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On the primary night of GenCon 2026, in a venerable theater that Wizards of the Coast took over for a weekend’s price of Dungeons & Dragons actions, the crew behind the most important tabletop roleplaying sport on the earth revealed its subsequent yr of upcoming adventures.
There was loads of information to sit up for, together with the triumphant return of D&D legends to contribute to traditional D&D settings like R.A. Salvatore (The Legend of Drizzt), Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis (Dragonlance) and Luke Gygax (Greyhawk, one of many earliest D&D settings created by his father, Gary Gygax). Among the banquet of desk choices was outreach to different corners of nerd tradition — together with new units for World of Warcraft and Star Wars deliberate for this yr and subsequent.
The new collection, Universes Beyond, works very similar to the same-named subset of Magic: The Gathering releases: adapting fan-favorite franchises to the sport’s system. In D&D’s case, this implies adapting the enduring signature, villains, boss fights and areas for D20 guidelines. Yes, which means you may struggle the Lich King in D&D — that’s the target of the Warcraft set’s first journey, plotted out so gamers can soar in proper out of the field.
But the massive advantage of Universes Beyond is kicking off customized adventures to discover the corners of those franchises with characters that gamers can develop at their very own tempo. With all the knowledge Wizards of the Coast has revealed, CNET’s mind belief of dice-rollers has come collectively to theorycraft precisely what we wish to play first in these thrilling new collaborations.
The solely downside? The D&D crew shared lots concerning the World of Warcraft set, which is able to come out within the fourth quarter of 2026, however shared nearly nothing about Star Wars. Still, we let our imaginations run wild for a way we’d play to see what occurs in Azeroth and a galaxy far, far-off.
How CNET would discover the World of Warcraft, one cube roll at a time
The D&D crew rolled out a small household of merchandise that can debut with the World of Warcraft set towards the top of the yr, together with a 265-page sourcebook (together with particular and interest store-exclusive editions), the aforementioned journey referred to as Icecrown Citadel for character ranges 16-20, a map pack for mentioned journey, miniature packs and a dungeon grasp’s display screen adorned with well-known characters from the MMORPG. All of these can be found for preorder proper now with a full launch later this yr on Nov. 17.
On stage in the course of the D&D keynote, presenters laid out what the set provides to the broader tabletop RPG. You’ll have the ability to play just about any species you may within the on-line sport, together with 11 which might be wholly new to D&D, equivalent to Dracthyr, Earthen and Pandaren. There are 9 subclasses within the sourcebook, six of that are new, like the enduring Death Knight, Demon Hunter and Shadow Priest. There are additionally stat blocks for the MMORPG’s most well-known characters, like Arthas Menethil, Jaina Proudmoore, Anduin Lothar, Thrall and Sylvanas.
Here’s what CNET’s editors would play first:
It’s been over 20 years since I final performed World of Warcraft – I reluctantly canceled my subscription after I began school. But as quickly as I learn D&D’s information, my thoughts instantly solid again to my time roaming the Barrens of Kalimdor as a troll shaman, braving the frontier for the Horde. Before smartphones and doomscrolling and Twitter and all the fashionable escapes in your pocket, getting into the Dark Portal on World of Warcraft’s login display screen was how I left my mundane actuality behind.
I by no means obtained to a excessive sufficient stage to take part in a raid, the large-group efforts that bundled 10, 25 and even 40 gamers collectively to tackle the most important bosses within the sport. From Ragnaros to the Lich King himself, the sourcebook has stat blocks for 30 of those traditional World of Warcraft baddies, although they’ve been scaled down so {that a} D&D-friendly three-to-five-person celebration can take them on. I’d like to sort out the worst of the worst, discover the seven dungeons within the new sourcebook, and extra — enterprise the challenges I missed out on to forestall me bungling my school profession.
- David Lumb, Managing Editor
I’ve been WoW-curious for about so long as the sport has been round, however I’ve at all times been a bit too intimidated by the prospect of investing a whole lot, if not hundreds, of hours right into a sport after I already really feel like I can’t sustain with new releases and my current library. So World of Warcraft coming to Dungeons & Dragons is thrilling as a result of it’s a chance for me to work together with the world with out tumbling right into a seemingly bottomless pit.
I take pleasure in casting spells and controlling battlefields, so my thoughts instantly goes to a few totally different builds. If my group needs to go the Alliance route, a Frost Mage Void Elf feels like a enjoyable time, and pretty easy to construct with current D&D Wizard guidelines. If we’re feeling extra Horde, I’d in all probability try the brand new Shadow Priest subclass, possibly as a shifty Vulpera. I’m excited concerning the high-level Lich King journey, however I’m hoping the ebook additionally offers us choices for issues like a political intrigue marketing campaign set within the maritime island nation of Kul Tiras, which is the sort of marketing campaign I would brew up if I have been within the DM seat.
