D&D Crossover Predictions — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] This reveal changed everything for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. But, the burning question now on everyone's mind is... What's next?

[00:14] Because the Star Wars thing is not like 20 years ago with a D&D compatible Star Wars game under its own distinct title. No, this is Dungeons and Dragons colon Star Wars, and it has opened a Pandora's box of player predictions about just how far, how far, far away the future of D&D crossovers might go.

[00:38] Or even boldly go, where D&D has never gone before. So we're going to fly through the D&D Universes Beyond predictions that people are most excited about or most afraid of,

[00:50] and we'll probably get a real good laugh out of this in a couple of years. Because I'm Bob, this is where you learn how to have more fun playing tabletop RPGs together, and the top comment from the post I made asking for your predictions was,

[01:04] Are you ready, kids? It was Spongebob, and no, this comment is not serious, I don't think. D&D's Spongebob was the crossover I joked about as a hypothetical,

[01:17] rage-bait example when the news first dropped about Universes Beyond. However, much to my own surprise after a little Googling, this example is not nearly as hypothetical as I once thought.

[01:29] D&D's parent company, Hasbro, has already produced multiple Spongebob-licensed toys and games since the early 2000s, and there's a much more significant connection with D&D's sister company,

[01:41] Magic the Gathering 2025 Card Pack Secret Lair Spongebob Squarepants. Dive into the key bottom and dredge the depths to discover a bundle featuring characters, locations, scenes, and memes from Spongebob Squarepants.

[01:56] You can drop these quirky cards into your favorite deck, or better yet, jam them all into a new commander deck helmed by the five-color SpongeBob SquarePants. I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.

[02:08] Wow. Yeah, I did not know about that, but from my understanding, Magic's Secret Lair crossovers are much more like novelty cards than their Universes Beyond crossovers.

[02:21] So, I don't really think we're going to get a D&D SpongeBob book, but maybe a Dice Set or something. Anything could happen at this point. My mind is open. I'm ready. Okay, the real top prediction from this post was,

[02:36] Okay, but actually, a Legend of Zelda collab sounds really, really cool. And many more similar comments agreeing with this person. And editor Bob feels it is important to mention that the post and these comments and this script

[02:50] all came before the recent Nintendo Direct that just sparked up a ton of new Zelda hype. so people already have this in mind. But if you don't think so, hey, listen. It's a fantasy game?

[03:02] Check. Most of the gameplay is solving puzzles and fighting monsters? Check. The franchise is beloved by multiple generations of gamers? Check. That last point is key for Hasbro's multi-generational products initiative.

[03:15] So besides previous licensing, those three are the criteria I'm keeping an eye on. Genre, playstyle, audience, and Legend of Zelda would be a good fit. but I seriously doubt Nintendo will collab.

[03:29] Hmm, okay. Nintendo is infamously protective, like, aggressively defensive, if that makes sense, over their intellectual property. But according to another very helpful comment, Zelda is almost certainly going to happen.

[03:41] Hasbro is in partnership right now with Nintendo, making some Zelda toys, so this seems inevitable. Whoa, again. I won't go as far as inevitable, though let's not forget Nintendo did partner with Critical Role,

[03:54] the most popular D&D actual play show, to promote the release of Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom in 2023, which featured that Dungeon Master as a voice actor in the video game. Also, Nintendo will be doing a lot of promotions

[04:06] for the live-action Zelda movie next year, for the Ocarina of Time remake this year, or if those are too soon, then perhaps for the next big Legend of Zelda video game title in 2029, or who knows.

[04:19] Maybe I'm just biased as a fan, but I think D&D Zelda is plausible. And it raises an important matter of discussion here. Honestly, I'd be down with a Legend of Zelda crossover,

[04:31] even though it would make my homebrew system obsolete overnight. No! No D&D crossover will make anyone's homebrew obsolete. You can make whatever you want, no matter what D&D does.

[04:45] If anything, it should give you more cool ideas to work with. and it'll draw more creative fans of that brand into D&D who will homebrew more cool stuff. And, hey, there's already dozens of Zelda-inspired TV RPGs,

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[06:22] I want Final Fantasy for sure. It gives Marshalls cool abilities. Yeah, I would call this one inevitable, because when Magic the Gathering made some Final Fantasy cards, It was their best-selling product of all time.

