Information on starting from scratch?

So I apologize if this has been asked a thousand times before, but I'm wondering; Where on Earth do I start? I recently joined a D&D group with some friends in person but it's very lax rules since we're all pretty much brand new and we only play once a month. I'm looking to play more with a group on here, but I find myself completely overwhelmed by the options. Is there anyone who can help walk me through this or send me someplace that can? I don't know the different games or where to start with characters or if I'll get a lot of flak for not knowing what I can or can't do in a campaign itself. It would be fantastic if someone could take me under their wing to show me the ropes with whatever it is they play, I just want to be a part of something more regular than the campaign with my friends and I'd like to learn more about the options available. So.... anything?

Depends on the genre and rules you are familiar with or wish to learn. Usually the first step is to find another game that interest you and see if they are accepting new players who are new also. If so and they accept you talk with the GM who should be willing to help you walk through steps of building a character and learning the rules. Two places to look is the Looking for group forum and looking for group listing (blue banner). Go look and find a games that fits your likes and time then ask them.

A good place to start for getting familiar with Roll20 it's self is the Roll20 Wiki . You'll find some tutorial videos and information on all the various functions of the application. As Metroknight said, checking out the Looking For Group Forums and Looking For Group Listings should help you get in touch with other prospective players and GMs. The Looking For Group Listings feature actually has a check box for "Only find games that welcome new players." We even have some wonderful GMs here who periodically run beginner oriented games for various systems designed to help people get comfortable with the rules.

Hi Benjamin, I envy you just starting out, so many wonderful experiences await you. Gaming is a great hobby to get involved in as those in it really want you to see the best of it and stick around. The others above gave great advice but I'd suggest perhaps think less of the rules of the game and think more of what kind of story do you want to be part of. There are games with lots of combat, games where you have to think on your feet and talk your way out of trouble or ones where you got lost and have to find your way to safety. They're all great fun but I found that if I wasn't in the mood for the story they were telling I didn't enjoy the game as much. So think about the story you want to be part of, then see if you can add some more detail to it. Once you have some idea of the kind of story you want to be part of, try thinking of a character that would suit that story. Are you a thinker, a talker, a fighter, an engineer, a mage, a thief? How do you talk? How do you dress? What do you think about others? I find when I know some of that then I put a post up here asking if there's a game that suits that. I'm new to roll20 so the others here can give you much more advice about that. I remember when I started as a gamer and when I run games for people just dipping their toe into the hobby. One of the things I used to do was to pretend to be a bartender, or a taxi driver or some other commonly met person on that world. Then have the player talk to me in character, they could change their mind about who they were at any time. They were just feeling out what sort of personalities worked for them. It's harder to be the fast talking person if you're naturally shy and quiet. Once they had some idea of who the character was we'd work together to put that character down on a sheet according to the rules of that game we were going to play. It helped them to get less focused on the numbers and more on the way they wanted to appear in the game. After that picking skills, special powers or equipment becomes much easier it either fits with your idea of who you are or it doesn't. Quiet McSneaky is more then happy to take climbing gear and quiet weapons, a little less likely to bring a rocket launcher around and threaten people with it. Just thought I'd contribute a few suggestions.

Your best bet is to find a DM who is great with New comers to the scene. DM's that are patient and love working with new people and help welcome them to the great world that is tabletop RP, those same DM's also usually surround themselves with the same like minded people. Its almost a passing tradition that players/DM's pass on what they know to the next and so on and so forth. As for helping you its somewhat hard to directly relating to what your doing without know the Type of Game your playing. There are a vast amount of varieties and the rules are just as varied so trying to give you some tips might do the opposite and confuse you. For that particular campaign find out what your DM is using as reference. There are TONS of books and literature out there with copious amounts of information. I use to just sit and read the old TSR books back in the day. If your looking for another campaign with a weekly session hit me up! I pride myself with helping new comers and introducing them to this great universe! P.R

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their replies. I feel I got extremely lucky as I was almost immediately contacted by someone running their own unique game who was willing to help me craft a character and teach me everything from scratch despite having many players already and being well underway with their campaign. I know my post wasn't descriptive in what I was looking for, but that's because I had no idea. I didn't know if I wanted something similar to what i had already experienced or if I wanted something heavy on combat or Role Playing. I'm getting a better feel for it now that I've experienced it all a bit, and I'll definitely have a good feel for it next time I'm looking to pick something up.