Yeah, you never sit down with a new-to-RPGs player and just start going line by line through character creation.
Best thing to do at start is discuss the setting in non-rules terms. Where the game takes place, what kinda of people live there and what can they do, that sort of stuff.
Then ask what kind of character they want to try. Again, general non-rules-based discussion. Do they want to shoot guns? Do they want to be a good talker? Perhaps they might have some signature item or weapon they're known for?
Then you move on to the character's background. Where is he or she from? What family do they have? Social class? Significant events from their childhood? How do they tie into the setting?
By this time, they should either be engaged with the setting, or they don't like it and perhaps another game should be considered.
All this and we still haven't gotten into any rules yet.
Even when you get into the rules, there is no need to immediately go full-hog into the system. Nearly every modern roleplaying game has basic mechanics they revolve around. D&D like many RPGs has a "die roll plus modifiers versus a variable target number" primary mechanic. Shadowrun has dice pools against a static target number, and varies the number of successful rolls required it's main means of varying the difficulty. Other games compare die rolls to charts, or use poker cards instead of dice. And so on.
Some game systems are very complex when looked at in their entirety but even those, like just about every other game, can be boiled down to perhaps only half a dozen important mechanics that a player needs to regularly remember. Pretty much everything else is situational and can be ignored unless that specific situation comes up.
Even in character creation, you can generally simplify it down to "pick the main attributes, pick the main skills, get some gear and equipment, and you're good to go." Don't just have the player read through every skill and ability entry, use that discussion you had earlier to suggest a handful of selections based on what kind of character they were looking to make. There's no point in discussing ability set A too much if their expressed desire is to play a character that will probably best use ability set B.
Secondary stats and abilities can be left off til the player gets a better handle on game play, and it's advisable to allow the new player to adjust the character as they learn the system.
About the only game I can think of that can't easily be simplified down is perhaps Rolemaster and it's siblings. So many damn charts. Oh, and FATAL. Nobody should ever play that, no matter how experienced you are at gaming.
-k
