SRD's for Non-D&D RPG's?

[Morfie]

Hi,

Was just wondering if any of these are available?

I've only ever played D&D (& FF) so have no experience of Rolemaster, Runequest, HARP, MERP, Castles & Crusades,Traveller, Shadowrun, Vampire, Star Wars d6, et al.

I would like to see an SRD for comparison of any of the other OSRs.

[Khedrac]

Generally speaking the concept of an SRD was invented for D&D 3.0.

This means that no game older than that (i.e. pretty much all "OSR" by definition) had one originally.
To produce one now will probably mean writing new contracts with the authors because the original contracts won't cover such publication. This can be done where the game was single author, but gets complicated if not. Whatever, it will generally cost something.
If the game is out of print, it won't be boosting sales for the current owners, so why spend the money? (Rolemaster)
If the game is still in print, not everyone's operating model works with SRDs, so do they want one out there? (RuneQuest is a version of Basic Fantasy Roleplaying which is still in print and a new version of RQ is scheduled for Christmas. From what I have read, Chaosium have had a major problem with people copying the core system so why produce an SRD to make it even easier?)

Generally speaking I don't think you will find a legal SRD for any of these.

[Big Mac]

Generally speaking I don't think you will find a legal SRD for any of these.

Actually, the Open 6 SRD is totally legal. They just can't call it a "Star Wars SRD" as Star Wars is Lucasfilm IP.

As for retro-clones of D&D, they are mostly built on the SRD itself, and therefore contain Open Game Content, that can be freely republished by anyone. So fans could create SRDs for most (if not all) retro-clones.

There is also a SRD for Pathfinder (called the PRD).

[agathokles]

Actually, the rationale for providing SRD is quite strong. You can't really prevent people from copying your "core system", since game mechanics can't be copyrighted (they aren't text) nor otherwise protected. At that point, it may be easier to allow people to use your formulation of the game mechanics, which makes it easier for users to transition to your products -- assuming they are of better quality. Essentially, SRDs acknowledge that you can't compete on core game mechanics, and reduce barriers for gamers to move from one game to another one that uses the same core.

Thus, there are a number of SRDs or equivalent "open" systems. Big Mac mentioned the PF and d6 ones, and Mongoose's versions of Traveller and Runequest also have SRDs. Plus, Fuzion is basically the equivalent of an SRD for Cyberpunk v3.

G

[timemrick]

The people who maintain the D20pfsrd.com site (for Pathfinder) also have SRD sites for Traveller, Fate, Gumshoe, and a few other systems. Scroll to the bottom of that page for the list of links.

[RobJN]

Morrus' RPG system, What's O.L.D. is N.E.W. has its own reference document, so others can develop for the game.

[Krimson]

There is one for Mongoose Traveller.

[Tim Baker]

13th Age offers an SRD, containing its core rules, bestiary, and additional classes/rules/monsters from 13 True Ways.

[Vile]

There is one for Mongoose RuneQuest (1st edition), although it is short on detail, e.g. it has monster names and stat blocks but no descriptions. GORE takes that and turns it into a sort-of Call of Cthulhu SRD. My RetroQuest II SRD modifies it for RQ2. The OpenQuest SRD is also based on it.

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file ... -srd-core/
https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file ... companion/
https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file ... -monsters/

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/28521/GORE

https://dreamscapedesign.net/downloads/

[FistfulOfDice]

There's an SRD for Fate Core and Fate Accelerated, which also includes stuff from the Atomic Robo RPG and some of the other Fate games. https://fate-srd.com/

Dungeon World technically has an SRD site (http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/), but really it's pretty much the full text of the book, which was released as Creative Commons.

[Angel Tarragon]

There's an SRD for Fate Core and Fate Accelerated, which also includes stuff from the Atomic Robo RPG and some of the other Fate games. https://fate-srd.com/

Dungeon World technically has an SRD site (http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/), but really it's pretty much the full text of the book, which was released as Creative Commons.

Very cool, thanks for those links...I'll definitely check those out. And welcome to the forums! I invite you to head on over to the Introduce yourself here thread to let us all know about your history as a gamer, what rpg projects you are up to and anything else you may wish to share with us about yourself.

[Havard]

There's Open D6:

http://opend6.wikidot.com/srd

-Havard

[Angel Tarragon]

There's Open D6:

http://opend6.wikidot.com/srd

Wow, wasn't aware the the D6 system has an SRD. Thanks for that link, Havard!

