... after of course fiddling with it for 45 minutes to get the damn thing to work windows 7 that is.   But i was instantly  almost overwhelmed at just how many classes and stats there are.   I had no idea this game was for lack of a more eloquent description  a very RPG-ass RPG.   Can't wait to dig into it once my seemingly sudden Dungeons of Dredmor addiction dies off.   
 
Any first playthrough tips for a newbie?

Bought it on Steam the other day as part of the weekend deal but i haven't tried it yet. Might give it a go now.

Install the Unoffical Patch, that should not only make it run on Win7, but also fix the plethora of bugs still found in Version 1.2 of the native game.
 
From there, the game is based on the Old World of Darkness tabletop series, notably the Vampire: the Masquerade gameline, and those are the stats you use in that game.
 
Pick a Clan that reflects the kind of character you'd like to roleplay. Are you aloof, and manipulative, and dream of power? You might be a Ventrue. Do you like to club things in the head with heavy objects? Sound like a Brujah to me. Are you animalistic and in touch with your inner beast (not to be confused with Beast, mind you!)? Maybe you should be a Gangrel!
 
My only real suggestion is do not play a Malkavian, and do not play a Nosferatu. Malkavians are completely fucking batshit insane, and it affects dialogue and gameplay severely. Nosferatu are hideous and disfigured, and so must basically travel by sewer, almost exclusively. They are wonderful for sub-sequential playthroughs, but make poor first choices.

@Demoskinos said:

@Mmmslash: Oh man a Malkavian is exactly who I picked. What is exactly so horrible about them? The description made it sound like their insanity is kind of a double edged sword of sorts.

It changes the dialogue completely and well, makes the plot a bit hard to follow. Malkavians are great fun to play, but they rarely make any sense not to mention they have long conversations with televisions.

Though, I guess it might be possible to keep up with the events even without coherent dialogue - I didn't try that, so I can't tell. If you decide to stick with your choice, do report back as to how it's going!

Also know that in general guns suck and melee and magic do well.

@Demoskinos said:

@Mmmslash: Oh man a Malkavian is exactly who I picked. What is exactly so horrible about them? The description made it sound like their insanity is kind of a double edged sword of sorts.

it just changes all the in game dialogue to really random insane ramblings, and i imagine it would make the plot hard to follow the first time though, VERY entertaining for a second play though when your more comfortable with the game though,

Focus on melee for combat, don't pick Malkavian for first runthrough (they have a tendency to know plot spoilers ahead of time), and put some points into computers and lockpicking.

The combat mechanics are janky but the game has some of the best dialogue written for a video game.  I'm about 30 hours in, probably getting close to the end but i've never really gotten bored enough to stop playing because of the pull the world and characters have on you. 

@Mmmslash: Oh man a  Malkavian is exactly who I picked.  What is exactly so horrible about them?  The description  made it sound like their insanity is kind of a double edged sword of sorts.

Malkavians, while insane, do actually offer some very insightful information to the story.  While most of their dialogue options may sound like insane ramblings, they also, sometimes (I'd refrain from saying always, but, know there's a good bit), actually offer insight on characters that you wouldn't normally discover until later in the story.  They're actually quite interesting.  While others may tell you to not do it, I'd say give it a try, just play it for a little while as a Malkavian, and if the dialogue seems too weird or hard to follow for you, then save them for another play through.  
 
I do agree with others though, don't play a Nosferatu on a first play through, they make the game considerably more difficult for parts of the game.  
 
As for first time through advice, hmm..  I'm not great at giving advice I think, but, I will say that many of the side quests really do require you to go out of your way to find them.  You also only gain experience for completing objectives, which means there is a limit on the amount of experience you can earn in the game (short of using cheats), so finding as many side quests as possible is a good idea.  Also, don't waste money on buying weapons (most of the time), as you can find most weapons in the game from killing enemies.  Most importantly though, just have fun with the game.

Malkavians and Nosferatu are definitely meant for second and third playthroughs.