Dungeons & Dragons is starting to preview its World of Warcraft book

Several influencers have revealed some details about the upcoming World of Warcraft crossover book, which is due to be released later this year. Most of the previews appear to center on how dungeons will be used in the book, with the GameMasters YouTube channel confirming that dungeons will be split up into different tiers of play. GameMasters revealed 7 dungeons that will appear in the book, with the Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep set up for Levels 1-4 players, Blackfathom Deep and Scarlet Monastery for Levels 5-10 players, Scarlet Monastery (again) and Dire Maul set up for Levels 11-16 players, and Azjol Nerub and Anoxia’s Lair for Levels 17-20 players.

Crit Hit the Giant provided some additional flavor about dungeon setup, with his preview of Dire Maul containing a large map of the dungeon, plot hooks for the dungeon, and a list of NPCs and monsters that populate the dungeon. From the looks of the preview pages in this video, it seems that each dungeon will be broken out into some detail, although it will be left to the DM to decide how to use each dungeon within their own game.

As I’m not a World of Warcraft player, it’s hard to tell how closely these dungeons skew towards the video game, but it looks like the average D&D DM will be able to use these dungeons in their own games without much issue. I find it interesting that Wizards of the Coast is turning towards D&D influencers, several of whom expressed in their own videos having a general lack of knowledge of the World of Warcraft setting as well. One would think that they’d be leaning on World of Warcraft influencers or Blizzard instead, but it was interesting that BlizzCon (an annual event focusing on Blizzard video games) came and went with no mention of the World of Warcraft/D&D crossover.

 

[Vael]

As a D&D guy who played a lot of WoW I hope the dungeons offer more than just endless combat, which is most of what they offer in the MMO.

The video I saw from Nerd Immersion seems to suggest that that is something that is offered. I definitely heard "skip the grind" and "allow non-combat means to bypass challenges" as options. My read is that the book is offering how to run DnD in WoW, not how to run WoW with the GM replacing the computer and servers.

 

[Silam]

Im mostly excited because one streamer mentioned possibly alternative features for classes. They couldn't share more, however, but they were excited to be able to share more in the future.

That sounds similar to the "hero class" concept which was previously revealed. If I recall correctly, these were subclasses but which also modified certain features of the base class.

And these hero classes were supposed to be taken on characters that start at level 3 (so you would not be "supposed to" play with a level 1 version of the class that has a swapped base class feature at that level?)… It’s unclear to me what that means concretely though. For example, what if you multi-class into the hero class later on, then you’d get just one level at a time from it anyway, right? Or maybe you’re just not allowed to multi-class into them? And how about multi-classing out of them?

 

[Chaltab]

Awaiting the influx of characters being added to D&D Beyond with the name 'Leeroy Jenkins'

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Awaiting the influx of characters being added to D&D Beyond with the name 'Leeroy Jenkins'

I think that's a class now.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

For those who are a bit lore curious, here are the basic stories of the Dungeons

Deadmines
The base of operations for the Defias Brotherhood. A bandit / criminal group founded by the former stonemason's guild of the city of Stormwind. They desire revenge for not being adequately compensated for their work in rebuilding the city, then being exiled when they protested that. They are building a massive ship in secret that they intend to barge into Stormwind at a period of vulnerability.

Shadowfang Keep
A keep taken over by the mad mage Arugal who unwittingly unleashed the worgen (werewolves basically) curse onto Azeroth. Driven mad with guilt over the harm he caused, he claimed the worgen as his sons and tried to further spread the curse and his control from Shadowfang. After he was slain, the treacherous Forsaken Lord Godfrey and his allies took control of the keep.

Blackfathom Deeps
A night elf temple that partially sunk into the sea. It's now under the control the Twilight's Hammer Cult who venerate the Old Gods, and their allies the Naga (who were originally night elves that sunk under the sea and were changed into serpentine creatures by the Old Gods in exchange for service), their primary job there is to offer sacrifices to the hydra Aku'mai a favored pet of the Old Gods who dwells in the depths.

Scarlet Monastery
A temple to the Holy Light taken over by the Scarlet Crusade a militant order that desires the destruction of the undead. They gained hostility with the Horde due to attacking their Forsaken allies, and became enemies of the Alliance too when they became too fanatical, and started to view anyone who refused to join up with them as enemies, and took part in increasingly corrupt and evil actions.

Spoiler

It was later revealed that it's founder one of the greatest paladins in the world had died before they were even established and his corpse was possessed by a demon who was the true founder.

Dire Maul
A former settlement of night elves that fell apart, and was taken over by Ogres, Satyrs and the spirits of the ancient elves.

Azjol Nerub
The underground city of the spider-like nerubians. The Lich King viewed them as a threat and had the Scourge attack them which saw their kingdom fall and most of the nerubians risen into undeath. Their former king Anub'arak now commands his portion of the scourge from there.

Onyxia's Lair
The Black Dragon Onyxia is the eldest daughter of Neltharion the Earth-Warder later known as Deathwing the progenitor of Black Dragons. She served as the primary antagonist for the Alliance in Classic WoW at launch having manipulated many of their storylines, and was one of the launch raids.

 

[Silam]

I think that's a class now.

I would not be mad at all if Jenkins’ Charge was a new feat or spell or even just a Battlemaster’s maneuver in the WoW book

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would not be mad at all if Jenkins’ Charge was a new feat or spell or even just a Battlemaster’s maneuver in the WoW book

Blackrock Mountain is unfortunately not a dungeon in the book (it'd be a really long one to include), but at the very least, there ought to be a plaque commemorating Leeroy's charge and untimely death there.

 

[EthanSental]

No, Starfinder is talking about the PC in the robes with his back towards us.
In color scheme, those robes look most like the T2 Mage set (or perhaps T7), but the pauldrons and collar are different.

I haven’t heard that tier 2, tier armor set verbiage in 15 years….thanks

 

[Milli Rabbit]

That sounds similar to the "hero class" concept which was previously revealed. If I recall correctly, these were subclasses but which also modified certain features of the base class.

And these hero classes were supposed to be taken on characters that start at level 3 (so you would not be "supposed to" play with a level 1 version of the class that has a swapped base class feature at that level?)… It’s unclear to me what that means concretely though. For example, what if you multi-class into the hero class later on, then you’d get just one level at a time from it anyway, right? Or maybe you’re just not allowed to multi-class into them? And how about multi-classing out of them?

Those are all interesting questions but I have no idea what the actual content of the book is. They seemed to suggest it was similar to how Tasha's did it.

 

[mamba]

Which also makes me wonder to whom these books are targeted: D&D players who know nothing about WoW, or WoW players who know nothing about D&D ? Is the overlap between these two groups really that big that it justifies the production of the book ?

All of the above is the target.

As far as attracting new players goes it would be (former and current) WoW players who are not currently playing D&D. Beats a new FR book as an onboarding tool afaiac