[Dread Delgath]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

[Angel Tarragon]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

That is freaking awesome! It's been years since I played. Definitely cool. I may compile all this together in a handy document and print it out for my collection as that appears to be the more viable option than buying a copy of SF from amazon.

[Big Mac]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

That is freaking awesome! It's been years since I played. Definitely cool. I may compile all this together in a handy document and print it out for my collection as that appears to be the more viable option than buying a copy of SF from amazon.

I don't think that Star Frontiers is an open system.

That's the official Star Frontiers fansite. They have some sort of permission to distribute the material for free, but that's not the same as having a licence to allow commercial reuse.

[Dread Delgath]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

That is freaking awesome! It's been years since I played. Definitely cool. I may compile all this together in a handy document and print it out for my collection as that appears to be the more viable option than buying a copy of SF from amazon.

I don't think that Star Frontiers is an open system.

That's the official Star Frontiers fansite. They have some sort of permission to distribute the material for free, but that's not the same as having a licence to allow commercial reuse.

I don't know what you mean by "open system". Do you mean a malleable SRD?

It is freely available to anyone who wants to download the rules and all of the supplemental items and adventure modules. Its a free game that was first published in 1981. It is its own game system unlike the current game systems of its time like D&D or Traveller, but there is no SRD for it, unlike the SRD for d20 games, the 2d6 SRD for Traveller, or the d6 system for WEG Star Wars. It is d100 based, but vastly different from other d100 games of the time - like Top Secret or Marvel Super Heroes (and the 3rd edition Gamma World that also adopted MSH's ACT chart).

WotC/TSR released the game into the hands of the fans who loved it enough to take care of it, but I do not know if WotC reserves the right to take the rights of the game back from the fans. There are two official Star Frontiers only magazines released freely every few months - Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer, but no one has the rights to release printed versions of the game, supplements or modules first released in the 80's - AFAIK.

There are other Star Frontiers fans here and at Dragonsfoot that are intimately involved with the SF website, and know far more than I do! Hopefully they will weigh in to provide more data.

[shesheyan]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

That is freaking awesome! It's been years since I played. Definitely cool. I may compile all this together in a handy document and print it out for my collection as that appears to be the more viable option than buying a copy of SF from amazon.

I don't think that Star Frontiers is an open system.

That's the official Star Frontiers fansite. They have some sort of permission to distribute the material for free, but that's not the same as having a licence to allow commercial reuse.

True. It is not an SRD. The Star Frontiers digitalized free files operate under a non-profit permission granted by WOTC. That is why they launched DWD Studios and created Frontier Space. Frankly they did a massive job of updating the system. There were some great ideas in SF but some of the old rules were clunky.

[shesheyan]

Star Frontiers is freely available on the internet and clear for any products published for it (as long as you indicate what's what, etc.).

Since this is an original game system, I don't think it qualifies as an SRD for itself, but imo its worth a look.

That is freaking awesome! It's been years since I played. Definitely cool. I may compile all this together in a handy document and print it out for my collection as that appears to be the more viable option than buying a copy of SF from amazon.

I don't think that Star Frontiers is an open system.

That's the official Star Frontiers fansite. They have some sort of permission to distribute the material for free, but that's not the same as having a licence to allow commercial reuse.

I don't know what you mean by "open system". Do you mean a malleable SRD?

It is freely available to anyone who wants to download the rules and all of the supplemental items and adventure modules. Its a free game that was first published in 1981. It is its own game system unlike the current game systems of its time like D&D or Traveller, but there is no SRD for it, unlike the SRD for d20 games, the 2d6 SRD for Traveller, or the d6 system for WEG Star Wars. It is d100 based, but vastly different from other d100 games of the time - like Top Secret or Marvel Super Heroes (and the 3rd edition Gamma World that also adopted MSH's ACT chart).

WotC/TSR released the game into the hands of the fans who loved it enough to take care of it, but I do not know if WotC reserves the right to take the rights of the game back from the fans. There are two official Star Frontiers only magazines released freely every few months - Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer, but no one has the rights to release printed versions of the game, supplements or modules first released in the 80's - AFAIK.

There are other Star Frontiers fans here and at Dragonsfoot that are intimately involved with the SF website, and know far more than I do! Hopefully they will weigh in to provide more data.

Yes WOTC could pull the plug at anytime. Currently fans can play the game but any creation of new material (modules, expansions) most be distributed for free as all the material (races, background, etc) in the SF books are copyright material. That is why there is no SRD of Star Frontiers.