The 10 Biggest D&D News Stories of 2025

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The past 12 months ushered in some massive changes for Dungeons & Dragons, both as a game and as a brand. For the most part, 2025 was a successful year for D&D, marked by the launch of several major new products and an expanded presence across mainstream media. At the same time, the year also brought about some significant challenges, including the loss of key creative leaders and the quiet cancellation of one of Wizards of the Coast’s most ambitious digital projects.

So what mattered most and what had the biggest impact on the future of the game? Below, we look back at the ten biggest D&D news stories of 2025.

10. The new D&D core rules are completed

In January 2025, Wizards of the Coast released the new Monster Manual, joining the updated Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide to complete the refreshed trio of D&D core rulebooks. While the 2024 rules are positioned as an update rather than a brand-new edition, they also introduced a number of meaningful mechanical changes, representing a huge step forward for the game. Together, the three books marked the official transition away from the 2014 ruleset and a major milestone not just for the year, but for D&D’s long-term evolution.

9. A New D&D Starter Set Launches

In September 2025, Wizards of the Coast released the Heroes of the Borderlands D&D Starter Set, which is designed specifically to introduce players to the updated 2024 rules. The box set takes a unique board game-style approach to the rules (a first for D&D), featuring physical components to help new players learn the fundamentals. Given that this set could introduce a whole new generation of players to the game, it’s an important release both for the D&D brand and the larger TTRPG community.

8. The Forgotten Realms Returns to D&D

This past year saw Dungeons & Dragons once again focusing on the Forgotten Realms as a key campaign setting, with Wizards of the Coast releasing both the Heroes of Faerûn and Adventures in Faerûn sourcebooks. Both products tap into the new D&D 2024 rules and, while they do delve into areas of the Realms that have been well trodden in past editions, they also introduce a ton of new materials. It’s proof that after 40 years, the Realms are still as important as ever to Dungeons & Dragons.

7. D&D heads to the small screen

At the tail end of 2024, Dungeons & Dragons made the leap from the tabletop to the small screen, with an episode entitled “The Queen’s Cradle” in the Amazon animated series Secret Level. A few months later, in February 2025, Netflix announced that a new D&D Forgotten Realms TV series was in the works, which is being helmed by producers from Stranger Things. Speaking of which, in December 2025, we saw the return of Stranger Things, a show which has been largely responsible for the growing popularity of D&D over the past few years. In celebration, Wizards of the Coast also released the Welcome to the Hellfire Club box set, showing just how important the small screen is when it comes to supporting the D&D brand.

6. Critical Role Commits to D&D for Campaign 4

In May 2025, Critical Role publisher Darrington Press launched Daggerheart, a new tabletop RPG system which many believe will eat into Dungeon & Dragon’s market share. Which is why fans and industry watchers were shocked when Critical Role announced in August 2025 that they were sticking with D&D for their Campaign 4, rather than showcasing Daggerheart. It was a major win for Wizards of the Coast and a surprising story that shows that D&D dominance was still very much alive in 2025.

5. D&D Embraces a New Franchise Model

In June 2025, we saw the departure of D&D VP Jess Lanzillo, a key figure in shaping the overall brand over the past few years. Months later, Wizards of the Coast announced that they had promoted Dan Ayoub to VP of D&D Franchise, a new role that would have him overseeing how the D&D brand is represented across books, films, TV, licensing and digital platforms. It’s a dramatic shift in how Dungeons & Dragons is seen by WotC (and parent company Hasbro) and is something we’ll likely feel the impact of in 2026 and beyond.

4. D&D Goes All In on Video Games

While 2025 saw the release of just a single Dungeons & Dragons video game (in the form of the D&D Battlemarked VR title), digital entertainment was still front and center. In fact, over the past year Wizards of the Coast announced multiple new projects, including an upcoming D&D title from Giant Skull, opening a new D&D-focused studio in Montreal, and confirming that Baldur’s Gate 4 is happening. Finally, we saw the year rounded out with confirmation of a new video game entitled Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons which will be coming out in 2027 from Invoke Studios. All of it points to a future where video games will be just as important to the D&D brand as the tabletop game.

3. SRD 5.2 Is Released Under Creative Commons

In April 2025, Wizards of the Coast took another major step out of the shadow of OGL scandal by officially releasing the SRD 5.2 under a Creative Commons license. This was a major move on the part of the company as it now allows third-party publishers to use the D&D 2024 rules without any restrictions. It was an important move that helped restore confidence among content creators and fans who were still mistrustful of WotC. More importantly, it ensured D&D would remain a fully accessible part of the larger third-party TTRPG publisher industry.

2. Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford Leave Wizards for Darrington Press

One of the biggest D&D stories of 2025 was the departure of longtime designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, both of whom landed at Darrington Press to work on the Daggerheart TTRPG. Perkins and Crawford spent decades shaping the D&D brand and were instrumental in the development of the 2014 and 2024 rules, in addition to being popular frontmen for the game. The impact of these two leaders leaving WotC cannot be understated, marking the end of an era in D&D design and raising some big questions about what’s next for the game going into 2026.

1. Sigil VTT Is Officially Cancelled

In October 2025, Wizards of the Coast quietly pulled the plug on the Sigil VTT after several years of development and millions of dollars of investment. WotC has initially seen Sigil as the next evolution of D&D, offering players a detailed, highly interactive 3D experience that was a kind of hybrid between the tabletop experience and a video game. The reality, however, was a platform riddled with bugs and requiring costly video game PCs to run. The failure of Sigil was a huge miss for D&D in 2025, representing a major blow for the WotC and reshaping the larger D&D digital strategy going forward into the new year.