Good luck, Jon! It is worth it. I was playing alone for a year or so before my first session. What a rush....!It is like sex, much more fun with others.*grin*

Rosebrook,
I think that my scold was justified....it seemed to me that the others were not attempting to be helpfull, they were being elitist. In much the same way that a fly-fisherman will pretenend that there is a big mystery or excessive difficulty to his hobby so that he or she can feel superior to the non fly-fisherman. (I have seen a lot of that, I used to run a fly shop.)
So I felt compelled to call them on it. I was not harsh nor rude about it, and I am unabashedly unapologetic.Dan