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Welcome aboard!
If you're going to be starting your own group, definitely get the Beginner's Box and familiarize yourself with it before bringing in everyone else. Typically, whoever kicks off the group will start out as Game Master and help everyone else figure out what characters they want, so you'll have a bit extra material to work with.
Personally, I started by familiarizing myself with beginners' rules and running some mock combats (controlling everyone myself) to get a handle on the combat rules. It worked very well for me, but everyone's learning style is different, so don't worry too much if it doesn't click right away.
Even if your local game store doesn't have a group that plays their (or support Pathfinder Society play), they may have a "looking for group" board. You can also check sites like Meetup for local games and sites like this one for Play-by-Post, which might be a good fit for your schedule.
One last place to look is any local college campuses. Many of them have dedicated gaming groups.
If you join an existing group, most will guide you through the process so you can learn as you go and books you can borrow if you learn better by reading. If you're starting your own, though, absolutely get the Box first and dive in.
Cheers!
Landon
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I would definitely suggest going with the Beginner Box first. Read through the books and find a couple of friends to run Black Fang's Dungeon (the included adventure). Things might start out a little slow and fiddly, but just relax and go with it. If your experience is anything like mine, your friends will be clamoring for more by the time you reach the end.
I cannot encourage you enough to play Pathfinder Society at your local game store (if you are lucky enough to have a game store that offers it). Doing this is really what taught me how to play Pathfinder (and become a better GM). Just start out as a fighter or similarly simple class and absorb all you can from your fellow players and GM. It will really make a lot of stuff in the Beginner Box more clear to you (and believe me the Beginner Box is already very clearly written).
Last, use these boards to ask for advice and find additional resources. The Pathfinder community has been one of the most welcoming groups I've ever come into contact with, especially in the niche culture of tabletop gaming.
Welcome!
Well the begginer box is sort of a unique product. Its purpose is to get new players like yourself into the game as quickly as possible. Theoretically you can grab the box, grab a couple friends and be playing inside of 15 minutes of opening it. I'd recommend though that you buy the box, and look over the rulebooks a little bit first. You dont have to but it will help. It will also help you explain it to people you want to join you.
The biggest part of tabletop gaming is you need other people. It is social activity, so in theory you want people you enjoy spending time with. If you think any of your friends and family might be interested, I'd invite them to play a game with you. See how it goes, if any of them are still interested then now you have some players. You can also ask the store you are buying this stuff from to post a notice that you are interested in starting a group, or use things like meetup and other social media to find people. It really never has been easier to get a group together.
Thank you for all of the feed back! One question I have is, if I buy the beginner box can I do much with it learning wise on my own before I try to get others to play it. Or should we all try to hash it out together? What all can I do within the box by myself to learn.
I believe there is actually a mini solo adventure you can run to get a little used to it. You also ofcourse can read the dm and players guide and familiarize yourself with it. As well as read through the little adventure they have prepared in there so you can run it for your group when you get them together.
If you're more used to Computer RPGs it may be worth investigating Temple of Elemental Evil. It's based on Dungeons and Dragons edition 3.5, which is similar to Pathfinder. It has a very literal implementation of the combat ruleset which can help understanding it. If you do choose to play it then I'd definitely recommend the Circle of 8 modpack to fix a ton of bugs and add new content. (*edit* you can get it pretty cheaply from GoG.com)
If you want to ease your friends into tabletop RPGs then consider getting hold of "We be Goblins!", a free downloadable adventure from the Paizo shop. It's short, simple and seems to be a lot of fun.
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Thank you for all of the feed back! One question I have is, if I buy the beginner box can I do much with it learning wise on my own before I try to get others to play it. Or should we all try to hash it out together? What all can I do within the box by myself to learn.
In theory, you can crack it open with everyone and jump right into playing. That's not what I'd do personally, because there is quite a bit you can do to familiarize yourself before you jump in.
Reading everything is the big one. If anything seems unclear, try reading it through again or asking here.
Then, if you have some extra time, you can run through almost anything solo by controlling all the characters and the monsters. It's not necessary by any means, but running through things solo will give you a good grasp of what the characters can do and how the mechanics interact. It's also a good way to catch extra questions you may have.
For preparation, I wouldn't consider more than reading everything a few times and taking a party of adventurers through the adventure. Past that and you're almost assuredly overpreparing.
Just don't worry about getting it perfect. If there's one truism in tabletop RPGs, it's that you can never predict how things will actually play out at the table. Trying to be perfectly prepared makes it harder to ad lib and make guesses, so do just enough to make yourself familiar with the material, then jump in.
Cheers!
Landon
I came to Pathfinder without much experience in tabletop rpg's and bought the beginner box for my son and I. It was intimidating at first, because there's a lot to take in. However, there's a few tips I'd like to share that makes it a lot easier to get a hold of:
(1) While playing a game, if you don't know what the rules say, make a judgment call and look it up later. That way you can keep the game moving.
(2) Get enough understood to play, and add as you go. If you download the kids path and other free extras for the Beginner Box on paizo, you'll see a slow implementation of rules. Each short adventure adds another rule instead of throwing them all at you at once.
(3) As Landon said, don't worry about being perfect. My best moments have been the "where did that come from" moments where I had to improvise.
That's pretty much it. There's a lot of resources out there, especially pfbeginner.com, which are great. Have fun!
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You can either get the Beginner Box, which has great value for it's price. Though imho it is targeted more at young beginner players. But it eases the start into PFRPG and you can still use it with the full ruleset, and it is a great start for newbies to RPG gaming. Knowing some computer RPGs should definately qualify as having a head start vs real newbies.
Or you can get the Core Rules (pdf for $10, hardcopy is more expensive even used on ebay) and try reading it through. If after that you think you know roughly how this game should work get a low level adventure and play with some friends.
Or you can check out www.pfbeginner.com (beginner rules online) or www.d20pfsrd.com (core rules online), and try if you can make sense of the game.
When playing I definately suggest getting one of the free intro adventures form paizo and/or definately starting low level i.e. at level 1.
BTW there is excellent material for PFRPG out there from other publishers (called 3PPs, third party publishers). When starting out I would suggest limiting rules to the PFBB or the Core rules only.
But have a look at some of the excellent introductory first level adventures by 3PPs:
The Horn of Geryon ("One of the best 1st level modules out there")
or
Retribution by Rite Publishing (dto.)
0One publishes PFBB compatible adventures in their Basic Path line
There are also the solo adventures from Kobold Press in which "The rules are explained as you play. Begin at paragraph 1 and proceed from there, taking notes as you go.".
Party of One: Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach (PFRPG) PDF
Party of One: Elgar Fletch and the Dark Army (PFRPG) PDF
These probably make great introductory adventures...