its an accent--but he's not going around all Scottish highlights. Similarities, maybe--but you miss this: dwarves shouldn't be a cliche accent.

Just as many wonderful books, some in the Realms, have dwarves that don't speak like WIlliam Wallace on a bad day. Some even by Salvatore! What!? You mean Pickle. Why yes I do.

Finally, here's your EPIC FAIL.

While you tried to start with a compliment, you also tried to end by insulting me and calling me a hypocrite.

Sadly.

I don't play a low INT half-orc. I am playing a human druid with a 12 Intelligence who enjoys feather beds. I don't even play low intelligence anything. Its too tough for me to feign.

So crack open a cold one, here's to your EPIC FAIL.

:roll:

Tone down the insults and snide comments.

Players can have any accent for their characters they like.

Get off your high horses and stop telling people how they RP their characters is horrible or terrible. Its alarmingly arrogant.

.... .... .... .... ..... ...... ....... ........ .......... ...........

Wow......

What a waste of a topic.

People can RP how they want to RP, don't be a stereotypical Tyrant.

I'm just going to point out that the accents you can't understand are somewhat silly.

"Moi," for starters, sounds more like French than a Scottish accent to me.

I don't mind the accents of dwarves or brutish halforcs, but half the time I haven't the foggiest what they said. I just ignore the parts I don't understand and continue enjoying the game. It does give you a hint of who may be talking around the corner.

But since the majority of dwarves I have seen have the accent, I really doubt I could play a dwarf as I am sure he would not fit in. I shall stick to humans, and gnomes, & possibly a halforc.

Honestly, I like accents and characterised forms of speech. I just hate to see them translated into written letters and posters! IT MAKES NO SENSE DFGSDGJKDFLGJFDLKGLJKFDGLKFDJKLGJLKFDLGKDFJKLGKJLDFJLKvbc.

End Message.

I hate people who play dwarves, Dwarves get way too many free feats and ridiculous hp without trying.

I hate people who play elves, elves get absurd observation skills, will saves, and Dexterity.

I hate halflings because people only play them for the insanely imbalanced stealth scores.

Half orcs are simply awful with that high Strength.

Humans are the worst by far though ; anyone who plays one of these does it for the skill points, extra feat and free multiclasses. Most people have their humans talk in American English when it should really be Scottish accented, and this is really dumb as everyone knows Scotland not America is the cradle of fantasy.

I think that there should be a custom race with no skill points, 10 in all stats, and feats that gimp not help. People could take this and we would know they really don't care about the mechanics. Unfortunately then we would know they only took it so the DMs would hopefully see how willing they were to be gimped, and give them more attention and loot. Powergamers.

Just to note, in case some misunderstand me: I don't think anyone can't play a dwarf with an accent that's Scottish-by all means if it floats your boat-just that I don't like it personally and would much rather see a well-thought out dwarf with a deep and meaningful personality.

For the record, I thought Gwydion's old dwarf was a wonderful character. He was honorable and noble, horribly stubborn, frequently went rabid over matters of honor and law and justice all while backing himself continually into one tight situation after another over his own honor and pride. Yet I could see the character had terrific internal conflicts, and his own particular dialect--but all without looking like William Wallace.

I fail to understand the bitterness against people who play humans. Humans are the most prolific of the races by far, and it is healthy for us to have lots of them.

cough Sarcasim /cough

Yes. Kaelle is apparently a master of satire, and to be commended.

Its funny how Oroborous keeps going on about how people try to do a fake scotish accent when i live in Scotland and can say with what i like to think is a fair amount of experiance is what a scotish accent actually sounds like especially up north in the highlands and the isle's.

I would just like to add a quick comment, on the whole 'stereotypes' thing:

The way the FR canon is built and offered to us shows that there are certain traits which are inherent to the races. Members of those races who do not possess these traits certainly exist, but they are a minority. As for Clerics and Paladins, Clerics have to adhere to a dogma and must stick to it at all costs, or risk losing their spells and their God's favor. And Paladins are arguably the least flexible of all classes - so much of being a Paladin has to do with oaths and other things that generally make it easier to classify all of them as stereotypes.

