Mudface on 16 October 2009
There are some helpful FAQs here- the AD&D guide in particular is very useful (like you, I didn't have a clue about AD&D before I started playing the game and this sorted me out).
If you have the original Baldur's Gate, there's a mod called BGTutu that allows you to play both 1 and 2 consecutively with the same character. Well worth doing, also seek out the widescreen and tweak pack mods, they really make a difference to the vanilla game.
