New Player Guide Feedback!

though question... with the table of contents it probably doesn't make much difference ...

maybe as 1b? introduce yourself -> check some games -> find a game

I dunno, be patient with me - I'm new here. Here's my story.

My experience was:
1) I know RPG, but I'm interested in PbP - How does that work? I google and end up here.
2) Rolls investigation. Nat 1. Nah. I don't get it. What does PbP on here actually look like? I don't know if I missed it, but it would have been helpful to see the public games before registering.
3) I wander off, then come back again.
4) Passive perception 10. Ooo - there are games to join. Let's register and see if I can have some of that.
5) I've registered. It says "Join a game!" in big letters. I click that. Find a game and apply to game.
6) I then find the guide, and start following it. I've already clicked join game (step 2), so I guess I'd better quickly create a character.
7) I then skip back to step 1, introduce myself, and start browsing the forums.

Only when I got around to reading the forums I realised that it wasn't as simple as the guide made out. Most games appear to be in progress and there don't seem to be that many open games (am I wrong?). Encouraging people to "join a game" is perhaps setting an unrealistic expectation? I don't know.

Now I've read some of the forum posts I think I understand some of the problems. It's incredibly frustrating to have players join a game only to drop out. It's super simple to register on this site, but playing requires a level of commitment that many people won't have. I completely understand why it's not as simple as just "Joining a game". This completely makes sense now.

Okay, I think. I'm really keen to do this. I'm pretty sure that I can commit time to this. I'm happy to chill in the forums until a game turns up and DMs can trust that I'll post. But what am I letting myself in for? How different is this to regular RPGs?

That's when I discover the public games thread and it all makes sense.

8) (I'm still on this bit). Oh, this looks cool. I wonder how often new games turn up? If there's a shortage of games, maybe I should even thinking about DMing one (although I'll need to browse the forums for tips on that). In the meantime, let's continue reading the forums.

But for me, reading the Public Games and other forum posts, is when it all made sense.

Although... I've only just arrived, and this is just my onboarding experience.

It's entirely possible that I'm wrong or I'm missing something.

That is awesome feedback, documenting the order of your impressions and learning curve. Thank you!

As a reward, heh, want to join a 5e game in progress? The players just completed the first stage of the campaign, and are now level five. A dragon they rescued is sending them to rescue (wait for it) more dragons.

I'd love to! Which game is it? How do I find it?

Will they have to kill a princess to save the dragon?

Here is the link to the game detail. I can't invite you, it keeps trying to add a different Adam variation, but click to Apply to Game and I'll accept you.

The presence of princesses or lack thereof has yet to be established for the players. Spoiler alert: no princesses.

Okay, thanks. I think I've applied.

You're in. You should be able to see the Tribute to Dragons forums now when you click the Forums in the navigation bar, and you can also get to it by clicking the Forums link at the bottom of the Games Detail page.

@Adam - I just posted an interest check for a Tales from the Yawning Portal game if you'd like to throw your hat in.

Thanks. I'm in. I've submitted Tarqin von Cillary a NG half-orc noble sorcerer and posted a question about character creation (basically, do you want me to level him up?).