World of Warcraft – WoW to its regulars – is soon to be a living, breathing world available to Dungeons & Dragons players
“I’ve been living in Azarov pretty hardcore for about a year now,” says James Wyatt, Principal Game Designer at Wizards of the Coast and Project Lead on the Dungeons & Dragons World of Warcraft Gameplay Expansion. That time away from home appears to have paid dividends, as James and his team have worked to translate the massively multiplayer online (MMO) video game into the kind of experience tabletop gamers can enjoy.
Dungeons & Dragons World of Warcraft launches on November 17, 2026, with early digital access from November 3. The 250+ page expansion book, published under D&D‘s new Universes Beyond banner, has also seen a few other members of the team take a vacation to the region. “When I heard that we were doing this project, I joined up with WoW Classic as soon as I could and started pouring through these dungeons. We really wanted to explore every nook and cranny to make a faithful translation as best we could, and really focus in on the D&D qualities of the WoW dungeons,” says Senior Game Designer Joey Haeck. “The whole world of Azeroth is so many expansions’ worth of world to explore, and in a D&D game, you are rarely limited by one expansion coming out after another. So, we have managed to cram in information about Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, Pandaria – all of the land masses of Azeroth up into The War Within.”
Locations are level-gated in the World of Warcraft video game, so the team has given a rough estimate of which D&D character levels those map to. For example, WoW’s starting zone in Durotar equals levels one through four in D&D, while Northrend is full of the Lich King’s minions and is considered a high-level spot. “But as usual with D&D, the power is in your hands,” Joey caveats.
Dungeon Masters will also be able to craft a full campaign in this new region, using rules as originally set down in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. “The Dungeon Master’s Guide talks about choosing three conflicts that will define your campaign and provide a stable of enemies and adventure hooks for the duration of the campaign,” James Wyatt explains. “We looked at the main conflicts that drive all of the expansions of WoW: the Alliance versus Horde conflict, the Burning Crusade, the Dragon Flights, the Scourge of course, and how to work all of those into a campaign, picking and choosing what works best for you. The beauty of it is, we set up the book with an introduction from Chromie, the time travelling bronze dragon, who says, ‘Look, I made a timeline just for you, so go and do with it what you please.’”
While Azeroth has a rich lore worthy of D&D, not all of it can simply be picked up and dropped into that roleplaying game. Given the stylistic differences between a video game and a tabletop RPG, some adaptation is necessary.
“There’s no better starting dungeon than the Deadmines. It is a major moment in what is probably World of Warcraft Classic‘s best story, one that could easily take a character – in D&D terms – from level one to level 20, involving small town thieves and eventually culminating in an epic battle against a powerful dragon, full of political subterfuge,” says Joey Haeck. “The Deadmines in the MMO game is basically a straight-line corridor. In an MMO, where the way that you press your buttons and use your abilities is the main focus of the game, that works really well. D&D has a slightly different gameplay loop to it, where you don’t want to just be fighting things in a straight line. You want to be talking with NPCs, you want to be sneaking around a dungeon using alternate paths, exploring what might be within a dungeon.”
Seven iconic WoW dungeons are adapted into full tabletop crawls, including Azjol-Nerub, Blackfathom Deeps, the Deadmines, Dire Maul, Onyxia’s Lair, the Scarlet Monastery and Shadowfang Keep.
“The way that we’ve done the dungeons in this book is to really focus in on the qualities that make a dungeon sing in Dungeons & Dragons,” Joey Haeck continues. “You can see that one of the ways we did this is that the map of the Deadmines is identical to the one in the game if you take a quick look at it. But you’ll see that we actually added a couple of extra passages that were lifted from the pre-dungeon elite zone beneath Moonbrook, and combined it all together. So, you’ve got undead coal miners that have been defeated, but are still working the last actions of their mortality. And there are ways to sneak around some of the bosses, approach them from behind, catch them off guard and find alternate ways into the juggernaut area.”
A number of new character options are introduced in Dungeons & Dragons World of Warcraft.
Classes and Sub-classes: The expansion adapts all 13 classes in the MMO game for D&D, while adding nine subclasses in total – including Death Knight, Demon Hunter and Shadow Priest.
Species: All 16 playable species, such as Pandaren and Vulpera, have been translated into Fifth Edition rules.
Professions: Ten professions have been tied to standard D&D rules, split into gathering and crafting professions. Gathering professions include: Archaeology; Fishing; Herbalism; Mining; and Skinning. Crafting professions include: Alchemy; Blacksmithing; Cooking; Enchanting; Engineering; Inscription; Jewelcrafting; and Leatherworking.
Faction Renown: Over 20 distinct factions within Azeroth will track player reputation to offer unique rewards to those who build up enough renown.
DICING WITH DEATH
The November release from Wizards of the Coast also includes a Dungeon Master’s screen and a Map Pack. However, premium dice manufacturer Sirius Dice has also unveiled a new collection of Dungeons & Dragons x World of Warcraft dice and tabletop accessories inspired by the heroes, factions and conflicts of Azeroth. The collection includes blind-pack Treasure Packs, the sharp-edged For the Horde and For the Alliance Adventure Dice Sets, additional character- and class-inspired Adventure Dice Sets, character-themed Mini Dice Cups and an oversized 55mm d20 featuring an orc grunt and human footman inside.