Advice for a new guy?

Hi everyone! So I am quite eager to into a game but I feel very nervous about it. My D&D experience is one game with 3 friends, only one of which was experienced, so my foundation is pretty abysmal. I almost feel like I shouldn't bother because something like this is pretty elaborate and should be for those who are experienced. I guess I am just looking for any thoughts, or perhaps experiences from other people who have been in the same place too. Heck, if anyone was willing to take me on, I'd be really appreciative of that too, just let me know :) Thanks for reading!

There's always room for new blood in the community, and don't worry, there are many, many new players here in much the same position as you. I always recommend that new players and GMs read How to Play Roleplaying Games and How to Run Roleplaying Games, respectively. They can be both be found, for free, on the author's website here (look at the very bottom). Those two short essays will go a long ways towards introducing the tabletop RPG hobby to anyone who is interested. One thing to bear in mind is that there are more RPGs out there than D&D, and they vary greatly in genre, complexity, and focus. D&D is among the more complicated RPGs out there, though it is also the most popular. As far as getting into a game, feel free to post in the LFG forum. I would suggest reading this post , as it contains a list of all the key bits of information that you should include (availability, time zone, etc) when searching for a group. And, if there is some aspect of the hobby or this website that you have particular questions about, feel free to ask! Someone should be able to, at the very least, offer an opinion or experience related to your question.

Good DM's are few and far between, so we actually have quite the surplus of new blood around. Your best bet is probably to learn 4E, as it's really easy on new players and actually pretty fun for players that like fighting. Or you could jump into a 3.5 game, though the learning curve can get steep from the sheer amount of content that exists for it.

We just recently started playing D&D a couple of months ago. There are several of us who played together in high school years ago, but we also had 3 people join us who were completely new to table top role playing all together. Flexibility is key. Flexibility as a player, as a group, and as a gm. You help each other. Usually where someone is lacking in knowledge, there will be someone else who can fill in. It can seem overwhelming, but if it seems like something you want to do, don't be discouraged. With tools like Roll 20, you might even be able to ask a group if they don't mind you watching in on a couple of sessions, to give you an idea how gameplay works. As Belladeer said, I would highly recommend reading the essays by Greg Stolze on How to Play Roleplaying Games. Super good reads.

Not a bad idea BUT there are so many podcasts and youtube videos of people playing actual games that I would recommend that as your first stop. Go to youtube and search for Stonehell... an ill-fated expedition to Stonehell is a great example of how games operate in a virtual environment, albeit without a virtual tabletop.