(online) Looking to start a PAthfinder Group, need some advice first

Hi I used to dm online a few years back, using the maptools program, starting out with a Faerun 3.5 campaign, later switching to a Pathfinder campaign. I'm looking to get back into running a campaign, as I now have much more time for it, but as I've been away from the scene for a while, I need to ask some questions as things seem to have changed a lot. I am in the process of writing up a homebrew Adventure Paths type of adventure for levels 3-6, with multiple non-linear but not completely sandbox ways to get through the adventure (like the Pathfinder Adventure Paths but homebrew pretty much).

I used to run games more on the fly, this time I am investing the time to have much more filled out NPCs, enemies, locations etcetera, even if not everything, or even half the things I design, see use in the campaign (it all depends on what path the players take and how this affects the pre-written stuff). I don't want to say too much about the campaign as this is not the focus of this thread, and although it would be nice to know if anyone's interested, I wont be looking for players actively for a month or so.




Suffice to say the campaign is based around how the Lovecraft mythos and cosmic horror interact with the Pathfinder world. The first adventure will involve derros, a secret UFO landing site (yes in a fantasy game!), cattle mutilation, disappearing folks, a hillbilly ogrekin clan, a mysterious mass murder, and a mentally scarred wizard (its a long adventure that sets up the rest of the campaign) all set in the dank moors and claustrophobic forests of the River Kingdom. Questions:What is the best tool to use for virtual tabletops at the moment? I'm seeing a lot of mention of roll20 which I have not used before, I had decent experience with maptools in a stripped down kinda way (I didn't implement much of system specific codes, mainly used the map, chat, visibility, token and dice roll functions). Really I;' looking for a free program that is commonly used by players n a similar vein to maptools without the myriad connectivity issues that had. Is this roll20? Should I go back to maptools?I used to use skype to hold my group together and group emails. I have been reading about something called Discord but have little experience with it. Is this something everyone now uses I should investigate?

Finally, does anyone have any intel on which is the best of many find-a-player site for finding Pathfinder/dnd3.5 players? I know 5e is the big thing now but Pathfinder/3.5 d20 is what I'm comfortable with, I find the Pathfinder setting better for a and-the-kitchen-sink type fantasy setting in comparison to Forgotten Realms (and I have many resources, no 5e resources), especially as it specifically has Lovecraft entities written into it.

Thanks!

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I run 5e on roll20. I don’t have any PF specific bits of advice but there are a few things I’d recommend.

6 players. I like having 6 online, despite it being my ABSOLUTE cap, because because I establish that we will play with 4. So the absence of a player or two doesn’t stop the game.
Play regularly. We’re having good results with 1/week for 2-3 hours. It’s a shortish time to play, but things get done and memories are fresh.

The fact that Roll20 is free is a major positive for my players. I subscribe at 10 a month or so(which you will likely need/want to do so you can have space for your campaign assets.

I’ve done both my own campaign and purchased a module(Curse of Strahd). Doing your own stuff requires a lot of prep: build maps ahead of time,create custom creatures, place and edit tokens, find/import pictures. This isn’t necessarily much more time than normal but it is different, more data entry. The pre-made stuff helps with that element. If your not doing an ‘official’ adventure you can make use of the publications that have more disconnected adventure locations. I think... Tales of the Yawning Portal is like that.

That’s what I got.