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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 2835602" data-attributes="member: 10201">I don't think it's even that your friend needs a hook. Rather, he simply can't create a character prior to playing the character. It's just that having the relatively vague and open-ended packages that are classes and races in D&D allows him to have a character sufficiently-detailed to make the rest of you comfortable when he plays it, while sufficiently un-detailed that he doesn't have to come up with all that stuff that he doesn't yet know.The single most pragmatically-useful bit of theory to come out of r.g.f.advocacy, and to have seemingly been completely forgotten, is the DIP/DAS split. Some players are DIP: develop-in-play; some are DAS: develop-at-start. The archetypal DAS player comes to the table with an elaborate backstory, detailed well-thought-out personality, and 47 NPC relationships for the GM to screw with. The archetypal DIP player comes to the table with a 1st-level human fighter with a longsword, and no name until the other players cajole him into calling his character 'Bob'. Come back a few months later, however, and both characters will be equally well developed--the DIP's character may even be better developed, as the DAS personality type can edge in the direction of ignoring in-play character repercussions in favor of the developed-at-start characterization.But those are just the extremes. In the real world, most people are identifiably one or the other, but not so extremely that they can't borrow some techniques from the other camp. So your typical DIP player can make some interesting (possibly sub-optimal) feat choices, choose an unusual signature weapon, or otherwise create an atypical starting character. But they may not be able to tell you why their ranger uses a whip--it just seemed like a good idea at the time. And the typical DAS player will have a few mechanical bits that are there 'just because'; and won't have such an elaborate background that there's no room for further development, and will gladly adapt as the game progresses. Nonetheless, the conflicts generated by this difference of attitude towards character development are at least as significant in the real world as any generated by differences in play preference, as classified by the Threefold. It should be more widely recognized and addressed.</blockquote>

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