- Adam Benjamin, Managing Editor
Forecasting fights and the Force in Star Wars D&D
While the D&D crew at Wizards of the Coast had rather a lot to share concerning the upcoming World of Warcraft set due out later this yr, they have been tight-lipped about what’s coming with Star Wars. Despite prodding, the crew deigned to not reveal something simply but — not even whether or not there might be starship flight and fight methods within the sport. And no, they didn’t affirm what problem ranking the Death Star might be (we’re betting it’s within the triple digits).
Without even a touch at what’s to return, we speculated on what we would like most from exploring the expansive Star Wars universe, one cube roll at a time.
I’ve been taking part in Star Wars TTRPGs for a whole decade at this level, and having the franchise formally come to D&D is an thrilling proposition. It’s going to be attention-grabbing to see how they cope with the extra technical features of area fight, and I’m trying ahead to seeing what period of Star Wars they begin in.
I just like the idea of a Force User droid. Potentially like General Grievous (a organic/droid combine), however as a Wizard-style class. His acquainted may very well be a mouse droid from the Death Star. I’m undecided if “Droid” might be a race within the new marketing campaign, however D&D already has a Warforged race from Eberron, so it doesn’t really feel like an enormous stretch so as to add them right here. Droids are such a big a part of the Star Wars Universe and I’d benefit from the roleplay challenges they’d convey to the desk.
- James Bricknell, Managing Editor
We don’t know what we don’t know but in relation to Star Wars performed by a D&D lens, however the Star Wars universe is greater than sufficiently big to take a position on what can be cool to have. My real hope is that the foundations being constructed for this little growth make it comparatively straightforward to play in any period of Star Wars. As a lot enjoyable as it might be to roleplay by an enormous battle with Darth Vader or an area dogfight in opposition to a Star Destroyer, I’d like to see a number of the flexibility from the High Republic period as effectively. From restore and hacker targeted roles like Mekneks to the higher range of Force powers of the period, it’s an even bigger sandbox to play in.
This doesn’t imply there must be a core ebook for every period of Star Wars, only a algorithm that encourage adaptation. This is one thing Wizards of the Coast has demonstrated as a core energy because the launch of the 2024 guidelines. The instruments for supporting the creativity of gamers have been effectively established, however adapting the huge and decidedly not high-fantasy vibes of Star Wars presents some enjoyable challenges. I genuinely can’t wait to play.
- Russell Holly, Content Director
What’s the very first thing D&D’s builders will play?
Ahead of the GenCon keynote, I chatted with a number of sport builders from Wizards of the Coast to get the total scope of the World of Warcraft set. From growth to new mechanics to how the Universes Beyond units would play with broader D&D, I plied them with many questions — together with what they’d do first of their new worlds. While they couldn’t touch upon Star Wars, they did have solutions for World of Warcraft.
“For me, it’s the Icecrown Citadel adventure,” mentioned Laura Hohman, product architect for D&D. Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft’s second growth, was what actually obtained her hooked, though she spent more often than not amassing owls, she admitted with fun. But the climactic raid on the finish, the place gamers tackle the Lich King, holds a particular place in reminiscence and nostalgia for her.
“I can’t wait, once this is out there, to play this with my friends [and] recreate those moments again in a new way on tabletop,” Hohman mentioned.
Jeff Turiff, director of product administration for D&D Beyond, the web character creator and portal for sources, talked about updates coming to the service in addition to to its cell app model. Fittingly, the self-avowed Horde participant goes to “probably start by rolling up some characters.”
“I love character builds. Hop on D&D Beyond, of course, and make some characters to test drive in a setting — maybe in a standard D&D setting would be kind of cool,” Turiff mentioned.
D&D Game Design Director Justice Arman is most excited concerning the mounts, an iconic aspect from the MMORPG that allows gamers to speedily journey (and exhibit with extra unique beasts of burden).
“I’m from Tennessee originally, so maybe it’s the cowboy in me, but the idea of having a direwolf or gryphon mount is pretty cool,” mentioned Arman.
But as with Hohman, Arman turned to his recollections of taking part in the MMORPG again within the day. It’s much less about what race or class he performs, however who he performs tabletop video games with, he mentioned.
“Back in undergrad, I had two roommates who were wrestlers and they loved World of Warcraft, and we were playing it so often,” Arman mentioned. “I would love to sit down with them and reconnect.”
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