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Hey everyone! I am Morphine and I'm completely new to the world of D&D! Although I am a geek at heart, I have never really delved into the world of D&D - sad I know- and now I'm coming to the realization that I need an adventure! The only reference I have to D&D is the celebrity PAX D&D game from 2010 on youtube, which I watched in one session last night. That got me pumped up enough to want to learn everything I possibly can So here I am!

Now, what I'm looking for:

I know everyone here has probably seen enough "I'm new and don't know where to start" threads. This is a little different than that, I promise What I'm looking for is a mentor that would be willing to help my husband, my brother, his wife, and myself ease into the world of D&D. I'm basically going to be the only one they would talk to and I will be the one to pass on all the info to the rest of the group, so no worries about having to deal with all 4 of us at once, heh.

There is a local game shop that opened up in my city a few months ago. (I live in southern Alabama, so they are kind of few and far between and VERY hard to find.) They specialize in Magic, though, so there aren't many D&D people there to ask for help. After I post here I'm planning on posting on their FB page to ask to see if there would be a way to get a learning team together for us, but that's a big IF they have the people.

Now, what I'm looking for in a mentor is someone who would be willing to help me out with how to get started and maybe direct me to websites or resources that I can soak up. My google-fu is not that strong and through my searches I've come up with older websites and things that I'm not sure about. I'd like to have someone I can ask questions to and get honest, easy to understand answers. I'd be available to talk via here, Skype, other messengers, email, or any other way to keep contact and I promise, I am not the type to bug or pester anyone - so please don't be afraid to message me

I hope I'm not asking too much (and I hope I'm posting this in the right place, I couldn't really find the best place to put this on these forums.... ). If you guys have any ideas for me or could offer any help, I would be greatly appreciative!

Thanks so much in advance,
Morphine

Hey everyone.. first off I want to say a BIG "Thank you" for replying to my initial post. I really means a lot to me. Next I want to say I'm sorry that I haven't responded in quite a while. After I posted that message I got a really bad chest infection and the coughing caused me to crack several of my ribs, so I've been in a doped up stupor the last week and a half. I would have responded right away if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't sit up for longer than a few minutes and I was on so much pain medication I couldn't see straight. I'm still in a lot of pain, but I've cut back on my pain meds and I'm working on being up and about more often to try and recover as best and as fast as possible.

Now, on to what you guys have said:

@Krusk - Wow you gave me tons of information and I really appreciate it! I'm pretty sure the local game store here plays 4e and from what I've read so far, it seems to be the most newbie friendly version to start with since we have no clue what we're doing... I know that 3.5e has its advantages, but to begin with, I'd rather make it a simple game just to get our feet wet and then after we get the hang of it, maybe dive into 3.5e.  Because none of us have any experience with it, I'm going to find someone else who can DM for us, just to make sure we have a good guide to help us through it. I'm planning on purchasing the starter kit and see what comes out of it from there. Thanks so much for all your information though, it was very helpful

@Koddiechanski - I'm kinda bad with remembering usernames, but I think you PMed me and I just replied to you  

@Rathlord - Yay... I'm not the only newbie around here lol It's good to know there are others out there lol If you get in touch with Koddiechanski, let me know. Maybe we can get on a three-way skype chat or something and learn together. I think that could be really fun and helpful for both of us.

 @AdenB - I am DEFINITELY going to check that link out.. Thanks so much! I bet that's pretty hilarious and can't wait to listen to it. 

@everyone else - Thanks again for replying to my post, guys. It really means a lot to me. You guys have been very helpful. I'm sorry again for not getting back to you sooner, but I am getting better day by day so I should be on more in the next coming day or two. Also, I'd like to apologize if there are a lot of typos in this message. I am typing this at 3:40am my time and without my glasses, so things are a bit blurry lol 

Anyway, thanks again and if anyone else has any more info or links I should check out, please send them my way....  I'm thinking 4e is the way to go right now so I'm going to do more searching on that edition and see what I can get into. 

4e Specific things. The quickstart rules I mentioned can be found here. www.wizards.com/dnd/files/quickstartrule... This is legal and hosted on wizards website, so don't be worried about using it. Its encouraged. It has a few basic player characters built up and the core rules boiled down to the essentials.  

If by the starter set you mean www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplay... I have never heard of this product, but it seems legit. The amazon reviews seem to make it sound not very newbie friendly though.

I'd recomend a used copy of this www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Core-Rul... instead. The three main books in their entirety for 60$ used. The problem with the starter boxes is that they typically cover a single adventure or meet-ups for a game, and then you have to buy the full books anyway.

General advice.
Find a DM you like as a person. Someone you don't mind hanging with outside of DND. Finding a DM that fits your group is fairly hard. Finding a DM is relatively easy. A good DM can make or break a game, and its important to find one you like. If you find that you can't stand playing D&D, consider swapping out for a different DM. Ask your DM if he considers himself old school. If he says yes/no, your new DM should give the opposite response. (In super broad strokes there are two schools of DMs, old and new)

4e Specific advice -
You will want to take anything that increases your to hit roll on your PC. For your primary stat, after racial mods, never have below a 16. Realistically, an 18 is the minimum. Lean towards blast and burst powers. They may not be as exciting as some others, but the ability to roll an attack against each foe in the blast/burst ups your accuracy a lot. In 4e it is really boring to miss when your turn rolls around.

Start at level 1, and don't let your DM talk you out of it. In previous editions starting at level 1 was hard mode where everyone dies in one hit from anything. So most groups started at 3-5. In 4e that isn't the case, and playing from level 1 really helps you learn the game.

Focus fire. In 4e enemies have a lot of HP. Even if your group uses the Monster Manual 3 method of reducing monster HP. If you focus fire on one enemy at a time combat is easier.

Recomended rules to be aware of.
Monster Manual 3 and onwards, the designers admitted monsters had too much HP. Monsters made after this point have a lot less. I forget the official formula for determining the ammount of HP to drop from old monsters, but I usually cut them by 1/3 or more for fast math.  

"Feat Taxes". The expertise feats in later rulebooks were released because by level 20 or so, players attack bonus and defense don't add up to what they should have for the math of the game to work. This can make it frustrating to play but isn't noticable until level 13-14 or higher. It isn't a big deal until level 20+. To help with this you can either make sure your group has a dedicated buffer who can boost your team to the needed math, or you can give all players a free +1 to defesne and offense per tier.

Skill challenges can be confusing. I'd google around for an alternative system, or some youtube videos of people running them. Then just run them how the youtube videos show, not how they are printed.