Diablo is getting a board game and tabletop RPG that will “continue the lore and story” of the video games

Surprise! Diablo 4 only came out a few months ago, but there’s already a brand new Diablo game in the works. Two, in fact! The twist? These will be tabletop adaptations of Blizzard’s action-RPG series, taking Diablo into the realm occupied by Dungeons & Dragons and Catan.

Diablo: The Board Game and Diablo: The Roleplaying Game look to do exactly what they say on the cardboard tin, allowing players to venture into the undead-infested dungeons of Sanctuary and turn a load of hellspawn into demon passata.

As reported by some handsome, charismatic chap over at our tabletop sister site Dicebreaker, details on how the Diablo board game will play are fairly thin on the ground at the moment. What we do know is that tabletop publishers Glass Cannon Unplugged have confirmed that both games will draw from the Diablo series as a whole, rather than just Diablo IV, and will look to “continue the lore and story” of the video games.

To that end, Glass Cannon - which have previously adapted Apex Legends, Dying Light and Frostpunk into board games - are working directly with Diablo’s creative team over at Blizzard to help the series make the leap onto the tabletop.

The tabletop RPG has a few more scraps of info to go by, saying that, yes, you’ll be able to make your own custom characters. More surprising is the confirmation that Diablo: The RPG will be built on a new “unique” gameplay system, rather than slapping a Deckard Cain mask over Dungeons & Dragons 5E or something.

That new system will let player fight multiple enemies at once in “satisfying, fast-paced” combat, and also appears to have some kind of morality system teased, as Glass Cannon said characters will also face an “inner struggle” as they’re torn between the forces of “Light and Darkness” and “sin and integrity”. It’s all very Diablo, although given that the video games don’t have a morality mechanic, it’s an intriguing direction to take - albeit one that perhaps makes more sense in a tabletop RPG where you need more satisfaction than just mowing down thousands of skeletons session after session.

Giving more of a window into what to expect is a community survey open over on the official site for the tabletop games, which asks fans what sort of gameplay elements and Diablo storylines or settings they’d like to see in a tabletop RPG, as well as whether they prefer to play in one-shot sessions or over longer campaigns. In other words, it sounds fairly early days for development.

Glass Cannon will be looking to get the Diablo RPG together sharpish, though, as it’s already been given a release date of BlizzCon 2024 - likely to take place in early November or late October, based on past years. The Diablo board game, meanwhile, will hit a crowdfunding platform at some point in the future, with a release date yet to be announced.