[06:36] Not trying to be cynical, there's just no way the suits in charge would not try to repeat that overwhelming success at some point in Dungeons & Dragons, regardless of genre, style, or audience.

[06:50] But obviously, it's another decent fit, or it wouldn't have done so well. Adventure Time, Doom, and any cool shounen anime. Taking those one at a time, Adventure Time works for genre, style, and audience,

[07:03] It's just like Zelda, maybe a little more millennial-focused than Zelda. Not the article! Baby, you're terrible at that! But it's even more D&D-focused, with references in the show. Is Flame Princess evil?

[07:16] Or Midi-Chaotic neutral? She's evil. And an already-existing 5e Adventure Time RPG, which even states...

[07:33] the open-ended excitement and sense of wonder that are at the core of Adventure Time. Since that game already exists, maybe this hypothetical crossover would be more like D&D simply buying them out and rebranding it as an official D&D product.

[07:47] And one more thing not a lot of people know, D&D already officially collaborated with the creator of Adventure Time as a consultant on the campaign book for Tomb of Annihilation back in the day. I think that's one of the reasons I like that campaign so much.

[08:00] Now as for Doom, I really don't think there's much to say here. No former connections with Hasbro, Magic, or D&D as far as I can find, and I don't think a first-person shooter video game would translate well to Dungeons & Dragons.

[08:16] But if we're talking shounen anime, the only one I've followed for a while was Naruto, and heck, he has had to good fit. Sort of fantasy, lots of fighting, like it's all about fighting. It's nothing that complicated. I simply want to kill him, that's all.

[08:32] I grew up with the show as a millennial, so did most of Gen Z, and there were even some Gen Alpha students at my previous job obsessed with this show. If D&D wanted to include Gen X, just do Dragon Ball and Z.

[08:45] But there's already Hasbro toys for Naruto, there's multiple fan-made TTRPGs, and there's even more critical role voice acting connections to this anime. Yeah, that creep is played by Liam O'Brien, so I might be biased again, but I could see this one happening.

[09:00] Believe it! Honestly, I think a lot of people would be diehard for a Lego Universes Beyond sourcebook, especially if Ninjago and Bionicle were involved. Okay, I wish this was a longer comment.

[09:13] Like, I want somebody to cook on this idea, as it were, because I loved Legos as a kid, but I didn't even realize Bionicle had lore until like five years ago. and I still never read into it.

[09:26] What I do know is that Lego makes a frickin' brickload of crossovers. In fact, Star Wars Lego was the second set in my collection as a kid. And over the last few years, Lego made several sets for Dungeons & Dragons,

[09:40] so why not the other way around?

[09:54] Halo, because it has a bunch of species to pick from and a ton of lore. Oh man, part of me would love to see this. Yeah, Halo misses the fantasy genre, but it's got the combat-heavy playstyle.

[10:07] I think it's got multi-gen appeal from some younger Gen X to older Gen Z. We've even got some Halo toys from Hasbro, but I don't know. I still don't know. Does a first-person shooter

[10:19] makes sense for 5e. I have heard tell of a fan 5e TTRPG based on the Destiny video games which I haven played but is apparently the same genre and playstyle as Halo If you can vouch for any of this please let us

[10:33] know down in the comments. Big if true, because that would open a lot of possibilities for shooter-based D&D crossovers. Wait, me. Wait, me. I would totally

[10:45] come back to D&D if they made a Gundam set of books. Customer Testimonial Alert. I would totally come back to D&D if... is exactly what they want to hear. Gundam is Adult Swim hazy adolescent memories for me.

