DB-Forge Feature with Dave Gaider

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(Originally posted by Darien)

Another addition to the Q&A with Dave Gaider is up at DBF, and this one starts off with a loaded question.

1. So... why pasta? Boxers or Briefs? And don't say "Nope." What was your favorite character you played in PnP? Where did Cespenar come from? Will we ever see Cespenar again?
Submitted by Randon Brown

Wow, that's a lot of questions all in one. Why pasta? I think it's the sticky starch that adds an element of humiliation. A friend of mine threw some well-cooked spaghetti at me a few years ago and it took a lot of scrubbing to get rid of the whole 'icky' sensation. When I see someone being, shall we say, spaghetti-worthy on the message boards, the thought of giving them a few good pasta lashings always makes me smile. PonteNote: One of Gaider's many nicknames is "Mighty Pasta Wielder".

I wear boxer briefs. When I'm not wearing frilly panties, that is. (Uh-oh...I think I just gave one of those deep-core shudders to everyone who knows me...)

My favorite character from PnP is a halfling by the name of Samuel Thunderburp. I first played him in Warhammer, where he got a strength bonus and was stronger than any halfling had a right to be. And boy, he didn't take any guff. More recently, I've brought him into a 3rd-edition D&D campaign I'm in, and he still doesn't take any guff. Will storm right up to someone five times his size and give 'im a piece of his mind.

Where did Cespenar come from? That's a good question. When we were first implementing the Wish spell, I remember begging James Ohlen to allow me to make a smart-alec genie who did his best to trick you into a 'wish contract' that wouldn't do quite what you wanted it to. If you had high Wisdom, you could get the best of him, but I wanted it to be funny and have lots of dialogue.

We didn't have room for it, so when I was handed my next project (the 'smith' in the Pocket Plane that would make the players' items), I poutily decided that I would make HIM funny. It took me a while to figure out what kind of smith might be in the pocket plane (James never worries himself about these details, he just wanted the smith to be easily accessible and therefore in the plane), so I eventually thought of some kind of abyssal butler. Then came the imp. Then came Cespenar. (The name actually comes from a friend on the message boards that I off-handedly decided to give to the butler since we were growing tired of referring to him as 'the imp'). Kevin liked Cespenar enough that it was decided to give him actual recorded voice-over.

As to whether or not we'll ever see him again...hard to say. I hear he's negotiating for a regular slot on the Home & Garden Network to compete against Martha Stewart. Might be kind of busy.

Read the rest here.