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WoW and Star Wars are only the beginning, now that the ‘Universes Beyond’ cat has been let out of the D&D bag.
WotC has got crossover fever. And the only cure is more crossovers. At least that seems to be the prevailing thinking, especially judging by the number of folks that seem to be hyped up for D&D to turn to both Star Wars and World of Warcraft with two new books in 2027. Love it or hate it, Universes Beyond seems to be here to stay.
Which got us thinking: what other settings might we see for D&D? Because, notably, Edge Studios is out there reassuring folks that they still have the Star Wars license. So, maybe it’s different for these Universes Beyond? To get a glimpse of the future, we need only look to ground broken by Magic: the Gathering.
Transformers
This one seems almost a gimme. Hasbro owns WotC, it also owns Transformers. Recently Renegade Studios announced it was switching the RPG engine it uses to one that feels more like 5.5E. It feels like only a matter of time before your DM is looking at the party gathered around the table and saying “autobots, roll out/for initiative.”
Especially since D&D already has guns, so giving folks blasters doesn’t feel that weird. Nor would it be out of pocket to have expanded wildshape rules for Druids. Just imagine playing a Cybertronian Circle of the Beast (Wars) Druid. It practically writes itself, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this on the list.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy, you might be wondering? Surely not, it has its own RPG that is soon to release, right? Well, so does Star Wars. But also the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set for MTG was one of the biggest and bestselling sets that ever hit; beaten out only by Lorwyn Eclipsed and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Given how much money nerds spent to be able to suplex a train in Magic, I bet they’d do the same to suplex a train in D&D. The subclasses even suggest themselves, from the martial-arts using Sabin, who could easily inspire a new Monk subclass, to the absurdly-sized blades of Cloud or Sephiroth, to just adding Chocobos to the Monster Manual, there’s a lot that just slots right into D&D.
Assassin’s Creed
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With free-running assassins fighting magic artifact-wielding templars on the rooftops of various historical eras, the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond set cooked up a whole host of trouble, and that’s before Black Flag Resynced was announced (I think). While this one might be a little bit harder to work into D&D, I could easily see a system of subclasses inspired by the AC multiplayer. Maybe that’s just me, though.
Fallout
Now we get into “well this seems unlikely” territory. But Magic did do a Universes Beyond crossover with Fallout. For an RPG, I don’t wonder if it wouldn’t be harder because Modiphius is still making Fallout games actively. And sure, the FFG/Edge Star Wars situation exists, but they haven’t put out anything recently, whereas not that long ago we saw new supplements for the Fallout RPG.
Still, I know plenty of people that would leap at the chance to put power armor in D&D.
Warhammer 40K
Speaking of Power Armor in D&D? Look no further than Warhammer 40K. I mean, you can kind of already see that in the Rogue Trader CRPG. I mean it’s not exactly D&D and 40K mashed together. But you can see how it might all go down.
Especially after the success of the Warhammer 40K x MtG crossover. The different Chapters might all be subclasses of a main Astartes class. Who knows. The doors of trying to cram things into D&D seem to be opening. How wide remains to be seen.
What setting would YOU want to see in D&D?
Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]
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