How would you duplicate the skill of the ventriloquist?
Would you use Acting? Falsehood? Persuasion?
Or should it be treated as a separate (new) skill?
Perhaps a trait, or something like a training skill, if you really want something on paper? To be used with whatever skill best fits the current situation and intent.
Unique skill! It’d be awesome and almost character defining.
Ask the group, particularly the player who is going to be a ventriloquist. It seems close enough to Acting that I’d allow that, especially if it’s a one time thing. If the player wants it to be an important talent (what kind of game is this?) then I could see it as a trait or new skill.
I could see it as a Will based skill versus opponents Perception to make it seem like your voice was coming from somewhere else (possibly behind a drape or door), or FoRKed into acting to make it seem like the puppet you were holding was doing the talking.
Or I could see it as a series of assending obstacles similar to the Sleight of Hand skill
(it’s basically “sleight of mouth”)
Most stage magic, mentalism clowning, etc. IS acting, with some particular skills, props and talents thrown into the mix.
This particular character is a “street performer” using all of the tricks of the trade to achieve his goals (no actual BWG magic, just street smarts, and performing skills)
Still sounds like acting.
If Acting, what obstacles would you set?
That depends on what the character is trying to accomplish, of course.
Entertain peasants? Jaded city folk? The court? Trick someone into thinking a statue is speaking?
I’d say it’s Acting, as well, as it’s about body control and projecting your voice.
I don’t have the books, but do the sample Acting Obstacles provide enough guidance?
These are the listed obstacles, so it’s clear the examples are more about general performance types than specific actions like ventriloquism. Larkin Starr is probably just gonna have to make their own obstacles.
• Mummery, Ob 1
• Morality, Ob 2
• Religious Miracle, Ob 3
• Religious Mystery, Ob 4
• Classics, Ob 5
Acting is about putting on a entertaining performance or show.
Ventriloquy is About speaking without appearing to move your lips, entertaining with that skill is another matter.
Puppeteers, clowns, ventriloquists, mentalists, magicians, (etc.) would certainly FoRK Acting into their entertaining, but the skill sets are different, just as “Sleight of Hand” doesn’t factor into a lot of “magic acts” (in real life) but “Acting” certainly does.
It’s essentially only used to entertain people.
I would suggest that it is essentially used to deceive people, with or without entertaining them.
If, for example, the ventriloquist is using his skill to distract the guard from discovering his location by making it seem that their are voices coming from another one.
That’s not actually something you can do. “Throwing your voice” is about making it seem like it’s coming from a dummy or other prop, not from across the room, and it relies on the audience/target/victim looking at the performer.
It’s entertainment, not an infiltration technique.
Yeah, "Throwing your voice"s real-life best thing would be confusing the guard as to whether the sound was coming from you or your box, because it sounds so distant and your lips aren’t moving.
That’s why its use in other situations than to perform feels like a whole new skill (which stretches reality, but isn’t all that out-of-whack), that could also be used for performances.
Yup. Ventriloquists don’t throw their voice. The make words without moving their lips very much and move the puppet’s lips a lot in time with those words.
the listener does all the throwing.