System Reference Documents

Darkness · Jul 21, 2003

Nifft said:
... it lacks ImprovingMonsters.rtf

-- Nifft

Hm. Lemme look at that.

Right, it's just a typo in the link; the file is there...

Here ya go:

Just right-click and "save-as"

Archer · Jul 22, 2003

Is it just me or is the information on the revised 3.5 SRD page exactly the same as the old SRD?

allenw · Jul 22, 2003

At the moment, the All-in-one zip file still has the 3.0 SRD. All the individual files are 3.5, though.

Iscariot · Jul 24, 2003

They did not change it until midnight. It's changed now.
*grins*
And yes, they took out Beholders again.

LRathbun · Jul 28, 2003

if you are reading this you may want to check out:

SRD 3.5 Competition

Muther Hubbard · Sep 5, 2003

Srd

Why have WOTC, or D20, or Hasbro - or who whoever it is - decided to put abstracts of their rules into the public domain? What's the rationale behind it? In what way do they hope to benefit? Could someone explain to me what SRD all about.
thanks

Kae'Yoss · Sep 5, 2003

Muther Hubbard said:
Why have WOTC, or D20, or Hasbro - or who whoever it is - decided to put abstracts of their rules into the public domain? What's the rationale behind it? In what way do they hope to benefit? Could someone explain to me what SRD all about.
thanks

They didn't put abstracts of their rules into the pd. They put nearly all the rules into the pd. Only character creation rules and some of the iconic monsters are missing.

These rules are made openly accessible so people use them. Other people can take these rules and create - and even sell - their own material based on these rules, without having to pay Wizards a single cent. All they have to do is following some format rules, and make sure that people who use these materials (which is not D&D, but d20, which is every "D&D" material that isn't from Wizards themselves) need the Core Rulebooks to do so.

The benefit for Wizards is simple: More people will by their core rules. After all, you need these to use that other stuff.

The benefit for the rest of us: We can make some easy money as we can use an etablished rule system with a broad fan base and make our own accessories for it. Also, there are tons of d20 Books and PDF's out there, covering almost every imaginable aspect of the roleplaying worlds - from big things like all new campaign settings to small things like books about taverns, single monster types, or one single class. While Wizards cannot possibly cover all these little nuances, other, smaller companies can.

dcollins · Sep 25, 2003

Muther Hubbard said:
Why have WOTC, or D20, or Hasbro - or who whoever it is - decided to put abstracts of their rules into the public domain? What's the rationale behind it? In what way do they hope to benefit? Could someone explain to me what SRD all about. thanks

Here is WOTC's public explanation in their "d20 System Concept FAQ":
http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=dt20010417a

One clarification, the SRD is not in the "public domain". It is licensed freely to anyone, which is a different legal situation (namely, requirement to abide by rules in the license). In addition, with v3.5, one could critique whether or not WOTC is really following through on this strategy dating from 2000.