Bringing Warcraft, Star Wars to D&D is a waste of good IP

Alongside the likes of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, the world of Warcraft is one of the largest fantasy franchises of all time. Birthed into existence by a handful of real-time strategy games in the 90s and now the setting for the most successful MMORPG of all time, millions of gamers consider the lands of Azeroth a second homeland.

Soon they’ll be able to build and play versions of that world at their table using Dungeons & Dragons. At opening night at Gen Con, the tabletop gaming industry’s largest convention, the makers of D&D, Wizards of the Coast announced ‘Universes Beyond’ for the world’s best known fantasy role-playing game. Similar to the identically named series for Magic: The Gathering, Universes Beyond will bring in characters and worlds from other companies into the game.

World of Warcraft will arrive first as part of “Season of Champions” but Wizards also dropped a bomb on attendees by having Darth Vader show up on stage to reveal that Star Wars would also be coming to D&D in 2027’s “Season of Rebellion.” For those who missed the announcements, it’s all laid out in a most grimly cynical JPG, the “brand roadmap.” Already nerds are salivating at the prospect of seeing the likes of Marvel or Fallout come to D&D, brands that have done huge numbers for Magic, the world’s most popular collectible card game. More importantly, they’ve been a jackpot for companies that struggle to license their biggest IPs.

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I am not one of those excited for this.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to the warm embrace of a familiar brand and have on many occasions had a bang up time bringing them to the table. So my misgivings about this crossover aren’t simply about “cynical cash grab” or what have you. But imagine being part of a tabletop group that has chosen to run a campaign set in Azeroth of Warcraft but instead of using literally any the dozens of fantasy role-playing systems out there, you settle on D&D.

But I’ve played multiple long-running campaigns of D&D and across varying editions it is not nearly as versatile as people believe. I hate yucking people’s yum like that but I won’t get into the details, lest this piece devolve into a lengthy spiel about home campaigns and system design that goes way past my editorially-mandated word limit. The point here is that specific campaigns deserve systems that suit their needs.

Of course, some argue it’s all about brand synergy, harnessing the draw of a popular game and merging it with a beloved universe. But focusing on synergy to the exclusion of anything else makes for worse product. To throw Warcraft or Star Wars onto D&D based on their mutual popularity is a waste of good IP. It does them a disservice, leashing the uniquely expansive cosmos of Warcraft and the compelling moral struggle of Star Wars to a game that doesn’t do either very well.

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Star Wars itself has been a wellspring for many great RPGs. There’s the old D6 system from West End Games which offered a grounded, low fantasy system where characters are flexible but highly mortal and Force powers were rarely seen miracles, much as in the Original Trilogy. SAGA Edition, produced in the 00s by Wizards of the Coast, emphasized powerful heroic fantasy as thrilling as the prequels. Each reflecting ways of understanding a galaxy far away in a time long ago.

These aforementioned games prove something. Which is that you can take a renowned IP into the world of tabletop to create exciting experiences in any direction while still drawing devoted players. You don’t have to resort to a system like D&D that simply can’t represent them well. Every great setting deserves thoughtful design choices, or at the very least a very enthusiastic homebrew / system hack. Star Wars deserves better. Warcraft deserves better. As do Marvel, Doctor Who, Jurassic Park and Final Fantasy.

Already the World of Warcraft Gameplay Expansion is available for pre-order. For an eye-watering eighty American dollars. Wizards’ Dan Ayoub asserts that Universes Beyond is “just yet another way for people to experience [D&D].” But that remark alone is a pretty big tell. It indicates that these great IPs are being used mostly to feed the appetite of a brand constantly under pressure to monetize. Universes Beyond doesn’t breathing these great worlds to life, it puts D&D first at the expense of the imagination.

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