d20 Modern's Open Content from d20 Future & Menace Manual

[trancejeremy]

I recently finally finished (as much it could be) a RPG I had been working on since 2011, basically a combination of the d20 Modern rules with the B/X rules. Obviously it's not something I worked on full time (among other things I went back to college), but it was something I worked on when I had the time and finally pushed it out the door the last week of December 2025.

Anyway, it recently (an hour ago) came to my attention that some of the content from the monster book for it (the Menace Manual) and the future book for it was released as open content and it's on ENWorld's publishing site. I had worked solely from a copy of the Modern SRD I had downloaded probably when the d20 Modern was just released.

So my question is this, if anyone remembers — was that open content released as part of the modern SRD, or were they released as separate documents with their own attribution? I'm guessing the former, given there's only one copy of the OGL in the zip I just downloaded, but I wanted to make sure. Or be surer.

 

[TreChriron]

The OGL RPG index on RPG.net does list these books. It might be worth picking up the PDFs or checking the back of the books for the OGL listing. The front matter should designate what is Open and what is Product Identity.

EDIT: IF this content was released under the OGL and nothing in your game violates WOTC's PI, you can use it. It doesn't have to be explicitly included in an SRD. SRDs are created to help publishers identify which parts are clearly open content; they are not required.

P.S.S IANAL, YMMV, consult a lawyer, or don't, just remember that advice on the internet is opinion. Unless an ACTUAL IP lawyer specializing in the OGL drops by... (summon lawyer... rolls a d20 -3 charisma penalty...)

 

[Alzrius]

I recently finally finished (as much it could be) a RPG I had been working on since 2011, basically a combination of the d20 Modern rules with the B/X rules. Obviously it's not something I worked on full time (among other things I went back to college), but it was something I worked on when I had the time and finally pushed it out the door the last week of December 2025.

Anyway, it recently (an hour ago) came to my attention that some of the content from the monster book for it (the Menace Manual) and the future book for it was released as open content and it's on ENWorld's publishing site. I had worked solely from a copy of the Modern SRD I had downloaded probably when the d20 Modern was just released.

So my question is this, if anyone remembers — was that open content released as part of the modern SRD, or were they released as separate documents with their own attribution? I'm guessing the former, given there's only one copy of the OGL in the zip I just downloaded, but I wanted to make sure. Or be surer.

The Open Game Content in question was released as part of the Modern SRD. But you don't have to take my word for it; here's an archive of WotC's Modern SRD page from 2009 (after d20 Modern had been shuttered) that denotes the OGC in question, including what parts are from what book.