If you've never played D&D before, but want to try it out, feel free to /in! I'll give as much help as possible, and I'm sure experienced players will as well. Some useful links:
The basic rules: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/down ... s_2018.pdf
This doesn't go through all the options, but it gives a good overview of the rules you need to know.
DnD Beyond: https://www.dndbeyond.com/
This is a very useful resource for keeping track of things about your character online. It's free, although you can pay for content outside of the Basic Rules (it also gives you all the classes for free, not just the 4 in the basic rules). This is where everyone will have their character sheets.
If you don't know something, ask! It's (probably) not a stupid question.
I'm fairly flexible with regard to what characters I'll allow. For example, some DMs ban Aarakocra, but I'm fine with them. However, heavily minmaxed characters won't be allowed unless there is a good reason. This campaign will focus on social interaction and RP, not just combat. Once you /in, PM me a link to your character on DnD Beyond (preferably as well as the official modules you'vs played before so I know what I can't steal from). While DnD Beyond does not give you all options from other books for free, it has a powerful homebrew tool that you can use to manually build these options of you wish. While it is possible to find pirated pdfs of these books online, I am not actively encouraging piracy. If you "homebrew" a paid option from one of these books, I will assume you found the info legally.
With regard to backstories, don't make it too long or too short. Something in the range of 100 words is perfect, but definitely not longer than 150. You don't need (and I don't want) that much detail yet. Even just a handful of sentences is fine. It'll get fleshed out later.
Avadhoth, the Kingdom of the Ravenwood Forest, is led by King Amdos, a Tiefling who came to power by controversial and shadowy means. His intentions and targets are unknown, but the kingdom has been mobilizing for war. This has become a great concern for the neighboring Principality of Enon. Enon is ruled by Lord Zadoc Nightslayer, a war hero who became Lord of Enon when the previous Lord died with no children. However, in little Colkirk, the site of our adventure's opening, there is talk of little else than the coming harvest festival.