DMing using only SRD-is it possilbe?

[Tauric]

And if so, how easy is it?

My financial situation currently does not allow me to buy very many books, so I was thinking of using the SRD to supplement the older versions of the books for an upcoming campaign.

I have the 3.5 PHB, and the 3.0 DMG and MM. Can I get by with using the SRD to fill in the revised information, or will the hassle of integrating the two different forms be more than it's worth?

Any input would be nice.

Edited for clarity.

 

[IamTheTest]

I voted that you shouldnt have a problem just because Im doing it now. As long as you keep your limited resources in mind while designing and running your campaign you should be fine. Just remember to review what you plan on doing before you do it. Good Luck, and Good Gaming.

 

[Blue]

I find the books a much better resource to learn the game from then the SRD. If you already are quite familair with the game, using the SRD as a reference should work. It's missing some things. Most obvious is the XP level chart and XP rewards chart. A handful of the D&D specific monsters.

Generally, the core books are a decent hobby investment; but if the cost is a hardship, thank the powers that be that they saw fit to open source the game and use the SRD.

I do recommend looking at a few of the (free) web SRDs that have lots of hyperlinks and such - faster lookup will help speed the game along.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[Crothian]

And if so, how easy is it?

My financial situation currently does not allow me to buy very many books, so I was thinking of using only the SRD for an upcoming campaign.

I have the 3.5 PHB, and the 3.0 DMG and MM. Can I get by with just using the SRD to fill in the revised information, or will the hassle of integrating the two different forms be more than it's worth?

Any input would be nice.

You are asking two different questions. Using the SRD only, it is not possible to play the game. There are certain rules that are not posting in the SRD that one needs to play the game.

However, you are not going to be only using the SRD. You have the books, so you should be fine.

 

[ElvishBard]

I do the same as you do, and I have been told that I am the best DM, even better than the other guys who use the extra books (which I ban from my games due to my total ignorance of them). You should have no problem, unless the power runs out .

 

[Kesh]

If you already know how to create PCs and how to award experience, the SRD is all you need. Those are the only two critical parts missing.

 

[JoeBlank]

I voted "Yes, no problem", with the caveat that, as others have mentioned, you need the books for character creation and XP.

You should be fine using your 3.0 DMG for XP, as I don't think anything changed in that area for 3.5.

 

[Old One]

I would say "Yes, but..."

I haven't picked up any of the 3.5 Core Books. I did download a nifty (and free) HTML/Bookmarked version of the 3.5 SRD with virtually everything I need to run the game.
As noted above, you might need the books for certain things...character creation, XP and some other "running the game" kind of things...but I don't think they are critical. There are also a couple of impressive SRD bundles out there, such as the ones from Creative Mountain games that would help as well.

That said, you could pick up a cheap PDF for XP calc (I swear by Grim Tales XP calculator over at RPGnow...complete with handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet for the nice price of $1.95).

I think much depends on whether you want to run a "core" game or are comfortable winging some things.

~ OO

 

[s/LaSH]

'Yes, but...'. I'm currently running a game with a group who's never played before, and at first we didn't have rulebooks (I left them back home a thousand kilometres away), so I gave everyone the SRD. Two out of the six of us at the table have laptops, so they became the reference monkeys. It wasn't a perfect solution, as it's not as easy to hand someone the reference they're looking for, and as I (the DM) didn't have one, I had to do a lot of copying of monster details previous to the session. Once the books got shipped to me things became better.

Possible, yes; but easier with the books, depending on the group's resources.

 

[ThirdWizard]

No problem as long as you can print up the thing, or at least the important bits. You can really figure out how to make a character from reading the SRD, and the xp tables arn't really necessary for play, although if your players are sticklers for getting their "fair share" or some other such thing, you might have a problem. Just level 'em up when you feel like it. Money > XP Tables.