‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Dives Deep Into ‘World Of Warcraft’ Dungeons In Its Upcoming Expansion

Welcome to the table,

Since its announcement, the biggest question about the World of Warcraft X Dungeons & Dragons expansion book has been, “What are the dungeons going to be like?”

And now we have some insight into what is coming to the table. Let’s get into it

As someone who at one point in my life played WoW like it was my job, I’ve been really curious about how this new D&D book is going to play out. It’s not just because I love D&D and am always really curious what the team is working on, but because I have spent a ton of time running the dungeons of WoW. It was mostly solo once I hit max level with raid gear, just to explore them and take in all they have to offer without any real worry that I’m going to be squashed like a bug the second I agro a Carrion Beetle or pull a boss before I’m ready.

Some of my curiosity was sated when I jumped on a call with some fellow journalists and the talented team from Wizards of the Coast that is helming the titanic undertaking of making a mashup of two very large pillars of the pop-culture community.

Out of the gate I learned that the dungeons would come in all shapes and sizes. This is something I was super curious about because some dungeons in WoW are only a few rooms, while others can takes hours to complete. With Dungeons & Dragons being a tabletop experience, the translation of those smaller dungeons into larger spaces to explore felt like it could cause some disconnects but it seems like the team over at D&D has really taken a ton of care in figuring out how they are going to have the book frame everything on this front.

Dungeons that have multiple modes and aspects in different moments in time in WoW have all been anchored to a certain point in Azaroth’s history. This works because the focus is not going to be on loot grinding over and over again to get the right drops, pets, mounts, and transmogs when you are rolling dice with your friends. They selected storied moments that spoke to them as creators, and that would scale appropriately for tabletop play.

So while it seems there will be no heroic runs or timewalking, the way things are coming together in the book serve the playstyle and D&D table in a way that makes exploration and culture feel more considered than just speed-running to get the armor set you want.

In addition to focusing on exploration, it sounds like there have been some new passageways and paths added to dungeon maps we have been running for years. I love to see this as it sounds like the collaboration between the World of Warcraft team and the Dungeons & Dragons team were working closely together to make sure these dungeon updates would maintain the vibe of the legacy spaces players know and love, but also be more attuned to the TTRPG gaming table.

Spaces like Blackfathom Deeps spoke to me the most, as I have run that dungeon countless times over the last 20 or so years, and bult the majority of Moonshrine Ruins into my home campaigns through homebrew.

Getting to see the faces of the team working on these dungeons light up as they talk about running themselves for years and taking a ton of care to make the experience translate well, but authentically to the D&D table was really exciting.

There is a certain level of worry that goes into my soul when I see an IP cross over with D&D. I have some old AD&D Conan content that is pretty okay. The Keep was a movie I have not seen but I know a bit about thanks to an AD&D module, but something as expansive as WoW getting turned into a single core book that does not even reach 400 pages immediately gave me worry because there is so much that could end up on the cutting room floor.

That being said, it sounds like what was included is classic, cool, and considers the table more than being an analog WoW-like experience with dice.

While we won’t have holiday content, the themes and terrors that inhabit some of the most iconic spaces in Azeroth are going to be officially blocked out and supported by the D&D team, meaning, if things go well, this may be the first of many expansions we could see.

What I was also really excited about, as I listened to the team talk, was the mention that Onyxia’s Lair would be a “big boss fight.”

My mind immediately raced back to old Dragon Magazine issues that I love and how there would be encounters that were just hulking haunted trees or diabolical dragons that you could slot into your campaign for a big fight moment or a break between story-beats.

Things like Onyxia’s Lair (the lair itself, not Dustwallow Marsh where it is located) are very small spaces with big story moments. This kind of compact encounter sounds like it is going to be a ton of fun to fling at players and see how they throw down against the larger than life icons of WoW they have been clashing with for decades now.

There is a ton more to cover and I will dig into crafting, player species, dragons, mobs, and more in other installments as we get closer to its launch on November 3rd, 2026, but based on what I’ve seen it’s going to be a real fun one!

Until next time, the only 5th edition D&D book I don’t own is the Rick & Morty Dungeons & Dragons book. It’s not because I have an issue with Rick & Morty, and I love D&D, I just did not see how it clicked with anything else in my collection. It is weird to know there is one book missing from the 5th edition shelf.

So my take on media crossovers into D&D is going to be super cautious but for real, I think this one is going to be a fun addition to the table.