A VERY SHORT GUIDE TO DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS
First off you need books and lots of them. Lucky you I have them all on my dropbox!!!!
Player's Handbook -
REQUIRED READING
!!! Has all the D&D Basics
READ IT
Player's Handbook 2: Handbook Harder - Primal, Arcane, and Divine, oh my!
Player's Handbook 3 - Psionic, Divine, and Primal (sorry about the blur)
Dungeon Master's Guide - Not really needed unless you're the DM. Goes more in depth on some things. Might want to skim it.
Monster Manual 1 - A bunch of premade monsters. Reading it is like cheating against lazier DMs. Also contains monster races!
Monster Manual 2 - PENDING!
WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL GAME?
Dungeons &/| Dragons is a Role-playing Game. What is a role-playing game? This is really easy to answer in a boring way, such as in D&D's core rulebooks, so here's what the unrelated role-playing game F.A.T.A.L says about it:
A role-playing game is a game in which the players make decisions as though they were a certain character. The decisions a player may make are diverse compared to other games. Table-top role-playing games allow more decisions to a player than any other type of game.
For instance, assume you are an adventuring knight who has just fought his way to the top of a dark tower where you find a comely young maiden chained to the wall. What would you do? Some players may choose to simply free the maiden out of respect for humanity. Others may free her while hoping to win her heart. Instead of seeking affection, some may talk to her to see if they can collect a reward for her safe return. Then again, others may be more interested in negotiating freedom for fellatio.
Or something like that. PRETEND THE D&D STAND FOR DICE AND DECISIONS.
HOW DO I PLAY?
90% of the time the answer is "roll d20 and add some modifier." This is explained in the books, you should probably look it up.
D&D isn't about playing well. It's about developing a story. Usually things go awry, horribly. Which is why I encourage you to not play to win. Because when things go wrong it means you're doing everything right. I recommend you don't get bogged down in all of the books. Try to stick to the Player's Handbook if this is your first time.
That's all I have to say.