It’s no secret that Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has had a significant presence in Stranger Things since Season 1. Its showrunners, The Duffer Brothers, have spoken extensively about how roleplaying, specifically D&D, has influenced their initial pitch for season one and the following seasons. There are even theories that Stranger Things could just be one giant D&D adventure. With the show’s massive growth in popularity, it is now paying back that influence by encouraging a new wave of people interested in playing D&D for the first time.

At Role, we see roleplaying parties spending thousands of hours every week playing their favorite tabletop games. We took a look at some of our data to see if there was any noticeable connection between the latest season of Stranger Things and an increased interest in D&D. It turns out there was!

Stacked bar graph of D&D Game Rooms vs Others
D&D Game Rooms increase to 72% of all game rooms created

Leading up to the release of Stranger Things Season 4, D&D Game Rooms averaged 47% of all game rooms created each week. Since the start of the new season, D&D Game Rooms have increased to 72% of game rooms created.

It’s not only the creation of D&D Game Rooms that has increased since the latest season has dropped. Over the last month, the number of people playing D&D on Role has seen a 140% increase. What’s even more interesting is that not only are more people participating in D&D campaigns, but they are also spending more time playing per session. On average, game sessions of D&D have increased in time played by 28%.

Overall, interest in Dungeons & Dragons from game masters and players has exploded. People coming to learn how to play D&D on Role have increased a whopping 285%!

Area chart of groups playing D&D
Groups playing D&D increases by 140%

It’s incredible to see a show come out influenced by a tabletop roleplaying game, and to have it become so popular that it pushes that influence back into the game itself. We’ve been watching this push-and-pull trend with TTRPGs and other media and cannot be more excited about what it means for the future of this industry.

At Role, we strive to be the easiest place to play Dungeons & Dragons. To that end, we have some exciting updates coming this week. Look out for our upcoming release that includes the ability to use your D&D Beyond Characters directly on Role, as well as a brand new 5e Adventure to onboard new and experienced players alike into playing D&D online.