System Reference Document

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A system reference document ( SRD for short ; German system reference document or system reference document ) basically describes any type of documentary reference unit that can be used to refer to a specific system .

application

Here the term is used exclusively in connection with pen & paper role-playing games that are published under the Open Game License (OGL) or a comparable license. For this type of application, the purpose of an SRD is to make the basic rules of the game publicly available, so that potential authors are given the opportunity to access the rules of the game and use them for their own publications in accordance with the guidelines of the OGL to be changed for your own purposes.

history

The first known mention of the term took place in 2000 by the game publisher Wizards of the Coast (WotC), which published the basic rules for the role-playing game system D&D it had taken over by means of an SRD. This SRD was placed under the also newly created Open Game License and served the purpose of increasing the market share of the game. Other examples of system reference documents, sorted by date of publication, are:

  • 2005 Fudge SRD, available as PDF
  • 2005 Fate SRD (derived from Fudge )
  • ~ 2006 RuneQuest SRD (Edition with designed layout: RuneQuest SRD Luxury Edition)
  • 2009 Open D6 SRD

Frequent misinterpretations

In principle, an SRD lays down the structure of the system that is being described in a suitable form. In principle, the term has no other reference points. However, there are often misunderstandings when using the term.

  • SRD means D&D or d20 - SRD is a general term that was coined by WotC, but in principle has nothing to do with D&D or the d20 system. There is an SRD for D&D 3.0, an SRD for D&D 3.5 etc., but there are also system reference documents for other systems. The SRD term is not "protected".
  • SRD is equal to OGL - that's not true either. At the moment, the term SRD is only applied to role-playing systems that are subject to the OGL, but in principle they do not have to be. Anyone who develops their own role-playing game can create an SRD for this role-playing game at any time, so that certain information can be found quickly.
  • An SRD must be freely available on the Internet - As described above, an SRD can also refer to its own role-playing game, and therefore does not even have to be publicly accessible. It can also be used for purely private reference purposes.
  • an SRD must be as general as possible - an SRD represents a system. How general the system is does not matter.

More examples of system reference documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ryan S. Dancey: Open Gaming Interview With Ryan Dancey. In: The Most Dangerous Column in Gaming. Retrieved July 12, 2011 .
  2. ^ Fudge System Reference Document. In: Gray Ghost Press. Retrieved January 25, 2020 .
  3. ^ Fudge System Reference Document. (PDF, 1 MB) Gray Ghost Press, accessed January 25, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ FATE - Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment. ( RTF ; 244 kB) Retrieved January 25, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ RuneQuest SRD Download ( Memento from November 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). ( ZIP archive ; 168 kB)
  6. ↑ Mongoose's RuneQuest SRD ( Memento from November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English; PDF; 1.86 MB).
  7. ^ Open D6 System Reference Document. Retrieved January 25, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Lee Torres: D6 Legend Joins The OGL List. January 19, 2010, archived from the original ; accessed on July 23, 2011 .