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.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

We need pig-faced orcs!

Orcs of Thar!

 

[Doctor Futurity]

You might want to wait for Star Wars and its Gamorreans:

Spoiler

View attachment 449032

Real orcs pilot Z95 headhunters!

 

[Remathilis]

Hmm... gaucho latinx/traveler coded orcs

Please point to any instance of that outside of that one picture in the PHB.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Yeah, I get it, and Classic TBC was the end of any claims at Raiding for me, not only because Wrath had the patch in it that killed my desire to play at all, but I get it.

I just think that the community aspects, the NEED to raid/group/etc, to get the whole experience/story? I think thats important, but I get it, demographics change.

I mostly played WoW solo and social casual back in the day. As a result I got maybe 40% of the overall story/plot. Raiding and group stuff was just too stressful.....the people I would group with when I did were a bit scary in their dedication, arguing that anything less than 30 hours a week in the game made one a filthy casual. I was very put off of video games as a social release as a result. My wife (who is younger and a milennial and therefore more used to online social dynamics) did not have this problem though and got her money's worth out of WoW for sure.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Please point to any instance of that outside of that one picture in the PHB.

That page (and text) as best I can tell is all we have to go by. I honestly think WotC does not know what to do with orcs at this point.
Edit: to give you an example, look at the new starter set. That would have been a great time to update orcs in the caves of chaos and maybe even flesh them out a bit, but instead they are simply absent. The tepid references in the new FR books are similarly devoid of details that I can find. If you are a fan of orcs the 5.5 edition is not very helpful.

 

[Azzy]

Still not sure why we needed a D&D/WOW crossover.

Because capitalism and because the fandoms overlap.

We already have D&D; already have WOW. I'd rather see something new instead of the same ideas rehashed again and again for eternity. How many reboots and same old ideas in different mediums do we need? Yawn. Let's have new art, everyone. Let's see some risk taking. Some bold ideas.

When WotC does something new, people complain.

 

[Remathilis]

That page (and text) as best I can tell is all we have to go by. I honestly think WotC does not know what to do with orcs at this point.

Huh. No examples from two Forgotten Realms books, an Eberron book, a Ravenloft book, a magic book and two adventures?

Just as I thought...

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Huh. No examples from two Forgotten Realms books, an Eberron book, a Ravenloft book, a magic book and two adventures?

Just as I thought...

Yes. I really don't think we have much of anything to go on, especially if you do homebrew settings and stick to core books. I'm not trying to be argumentative, so if you know of a better resource in 5.5 for orcs I would welcome pointers. As it stands, orcs in any capacity seem to be delegated to 2014 edition content now.

Edit: I have not read the new Arcana books yet so maybe they expand on orcs? And Id be surprised if Ravenloft had much, its traditionally not been a standard setting for creatures like orcs. I dont recall seeing anything on orcs in the new Eberron book either but maybe I missed it?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

D&D has a great many species, playable and otherwise. We really shouldn't expect to see any of them on a regular basis. When was the last time D&D featured Aasimar?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

D&D has a great many species, playable and otherwise. We really shouldn't expect to see any of them on a regular basis. When was the last time D&D featured Aasimar?

I'm pretty sure aasimar are in the PHB too, but the best spot to talk about them would be in a future planar book. I guess my suggestion would be: when you are familiar with the appearance and presentation of a monster or species in the game that was fairly consistent across editions for fifty years, and suddenly its almost completely absent, and the small number of details given are out of sync with what has come before, I don't think its unreasonable to want more info.

Im a fan of half elves too, and they're just completely gone now. Why? I don't get it.