Have you ever wondered what it takes to create the voices behind your favourite mods? Grab your Sweet Roll, settle in, and let’s take a look behind the scenes into the world of voice acting.
Hey Liz, thank you so much for agreeing to an interview! To get us started, can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?
I’m Elizabeth Plant, a writer, sound designer, and voice actor (VA) with a hundred mods under my belt! I work full-time in the games industry for a lovely indie studio called Glowmade and also pursue voice acting professionally as a freelancer. I mostly specialise in acting for video games - most recently heard in titles like Another Crab’s Treasure, Kristala, and 333Studios’ Retrieval - but I also work on a lot of animation and audiobooks.
Bethesda-wise, you may know me from Fallout: London, Warden of the Coast, Lordbound, Skyrim: Extended Cut, or as the producer tag at the start of each young scrolls song. Yeah, the little “YS” is me - go figure! I’m also here, there and everywhere in many new Verified Creations like Listener's Initiates, Skyrim: A Tale of Blood and Snow, and the QSO Safehouse for Starfield.
It’s something of a joke with my collaborators that I’m about as ubiquitous as the vanilla Skyrim cast on the Nexus, which I’m very grateful for. I’ll never miss an opportunity to say that taking part in mods is a cornerstone of my career - both as an actor and developer - and I’ve loved every second of it.
How did you get into voice acting?
I stumbled into VA somewhat by accident. When I was 16, I, as part of a mini-degree, decided to write and produce my own audio drama series. I’d never so much as edited a soundbite or heard of a casting call, but I taught myself everything and brought in a bunch of VAs from around the world to take part. Only I forgot to put up a casting for one character and decided to just do it myself.
I bought a mic, did the project, and got invested in the process. I’ve lived with Chronic Illness all my life, but art has always kept me going, so it was like achieving consciousness to find a way to act that didn’t subject my body to the exhaustion that stage acting did. So I started auditioning loads and loads, not landing anything but bit parts, until a lil ole mod called The Forgotten City (TFC) rolled around.
Jonny Knowles, who played Hjormund, was a mutual friend who knew Nick was looking for a teen voice with a British accent, and he referred me to audition. I ended up cast as Dwemora, and I’d never been so excited for anything. I’d never even realised mods were a thing, so the whole concept blew my mind. TFC famously blew up, and it had me so psyched to see what else the modding community could make. From there, I auditioned for every mod I could find and started a slow but exponential curve of roles that’s lasted me a whole decade.
That’s an incredible story! What has been your favourite mod to voice for?
I’ll give a couple of honourable mentions first because I’m super fond of most of ‘em! I loved the Knight of the Void follower. Emulating that stripped-back Soulslike vocal quality and working so closely with Rabbitt to create her was such a rewarding experience. I also had a whale of a time on the Clavicus Vile Female Overhaul; it’s always a welcome challenge to pay homage to an original actor whilst giving my own spin on it too.
For absolute favourite, it’s gotta go to Sirenroot: Deluge of Deceit, where I played Cayrice Bentieve. Everglaid is an absolute darling to work with, and she showed so much love for the VA process. I always look for roles with many facets to them, so the fact that Cayrice wasn’t only a mother figure, but had a substantive passion for Ayleid magic and history, really mattered to me.
Are there any considerations you make when voicing characters for mods?
I always try to consider authenticity, first and foremost. I will happily play queer and Disabled characters, because I’ve lived experience of both, and always enjoy the challenge of creature voices and non-human roles like Daedra or a talking horker. But I’ll never audition for a Redguard, for instance, and will do my best to point mod authors and industry directors alike toward more appropriately identifying actors. There are so many VAs out there looking for opportunities, so it’s the least we can do to uplift them where a role isn’t made for us. Even if 99% of mods are unpaid work, the experience alone can do wonders to uplift a marginalised performer’s confidence and resume.
I also consider the mod author’s approach to casting, and how they see the VA process as a whole. I need to know that you see me as an equal contributor to your story, not just some piece you jam in to add a “fully voice-acted” tag. For instance, having realistic timelines for recording turnarounds, and letting actors advocate for themselves and the character’s benefit. One mod gave me only 10 days to record 2000+ lines for a follower and expected me to do all my own editing and implementation at the same time. I was much less sure of myself in those days and didn’t want to be recast, so I did it anyway, but it was hell.
On average, I can do about 100-300 lines in a session, depending on the number of words and how straining they are. Followers have a lot of combat screams and taunts, and this character, in particular, was an insane berserker trope. That’s a lot of screaming. Taking into account that VAs will always give at least 3 takes per line, that then becomes more like 300-900 lines back to back. Those 2000 lines suddenly become 6000 lines, minimum. In 10 days.
Whether you’re a seasoned mod author or new, I will 1000% work with you so long as you are willing to learn and respect the process that we have. Voice acting is a skill that we take a lot of time to refine, just like learning the Creation Kit, level design, VFX, navigation - whatever! I don’t think I got truly and consistently GOOD at mastering my voice until maybe five or six YEARS into doing what I do. But we’re all making mods for the love of the game, for the collaboration, the joy of crafting stories; whether we’re ‘good’ or not shouldn’t define what we want to make.