So, in short, the FR books offer us lots of stereotypes to choose from. Virtually all characters in EfU fall within a 'stereotype'. But only at first glance. What do I mean by that? I mean that -all- characters are going to be shallow and terrible, unless you offer the player chances to show who their character really is. (almost!) No character would just go about ranting their innermost secrets and telling everyone their views and ideas of everyone and everything. You have to get into a conversation with them, or offer them other sorts of hooks. If you're a Cleric, and you tell everyone in the party to gather round to hear the blessings and accept your God's favor, suddenly Joe Schmoe the level 5 fighter who you thought was 'just another powerbuild' becomes an interesting and engaging character - he just refused your God's favor, and told you that he does not offer him prayer at all.

There are very few characters who can engage (and be engaged) in conflict openly on EfU unless history develops between them and their foe. If you are Drow, pretty much everyone has a reason to kill you from the get-go. But if you're an elf, it'll take time until people realize you're not Trellion Tyl'makiir the longbow user, but actually Trellion the Knife, secretly a priest of Vhaeraun. Learning about people's characters and offering them opportunity to show who they are and what they believe in is a great deal of what RP is about. Consider this: If you feel that 'everyone' in a certain group, or that 'every character in this room' is a shallow, thoughtless powerbuild, chances are you don't know most of them well enough.

At the same time, I invite all players to make the choice of what race they will pick one that is based on the story that they wish to tell, and not the stats they hope to have. Picking the class after you pick the race is a good way to begin, for example. If you pick a class first, you might be tempted to take a particular race just because of the extra mod on that field. I don't mean everyone has to start making -2 CHA half-orc sorcerers, but if your character creation process is, "Well, I want to play a kickass rogue, SO I'll be a halfling", you're not (in my humble opinion) beginning with 'your right foot', so to speak.

So, while all classes and races are certainly 'stereotypical' in that the material we have to judge them by is very narrow, the two things that set a character apart are: Your willingness to engage them in meaningful RP at all times and not just dismiss them for being 'idiots' from the get-go, and their players' effort in building an interesting and engaging character.

This is making mountains out of molehills, people. It's kind of like opting to take offense at the entire line of Oroborous characters because they all take credit for the PvP kills of other PCs-it's silly, it's irrational, and it's ultimately an incredibly minor quibble to get so worked up about. The dwarven accent is, for better or worse, well-established among the NWN community; so are people who don't use proper grammar or capitalization, lesbian moon elves, and those absurd nuts who take the "combat casting" feat. (Yes, I know--it makes me cry at night sometimes, too. Or maybe that's just my cold, lonely, empty bed? Let me think about it and start a new thread to discuss.)

Ultimately, the simple fact is that some individuals need to get off their high horses. People should always be free to characterize their PCs how they wish to-I haven't seen any posts criticizing Johannes for using the accent he did with Dr. Profidius Vile. He was awesome because of the full breadth of his character; one aspect did not make or break his character. So it also is with dwarves. I've seen a number of these threads, and-guess what-they've never once made a dwarven player who employs the accent stop using it. They've only created hard feelings all around, as well as reinforced a general impression of elitism. If it annoys you, that's unfortunate-and unfortunately, we all share this sandbox together, so you don't get to wave your hand and make all your personal annoyances go away.

Offering a polite, well-considered, and well-reasoned post on why dwarves with accents may be inappropriate for the Forgotten Realms is certainly valid, if pedantic and pointless. Trolling people who then opt to continue using the accent-and overall creating the impression that they are ultimately playing their character incorrectly-is not.

But, then again, you're all probably just here for the elitist trolling, aren't you?

Rock on, then.

-SI

*looks into thread and blinks*

Well this thread certainly took a left turn at Albuquerque.

How it got from 5 fun/neat/*insert adjective* language links about different races to where it is now .... yeah ...

just curious if anyone's actually checked those links ...

and just to throw my hat into the ring ....

