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[[File:World of Warcraft RPG cover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The cover for ''World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game''.]]

The ''Warcraft'' roleplaying games were published by [[White Wolf Publishing]] through its imprints [[Sword & Sorcery]] and [[Arthaus]]. It was initially based off ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3<sup>rd</sup> edition, but it was quickly adapted to 3.5. Blizzard specifically stated that the books are valuable to know the setting:
<blockquote>Want to know more about the lore of World of Warcraft? The game doesn't require any additional reading to play. However, you might enjoy gaining a more detailed knowledge of Warcraft lore. […] Warcraft Role-Playing Games provide a wealth of information about Warcraft lore.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20060315204225/http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/index.html History of Warcraft]" (March 2006)</ref></blockquote>

Blizzard employees, such as [[wow:Chris Metzen|Chris Metzen]] and [[wow:Bob Fitch|Bob Fitch]], were deeply involved in the making of these books.<ref>Every book lists the involvement of Blizzard employees in the credits. {{sl}} specifically states on its backcover: "Designed with extensive input from the creative minds behind the Warcraft computer games".</ref> The writing of these books was difficult, however, because MMO updates could invalidate portions of the text:
<blockquote>One problem is that, at best, we write a book about 8 months before it hits shelves. Thanks to the fluid nature of video game development, that means that what we wrote down as accurate 8 months ago may no longer be appropriate.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20150501081426/https://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/world_of_warcraft_rpg_dark_factions___luke_johnson_qa World of Warcraft RPG: Dark Factions - Luke Johnson Q&A]" (January 2008)</ref></blockquote>

Production ended after the expiration of the licensing deal:
<blockquote>The Rights reversed back to Blizzard. We were only under licensing agreement to do x amount of books. You'll have to talk to Blizzard about future WoW RPG releases:)<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20141007204350/https://worldofwarcraft.judgehype.com/news/warcraft-rpg-et-wow-rpg-rien-de-neuf-a-l-horizon-117056/ Warcraft RPG et WoW RPG : Rien de neuf à l'horizon]" (March 2009), translated</ref></blockquote>

Blizzard would later claim that the books are not canon<ref>Bashiok during Ask CDev Round 2 (June 2011): <blockquote>The RPG books were created to provide an engaging table-top role-playing experience, which sometimes required diverging from the established video game canon. Blizzard helped generate a great deal of the content within the RPG books, so there will be times when ideas from the RPG will make their way into the game and official lore, but you are much better off considering the RPG books non-canonical unless otherwise stated.</blockquote></ref>, but that is patently false in light of the major support given by them and also outside the [[design choices|scope of this project]]. [[Luke Johnson]] himself once contemplated toward the end of the book line that declaring such books non-canonical would be a poor idea:
<blockquote> Declare that the books aren't canon -- that is, the information in them isn't "correct," it's just derived from an existing IP. Such a strategy has obvious pros and cons. I don't think it would be appropriate for the ''WoW RPG'' books, because people want to use them as reference for the setting.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20190721042703/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131876/translating_world_of_warcraft_into_.php?page=3 Translating World of Warcraft into a Tabletop Roleplaying Game: The Content Challenge]", Gamasutra (January 2008)</ref></blockquote>

==Books==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Date !! SKU !! ISBN !! File
|-
| '''''[[Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game]]''''' || July 28, 2003 || 17200 || [[isbn:1-58846-071-1|1-58846-071-1]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e Core Rulebook.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Manual of Monsters]]'' || October 2, 2003 || 17201 || [[isbn:1-58846-070-3|1-58846-070-3]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Manual of Monsters.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Alliance & Horde Compendium]]'' || December 15, 2003 || 17202 || [[isbn:1-58846-063-0|1-58846-063-0]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Alliance and Horde Compendium.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Magic & Mayhem]]'' || June 7, 2004 || 17203 || [[isbn:1-58846-954-9|1-58846-954-9]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Magic and Mayhem.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Lands of Conflict]]'' || September 20, 2004 || 17204 || [[isbn:1-58846-960-3|1-58846-960-3]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Lands of Conflict.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Shadows & Light]]'' || November 29, 2004 || 17205 || [[isbn:1-58846-973-5|1-58846-973-5]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Shadows and Light.pdf|File]]
|-
| '''''[[World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game]]''''' || June 27, 2005 || 17210 || [[isbn:1-58846-781-3|1-58846-781-3]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e Core Rulebook.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[More Magic and Mayhem]]'' || November 14, 2005 || 17211 || [[isbn:1-58846-945-X|1-58846-945-X]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - More Magic and Mayhem.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Lands of Mystery]]'' || April 3, 2006 || 17206 || [[isbn:1-58846-784-8|1-58846-784-8]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Lands of Mystery.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Horde Player's Guide]]'' || June 1, 2006 || 17208 || [[isbn:1-58846-772-4|1-58846-772-4]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Horde Player's Guide.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Alliance Player's Guide]]'' || June 28, 2006 || 17207 || [[isbn:1-58846-773-2|1-58846-773-2]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Alliance Player's Guide.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Monster Guide]]'' || February 7, 2007 || 17212 || [[isbn:1-58846-936-0|1-58846-936-0]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Monster Guide.pdf|File]]
|-
| ''[[Dark Factions]]'' || May 14, 2008 || 17213 || [[isbn:1-58846-446-6|1-58846-446-6]] || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Dark Factions.pdf|File]]
|}