If you’d like to learn more in-depth about working with voice actors, I highly recommend Voice Acting 102 on r/skyrimmods. It’s by my dear friend CompleteTheCircuit, who’s been a VA in this community even longer than I have!
You have a list of Skyrim creatures you’d like to voice, right? How is that coming along?
It creeps along nicely, thank you! For context, I made a list of every single Skyrim race and am trying to catch ‘em all like Pokemon that all have Todd’s face. I’ve about 15 by now and going strong!
I just crossed off rabbit, spriggan and falmer (of the goblin variety), but I’ve plenty more I hope to dive into and experiment with. So far, it’s generally a sea of Altmer, Nord and Breton, but in recent years, I think more and more mod authors are throwing together all kinds of talking animals and non-human characters - which I love to see! Must shout out Mihail, who’s one of my favourite collaborators, for bringing me on board for some of the more monstrous experiments - long may our working relationship continue!
Now, if anyone wants to please, finally, let me voice a dragon, troll or Mudcrab, that would honestly be my dream. Hit me up!
Let’s talk Fallout! You voiced many characters in Fallout: London. Do you have a favourite, and why?
I’ll honourably mention Rachel Hall, leader of Thameshaven, for being such a beautiful challenge. She was essentially my hagraven voice, but repurposed into this kind, brave and indomitable spirit, so finding ways to humanise her and show a whole array of emotions whilst maintaining the voice was genuinely some of the most fun I’ve had in the booth. The Robo-Margot units were also impeccable, which I based solely on my idea of “the world’s most passive-aggressive Tesco self-checkout.” Miss Crake and Nurse Peggy - where I was using the same voice to portray two robots with polar opposite personalities - was possibly the biggest challenge of the whole mod.
But my true favourite is Eve Varney, leader of the Fifth Column.
Eve is a horrible person. She’s legitimately irredeemable, and I loved every goddamn second of it. She might be some of my best work as a performer to date - which is probably a shame because players tend to just kill her on sight for being the fascist pig she is.
I play myriad villains, but Eve just means so much to me because she was so fascinating to dissect. Performing her was every actor’s dream, and exploring her every nuance - from how gently she speaks to her daughter to the zealous victory screams from the BBM elevator ride - had me genuinely obsessed with her. I remember dedicating an entire day to that BBM speech, just screaming myself hoarse and giving it my all because I’ve so rarely had a role where going ballistic is the key.
She’s also my first character, in nearly a decade of roles behind me, that is Disabled. I remember being shown her concept art and just sobbing because I couldn’t believe it finally happened. Recording the holotape that reveals how she lost her arm and leg was also the final piece of work I did for the mod, after something like 5 consecutive months of recording, and I’ll always remember it.
It was the VAs for John Smith, Lily and Atley in a Discord call, with the Team FOLON leads on mute, listening to us all record live together - the only dialogue recorded like this in the whole mod. Everyone’s performance was electric - we got it done in two takes - and at the end, the team just unmuted and started screaming, and that’s what I love. That’s what I adore about mods and the teams and communities they build, with people who just want to make things, hyping each other up to do something incredible. It’s why I’m still here, after 10 years, and will try to always be here.
Do you have any tips for anyone looking to get into voice acting for mods and games?
Have fun, and do what makes you feel proud! You’re not going to be incredible out the gate, but that’s so okay! Make mistakes - they’re inevitable! Famously, my Oblivion-esque blooper as Miss Crake has been in Fallout: London for nearly 6 months now, but it’s hilarious, so who cares!
Do not ever pressure yourself to be perfect, because you can be the most talented actor in the world and still not quite be right for what the director had in mind. Enjoying the process and your craft is the key, and it’s at the core of why we make mods.
Also, don’t buy a super expensive mic immediately - invest in honing skills first, and treating your space to minimise echo. Your mic can be top of the range, but if your room is bad, so is the mic. Do your research and due diligence, and it will pay off tenfold.
Keep auditioning, keep practising, and put your health and well-being first!
From voicing every creature under the sun in Skyrim to passive-aggressive Tesco-inspired robots, Elizabeth's journey through the modding scene has been nothing short of incredible. Thanks, Liz, for your time, and the incredible work you put into mods. Here's hoping that dragon voice role comes your way soon!
We love showcasing all the different faces of modding, from voice actors to sound designers to concept artists and more. Know someone who's been killing it behind the scenes? Drop SlugGirl a message - we'd love to share their story!
30 comments
Liz is everything you could hope for (and more!) in a voice actor to be honest. Not only is she endlessly talented as you'd expect, but also wildly skilled in her range, she is communicative, kind, thoughtful with her performances, and an utter professional in every sense of the word. Working with her has been a joy from start to finish. <3
Honestly, she’s a literal QUEEN. 👑 Yaaas. We were beyond lucky to have her on this project, and we can't recommend her highly enough. Anyone would be lucky to have her on their team.
- Team FOLON
I also have to ask, in what mod did she voice a rabbit?