Lot of great explanations, but I would add, for the non scary part, because it goes like that most of the times for me : the DM figures out the rules, you just assume a cool character and tell your DM what you want to do in the situation they described. :) At least, that’s how I do it, I tell my new players they don’t have to know any rules, I’ll tell them as we go, and the only thing they need to bring is their imagination. And they learn the rules as we go, often they’re the ones who want to discover them, as the rules are “cool stuff their character can do”.
Lot of great explanations, but I would add, for the non scary part, because it goes like that most of the times for me : the DM figures out the rules, you just assume a cool character and tell your DM what you want to do in the situation they described. :) At least, that’s how I do it, I tell my new players they don’t have to know any rules, I’ll tell them as we go, and the only thing they need to bring is their imagination. And they learn the rules as we go, often they’re the ones who want to discover them, as the rules are “cool stuff their character can do”.