Wizards of the Coast’s “gaming lair” is a concealed game room inside its Renton, Washington, office. In a January 2025 tour and roadmap briefing, Dungeons & Dragons leaders described a year shaped by renewed setting development, new adventure and rules products, and an evolving digital 3D tool called Project Sigil. Those were plans and development details reported at the time—not confirmation of what is currently available.
What is inside Wizards of the Coast’s gaming lair?
GeekWire’s Thomas Wilde reported from Wizards of the Coast’s newer Renton office, which the company had moved into in July 2023. The office is in an unbranded business park; the tour described a secure elevator, an open-plan workplace and a lobby dragon named Mitzi.
The room that gives the “lair” its name is hidden behind a bookcase door. It contained a bar, collectibles, dragon-head trophies, a custom gaming table with a flatscreen monitor, and chandeliers made from leftover Magic: The Gathering cards. Employees used the room for work as well as in-house games, according to the report.
What was the D&D team’s direction for 2025?
The roadmap came after D&D’s 50th anniversary and the 2024 release of a redesigned fifth-edition core rules set. Jess Lanzillo, then identified by GeekWire as VP of franchise, said the 2025 aim was to carry the anniversary period forward while returning to settings including Eberron and the Forgotten Realms. She described the broader goal as re-establishing a world-building environment that could set up future directions for the game.
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- NIFTY RESOURCES FOR DUNGEON MASTERS—We've packed this book with incredibly useful tools and advice for Dungeon Masters of all levels. Make your game sessions special with over 400 total and 18 new magic items, practical solutions for common Dungeon Master pitfalls, and Greyhawk, a customizable premade campaign setting.
- WONDERFUL WORLDBUILDING INSPIRATION—Introduce inspiring new mechanics into your game! Tinker away with revised rules for crafting magic items, creating NPCs, and more. Excite your party and keep them engaged between sessions with the new system for bastions, which are strongholds built and controlled by players.
- STUNNING ARTWORK—Delight in spectacular artwork featuring new magic items, legendary D&D figures, cinematic fantasy landscapes, a double-sided poster map of the Greyhawk setting, and more!
- LEVEL UP YOUR DUNGEON MASTER EXPERIENCE—We’ve built useful handouts and resources to help you keep track of your campaigns and added a Lore Glossary that helps you easily find information about key D&D characters and locations.
- PART OF THE 2024 CORE COLLECTION—1 of 3 revised Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks, the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide is designed for use with the fifth edition 2024 Player’s Handbook and 2024 Monster Manual
Jeremy Crawford, then identified as head writer and systems architect, said the announced products shared an emphasis on trying new things: “For every one of these products, we’re innovating in some way. That’s going to continue.” GeekWire’s briefing included Crawford, Lanzillo, principal game designer James Wyatt and principal D&D designer F. Wesley Schneider.
Which books and products did the January 2025 roadmap name?
The following table summarizes the announced audience and purpose as described in GeekWire’s January 28, 2025 report. It records what the team planned or described then; it does not establish present-day release status or inventory.
Rank #2
- COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION—Get all three 2024 Core Rulebooks and discover new character options you’ll love, creative world-building inspiration, stunning artwork, and monsters galore
- STUNNING ARTWORK—Delight in spectacular new artwork for character classes, subclasses, weapons, armor, legendary D&D figures, almost every monster, and so much more
- FRESH & ENGAGING GAMEPLAY—Change up your combat style with fascinating new Weapon Masteries for your character class. Our new Tools and Crafting system lets you use your tools to craft items and impact travel and exploration
- NEW CHARACTER OPTIONS YOU’LL LOVE—Create unforgettable characters with 12 core classes, 48 intriguing subclasses, and 10 distinctive species. Buff up your character’s backstory with 16 compelling backgrounds and 75 fantastic feats
| Product | Intended reader or function | What the report said | Current availability verified? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Monster Manual | Players and Dungeon Masters; core rules reference | The final book in the revised core set, with over 500 monsters, reorganized entries, streamlined rules, additional indexes, useful stat blocks and a full-color illustration for every monster. Entries could be searched by creature type or challenge level. | No; the feature describes the book and its reported contents. |
| Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide | Players creating characters from the Realms | Reported with eight new subclasses and a circle-casting mechanic. | No; the November 11, 2025 date was a plan in the report. |
| Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide | Dungeon Masters | Organized the setting into distinct “micro-settings.” GeekWire connected the renewed attention to player interest in Baldur’s Gate 3. | No; the November 11, 2025 date was a plan in the report. |
| Dragon Delves | Adventure anthology and dragon lore | Planned as ten adventures themed around the game’s ten classic dragon types, with art and history about D&D dragons. | No; the report does not verify present status. |
| Eberron: Forge of the Artificer | Eberron campaign material and artificer rules | James Wyatt wrote the planned sourcebook in consultation with Eberron creator Keith Baker; it included a rules update for the artificer. | No; the report does not verify present status. |
| Heroes of the Borderlands | New players; starter set | A planned return to the Keep on the Borderlands premise, designed to help newcomers learn and create characters using a tile-based method. | No; the report does not verify present status. |
The Monster Manual was presented as a “treasure trove of inspiration,” in Crawford’s words as quoted by GeekWire. The feature also mentioned another October project that had not been announced at the time; it did not identify that project, so it cannot be inferred from this roadmap.
