Dungeons & Dragons is entering a new era, with planned crossovers, a return to classic settings, and two line expansions. Wizards of the Coast hosted a D&D Keynote Address at Gen Con. The event featured a slew of announcements about the game, including upcoming products and brand new initiatives. The news was capped off with the announcement of a new Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft product that will kick off a new Dungeons & Dragons Universes Beyond line of products, bringing Magic: The Gathering’s profitable and controversial crossover strategy to the tabletop RPG.
Dungeons & Dragons Icons Line Brings Back Classic Settings
At a press event held before Gen Con, Wizards of the Coast laid out many of the new products and initiatives announced during Gen Con. The first was a new Dungeons & Dragons Icons line of products that will bring back classic creators to tell new stories in the settings they helped popularized. Actor Joe Manganiello will serve as the Chief Creative Officer for the brand, with creators like Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Luke Gygax, and RA Salvatore all confirmed to participate.
The first product in the Dungeons & Dragons Icons line is a new adventure titled Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen. This 160-page adventure will be launched in early 2027 and will feature Dreldza, the daughter of the witch-queen Iggwilv (better known in D&D lore as Tasha). Artwork for the new series previewed Castle Greyhawk, hinting at a return to one of D&D’s first megadungeons.
New Books Will Relaunch the Dark Sun Campaign Setting
Also coming in 2027 are new books relaunching the Dark Sun campaign setting. A gory trailer showed Psions and warriors brutally eviscerating foes, teasing a much more brutal experience than what many D&D fans are used to. Dark Sun will be D&D’s first Mature Rated setting, with a rating of 18+ and shrink-wrapped books to keep younger fans from seeing bloody and lascivious art. A content warning hinted that the books would contain nudity, which would be a first for D&D, at least since the earliest days of the game. Dark Sun will also feature the Psion, the second new class for D&D following the Artificer.
Three books will be released for Dark Sun. The Edge of Oblivion will serve as a campaign setting guide, while Blood & Power will serve as the player-facing guide containing rules for the Psion class. Also planned for release is a limited edition Player’s Handbook featuring Dark Sun artwork. In total, Wizards plans to release about 500 pages of Dark Sun material with the new release.
There Are Many D&D Beyond Upgrades Coming Soon
D&D Beyond is also getting some upgrades over the next year. In addition to some quality of life improvements, such as a revamped search option, D&D Beyond will also be getting a LFG (looking for group) hub. The hub will seek to partner prospective players with in-store events and games, or digital games through Discord and a new partnership with StartPlaying. D&D Beyond is also planning new DM prep tools and is building a new mobile app to help streamline the play experience at the table.
Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock Video Game Gets Two Big Updates
Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock, the new video game due for release in 2027 also received two brief but notable updates. First is that protagonist Kaatri (voiced by Tricia Helfer) will be joined by her patron Tasha, played by veteran voice actor Maggie Robertson. The second is that a gameplay preview will be shown off at GamesCom, just a few weeks away.
Dungeons & Dragons Will Launch World of Warcraft Crossover in November
Dungeons & Dragons will be launching a crossover product with World of Warcraft this November. The new book is intended to let players play as every WoW class and species, with 11 new species appearing in the book and 9 subclasses. Six of the subclasses are brand new to Dungeons & Dragons and were playtested secretly, while three 5E subclasses were updated to the new revised edition. Also appearing in the book will be 26 magic items, 30 dungeon boss states, 60 spells, and rules for mounts, companion creatures, and professions. Three versions of the new book will be made available, including a special Collector’s Edition with the Horde insignia on one side and the Alliance’s logo on the other.
Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft will launch the new Dungeons & Dragons: Universes Beyond line, a new line of products that will crossover Dungeons & Dragons and other popular IPs. The name mimics the popular Magic: The Gathering line, which has helped turned the card game into a billion dollar franchise. No other IPs were initially announced, but Wizards employees noted that they were planning on striking a careful balance between their normal D&D product lineup and the Universes Beyond line to help prevent things from getting too bloated.
New Publisher Partnerships Will Support Multiple Campaign Settings
The final new announcement at Gen Con was that Wizards is expanding their partnerships with several third-party publishers to provide annual support for multiple campaign settings. The goal of these partnerships is for each to provide one official adventure or anthology set in settings like Eberron or the Forgotten Realms per year.
Ghostfire Gaming, a maker of horror-themed adventures, will be making Ravenloft products. Visionary Production & Design, which produces DMs Guild supplements, will be writing Eberron adventures, and well-known D&D publisher Kobold Press will make Forgotten Realms products. All of these products are considered to be “official” D&D products and will get both physical and digital releases.
Wizards of the Coast teased at least one big surprise still to be announced at Gen Con, with a “Season of Rebellion” planned for release in late 2027 in addition to the already announced Season of Survival (anchored by Dark Sun) and Season of Sword and Sorcery (anchored by Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen). D&D’s full Keynote presentation is available to watch on YouTube so check it out to see if there’s any magic left to be spun outside of all these admittedly big announcements.