Wizards of the Coast is bringing the crossover strategy behind Magic: The Gathering to Dungeons & Dragons, beginning with World of Warcraft and followed by Star Wars.
Magic: The Gathering generated $1.72 billion in annual revenue during fiscal year 2025, with its Universes Beyond releases playing a major role. Crossovers with Final Fantasy, Marvel and Avatar: The Last Airbender have delivered strong sales despite ongoing resistance from some long-time players. Wizards now plans to apply the same broad licensing approach to its tabletop role-playing game.
The two partnerships were revealed during Wizards of the Coast’s Gen Con 2026 keynote. The first release is Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft, a 256-page sourcebook covering material from the MMORPG’s 22-year history, including its 2026 expansion, Midnight.
What the World of Warcraft book adds
The book introduces 11 species, including Pandaren and Draenei, as well as new elven lineages and substantial setting lore. It also contains six new subclasses and three revised subclasses for the D&D 5.5e rules, allowing players to create characters such as Death Knights, Demon Hunters and Shadow Priests. More than 60 spells are included.
Principal game designer James Wyatt explained that the design covers every World of Warcraft class and its specialisations. Character builds can use options from the Player’s Handbook, the new sourcebook, or a combination of both.
Instead of relying solely on game screenshots or existing MMORPG artwork, the book combines illustrations from earlier World of Warcraft adaptations, including the discontinued trading card game, with new art closer to the visual language of the Player’s Handbook.
Well-known locations such as Orgrimmar and Icecrown Citadel receive attention, while figures including Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas Menethil have stat blocks. Hasbro is also producing a small miniature range featuring characters such as Arthas and Illidan Stormrage, the first Demon Hunter.
An Icecrown Citadel map pack will include access to a digital adventure for a five-player party progressing from level 16 to level 20. The sourcebook itself features seven dungeons, 30 bosses and more than 50 monsters, with the encounters adapted for a standard D&D group rather than the large raids familiar to World of Warcraft players.
Additional systems cover professions and renown rewards connected to 23 factions. Adventurers can also acquire 26 magic items, including artefacts, alongside rules for mounts and companion creatures.
A major shift for Dungeons & Dragons
D&D has previously crossed over with properties including Rick and Morty and Stranger Things, and has published sourcebooks based on Magic: The Gathering settings. Other companies have also used D&D rules for licensed adaptations: White Wolf released World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game using D&D 3.5 in 2005, while Free League published The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying using fifth-edition rules in 2023.
Even so, the new programme represents a much larger commitment. Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft launches on 17 November as the centrepiece of the game’s new Season of Champions. Star Wars is scheduled to follow in summer 2027 as part of the Season of Rebellion. That project will take the place of Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars Roleplaying Game, which ended in 2020.
Wizards will not handle every setting internally. The company also plans to license established D&D worlds to outside publishers, creating more adventures while its own team works on the crossover books.
Executive producer Greg Bilsland said the aim is to avoid leaving settings such as Eberron, Ravenloft and Dark Sun untouched for decades. He acknowledged that Wizards’ limited staff has made it difficult to support every setting with regular adventure content.
Outside publishers return to classic settings
Kobold Press, the studio behind Horde of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat for fifth edition’s 2014 launch, will develop material for the Forgotten Realms. Ghostfire Gaming, known for its dark fantasy setting Grim Hollow, will work on Ravenloft.
Visionary Production & Design, which published Exploring Eberron and Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone through Dungeon Masters Guild, will continue expanding Eberron under the new arrangement.
Wizards says it intends to balance its original properties, including Arcana Unleashed and Dark Sun, with selected Universes Beyond projects. Blain Howard, senior manager of brand publicity and communications, said the company is applying lessons from Magic: The Gathering to make these collaborations feel purposeful rather than simply promotional.
Universes Beyond now represents half of all annual Magic releases. If D&D follows a comparable path, licensed worlds could become a defining part of the game’s future—and a significant change for players who prefer its traditional fantasy settings.
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