System Reference Document

A System Reference Document (SRD; German System Reference Document or system reference document) referred to in principle any kind of documentary reference unit, which can be used to refer to a specific system.

Application

Here the term is used exclusively in conjunction with pen & paper role-playing games to the Application, which were published under the Open Game License ( OGL ), or a similar license. For this type of application, the purpose of the SRD is to provide the basic rules of the game publicly available, so that potential authors are given the opportunity to resort to the rules of the game and use them in accordance with the guidelines of the OGL for their own publications or for its own amend purposes.

History

The first known mention of the term was in 2000 held by the game publisher Wizards of the Coast ( WotC ), who published the basic rules for the assumed role you play D & D system by means of an SRD. This SRD was placed under the newly created Open Game License and served the purpose to increase the market share of the game.

  • Fudge SRD 2005 by Grey Ghost Press PDF 1MB
  • 2005 Fate SRD RTF (derived from Fudge )
  • ~ 2006 RuneQuest SRD (issue with framed layout: Runequest SRD Luxury Edition )
  • 2009 Open D6 SRD

Common misinterpretations

In principle, a SRD specifies the structure of the system is described down in a suitable form. The term has no other points of reference in principle. However, it often occur misunderstandings in the use of the term.

  • SRD means D & D or d20 - SRD is a general term, which was indeed marked by WotC, but in principle has nothing to do with D & D or the d20 system. There is a SRD to D & D 3.0, an SRD to D & D 3.5, etc, but there are also SRDs to other systems. The SRD - term is not "protected".
  • SRD is equal OGL - well that's not true. Currently, the term SRD is indeed only applied to role-play systems that are under the OGL, but in principle they do not have that. Who developed its own role-playing game, may at any time create a SRD for this role-playing game, just to be able to find certain information quickly.
  • An SRD must be freely available on the internet - As described above, a SRD also refer to a private role play, and must thus not even be accessible to the public. It can also be used for purely private reference.
  • An SRD must be as universal as possible - A SRD provides a system dar. How general the system is irrelevant.

More SRDs

  • Spirit of the Century SRD
  • Diaspora SRD
Role-playing game system
758524
de