New Player Questions.

hey folks, i`m a complete beginner when it comes to tabletop gaming and am very apprehensive when it comes to taking the first steps into this hobby. i have gained an interest in tabletop gaming as of recent weeks and have been looking at box sets, clubs, groups, all sorts and its was all a little daunting and somewhat costly to experience, as all hobbies are but then i found out about roll20 :). this seems like the perfect medium for a new player to experience the many worlds within tabletop gaming but many questions remain such as 1. where do i create a character and what restrictions are there on stat assignment? 2. what research into the rules for games can i do online so that i at least have a basic grasp if the mechanics in the game such as actions possible, consequences for certain actions what roll dictates an outcome and just get a general beginners grasp of the game flow. 3. is there a way of narrowing down the different games affects on experience such as what difference in play experience will i get from say DnD 3.5 to Pathfinder or Warhammer to Sci-fi. is the main difference the universe you play in or are there varying rules entirely? 4. are there any additional game-play features that would come in handy for a game such as pencil and paper for making notes of events during the game or effects of spells cast? 5. is Google Hangouts the best way to experience the game i understand this is personal preference but i mean does it cause any problems? i would be very happy to have some of my questions cleared up as i really want to have a go at tabletop gaming and roll20 seems like the perfect place for me to experience and learn the game for the first time. thank you for taking the time to read this post.

So what Roll20 is for: Anyone can play a game on Roll20 but they must provide the materials themselves. Roll20 provides the means for gamers to play online but we do not provide the game (rules, mechanics, etc).  With that said here are the following answers: 1) This is dependent upon the game you play. Different games have different rules. 2) Some games have online resources for their games. Here are a few for the D&D style games: 3rd edition D&D has online (free) resources called System Resource Document (SRD). They contain much but not all of the rules needed to play. A more recent 3rd party version of the 3rd edition ruleset is called Pathfinder and has online (free) resources called PRD that can get you started. Pretty much all of the rules are contained on their website.  4th edition D&D has an online starter ruleset.  There are other games out there and it is possible many of them have free versions of their rules but ultimately, most of them will require you to spend money eventually. Its the nature of the beast. 3) D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder are basically the same game. Pathfinder is an updated ruleset put out by Paizo. D&D 3.5 was published by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) but is no longer being produced. WotC is currently producing the 4th edition of the D&D game but they are currently playtesting the 5th edition of the game.  Other games can be as different as night and day. Unfortunately, there are so many games out there there is no easy answer. 4) People use all sorts of aids. Some still use pencil and paper. Others use word documents. There are resources in the Roll20 VTT such as Journals that can be used for much of this but it is not a one size fits all solution. Personally, I use a mix of Word docs, character sheets on Mythweavers, journal entries in the game, and more recently, the campaign discussion forum. 5) This is really an issue regarding the audio/video aspect of Roll20.  Roll20 has three A/V methods. Tokbox, WebRTC, and Google+ Hangouts. Some people have no issues with Tokbox but many have problems with it. Next we have WebRTC, a very new protocol for A/V communication. Unfortunately, it is so new that only Chrome supports it and even then it may not work right in everyone's chrome. As other browsers adopt WebRTC it is some peoples hope that it will eventually replace Tokbox.  Last, there is Google+. Many swear by it but others do not like the loss of Roll20 screen space.  Besides the 3 Roll20 methods people find their own methods. My Roll20 gaming group uses Skype for voice instead of any of the 3 Roll20 options. Mostly it works for us.  I hope this has answered some of your questions. If you want to explore games I suggest trying to find one that is recruiting in the Looking for a Game forum. - Gauss

@Gauss that was a very insightful reply kudos to you for taking the time to produce that. i feel a little less daunted about getting started now that you have answered some of my questions. i think the best option for me, personally, is to decide what universe i want my first venture into tabletop gaming to be and get clued up on some of those online SRD`s thanks again for the post Gauss i really did not expect every point to be covered. with regards to character creation i think i should wait to find out what the game i join requires (Pre-assigned or personally created) and go from there right?

Yes, you should wait to join a game and then the GM will instruct you from there. :) As for kudos, it is my job here to help so none are necessary. However, thank you. - Gauss