Baldur's Gate

- Your party will be fairly weak until later in the game so you may want to save before even a seemingly easy battle. If a character joins up and tells you that they need to get somewhere, try to head that way as soon as you can. It's easy to get sidetracked and that particular NPC may leave you for good. Unlike BG2, there's lots of optional side areas to explore so feel free to adventure out to these areas but also make sure to expect some challenging surprises as well. Besides that, try not to miss out on the stat tomes, the powerful artifact just east of the Friendly Arm entrance, and the very useful item hidden in the farm fields in Nashkel.

- My emphatic advice? Stop playing right now! Immediately buy BG2: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal. You will install those, and a mod called BG TuTu. BG TuTu allows you to play the original Baldur's Gate in the superior BG2 engine.

- Stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. 10 is average, 18 is the best starting score for a human. They're very "top-heavy": for most stats, 14 is no better than 10, 16 is only a little better, and 17 or 18 is where it starts getting really good. Feel free to "cheat" at character creation and top off your stats.

- Armor Class: Your defence against physical attacks. Lower is better. 10 is the worst. Based off your armor, shield, any magic protective spells/equipment, and your Dexterity AC bonus.

- THAC0: Your attack rating. The number you need to roll (on a 20-sided die) to hit a 0 Armor Class. Lower is better. 20 is the worst.

- Saving Throws: Your non-physical defenses, against stuff like magic attacks, poison, and so on. You need to roll equal to or above your ST value on a 20-sided die. Lower is better.

- Your party should include (at the minimum) a cleric, a wizard, a frontline fighter, and someone with thief skills. Most of these roles can be multiclassed if necessary (a cleric/mage is fine, for example.)

- AD&D rules are MUCH more complicated than D&D 3rd Ed, but you don't need to know most of them.

- Stay intensely focused on the main storyline. Yes I know exploring side stories is part of the fun, but if you do only a handful that look interesting, and those that dovetail with stuff that happens in the main plot, I guarantee you'll have a memorable experience with the game, leave more to do for a replay later, AND you'll actually finish it, promise!

- Use your damn consumables. Again, this applies to a lot of rpgs of this type. I've yet to run into any rpg where using consumables left me in some impossible situation later. Indeed, if I'm really blitzing hard, some fights are damn hard without them and more easily manageable with them, and they make for memorable and interesting battles that would otherwise be cakewalks due to overleveling/powering before tackling the main story (see point 1).

- In BG1, you will come across Golden Pantaloons. They seem useless, but don't throw them away, keep them until the end of the game. They're one of the few items that transfer over into BG2, where you'll find 2 similar items (one's in ToB, actually). You need these items if you want to get power armor and a rocket launcher. No, I'm not kidding. Beware, they are extremely cheesy.