GoKawiilToday, I can play a game of Dungeons & Dragons around the table with my friends where humans, elves and orcs battle in campaigns of fantasy adventure. But the best-known tabletop roleplaying game in the world is moving beyond its own universe. Soon, dice-rollers all over will be able to play pen-and-paper versions of World of Warcraft and Star Wars with official D&D rules.
On the opening night of GenCon, the massive annual tabletop gaming convention in Indianapolis, D&D creator Wizards of the Coast announced the news during its keynote at the grand Indiana Repertory Theater. These two partnerships are the first in the new Universes Beyond line and, just like the identically named series from Magic: The Gathering, will fold creative universes from other companies into D&D.
By the end of the year, players can buy the core World of Warcraft rulebook and make their own adventures with features from the popular massively multiplayer online RPG that fit in the D&D system. They’ll be able to build their own characters from species and classes who can meet (and fight) iconic heroes and villains from the online game, each built out in D&D rules to be compatible with adventures in its own or any other setting that uses D&D’s D20 system. The D&D team unveiled a series of books and products that can be preordered now and will debut on store shelves in the fourth quarter of 2026.
“One of the lovely things about D&D is it comes alive with your imagination, and to be able to take some of the world of Azeroth and World of Warcraft and allow players to create their adventures based on a world they’ve loved and known — or maybe they’re just getting introduced to through D&D — that was the focus,” said Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president of World of Warcraft.
Blizzard’s game is the first crossover foray, and sometime next year, players will be able to run D&D games in the Star Wars universe, too — but Wizards has been far more tight-lipped about what’s coming from a galaxy far, far away. They want to let the Warcraft expansion have its time in the sun as the first release of Universes Beyond, with plans to reveal more about the Star Wars expansion in the months to come.
“The [D&D] team is very excited for all the opportunities that Star Wars has to offer, and we’re really hoping to bring a lot of joy to the fans with the things we’re going to be offering,” said D&D product architect Laura Hohman.
The GenCon 2026 roadmap for the next year of D&D content.
After 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, this is a new chapter
The launch of Universes Beyond is just one part of a new direction for D&D, which is looking to the past as well as the future. Dan Ayoub, senior vice president and head of the D&D franchise, opened the keynote with a promise to increase transparency for upcoming projects and releases, including annual roadmaps unveiled at every GenCon.
Also announced on stage are upcoming collaborations with legends from D&D’s past as part of the franchise’s Icons series. Luke Gygax will assist with new content from Greyhawk (one of D&D’s first settings that was created by his father, Gary Gygax), Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis will come back for Dragonlance and R.A. Salvatore will return for Legends of Drizzt, after the drow ranger from Forgotten Realms.
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