Wizards of the Coast revealed at Gen Con 2026 that their Universes Beyond partnerships is expanding to Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 Edition later this year. The first of these partnerships, and the headline of the Season of Champions, is none other than Blizzard’s MMO, World of Warcraft, with D&D: World of Warcraft.
A world that was heavily influenced by D&D is now going to shape a whole slew of adventures for fans and newcomers alike. We got a sneak peek at several aspects of this massive collab with some of the expansion’s developers, and learned more about what’s in store later this year.
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D&D: World of Warcraft includes three pre-made campaigns based on major WoW events.
For fans of D&D who worried that many parts of WoW may not fit into the tabletop space: do not fear. Wizards of the Coast made it crystal clear in every part of this discussion that every bit of WoW will translate into D&D mechanics. You won’t need to grind loot from Deadmines. No corpse runs, and WoW’s mana or other resource bars for classes won’t be making the jump. This expansion is a shell with numerous ideas, dungeons, and suggestions to flesh out a new adventure in Azeroth.
To build on this, the world portrayed will not cover any expansion outside of Azeroth’s borders (so no Shadowlands or Warlords of Draenor). This adventure is framed as a time bubble of Azeroth proper up to The War Within‘s Khaz Algar. Every zone will include suggested adventures and level recommendations for newer DMs who want that support. For those who want more fleshed-out campaigns through Azeroth, the expansion will also include three pre-made campaigns based on major events in WoW’s history.
They also covered dungeons. Many dungeons and raids are being adapted to the D&D style of dungeon exploration. Several have even gotten layout tweaks to give players more variety. One example is the Deadmines in Westfall. Partway through the dungeon, a new offshoot cave system will be available on the expansion’s map. This path will include unique undead miner enemies we never fought in the MMO.
Every boss has a simplified loot table that offers the best of their drops.
Every dungeon has suggestions for random events and encounters as you explore them. Some dungeons have even been updated to be quite similar to a mega-dungeon. A prime example is the Scarlet Monastery. All four wings have been combined into one dungeon, with some suggested level ranges as well, to explore different parts of the Scarlet Crusade’s stronghold. Wizards of the Coast has even come up with new mechanics for resting mid-dungeon as well as ideas of wandering monsters for more encounters. Most importantly, if you don’t want them to, enemies and bosses will not respawn.
Many beloved pieces of loot are also getting D&D-ized. If you want to fight Illidan for the Warglaives of Azzinoth, you can! The loot tables for every boss have been simplified to the best they can drop, to cut the randomness and make it feel like you’ve earned something good from whatever you take down.
Wizards of the Coast also went over many examples of monsters and enemies of Azeroth and how they’ve been changed for this expansion. One prime example is the Burning Legion’s demons. They all use fel, but fel isn’t really a damage type in D&D. So instead, fel magic burns its target and deals psychic damage as it corrupts the recipient’s mind. Another example was the Blue Dragonflight dragons.
D&D already has a form of blue dragons. But in WoW, these dragons are beings and masters of the arcane. As such, their breaths could potentially disable spellcasting. Every enemy explained in the book keeps the flavor of what made it unique in WoW, but adapted to the D&D playstyle and what players would expect when sitting down for a night.
Lastly, they covered a little bit of professions, factions, and a cool tease at one of the book’s chapters. For professions, they also won’t be the grindy versions WoW has. But they will still retain the WoW flair. Alchemists can still make mana potions, but they will regain a spell slot instead of mana. Blacksmiths could make magic-imbued armor, but they’d need the right items and tools. The expansion will come with many recipes for each profession to guide you in including the MMO’s professions in your game for additional character uniqueness.
Factions are also at the whim of what you want. While they’re still described, you can choose to ignore the animosity between the Alliance and Horde. The way they put it, you could come up with cool, unique dynamics by creating parties of Horde and Alliance characters begrudgingly going on an adventure together. Or, you can be as stern about the two’s dynamic as you want. It’s another toy for DMs to mess around with.
D&D: World of Warcraft stays true to what fans of D&D enjoy.
While Wizards of the Coast couldn’t include every dungeon, raid, class, specialization, etc. in this expansion, the book will come with a guide on how to adapt what you want of WoW into your campaign. If you have a favorite dungeon that is missing, you will be given advice on how to make it yourself. D&D is all about creativity and imagination. And exploring Azeroth will be no different.
D&D: World of Warcraft stays true to what D&D fans enjoy. Just now in Azeroth. No aspect of WoW gets in the way of the core tabletop RPG. Instead, Azeroth has been intimately translated into a new world for adventurers to explore together. In other words, Chromie gives you the keys to Azeroth, and your imagination is the limit of what you can do across the lands, from Eastern Kingdoms to Khaz Algar.
D&D: World of Warcraft is available November 3rd for early access, and November 17th for full release.