[11:00] I know it's big sci-fi robots. I think I remember there are swords as well as guns. So yeah, Gundam probably works. And if enough people say that about any franchise,

[11:12] we'll probably see it in D&D. Although, Gundam is tricky, because on a superficial level, if nothing else, it kind of looks like Transformers, which is one of Hasbro's biggest IPs,

[11:25] so it might be too close to show up in D&D. On that note, if things go well with World of Warcraft, I'm hoping for a mature Diablo. But above all, I'm afraid a Hasbro C-suite executive

[11:37] will think that using internal IPs is a no-brainer. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, etc. And we got a number of comments like this. And this comment makes a fantastic point.

[11:53] Renegade Game Studios is ending their Essence 20 line, the other TTRPG line under Hasbro, and publishing new editions of their Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, and Transformers Players Handbooks to be 5e compatible.

[12:06] I could see a world where those outbranded universes beyond. Outside of those, a Monsterverse book would be interesting, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and The Last Airbender would also be really good. So first of all, yeah, why not?

[12:18] D&D legendary vampire villain Stravon Zarovich can sparkle now. It's in the killer book. And sure, there's already going to be officially licensed 5e versions for a bunch of those Hasbro IPs,

[12:30] but it's hard to say which ones, if any, would be branded as universes beyond. To me, the standout franchises from that batch of comments were Mature Diablo and Avatar The Last Airbender.

[12:42] Also Steven Universe because I like the show, but I don't know if it's popular enough for a crossover here. These other two, Diablo and Avatar, are very popular. Right genre, right style, right audience, but both have official TTRPGs from other publishers.

[12:56] Diablo also had a D&D crossover like 20 years ago, and this new Diablo TTRPG was supposed to launch on Kickstarter in late 2025, so who knows? Maybe it's mega-delayed because it's in the process of being consumed by D&D.

[13:11] Meanwhile, Avatar Legends previously held the record for biggest RPG Kickstarter, and it is fairly well-loved, using the Powered by the Apocalypse TTRPG core rules,

[13:23] leaning much less on combat and much more on diplomatic conflict resolution. So could that game coexist with a 5D version? Totally! That's already the case for The One Ring,

[13:36] the bespoke TTRPG for Lord of the Rings by cool game designers at Free League, and Lord of the Rings 5E, literally described by the same publisher as a no-brainer to get more people playing their stuff.

[13:48] Quote, Many D&D players aren't interested in playing other games, and sometimes vice versa. We know that the one ring would reach a certain audience, but it might not reach the other, which is why the Lord of the Rings 5E exists.

[14:02] Remember, gang, this is why Universes Beyond will most likely be a net positive for the entire TTRPG scene. D&D has the biggest reach and it's not even close. So while there's a side effect of promoting the false idea that 5e is a good fit for any genre or style,

[14:21] some portion of players who come for D&D, 5e, Star Wars, or whatever, will continue playing 5e and then discover Neon Odyssey or Starboard or Mothership or any other amazing indie game

[14:34] that they never would have even heard about if not for Universes Beyond. Now back to predictions for mature D&D crossovers. Game of Thrones may be up there, but I think Dragon Age is a fantastic idea as well.

[14:46] I would guess The Witcher or Dragon Age. Witcher could be interesting. We better get Elden Ring. Either Elden Ring, Dark Souls, or Bloodborne. Genre, style, audience, all pretty good. Though personally, I'm not sure the super heroic, rarely killable player characters of D&D 5e would mesh with the gritty tone of Game of Thrones or games like Elden Ring, where learning strategy through death seems to be the main gameplay loop.

[15:11] Notably, Witcher already has an officially licensed TTRPG from another publisher, and I was surprised to learn there has not yet been a crossover between Witcher or Game of Thrones with Magic the Gathering.

[15:23] But there have been Game of Thrones versions of Monopoly and Risk published by Hasbro, so that one seems more plausible to me. Alright, now let's just rapid-fire through a bunch more predictions. Or He That movie would be awesome and if they cancel as on that to release a setting book right before the release of the Tiege She sequel Yeah this could happen considering Magic just announced a crossover with this brand and of course it pure sword and sorcery across several decades of entertainment

[15:51] I would unironically lose my crap in a good way if Kingdom Hearts got announced for D&D. I would be the first to pre-order it. I would be so excited. Without any previous connections in Magic or Hasbro,

[16:04] this makes me think that maybe a connection with Disney is just too tricky. Someone at Hasbro is definitely dreaming about a Harry Potter crossover. Yeah, they definitely are. It's one of the highest earning franchises in the entire world,

[16:17] and Hasbro started a new line of Harry Potter toys this year. But at that time, Magic the Gathering posted this statement. The Magic Multiverse has its own school of magic at Strixhaven, with plenty of secrets sealed to its door.

