D&D 5E (2024) What are the 7 dungeons in D&D World of Warcraft all about?

We reported the other day that various online influencers have been given access to the upcoming World of Warcraft book, and have permission to discuss certain elements of that book. Most of them are concentrating on the various dungeons within: 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 Onyxia’s Lair for Levels 17-20 players.

These are all classic dungeons found within the MMORP, and are likely familiar to players of that game. Many D&D players, however (including me) might not be familiar with the contents of the video game, so I did the research so you didn't have to. Here's what the 7 dungeons are all about (though there's no guarantee that these will be exactly the same).

• The Deadmines (1-4) is a bandit hideout. In the video game it is hidden underneath a farming town, and is an abandoned goblin mine. In the MMORPG it leads to a ironclad pirate warship. Obviously.
• Shadowfang Keep (1-4) is a gothic-style castle on a cliff filled with were-creatures and undead, as well as a mad archmage.
• Blackfathom Deeps (5-10) is an underwater temple, once owned by night elves and now corrupted by a cult to the Old Gods. Expect aquatic foes and, if its the same as the MMORPG, a hydra
• Scarlet Monastery (5-15) is the base of an order of fanatical inquisitors who execute anyone they think has been infected by the undead.
• Dire Maul (11-15) is the ruin of an ancient elven city. In the MMORPG it has three main zones--ghosts, a demonic prison, and an ogre-run gladiator arena.
• Azjol-Nerub (16-20) is an arctic underdark style place where a species of 4-legged spider folk have been turned into undead, led by a reanimated 'crypt lord'.
• Onyxia's Lair (16-20) is a black dragon lair.

This is all based on some research I did, so if I got any details wrong, it's my own fault. I've never played World of Warcraft, and I'm sure that players of the MMORPG can provide much more detail.

 

[FoolishFrost]

But… but… how are we to get our Leroy Jenkins on if we don’t get the BlackRock Deep?

LEEEEEEEEEEEEROYYYY JEEENNNN<glurk>

[transmission disconnected due to wife taking his iPad away. He gets it back when he can be good.]

 

[TheSword]

Some of these look extremely Linear - as is often the case in computer games with expected routes. It looks like some need some serious Jacquaysing.

 

[JDazzle]

We reported the other day that various online influencers have been given access to the upcoming World of Warcraft book, and have permission to discuss certain elements of that book. Most of them are concentrating on the various dungeons within: 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.

These are all classic dungeons found within the MMORP, and are likely familiar to players of that game. Many D&D players, however (including me) might not be familiar with the contents of the video game, so I did the research so you didn't have to. Here's what the 7 dungeons are all about (though there's no guarantee that these will be exactly the same).

View attachment 449147

• The Deadmines (1-4) is a bandit hideout. In the video game it is hidden underneath a zombie-infested farming town, and is an abandoned goblin mine. In the MMORPG it leads to a ironclad pirate warship. Obviously.
• Shadowfang Keep (1-4) is a gothic-style castle on a cliff filled with were-creatures and undead, as well as a mad archmage.
• Blackfathom Deeps (5-10) is an underwater temple, once owned by night elves and now corrupted by a cult to the Old Gods. Expect aquatic foes and, if its the same as the MMORPG, a hydra
• Scarlet Monastery (5-15) is the base of an order of fanatical inquisitors who execute anyone they think has been infected by the undead.
• Dire Maul (11-15) is the ruin of an ancient elven city. In the MMORPG it has three main zones--ghosts, a demonic prison, and an ogre-run gladiator arena.
• Azjol-Nerub (16-20) is an arctic underdark style place where a species of 4-legged spider folk have been turned into undead, led by a reanimated 'crypt lord'.
• Onyxia's Lair (16-20) is a black dragon lair.

This is all based on some research I did, so if I got any details wrong, it's my own fault. I've never played World of Warcraft, and I'm sure that players of the MMORPG can provide much more detail.

The Deadmines: Mostly correct. It is a bandit hideout for the Defias gang, but it is not under a zombie-infested town. The town is abandoned but heavily patrolled by Defias bandits, stealthed and otherwise. The mine isn't goblin, per se, but there are a small amount of goblins who are part of the Defias gang.

The story is fascinating as it has to do with the rebuilding of Stormwind (the Alliance capitol), a miner's guild, and the lack of payment to that guild which devasted a community (the town in Westfall mentioned above) and lead to them rising up as the Defias gang... all orchestrated by someone with a close ear to the (now missing) King Varian.

