I, to, played wayyyyyy back in the Stone Age...70s early 80s. I then left the hobby because of career, kids etc. A couple of years ago I retired and was surprised that TTRPGs were still popular. I essentially went from D&D 1e to 5e without anything in between Some advice from one old geezer to another. - Virtual gaming gets a bad rap. It actually has many, MANY advantages and I have had good success with it. The most wonderful thing about online is that you can spend much time making things and you don't have to use it only once. You can accumulate what you have made and use it again or even reskin it and use it again. This is WONDERFUL. - That being said, you need to be aware of the differences between when you and I played and now. - The main one is the pure flakiness of players you meet online. You accept a game as a player there is still a good chance the DM/GM will ghost you. You GM and players ghost you. It takes time to build up nonflaky players. So, if you play or GM and most people flake but 1-2 don't...don't throw those people away, Keep in touch so that you can offer them a spot when you try again. Roll20 is PARTICULARLY full of flakiness. - Playstyles have changed dramatically. TTRPGs, I guess, are more mainstream now. Gone are the days when you could expect fellow players to be essentially really nerdy, have wargaming backgrounds and tended to play much the same. Today, there are many different types of players. the one that surprised me are the 'heavy roleplayers'. These are people who tend to approach TTRPGs from something like an 'acting' background. There are other types as well. This is a GOOD thing...but it can cause issues. Back in the day, a DM was, well, a DM. They might have differences in personality and such, may be better or worse but they DMd similar. Nowadays you can get wildly different style DMs and you, as a player, may not really like it....or you, as a DM, might get players that really don't like your style. For example, you will have people that don't really like combat! I know, weird ;) but they have their reasons. This means it is important that you talk with prospective DM/players to make sure it is a fit. - The dominance of D&D 5e. Roll20 might look like it has a vibrant non-D&D 5e community but it really doesn't. You can see by looking at the looks/responses to non-D&D 5e posts. This isn't a slam on D&D 5e as it reflects the world. D&D 5e is just hugely dominant. This means you must work harder to find people willing to try non-D&D 5e and keep in touch so that future offerings have some people you have met already known to be interested. - If you used to DM and have not really tried 5e yet...be aware that the zeitgeist has changed significantly. D&D 5e players are VASTLY overpowered to what you are used to and players will push it even more and want even more. The monsters have also gotten very, very wimpy. Remember undead being scary? Not anymore. Remember anything being scary...well not really anymore. It's hard to scare demi-gods...which are what 5e players essentially are. Gone are the 'gritty' campaigns where you have hungry players wanting to accumulate magic items and power. Today, they don't need magic items to be godlike and the DMs guide even says that magic items are not necessary and shouldn't get given out much. Essentially, in 5e, gold and magic items are unimportant. If you come from a 1e background this is just...weird and shocking. - This means, as a DM, that DMing 5e is much more taxing/exhausting mentally. D&D 5e burnout for DMs is very real (I am in a burnout phase right now). If you wish to DM...5e is GREAT for heroic fantasy and that is the way you need to DM. It can be fun but it may exhaust you. YMMV. - Avoid trying for the 'long term'/close friends style of campaign (unless they really are close friends). As a GM, keep your campaigns relatively short...say 3 months/8-12 sessions. Player attrition is real and it isn't always their fault (life butts in). If you try a long campaign you could find, in a year, that you have no original players left or 1 etc. Keep campaigns short with 'an option to continue' if you like...i.e. have your campaign be a 'series of books' and not 'one' book. Good luck :)