What was Project Sigil supposed to do?
In the January 2025 report, Project Sigil was an Unreal Engine-based digital tool in alpha. Wizards was shaping it as a 3D map builder, visual aid and world-building tool—not necessarily as a conventional virtual tabletop. GeekWire reported that feedback at PAX Unplugged had prompted a shift away from automating D&D toward making 3D scenes and short encounters easier to create.
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- UNLEASH NEW POSSIBILITIES—Introducing the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the new and improved guide for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons. Redesigned with 10 years of feedback from the D and D community, the essential Dungeons and Dragons rulebook is bigger and better than ever before
- NEW CHARACTER OPTIONS YOU’LL LOVE—Create unforgettable characters with 12 core classes, 48 intriguing subclasses, and 10 distinctive species. Buff up your character’s backstory with 16 compelling backgrounds and 75 fantastic feats.
- STUNNING ARTWORK—With vibrant new illustrations of every single character class, subclass, background, species, weapon, and armor, our thrilling artwork also features new and familiar spells, brought to life for the first time ever.
- FRESH and ENGAGING GAMEPLAY—Change up your combat style with fascinating new Weapon Masteries for your character class. Our new Tools and Crafting system lets you use your tools to craft items and impact travel and exploration.
- DESIGNED JUST FOR YOU—We’ve thoughtfully redesigned this book with an improved layout, better organization, and an alphabetized Rules Glossary. Find whatever you’re looking for with ease
The feature’s demo showed users placing built-in objects such as trees, rocks, walls, flooring, barrels, cages and candles. At that stage, the team intended integration with D&D Beyond character and monster data, along with customizable virtual miniatures. User-created models were not planned, and sharing features and other details were still unsettled. The article said a graphics card would be needed and described the target PC requirements as roughly comparable to Fortnite. These are dated development details, not a statement of current features, availability or hardware requirements. GeekWire published an erratum on January 29, 2025, noting that Wizards’ PR team clarified Sigil details and that the article was corrected.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does the office tour reveal about Wizards’ plans?
The tour offered a view of a workplace designed to support both company work and play, but the more consequential story was the shift in D&D’s stated emphasis: after the 2024 rules refresh, leaders wanted to invest again in settings, adventures and ways for players and Dungeon Masters to build worlds. Lanzillo called the team “stewards of this game” and described D&D as “a lifestyle and an institution … these are lifelong memories, milestones in people’s lives,” as quoted by GeekWire.
Rank #4
- MONSTERS GALORE—Venture into the mightiest Monster Manual yet! In addition to iconic D&D favorites like dragons and mind flayers, this monstrous menagerie introduces over 75 brand-new monsters and contains over 500 unique creatures in total.
- INTRIGUING NEW ENCOUNTERS—Inject more variety into your games with unique encounters! Raise the stakes with terrifying new monsters for higher level play, such as the arch-hag and blob of annihilation. Craft unusual and memorable NPC encounters by using over 40 humanoid stat blocks as inspiration.
- STUNNING ARTWORK—Gaze upon the legendary D&D dragons in all their splendor. In this book of majestic beasts, we’ve created stunning redesigns of the chromatic and metallic dragons, and over 300 pieces of breathtaking new artwork for almost every monster.
- DESIGNED JUST FOR YOU—Easily locate whatever monster you’re looking for and save prep time with revised, easy-to-use stat blocks. We’ve categorized all monsters by creature type and have redesigned their stat blocks to be easier to use and understand. Running encounters has never been easier!
- PART OF THE 2024 CORE COLLECTION—1 of 3 revised Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks, the 2024 Monster Manual is designed for use with the fifth edition 2024 Player’s Handbook and 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide
There is later corporate context, but it should not be mistaken for confirmation of the roadmap. On September 30, 2025, Wizards announced a new development hub in Montreal focused on D&D content and the company’s digital-games portfolio. The announcement said the hub would operate alongside Invoke Studios and identified Renton as the headquarters for Hasbro’s Gaming and Digital businesses. That confirms continuing investment in D&D and digital development; it does not verify the delivery of each product listed above or the current state of Project Sigil.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- 50 redesigned double-sided character sheets that are easier to reference and play with
- A lavishly illustrated folder to store all your character sheets and D&D notes
- Works with the character-creation rules of the Player’s Handbook
- Enough character sheets to cover the next 50 years of your D&D adventures
Sources and dates
- GeekWire, Thomas Wilde, January 28, 2025: office tour, interviews, roadmap and Project Sigil details, with a January 29 erratum.
- Wizards of the Coast, September 30, 2025: announcement of the Montreal development hub and corporate context.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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