I played a great deal "back in the day" . . . my only advice would be to be conservative. You don't want to be responsible for killing your friend's character! So hide behind lots of rocks and trees!
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I tried to play in college.. my boyfriend was "teaching" me how to play. Thing is, he'd do stuff to kill off my character almost as soon as we'd get started so it made it hard to learn. Competitive jerk.
One of the webcomics (Penny-Arcade) that I read has been mentioning D&D in their news posts recently.
Here's the link http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/5/30/ from the first day. Just work your way forward. Some of it seems pretty interesting. They even do a pod cast of game.