D&D can’t properly market Project Sigil’s not-quite-video game features

One of the many surprises at Gen Con this year was catching sight of Dungeons & Dragons’ long awaited virtual tabletop, one of the many experiments heralding an increasing colonization of digital tabletop roleplay spaces. When the unnamed VTT first allowed a peek behind Wizards of the Coast’s curtain, it was all flash and little substance. Sure, it could boast the polish and detail of a project with Hasbro’s financial backing, but would it unseat the likes of Roll20, Foundry, and all those other popular third-party platforms.

What we saw on stage at the ​​Indiana Repertory Theatre was completely different. Now called Project Sigil, the project more closely resembled a high fantasy city builder with the art style and vibes of Baldur’s Gate 3. Players could construct dungeons, buildings, and environments from pregenerated assets that snapped together with an ease that belied some serious wizardry going on inside its Unreal Engine 5-powered software. Throw in a friendly UI and sightings of both Karlach and Astarion, and Project Sigil felt more like a video game than anything else. Which makes sense because the design team are skipping browsers and eyeing both consoles and PCs as launch platforms for Sigil's dedicated application.

Rascal sat down after the show with co-creator Chris Cao to discuss how we ended up here, what’s changed, and—most surprisingly—what hasn’t. Among the details and design philosophy was a startling truth: Project Sigil was always meant to be a “third way” to play D&D, a digital complement and not a usurper. So, then why had all of the marketing images and social media pomp cultivated this impending paradigm shift? And will the more understated reality be any less dangerous once Hasbro’s monetization ambitions are strapped to the side?

This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.