advice for starting a new forum

[maydayp]

I'm not completely sure where to put this, and I hope I didn't pick the wrong spot.

I'm thinking of starting my own forum website to discuss some games I play (particularly GemCraft TDs), because many of them could benefit from having a board where people can challenge each other, or discuss different strategies (I know many site have forums where you can discuss all the games they host, but usually it's one topic per game, and/or you have to search through and keep tabs of too many pages and different conversations).
The thing is I've never done anything like this before, and I want to be sure I'm capable of handling it (or at least have a thorough understanding of what I'm getting into) before I get too far into it.
so what is your advice for some one who's thinking about hosting (probably from a free web forum provider) their own forum. any technical advice on what to look for if I do decide to pursue this, about bandwidth and such.
any advice concerning rules, enforcing them, or how to choose other admin or assistants.
Even just setting it up.
also what are some good free forum providers,
or any answers to questions you might ask yourself.

also please note that if I do this I plan on contacting the developers for permission or to invite them to participate in the forum.

[poochyena]

just use phpbb like these forums, its what most people use.
making and maintaining forums are super super easy, you shouldn't have any trouble with it

[think_of_a_shape]

You could look at..
http://www.phpbb3now.com/
I have set up a forum in under 10 mins
http://stubtoe.phpbb3now.com/index.php
The usual caveats would apply, read and understand the Terms and Conditions, some of the language of these
ToCs seem odd to say the least..

Spoiler:

Data and security

The necessary is carried out to avoid any deceleration or any unexpected downtime of the services but it is not possible to guarantee these decelerations or to prevent these downtimes. No problem of network, servers or other breakdowns is covered by any guarantee. No refunding can be considered for a stop of service, damage or a loss of contents. Several systems are set up to ensure a safety of the contents. Thus a safeguard of the whole of the data is carried out daily. On the other hand no precise safeguard of a forum, dump, and backup of the data will be provided no matter the evoked reason. The administrator of the forum has nevertheless tools allowing him to use these safeguards while positioning back his forum such as it was on a former date.

Your best bet is with proper hosting but that doesn't (usually) come free.
I would go to http://www.phpbb.com/community/ and look around there for hosting solutions...
Like here http://www.phpbb.com/hosting/ for example

[ycc1988]

I have an Invisionfree forum I inherited from the previous admins. Admin controls aren't too bad there, except there's one or two things I can't do as I'm not user #1/root. Skinning is a nightmare though, you'll want to hunt around for some pre-built themes or simply use the default. I hear there are a few new features in the new version, Zetaboards.