Dwarven speech

[Thief Of Navarre]

Is it required for dwarves to speak funny or is this just a choice a lot of the people who play dwarves have made, for example is there anything that stops someone from having a dwarf speak queen's english or in some other dialect other than abbreiviated scottish?

I was just curious..

[Doubtful]

I've often wondered where this whole Scottish/Northen England dwarf accent came from - I've always assumed we had Games Workshops influence to thank for that (they're also the ones to thank for green orcs) as pretty much most contemporary fantasy seems to give them that accent.

I don't think you have to speak like a Rab C Nesbitt clone to play a dwarf, just as you don't need to speak like a mockney extra from whatever Guy Ritchies latest crime against East London is to be a rogue.

On the other hand; my mental image of dwarves is small, stocky, ginger, incredibly hairy, hard to kill and a strange desire to start fights while drinking the type of beer/ale/lager that makes most normal people start suffering kidney problems within the first pint.

As such, playing a dwarf as an angry Scottish tramp does seem to tick all those boxes.

[Thief Of Navarre]

Hey thats type casting all us scottish, stocky, hairy, ginger, heavy drinkers!
Does that mean Im a dwarf?! o.O

Minor gripe I suppose, I see what you mean it does fit the bill it just might be nice to see something a little different once in a while. World of warcraft's troll race got pushed out as shamanistic jamacans... and Orcs are MC Hammer's backing group, so I guess dwarves got off pretty lightly!

[Doubtful]

Heh,

From what I can remember of the earlier/middle period warhammer stuff, which to be fair is pretty much the most infleuntial source of imagary in recent years (a style adopted and developed by Blizzard and many others) the dwarves were normaly more yorkshire/lancashire than scottish - I assume this is a bit of a play on the industrial inovation heritage, mining history of that stretch of the county and the ruged stubornness/hardiness of them folk.

As time have mooved on (and the designers have switched from the UK to the US) the accents have mooved north into scotland, probably as it's a more recognisable accent than the northen england one.

Out of typing all this I'm now tempted to make a dwarf; either:
A: A violent scottish cliche with a penchant for fights, Tenants Extra/Special Brew, and more fights. Loosely modeled on Begby(trainspotting)-Rab C Nesbitt-Don Logan(Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast) for an alliance of violent swearing insanity.
B: A Welsh dwarven bard with a love of mining, close harmony singing, ale and really tall hats.

Edit: I really can't spell today, I blame the fact it's Friday afternoon.

[Thief Of Navarre]

Those are some really good ideas; Rab C Nesbit/Don Logan sounds like an great concept for a dwarf! pump those intimidate ranks

[Doubtful]

Don Logan is a great bit of insperation for pretty much any really violent or intimidating PC.. I'd recomend either watching 'Sexy Beast' or checking out the youtube video's of Don to anyone who enjoys a good film or a frankly fearsome character.


For them's what wants a link to a brief clip (there are many more out there):
THIS CLIP CONTAINS A BUCKET LOAD OF SWEARING AND GENERAL VERBAL VIOLENCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5NqUUknI0
You have been warned...

[Belwas]

Badass clip... now I need to watch the rest of that movie.

[cmosier]

I always found that odd about dwarves. Their Pantheon and the general alignment is Lawful Good, but they are usually played as drunks who like to fight. I think a lot of it stems from The Lord of Rings books and movies where dwarves are played in that light.

I more or less pictured dwarves as having an odd sense of humor and a joy of working (crafting weapons and armor or mining). They like a strong structured clan lenviroment and they like their laws well defined. This is what would put them at odds with elves, who are usually Chaotic Good, and tend to go off what feels right and tend to ignore due process.

Just an opinion, ofcourse. Players should play their characters in manner that they enjoy and there are always exceptions to any rule.

[Doubtful]

I enjoyed Terry Pratchetts take on what you're saying Cmosier - At home in the mines and clan hold dwarves tend to be a lawful and quiet bunch but once they hit the city and find themselves free of the old ways they tend to go a bit crazy.

'Thud' is well worth a read on that score - A good read, some very interesting ideas regarding TP's dwarven lore and an interesting take on the Western world/Islamic religion culture clash.

[Thief Of Navarre]

Read that, very good

Have you noticed EVERY dwarven diety has a lawfull aligment in its clerics and EVERY elven diety has a chaotic alignment yet elves are often played as lawful and dwarves as chaotic?

rather strange no?

[TamurtheLame]

I have a dwarven cleric of Gorm and yes, I play or try to play him with an Irish brogue. Not sure why that is so, but once I am playing him for a bit, it really does seem to fit him.

[c2k]

I don't know where the Scottish dwarf fad came from really. I would think Dwarves would speak Norse or Early Germanic, and if using an English accent, I would think it would be similiar to the Saxons. Perhaps Old English I guess.

[Phantom Lamb]

My dwarf speaks like a straight up gangsta, yo!

[Gamling]

Only experience I had playing a dwarf was a paladin dwarf. I played him with no accent, though, he did have an awesome beard.

[Machiavelli]

I've often wondered where this whole Scottish/Northen England dwarf accent came from.

Tolkien dude, they were the miners! Probably Welsh or something.