There sure are a lot of people playing Dungeons & Dragons online

More people than ever are playing roleplaying games over the internet, according to virtual tabletop Roll20.

The platform, which offers the chance to host online games for Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder and dozens of other RPGs, has released its latest user figures, showing the booming popularity of D&D fifth edition.

According to the stats, more than half of Roll20 games are D&D fifth edition matches, with more than 60% of users – or 48,732 people – taking part in a 5E game in the last three months.

Second on the list is Pathfinder, the hugely popular spin-off based on D&D 3.5 launched back in 2009, which hosted 14% of games and just under 30% of players, with an audience of around 23,430.

Pathfinder is followed by D&D 3.5, with 6% of games and 27% of players – other series to make the top ten include RPGs based on Warhammer and Star Wars.

What’s particularly interesting is that as D&D 5E grows, its controversial fourth edition continues to shrink away – only 1.8% of games were 4E games, with 11% of players taking part.

In fact, D&D 4E has fallen far enough in popularity to be overtaken by World of Darkness, White Wolf’s roleplaying series including Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension.

Filling out the top ten is Shadowrun, with 1.5% of games and 10% of players.