So this is my first time playing through any Ultima game and as most people seem to suggest IV as a good starting point I chose to start there. I made a bard and ended up outside Britain and have been doing pretty well. I found the Rune of Compassion and won some battles, upgraded to a Sword and Leather Armor, and then I stumbled into the Moongate and ended up in Minoc where I found the Rune of Sacrifice.

My question is: when I press Z it says I am already level 3 with 400something exp. I don't see how that is possible as I haven't really done that much and I can't get anyone to join me. I've asked pretty much everyone I can and they all say they can't join me. Can someone help me out? Thanks in advance :)

You get EXP not just from fights, but also for completing "main quests", i.e. finding runes, meditating at shrines, that stuff. However, only your main character will get those experience points, the rest of the part has to level up by fighting.

Only eight particular people in the game can join you, and out of those the one with the same class as you can't join the party. In your case that would be Iolo from Britain. On top of that you can only have as many part members as your level, i.e. you alone on level 1, you and one companion on level 2, and so on.

In order to beat the game you will need a full party of eight, but I would not recommend picking up more than three companions. Wait until you have hit level 8 and are ready for the final dungeon, then pick the remaining companions up. The more party members you have, the slower the fights get, and any more than four is unnecessary. You can let your "unneeded" part members die, then they won't slow you down, just make sure you have enough resurrection spells ready for them before entering the final room.

If you want to know who can join you, you can find a list on the internet:
http://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Companions_of_the_Avatar

Ahh okay I understand. I assumed, for whatever reason, that anyone with an actual name was able to join me. So I was going around asking everyone lol I did find Iolo and that makes sense why he would decline to join me. I really appreciate the help cause I was pretty confused as to what was going on. Thanks :)

Everyone in Ultima IV has a name, you won't find five "Villager" standing in town. Some of them have useful information, some don't, but you have to find out for yourself who does ;) Sometimes people will have nothing useful to say, but you might learn from someone else what to ask them, and then they actually become useful. You should keep a diary of your travels and not whenever someone says something of use.

I'm pretty sure that the world is still full of generic "Guard"s. Other than that though, they're individuals.

I have been keeping a journal of things that I think are important. I love games that have you do that :)

Thanks again for the help guys. Love this game so far.