It would be easier if we knew what you were looking for in these games, story vs. combat for example. Assuming you are just jumping in blind and don't know what you're looking for, I might have a few tips.
- Don't start with real-time with pause games a la Baldur's Gate. Specially if you never played D&D in real life, they often assume you know all the basics and don't bother explaining it.
- When you do graduate to real-time with pause, you might want to start with Pillars of Eternity, it's meant to be accessible to new players and, even though the systems are different, they are similar enough that it will work as a good introduction. After playing it I felt ready to give Baldur's Gate another shot.
- Planescape: Torment: it's one of the best stories in gaming and the amount of role-playing in the dialogue is astounding. Yes, it is real-time with pause, but the combat is extremely simple and there's very little of it, specially if you invest your skill points in intelligence/wisdom, so it's not very difficult for beginners.
- Shadowrun: Dragonfall: Turn-based cyberpunk RPG with magic thrown in. While Hong Kong's gameplay might be a little better, this is the pinnacle of writing in this series, it's also cheaper. Like most kickstarter CRPGs, it's also accessible enough to attract people even from outside the dedicated fanbase willing to back a game like this.
- Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines: First-Person RPG. It's almost mandatory to install the fan patches, but when you do, you'll find a game with a rich story, many different ways to play and wide breadth of role playing options. The different hubs where you'll spend most of your time aren't very big, but are very detailed and atmospheric.
- Deus Ex: First-Person RPG. To solve your objectives you can go guns blazing, use stealth, diplomacy, hacking, etc. Whatever you choose to spend your points on, the game can accomodate that playstyle. If the boxy level design, stilted voice acting and graphics that were already bad when the game was released bother you, you can go instead with Human Revolution, the prequel from 2011, for the higher production values. Not as deep as its predecessor, then again, few games are, but if you enjoy this you'll look past any flaws in the original just to get more Deus Ex.
- Legend of Grimrock 1/2: Tile-based first-person party RPG. New game inspired by old classics like Eye of the Beholder and Ultima Underworld. If you really want to get that old school feel you can even disable the automatic map so that you can draw your own. Pretty hard game, but like the batch of new CRPGs inspired by the classics, it's more beginner friendly than some of its inspirations, it's well tutorialized, and you can start on easy and work your way up. If you don't mind playing in order, 2 is a better and has more open and varied environments, but it's your choice.
