D&D (2024) [+] Future of The SRD Speculation Thread

[MoonSong]

The intern tasked with doing that got laid off in November, along with the others.

I thought interns were basically free?

 

[Vaalingrade]

No they did not promise that 4e would get a usable SRD and that it would be moved to OGL and CC. For 4e, they only ever said they would look at it. It is to much work to do a 4e SRR and then put it OGL/CC so I don't expect that to happen.

They have updated on there D&D Beyond posts that they are still working on the 3/3.5 SRD to CC.

It's amazing how everything they say they're going to do turns out not to have been a promise.

And how it's too much work to put a document that already exists into Creative Commons.

RE is right: it was just an appeasement tactic. Say they're going to do something, then quietly hope we forget or forgive or flimsily justify the lack of fulfilment.

 

[Parmandur]

They said they'd do it, at this point the complete lack of update on that though is making me think they probably won't, and it was just an appeasement tactic, but we shall see.

They are still writing the rules, and an SRD doesn't require any notification of distribution partners the way books do.

 

[Parmandur]

Yup. That they're foot-dragging on this note-worthy. If there was actual will to do it, it would have been done already.

Why, the rules themselves are still in flux...?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Why, the rules themselves are still in flux...?

For 4E and 3.XE?

I'm not criticising them for not releasing the 2024 5E SRD yet, that would be ridiculous man, I'm not that bad!

 

[Parmandur]

For 4E and 3.XE?

I'm not criticising them for not releasing the 2024 5E SRD yet, that would be ridiculous man, I'm not that bad!

OK, LOL, my bad, thst was a misread on my part. Too much blood in my caffeine stream this early.

Though even in regards to older Edition SRDs, positioning them for anniversary celebrations seems probable IMO.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

OK, LOL, my bad, thst was a misread on my part. Too much blood in my caffeine stream this early.

Though even in regards to older Edition SRDs, positioning them for anniversary celebrations seems probable IMO.

I need more caffeine in mine! My stupid £20 15 years ago filter coffee machine is producing very unreliable results but the next steps up are all pretty hideously expensive (I have a Nespresso machine - it is at best a step sideways). Maybe I need to man up and get an Aeropress or that weird cone-shaped thing or something. Those are cheap-ish at least.

If they do do that (release the 4E SRD as part of the anniversary stuff), well, I hate to admit it but I'll probably be so pleased I go out and buy a bunch of new 5E books (including pre-ordering the new PHB), so I hope they do!

 

[Dausuul]

[Edit: I see I got ninja-ed on this.]

The first question is, will there be any updates to the SRD at all?

After all, it's been a year since they announced their intention to move the 3.5E SRD into Creative Commons, and if there's been any movement on that front, I haven't heard of it. Now, to be fair, there was some due diligence to be done -- the 5E SRD contained a few references like "Strahd von Zarovich" and "mind flayer," and since Creative Commons has no concept of product identity, putting the SRD into CC meant those names were released for anyone to use. WotC would quite reasonably want to make sure they didn't repeat that. But given that the SRD itself spells out what constitutes product identity, it should not take a year to search the collection of 3.5E open content for relevant terms and remove them.

It may be that they are in fact moving forward on this, but it's a low priority and keeps getting shoved behind other things -- a new edition is coming up, after all. But as anyone familiar with large bureaucracies knows, a thing which gets delayed over and over runs an increasing risk of being dropped altogether. And if the 3.5E SRD is caught in a cycle of delays, it's more than likely that the new edition SRD will face similar hurdles.

It may be time to start putting pressure on WotC to follow through with their commitments* on the 3.5E SRD. If they realize we take this seriously, they'll be more likely to hold to their word on 2024E.

*Technically speaking, they did not commit to putting 3.5 in CC. But they said they wanted to do it and that they were reviewing the 3.5 open materials for release; they clearly wanted 3E fans to think it was coming. IMO, that puts an obligation on them to either follow through or announce clearly that it's not happening and why.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

It's amazing how everything they say they're going to do turns out not to have been a promise.

And how it's too much work to put a document that already exists into Creative Commons.

RE is right: it was just an appeasement tactic. Say they're going to do something, then quietly hope we forget or forgive or flimsily justify the lack of fulfilment.

A usable 4e SRD does not exist. 4e was never in the OGL. If you watch the videos, they clearly stated they were not sure about 4e as it is a different beast. It was a much different situation than what they said about 3e. It was other people saying they "agreed" or "promised" os "said they would." All WotC said they would do was look at it. Watch the video.

Here is the latest community update on Beyond. They are still reviewing for inclusion in CC.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I didn't say they promised, did I? They did however say they intended to look at doing it for other editions, and them backing out of that silently is obvious pretty crappy. Instead of you making up excuses for them, if they have no intention of doing an SRD for 4E, and/or putting it into CC/BY, they should come out and say so.

4e was never in the OGL and doesn't have a usable SRD. It is a different animal. Moving previous editions is still listed as in there plans. Notice it is listed as "upcoming." They are clearly focusing on the core books.