[16:29] Our universe's beyond roadmap currently doesn't have us visiting any others. So, public relations-wise, it's a Gundam Transformers situation. Kirby! Smiley face. Whew, happy little guy that no one could dislike,

[16:44] because as they say, Kirby is shaped like a friend. I don't think this character would get any kind of D&D crossover, but if you know a Kirby-inspired DTRPG, share the title in the comments, because I know Glacial Destroyer would love to check that out.

[16:57] Maybe not, likely, because we already got it with magic, but Doctor Who would actually go really well, I think. What is a TARDIS, if not a time-traveling deniplane? Huh. Funny to me, because I agree with a comment from a recent video saying Doctor Who would not be a good fit,

[17:14] because the show is not about fighting, and B&B is very much about fighting. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel Comics is on the horizon, as Hasbro has the toy licensing. For sure. They're the king of multiversal crossover stuff.

[17:28] And actual superheroes would be almost a better fit than fantasy for the game of D&D 5e. There's a bunch of prior Magic Marvel crossovers and Hasbro already has connections to.

[17:40] This one seems very likely. I only saved it till this late in the video because I don't really know anything about Marvel or have much to say about it, unlike... Silver King! Silver King! Da-da-da-da-da-da! Elder Scrolls!

[17:52] We got call out and probably Elder Scrolls, and Elder Scrolls has a separate Elder Scrolls reference in its account. Elder Scrolls checks all the boxes. There's already multiple fan-made TTRPTs for Elder Scrolls games.

[18:05] Even I have made a little zine for randomly generating fantasy wilderness sites based on the probability of encountering those various types of sites in Oblivion and Skyrim. I freaking called it Scrim for Talos' sake.

[18:17] But, with a tiny bit of googling, I found a valid point against this crossover from Magic's point of view. That the Venn diagram of Magic fans and Elder Scrolls fans is likely a circle,

[18:31] and if the intention of these crossovers is to draw new audiences, then there's nothing to gain for the suits in charge. So if this is ever going to happen for Magic or D&D, it probably wouldn't be until Bethesda is ready to promote Elder Scrolls VI.

[18:47] After yet another generation of splat, new grognards will rise. Okay, I'm glad this turned up in the comments too. Because while it's easy to assume that Universes Beyond will repel the true D&D players,

[19:02] the popular sentiment around the internet anyway is that these crossovers will pull in vastly more future passionate players than they push away. And more importantly, that Universes Beyond cannot mess up your game unless your group wants to use that material.

[19:18] Sure, every local game store and D&D club will need to account for this somehow. A poster of their rules would probably do the trick. But if you don't like how someone else runs the game, you can just do it your own way.

[19:30] As a participant in the game, I would not care to have anyone telling me exactly what must go into a campaign and how it must be handled. If so, why not play some game like chess?

[19:42] That's Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D, in the first Dungeon Master's Guide. It's all optional. Is it a little weird that D&D is outsourcing some of the work on their own settings so the design team can work on these crossovers?

[19:56] Yeah. Is it possible that D&D Universes Beyond won't last long because there won't be a quasi-gambling market for these books like there are for new Magic the Gathering cards?

[20:08] Yeah. And will there be D&D crossovers that you or I find to be cringy or spoiling the spirit of the game? Probably, yeah. But that reaction says more about you or I than about the game of D&D.

[20:21] Because the real magic of this game has always been its malleability to your imagination. So to hear more about how these crossovers are just different between magic and D&D,

[20:34] you can check out this cool video on your screen. Remember to like this one if you liked it, and if you really liked it, consider joining as a YouTube channel member or patron to get bonus videos of my unscripted ramblings and to directly support what I do here.

[20:48] Have an awesome day, and keep building.