I think that is the only thing I would correct here as providing more details on the others would definitely be a spoiler (as opposed to the above which is "known" at the start, with the exception of someone who orchestrated it all)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I posted some similar details over in the preview thread

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 stonemasons 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.

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-Warde, 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.

 

[evanfardreamer]

But… but… how are we to get our Leroy Jenkins on if we don’t get the BlackRock Deep?

LEEEEEEEEEEEEROYYYY JEEENNNN<glurk>

[transmission disconnected due to wife taking his iPad away. He gets it back when he can be good.]

the part of me that rushed to preorder the collector's bundle is hoping that it'll be a successful enough round of products that we get a Blackrock Mountain megadungeon product.

 

[TwoSix]

Okay so they already made the change. That makes sense. I don't always expect them to do the sensible thing though.

WoW’s lowest level dungeon (Ragefire Chasm) is intended for levels 13-16.

Just looking at the above list, Dire Maul is for characters from the mid 50s to 60, Onyxia’s Lair is 60, and Azjol-Nerub is for characters around 70. (All levels classic/pre-squish.)

It gives a good sense of what sections of the MMO that the book considers low-level, mid-level, and high-level.

 

[Bolongo]

The dungeons, however, are spread across 3 continents, which does bother me a bit. I guess they have to take the boat or zeppelin.

Just have the warlock summon you...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't love this spread of dungeons, myself. I get wanting to make sure that both Alliance and Horde dungeons are covered, but if you polled everyone on their favorite WoW dungeons, I don't think most of these would be on the list.

Even if you ditch long ones like Gnomeregan, Stratholme, Karazhan and Blackrock Mountain (completely fair), I would have gone with Wailing Caverns and Scholomance over Blackfathom Depths and Dire Maul. And Naxxaramas over Icecrown Citadel, as it's got a lot more variety in encounters and mechanics.

That said, making "new" dungeons for WoW using online resources is trivial, so it's hardly the end of the world. Still, weird choices, IMO.

 

[Distracted DM]

Some of these look extremely Linear - as is often the case in computer games with expected routes. It looks like some need some serious Jacquaysing.

I get the feeling that this is made for WoW fans, and WoW fans are probably going to want to be playing them as they know them. It's odd I know. Then again, I can't recall how well modern DnD design is at Jacquaysing their dungeons.

I don't love this spread of dungeons, myself. I get wanting to make sure that both Alliance and Horde dungeons are covered, but if you polled everyone on their favorite WoW dungeons, I don't think most of these would be on the list.

Even if you ditch long ones like Gnomeregan, Stratholme, Karazhan and Blackrock Mountain (completely fair), I would have gone with Wailing Caverns and Scholomance over Blackfathom Depths and Dire Maul. And Naxxaramas over Icecrown Citadel, as it's got a lot more variety in encounters and mechanics.

That said, making "new" dungeons for WoW using online resources is trivial, so it's hardly the end of the world. Still, weird choices, IMO.

I hate to disagree with you Whiz, but these dungeons are CLASSIC. But Blackrock would need its own book I think :'D
It looks like they kept to WoW classic for the dungeons. Which might ALSO sort of be a cross-promotion with WoW: Forever's release.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I hate to disagree with you Whiz, but these dungeons are CLASSIC.

Eh. I just peeked at Reddit and elsewhere for folks' favorite WoW dungeons. I did see a few people who liked Dire Maul (becoming the king of the ogres never stops being fun) and plenty of people like Shadowfang and Scarlet Monastery -- which are great D&D-style dungeons on top of being classic WoW ones.

But no one I saw was going to bat for Blackfathom Deeps, which is just sort of the dungeon you do because you foolishly wanted to keep your night elf character in night elf lands, rather than taking the boat with everyone else to the Eastern Kingdoms.

But the designers are allowed to have their favorites and put them in the books. It's not the end of the world, just not the choices I'd make.

But Blackrock would need its own book I think :'D

For sure. It's four dungeons and three raids and would also need to work as a city gazetteer. It's a great setting, though. I'm hoping during or after the Last Titan, we see it get fully revamped to work as a true city.

It looks like they kept to WoW classic for the dungeons. Which might ALSO sort of be a cross-promotion with WoW: Forever's release.

Azjol-Nerub is in Northrend, so it's more of a link to them doing the Icecrown Citadel content pack, I think.