==PDF Materials==
{{Stub-section}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Date !! File
|-
|''Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game'' character sheet || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Character Sheet.pdf|File]]
|-
|''Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game'' character sheet (night elf version) || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Character Sheet - Night Elf.pdf|File]]
|-
|''World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game'' character sheet || December 2005 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Character Sheet.pdf|File]]
|-
|''World of Warcraft RPG'' conversion document || June 20, 2005 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG - 1st to 2nd Edition Conversion.pdf|File]]
|-
|[[Bones of Ironforge]] || June 2006<ref>"[https://archive.ph/ovwBY New Module Available for WoW Pen & Paper RPG]", Engadget (June 16, 2006), but the original article doesn't actually tell us when the module became available. It was definitely around the middle of the month, though.</ref> || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Bones of Ironforge.pdf|File]]
|-
|1e Scourge racial class || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Scourge Racial Classes.pdf|File]]
|-
|1e balloonist class || 2004 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Web Enhancement - Balloonist.pdf|File]]
|-
|1e spellbreaker class || 2004 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Web Enhancement - Spellbreaker.pdf|File]]
|-
|1e spellsniper class || 2004 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e - Web Enhancement - Spellsniper.pdf|File]]
|-
|1e unofficial errata || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 1e Unofficial Errata.pdf|File]]
|-
|2e spellbreaker class || 2005<ref>Inferred from its reference to ''More Magic and Mayhem'' as an upcoming book.</ref> || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Web Enhancement - Spellbreaker.pdf|File]]
|-
|2e blood elf race || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Blood Elves.pdf|File]]
|-
|2e steamthrone || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Web Enhancement - Steamthrone.pdf|File]]
|-
|2e unofficial tech primer || — || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Tech Primer.pdf|File]]
|-
|[[Monster Guide Web Supplement|''Monster Guide'' Web Supplement]] || March 2007 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Monster Guide Web Supplement.pdf|File]]
|-
|''Lands of Mystery'' Extra Web Bonuses || April 2006 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Lands of Mystery - Web Extras.pdf|File]]
|-
|''Lands of Mystery'' Extra: Blue Dragonspawn Stats || April 2006 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Lands of Mystery - Blue Dragonspawn Stats.pdf|File]]
|-
|''[[Even More Magic and Mayhem]]'' || August 1, 2010 || [[Media:Warcraft RPG 2e - Even More Magic and Mayhem.pdf|File]]
|}

==''Sword & Sorcery Insider''==
White Wolf put out a magazine/advertisement that was ''White Wolf Quarterly'' on the front and ''Sword & Sorcery Insider'' on the back. Warcraft was mentioned a surprising amount, but mostly as one page articles. These are exceptionally hard to find on the Internet.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Issue !! Page !! Article !! Image
|-
| Volume 2.3 — Summer 2004 || 13 || "Ready for Action?" — Mike Johnstone discusses ''Lands of Conflict''. || —
|-
| Volume 2.4 — Fall 2004 || 10 || "To Eternity and Beyond" — Mike Johnstone discusses the divine and the eternal in ''Shadows & Light''. || [[File:Coining_Eternal.jpg|200px|thumb]]
|-
| Volume 3.1 — Winter 2005 || 8 || "100% Pure Warcraft" — Mike Johnstone previews the second edition core rulebook. || —
|-
| Volume 3.1 — Winter 2005 || 10 || "Spotlight On... Warcraft RPG Race: Night Elves" || —
|-
| Volume 3.2 — Spring 2005 || 4 || "Holy Might and Unholy Power" — Paladins and Forsaken from the new RPG edition. || —
|-
| Volume 3.3 — Summer 2005 || 7–8 || "New Gears" — Luke Johnson previews technology. || —
|-
| Volume 3.4 — Fall 2005 || 6 || "More Magic, More Mayhem in the Warcraft World" — Luke Johnson discusses his design strategy. || —
|-
| Volume 4.1 — Winter 2006 || 6 || "Dig into the Alliance" — Luke Johnson previews the ''Alliance Player's Guide'' and Wildhammer dwarves. || —
|}

==External Links==
*[https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewforum.php?f=58 The Piazza — World of Warcraft] — one of the few remaining TTRPG boards left.
*[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/wowrpgfr/ WoWRPG d20 Forums]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130411161115/http://warcraftd20.myfreeforum.org/ Warcraft d20 Forums] — archived version of Tagar Bearclaw's forum.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060314133031/http://forums.white-wolf.com/viewforum.php?f=51 White Wolf forum] — archived version of the official TTRPG forum. Most threads have not survived.
*[https://geocities.ws/magusrogue/ My WoWRPG Stuff] — personal site of Adam Loyd, an author on the line, including his errata.
*[https://greywolf.critter.net/wow.htm Greywolf's Warcraft Fan Site] — home of ''[[Even More Magic and Mayhem]]'' and maps.
*[https://warcraft-rpg.blogspot.com/ World of Warcraft RPG Summit]

==Endnotes==
<references />