History Main / PreCharacterCustomizationGameplay

* Some tabletop RPG campaigns, such as ''Vecna Lives!'' from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', start the players off with a group of premade characters, then replace them with characters made by the players. There are also campaigns featuring so-called "funnel system", where you start off as zero-level peasants with no class skills and, should you survive, get to roll up a level one adventurer based on the original character.

[[folder:Platform Game]]
* ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' begins with a Sonic stage. After clearing that stage, you get a series of cutscenes before you get to create your own PlayerCharacter.

Often overlaps with ATasteOfPower. Compare also CrutchCharacter.

** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' starts with you waking up on a prison ship and being ordered to speak to a sequence of Imperial officials who ask you questions about your background, allowing you to customize your character. Notably, you cannot toggle the third-person view until you've picked your appearance.
** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'''s tutorial level, you select your [[FictionalZodiac Birthsign]] and Class, which convey innate abilities and skill specialties, when the Emperor and his bodyguard ask the player character about them partway through. The bodyguard might lampshade it if your Class is completely at odds with the skills you've used thus far.
** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' opens with you in a cart taking you towards your execution by beheading. You cannot move freely, but you can look around and trade a few phrases with fellow prisoners, before an Imperial official in charge of the execution asks you about your race and name for the records.

* Character generation in most ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' game lines involves starting with a {{Muggle|s}} and then adding the appropriate [[{{Splat}} supernatural template]]. These games propose an optional "prelude" chapter to play out how said Muggle got [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem bitten by a vampire]], [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Awakened to magic]], had their [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken First Change into a werewolf]], and so on.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/FarCry5''. You're asked to pick a gender for the Deputy, but play the prologue where you and your team attempt to arrest Joseph Seed after that. The Deputy is wearing a uniform that reveals no skin from the neck down, and wears black gloves. Only once Dutch asks the Deputy to change clothes is the player given the option to customize the Deputy in greater detail.

* Character generation in most ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' game lines involves starting with a {{Muggle|s}} and then adding the appropriate supernatural template. These games propose an optional "prelude" chapter to play out how said Muggle got [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem bitten by a vampire]], [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Awakened to magic]], had their [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken First Change into a werewolf]], and so on.
* ''TabletopGame/ShadowsOverCamelot'' suggests an optional hard mode where players begin the game as "squires" and only unlock their knights' unique abilities after successfully completing their first quest.

* Some tabletop RPG campaigns, such as ''Vecna Lives!'' from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', start the players off with a group of premade characters, then replace them with characters made by the players. There are also campaigns where you start off as zero-level peasants with no class skills and, should you survive, get to roll up a level one adventurer based on the original character.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

CharacterCustomization is an increasingly common element of modern video games. It can also be an extremely time-consuming process (especially with how complex character generation has become) that gives the game an extremely slow start. So game developers will occasionally give players the best of both worlds by teasing them with an introductory bit of gameplay to give them an idea of what to expect before plopping them into the CharacterCustomization screen to spend the next hour or two making sure their character looks just right.

Naturally, this requires some clever tricks to mask the fact that your protagonist essentially has no appearance. If the game is a first-person game this is easy enough, but some will do things like [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent put you in control of a completely different character]], or cover the protagonist from head to toe so the player can't make out any details about them.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' allows the player, clad in completely concealing clothing[[labelnote:note]]You can take the actual equipment off in the menu, but this does not change the visible model.[[/labelnote]], to wander about an intro area before entering the Firekeepers' house where customization takes place. It's not only possible to fall to your death here, but there's even a branching path leading to a fight with an ogre (this is before you even have access to any weapons or equipment, so most players will simply meet a grisly death.)

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' allows the player, clad in completely concealing clothing, to wander about an intro area before entering the Firekeepers' house where customization takes place. It's not only possible to fall to your death here, but there's even a branching path leading to a fight with an ogre (this is before you even have access to any weapons or equipment, so most players will simply meet a grisly death.)

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