These are the Good Days [+]

[Neonchameleon]

I'd also say that the quality of games is better now than it has ever been. Both the NSR and the post-post-Forge character driven games are frequently awesome in ways that there hasn't been in any previous period. (For that matter the 10s post-Forge and OSR games were often doing things that almost couldn't have been done before).

 

[GrimCo]

Ease of access today better than ever.

Majority of books for games can be bought legally, often for cheap. And quality of digital formats is often very good to great. Online shopping made finding and buying physical stuff also way easier.

DIY part of the hobby is also thriving. Be it video advice on how to do/make something, be it sharing of homebrew game stuff, be it just stl files for 3d printing.

TTRPG-s have, for the most part, lost stigma of "nerd hobby". It's just another social activity people do with friends.

 

[RealAlHazred]

3. Humble bundle is bloody excellent. Not just the value but the fact that so many companies engage with it. I’ve recently discovered it and been blown away. Love that you can give to charity while engaging with rpg games and companies I might not otherwise have taken a risk on.

Remember to edit your Humble Bundle contribution if you want a significant amount to go to the charity!
Also check out Bundle of Holding, that site has great bundles as well (and automatically gives you the stuff on DTRPG).

Came here to mention Bundle of Holding. Not only do we have one site that sells large bundles of excellent game PDFs for a huge discount, we have two. Add in the occasional really good bundle deal on DTRPG and the regular excellent bundle deals on itch.io, and you can legally acquire all of the stuff you need for truly excellent RPG sessions, all from your armchair.

 

[cbwjm]

VTT allowed my friends and I to keep gaming during covid with all of our lockdowns.

Drivethru has allowed me to access a number of RPG products I likely wouldn't have seen down here in NZ and because I'm purshasing a pdf more often than not, I have instant access. I have also built up a large repository of DnD Basic, 2e, and some 3e products from DMsGuild.

Reddit and other online communities have a lot of creative content by RPG players, new spells, new subclasses, new classes; you might not use it all but just browsing through it you might come across something and go "yeah, I think that fits my next adventure I'm running"

Discord has allowed me to ask queries about Dolmenwood and Transformers RPGs and, because the community for both is very active, I get a response almost instantly. Forums and Reddit might take a bit longer, but not by much, these communities have been a great help in clarifying information or helping me sort out an idea.

Kickstarter has been great for the limited projects I've backed. People have mentioned Humble Bundle and Bundle of Holding, I check these every couple of months and have ended up with large collections of stuff from them.

DnDBeyond has made 5e character creation nice and easy, I loved it back when I was playing 5e and had a bit of fun creating monsters and magical items for encounters and players.

 

[MNblockhead]

Having gotten back into TTRPGs in 2014/2015 after 24 years of not playing, I immediately felt it was a golden era. The OGL "crisis" and all the other debates that have roiled portions of the on-line gaming community have done little to dampen my enthusiasm. There are so many options, so much material, a lot of it free, and easily accessible. The 80s were a nostalgic golden era, but that had more to do with the freedom and friends of youth. As an older adult with some disposable income I'm drowning in choice I could have scarcely imagined in the 80s.

I've moved on from D&D and am playing WFRP4e. After my current campaign, I might go back to D&D5e or try to run a game in Foundry using Crucible if it matures. Or maybe something else entirely. Some of my best one shots were with systems that cost me nothing or only a few bucks on DTRPG. I've got more purchased material than I'll be able to run before I die.

I have opinions on, and enjoy the drama of, some of the gaming industry debacles, but it is impossible to get too bent out of shape. Just shrug and play what you like. You're spoiled for choice in this golden age of TTRPGs.