Almost the entire fantasy genre is based on a stereotype. Quick ... think of an elf, dwarf, zombie, vampire, pixie, etc. Chances are we're all pretty much going to come up with a similar idea of what those things are. We'll see them a similar way and we'll hear them in a similar way. The vast majority of books, movies, games, etc in the fantasy genre rely on those stereotypes to have a common framework so as to reach their target audience.

Hell ... the stereotyping has gotten to the point where 3.x D&D even tells you how to play your specific race/class and what specifically that race is supposed to look like. Talk about sucking the individuality out of a character.

Remember ... at the end of the day this is all make believe. How do you know that what one person calls a "brutalized Scottish accent" isn't in fact a dwarven accent and not brutalized Scottish at all? Just like you can't tell me what a dragon definitively looks like. You can tell me what the accepted framework or stereotype of a fantasy dragon is ... but you cannot say with absolute certainty what is or isn't correct.

See ... we're right back to that stereotype thing again. It's what gives us that common starting point. So dwarves will have a seemingly Scottish accent, elves will be hoity-toity, gnomes and halflings will have ADHD, and paladins will have a stick up their butt. It is what it is.

(and for the record ... it's Pikel not Pickle ... )

https://efupw.com/efu1-forum/topic/23/23909/ze-french/index.html?amp;highlight=french

phew, got in before this gets locked ! :wink:

TASTE ME AXE

TASTE BBQ's DELICIOUS STEAKS

Vanfolkenfanel Its funny how Oroborous keeps going on about how people try to do a fake scotish accent when i live in Scotland and can say with what i like to think is a fair amount of experiance is what a scotish accent actually sounds like especially up north in the highlands and the isle's.

I was completely unaware you could "hear" text in the first place. Aren't you clever. My premise is there is a large difference between how the Scottish speak, and the randomly developed 'accent' that shows up on dwarven characters.

In essence, and I suppose you missed this part in your effort to find hilarity in my comments, the issue for me is that these 'accents' are generally haphazard. They're done with none of the phonetical skill or deftness that Mark Twain gave accents in his books. They're generally done as gimmicks, they often break any sense of immersion, and I believe that instead doing a little research and using the OP's links to sprinkle your character's dialog with actual words gives far more flavor.

I'm sure lots of people want to take offense at my words. By all means, line up! I'm happy to offend people with paper-thin skin all day long. Make tiny little digs about me claiming your PvP kills, riding a tall horse, and mocking you behind your back. It still doesn't change the observations that I've made.

1) Accents are not done well. a) They lack consistency in how they're portrayed. Not just from player to player, but often with the same player through the course of two sentences. "Oim angry! A'hm hungry! I'm Duggie the Dwarf!" b) They are poorly copied renditions of real world accents. 1) Often real world accents the players is only passingly familiar with. 2) Real world accents seem silly in a fantasy setting. Consider all those British Imperial Officers we laugh at when we watch Star Wars. c) They are highly difficult to read, even more so for non-English speakers.

2) Using 'race language words' strikes me as a far better way to portray that aspect of your character. a) Even in the language is fantastical, it creates a more solid sense of immersion. b) It can be done consistently. c) When used well, even a non-English speaker has no trouble following the dialog.

So I thank the OP for bringing a better option than wretched accents to the table.

And anyone who loves accents can do them. I've never said people can't; I've just pointed out that I think they're flawed. I'm sorry if my opinion has threatened anyone's self-esteem or given them the opinion that that is how they have to play their character 'cause Oro says so'.

I wasn't aware that anything I've said would be taken so incredibly personally.

actually other thing is in many books of scottish litreture the way it is written is the way many people of Efu write it and is the way i do my dwarfs accent but hey if a person from another country wants to claim they know my nations spoken and written heritage better than i do let them make that claim all they want.

Oh and if im the one with the paperthin skin how come im not the one reacting as if this was a personal attack on my dignity?

try
{
    if (thread != null)
        thread.close();
    printl("Thank you for participating in this discussion.");
}
catch (IOException e)
{
    printl("IAtL");
}

Snoteye

try
{
    if (thread != null)
        thread.close();
    printl("Thank you for participating in this discussion.");
}
catch (IOException e)
{
    printl("IAtL");
}

Nerd.