11 Dungeons & Dragons Statistics and Facts [2024]

Dungeons & Dragons is a highly popular tabletop role-playing game, usually with a focus on the fantasy genre.

This game has captured the focus of players across the world, and it’s constantly generating exciting statistics. Let’s take a look at the most fascinating ones.

D&D Stats Highlights

• D&D has been having a global annual increase in sales of 33%.
• D&D has been leading the tabletop RPG category for over 47 years.
• D&D has been steadily growing for the past 7 years.
• There are 5 editions of D&D out.
• D&D is 1st in growth on the Roll20 platform.

D&D Demographics Stats

Since its inception in 1974, D&D has been successful thanks to the players that use it. The loyal fanbase of explorers, adventures, and creators is responsible for the continued success of the game.

The Gender Gap Is Narrowing

(Source: Wizards of the Coast)

While D&D has traditionally been perceived as an option preferred by male gamers, the number of female players has been steadily increasing.

At this stage, 60% of D&D players identify as men, while 40% identify as women. Under 1% of D&D players identify as non-binary or other.

This shows that the D&D audience is expanding and becoming far more inclusive than in its earlier days.

As its fame grows, D&D’s players showcase more diversity, which is what makes this game a future-forward option even decades after it arrived on the scene.

Most Players Are Between 20 and 24 Years Old

(Source: Wizards of the Coast)

24% of D&D players are between 20 and 24. While this age range takes precedence, D&D has widespread appeal with all ages.

The 30 to 34 range is represented by 18% of players, with the 25 to 29 range also at 18%. 35 to 39 is at 14%, while the 40+ range is at 13%.

Younger players are also represented, with 12% of players between 15 and 10 years old.

This shows that D&D has appeal to people who were introduced to it in the ’90s and those who started playing it during the 2020 lockdown.

Part of its ongoing appeal is that it offers a lot of entertainment and charm to all ages, no matter the decade.

There Are Over 50 Million D&D Players Worldwide

(Source: Forbes)

Since renewed interest in the game started occurring during the 2020 lockdowns, D&D has been hitting new milestones. It currently has more than 50 million players worldwide, which is a huge record.

This boost was also fueled by Twitch streamers and by the huge popularity of Critical Role, a live-streamed show that uses D&D mechanics.

The Critical Role campaigns have achieved great fame, and they placed the focus on everything that can be done with D&D.

The number of worldwide players has been steadily increasing since 2016, but it is now achieving new heights.

D&D Already Had Millions of Players in the ‘80s

(Source: INC.com)

D&D has evolved in significant ways with each edition, but what has remained the same is its appeal to players. After releasing in 1974, D&D quickly became a hit, especially with young players.

By 1981, the game had over 3 million players around the world. Rulebooks were selling at a rate of around 750,000 units per year during the 1980s.

This success has only grown since, but these figures show that D&D has always been popular in all its iterations.

There Are Plenty of Celebrity Players

(Source: NYT, IGN)

It is no secret that D&D has had huge boosts in audiences thanks to the many notable figures talking about playing it.

Among the most notable D&D players are Stephen Colbert, Vin Diesel, Junot Díaz, and Tim Duncan. It was also something that actor Robin Williams used to enjoy playing.

These names show that D&D is appealing to everyone, no matter the level of fame or the field.

Baseball players have time for D&D, and so do actors and other people in creative fields. There is not just one player profile for D&D fans.

The fact that D&D has been mentioned by celebrities, as well as on TV shows like Big Bang Theory, has cemented the importance of the game.

This is also what led to the success of related endeavors like Critical Role.

D&D Usage Stats

There are many ways to play D&D and many types of players. Some prefer to be Dungeon Masters, while others prefer to unleash their creativity by creating characters for the game.

Here are some of the most intriguing statistics about how players use D&D.

People Love Playing D&D Online

(Source: Roll20 Industry Report)

While D&D is traditionally played with in-person groups, the pandemic especially highlighted how well it can be played online.

This serves the additional purpose of bringing numerous players together from all parts of the world.

The popularity of D&D online is evidenced by the boost it has been experiencing on virtual gaming platforms like Roll20.

In 2020, D&D continued to be the leading game on the platform, with 53% of platform users opting for it.

This showed an increase from the previous year when the figure was at 50%. D&D was followed by Pathfinder and Call of Cthulhu, but it was significantly ahead of both other options.

9 Million People Watched D&D on Twitch in 2017

(Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, TwitchTracker)

Twitch is the preferred platform to watch D&D, and many players and non-players have become attracted to the game through the many benefits of streaming.

Over 9 million people watched D&D games on the platform throughout 2017. This shows in the popularity spike the game experienced as a whole that year.

Critical Role alone has been amassing, on average, around 22,000 viewers per week when it has an active campaign running.

Aside from Twitch, the Adventure Zone play podcast, which follows D&D rules, has around 640,000 listeners, while the CollegeHumor show Dimension 20 has around 460,000 subscribers.

This shows the multi-platform popularity that D&D enjoys.

Most Players Have Human Characters

(Source: GitHub)

While there are plenty of races to choose from when creating a character in D&D, many players opt for the familiar. Human is the top choice, with 23.1% of players opting for this race for their characters.

This is followed by the elf race with 14.2%, then half-elf with 7.6%, and dwarf with 6.9%. Dragonborn is at 6.2%, and half-orc is at 5.7%.

This shows the huge options of races available in D&D and also that the most familiar ones continue to be the most picked.

Humans, elves, and dwarves are the most well-known races and provide great starting points to newbies.

The Outlander Background Is the Most Chosen

(Source: GitHub)

There is a huge amount of backgrounds to choose from when creating a character in D&D, and here players tend to go for a wider range. Still, there is one background that tends to be chosen more than others.

The outlander background seems to be the most appealing to players worldwide, with 9.2% of them choosing it above others. This background is followed by noble at 8.2%, acolyte at 7.6%, and criminal at 7.4%.

Soldier, hermit, sailor, and haunted one are some of the other preferences D&D players have when it comes to background.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Became the Most Pre-Ordered D&D Book

(Source: Wizards of the Coast)

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is the second major player expansion for the fifth D&D edition.

It shot straight through to the top of the bestseller list in November 2020 and also quickly became the most pre-ordered D&D book ever, at least counting since the Wizards of the Coast era started in 1997.

March 2020 Registered the Peak Interest in D&D

(Source: Wizards of the Coast)

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a huge amount of interest in D&D. In March 2020, D&D reached an all-time peak in search interest.

This heralded another boost for interest in the game that has brought even more new players to D&D.

In response to this huge interest peak, Wizards of the Coast offered a Stay at Home, Play at Home hub for all players. Millions of materials from the hub were downloaded.

FAQs

What Makes D&D So Popular?

D&D has been consistently popular for decades. Many players have grown up with it, and many new players have been drawn into it.

The game is a great creative outlet and a highly entertaining way to hang out with friends or peers.

Where Is D&D Most Popular?

While D&D is played around the world, and especially around the US, some states are ahead of others. Utah is the state that plays most D&D, with Idaho and Oregon following.

Final Thoughts

D&D continues to achieve new popularity peaks, even so, many years after its release. It gathers people from everywhere and brings everyone together in wonderful adventuring campaigns.

The figures show that the appeal of D&D won’t fade anytime soon.