Dungeons & Dragons announced it'd be doing a World of Warcraft crossover earlier this week—but it also, additionally, teased a Star Wars crossover at the end of its D&D Vision keynote. Further details can be found on the D&D Beyond site, revealing that the crossover will be coming in 2027 as part of a "Season of Rebellion".
"We want to let our community know that D&D Universes Beyond is additive to the incredible roadmap we have for our own worlds. We have been staffing up to support this initiative and look forward to what the future holds."
And, hey—cool! I like Star Wars, I like Dungeons & Dragons (no really, I do, no matter how much I moan at Hasbro), but there is a small, itchy part at the back of my brain that's wondering if Hasbro is trying, once again, to capture the same monetisation systems it created with Magic: The Gathering and apply them here, where they might not fit.
For context, Magic: The Gathering does heaps of licensed crossovers. We're talking Monty Python, we're talking Assassin's Creed. We're even talking Garfield. No universe is safe, there is no IP that cannot be turned into a little slip of paper. The bountiful world of trademarks is merely fertile soil for the ever-expanding Magic empire.
And, to Wizards of the Coast's credit, a lot of those crossovers have been neat—it's cool to see your favourite series/comics/little black cat thoughtfully represented by game mechanics, whether they be entirely bespoke cards or just reskins. So why am I humming and ha-ing about this? Shouldn't I be happy?
Part of the problem is just the format. I hate to be that guy, but there's already a Star Wars TTRPG. Heck, there's even already a very popular D&D 5e Star Wars fan project. But I think there's this assumption that Hasbro—and, cynically some of its customers—make where they assume that the D&D, D20-based framework can be applied to anything.
And as someone who loves TTRPGs of all shapes and sizes, that just… isn't true. D&D is a great system for grand heroics, dungeon-crawling, and combat—but if you, say, want to do teenage superheroes? You should at least try Masks. If you want to do mech combat, you should at least try Lancer.
The reason Magic crossovers work is because, well, it's a card game. The nature of a Magic match doesn't really change all that much based on what your cards look like, the art within them, or the theming.
This isn't the case for a TTRPG campaign. In a TTRPG, the rules need to work with the story or vibe you're trying to put across.
The two announced crossovers, World of Warcraft and Star Wars, can easily work in a D&D setting. Heck, D&D's had its own space opera setting, Starjammer, for a while. But there is a little part of me that fears Hasbro will start stretching further and further into obscurity, because there's only so much IP out there.
For instance, D&D just isn't that great at horror. There's Curse of Strahd, sure, but I'd like to point out that Curse of Strahd's entire plot involves you finding a cool sword made out of sunlight and going to not-Dracula's castle to kick his ass. A D&D crossover with an actual horror property just won't have the same bite that a good game of Dread or Mothership does.
However, that's only a fear for now—and to Wizards of the Coast's credit, there have been announcements that play more to the system's existing strength, too. We're going to be getting both Dragonlance and Greyhawk settings coming back, with the former helmed by original co-creator Tracy Hickman, and the latter led by Luke Gygax. Plus, Drizzt! Drizzt is here, again. Oh, and freaking Dark Sun. There's tons to be excited about.
