D&D Rolls a Natural 20 on Nerd Collabs, Announcing World of Warcraft and Star Wars Sets

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has expanded its reach by announcing collaborations with World of Warcraft and Star Wars for pen-and-paper versions of the popular tabletop roleplaying game. This marks the first time D&D will incorporate creative universes from other companies into its system, following a similar approach with Magic: The Gathering.

During GenCon, the annual tabletop gaming convention in Indianapolis, Wizards of the Coast, the creator of D&D, unveiled these partnerships during its keynote at the Indiana Repertory Theater. The World of Warcraft and Star Wars sets will be available for purchase by the end of the year, with preorders beginning on November 3 and the products hitting store shelves on November 17.

The World of Warcraft set, unveiled by Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president of World of Warcraft, will allow players to create their own adventures based on the game's universe. This set, which goes into early access on November 3 and releases on November 17, will be compatible with D&D's D20 system and feature 16 new species, 11 of which are new to D&D. Iconic locations, stat blocks for famous characters, and signature items, mounts, and bosses from World of Warcraft will also be included in the set.

The Star Wars set, set to release sometime next year, will be revealed by D&D product architect Laura Hohman in the coming months. The Universes Beyond line is part of a new direction for D&D, with increased transparency for upcoming projects and releases. Other collaborations with past D&D legends, such as Luke Gygax for Greyhawk, Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis for Dragonlance, and R.A.

Salvatore for Legends of Drizzt, are also announced. The franchise is also bringing back Dark Sun, a post-magical-apocalypse setting originally released in the early 1990s, as its first mature release.

D&D Beyond, the online character-builder and resource portal, will receive a tool called Look For Group, functioning like a Yelp list for games being run by hobby shops and other providers. Additionally, the D&D Beyond mobile app will undergo a revamp, featuring a revamped interface that enables players to run real-life games on their phones.