 In Summer 1997 , Wizards revisited the concept of a 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons , having first discussed it soon after the purchase of TSR . Looking back on the decision in 2004 , Adkison stated : " Obviously , [ Wizards ] had a strong economic incentive for publishing a new edition ; sales for any product line tend to spike when a new edition comes out , assuming the new edition is an improvement over the first . And given the change in ownership we thought this would be an excellent opportunity for WotC to ' put its stamp on D & D. ' " He later " Set [ the ] overall design direction " for the new edition of D & D. Wizards released the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons in 2000 , as well as the d20 System . With these releases came the Open Game License , which allowed other companies to make use of those systems . The new edition of the D & D game won the 2000 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game . In 2002 , Wizards sponsored a design contest which allowed designers to submit their campaign worlds to Wizards , to produce an entirely original campaign world ; Wizards selected " Eberron " , submitted by Keith Baker , and its first hardcover book was released in June 2004 . In 2003 Wizards released version 3 @.@ 5 of Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 system . Wizards helped to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the D & D game at Gen Con Indy 2004 . 
