Hasbro is looking to expand D&D’s rules to more than just Magic: The Gathering. Although Magic was a good start, and an easy sell to fans given they share a fantasy setting, Hasbro isn’t satisfied with just a Magic/D&D crossover.
CEO Chris Cocks recently told investors following Hasbro’s first-quarter earnings call that it intends to bring “outside brands or outside IP” into D&D’s rules.
"There’s a lot of international growth vectors we can do," Cocks said (via Polygon). "There’s a lot of new exclusive content we can do. You know, we’ve talked a lot about Universes Beyond in Magic, which is this concept of thinking about Magic as a play system and bringing in outside brands or outside IP into that play system. We see potential for that with D&D as well, and we think D&D Beyond can be a primary hub for that."
Magic’s Universe’s Beyond was first announced last year with Commander Decks featuring Warhammer 40K (coming later this year) and an expansion involving Lord of the Rings (coming in 2023). An earlier Secret Lair drop featuring The Walking Dead was grandfathered into the program. All feature characters from other brands and intellectual properties but translated into Magic’s rules.
Universes Beyond isn’t without controversy, however, as some feel it dilutes Magic’s core identity by bringing in other IPs. Others feel it just ruins the immersive fantasy of being a magic-wielding planeswalker if you’re using your mana to summon a Space Marine.
As for what a D&D version of Universes Beyond might look like, Polygon notes there have already been two good examples in the Stranger Things and Rick and Morty starter sets. However, Cocks specifically said bringing other brands into the D&D rules, which might look more like a D&D sourcebook for a totally different intellectual property--perhaps even Bungie’s Destiny.
At the heart of any such expansion of D&D rules will be D&D Beyond, the popular D&D tools site that Hasbro recently purchased from Fandom. Any such sourcebooks could hit D&D Beyond first and then see physical circulation if they prove popular enough.