[Reeve of shinra]

Read, read, read and read. You'll learn alot just by browsing the forums.

Next, you need a domain (www.yoursite.com) and webhosting with mysql. There are other threads that delve into this more and the min requirements are posted I beleive on the official jelsoft support site. You can get recommendations on hosting there as well.

All the basics out of the way... buy the software, upload all the files, run the install, and your pretty much up and running with the default theme on vbulletin.com

want something more fancy... there are a few free styles that are decent and some that are sold in the neighborhood of $20-$30 that you can use. Its as simple as uploading the graphix, changing a few variable options in the admin cp regarding where thsoe images are, and importing the xml file for teh skin.

Its probably simpler than I am making it sound.

After that, create a new skin and play around. I didnt know anything until I started either. If your a quick learner, it shouldnt be too bad.