Okay I went to the D20 SRD site and there's a disclaimer that everything there is OGL and cool to be used or modified as seen fit, right?
Well I'm working on a D20 project of my own and was looking there to see what my limits are as far as what I can use freely. According to the site they seem to be giving away the house and I'm really suspicious. They have a list of monsters, a list of spells. It's like the player's handbook dumped out for free use.
http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monstersAtoZ.html
I've asked you guys OGL questions in the past and you all seem to really know your stuff. Is all of this really up for grabs? The site looks legit, but I'm a little freaked.
I am no lawyer, but a good hint at "it is all free to take" are the things they do not give you, no beholder, no mindflayer, all the Mordenkainen, Rary, Bigby etc spells are replaced by "Mage" spell. So I think they really keep what they want to keep, and all the other stuff is free.
If you go to d20srd.org, not only do they have all three core manuals (minus some names and a handful of monsters) but they additionally have the Expanded Psionics Handbook and Unearthed Arcana pretty much in their entirety.
What you also lack in the SRD are the detailed examples of how certain mechanics work. The monsters also lack descriptive text of what they look like.
what you see in the SRD is what you get. In doubt? Check it out on the Wizards page.
What you are missing is things like the experience point chart for determining how much a character needs to go up a level. Granted this is a very easy formula. You also don't get the chart on how to award experience. Character starting wealth is curiously absent. Trust me, there is a lot missing in the SRD.
The idea behind the SRD is it is a fishhook. They put it out there for people to use and play with, in hopes they bite and start buying WotC products.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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The idea behind the SRD is it is a fishhook. They put it out there for people to use and play with, in hopes they bite and start buying WotC products.
I don't think the SRD is intended to be a fishhook to bring in new players. It's not extremely user friendly. If you want to run a game with it on the cheap, you can, but you're going to be missing quite a few pieces. It would be particularly hard to pick up D&D from the SRD if you had never played before.
The purpose of the SRD is to allow other game companies to produce products that are compatible with WotC products. The theory is that WotC wants you to play their system. That way, even if you're playing in some 3rd party d20 campaign setting, if WotC produces a product you like, there's a greater chance you will purchase it because the system is not a barrier.
Monte Cook has an interesting article on his website where he talks about his early years at Iron Crown. He says that WotC/TSR was not the competition for them; WotC/TSR effectively was (and is) the entire tabletop rpg market. When they do well, the rest of the industry does well. Other gaming companies by and large live off WotC's scraps - the players who are burned out on D&D or want to try a different style of play. The SRD assures that those scraps will largely continue to play using WotC's rules and be open to returning to the fold someday.
Anyway, the SRD is legit and the strings attached are minimal. I believe the main requirement is that you have to post the open gaming license on your product.
I prefer http://www.d20srd.org, since it's easy on the eye, well laid out and includes other open content such as Unearthed Arcana variants and the epic level rules.
I don't know the exact terms but yeah, anything in the SRDs is open content and can be used freely in your own works without charge. Technically you can even sell PDFs or printouts of the SRDs. The catch is that on their own they're not enough to play the game, since they lack rules for creating characters or levelling up.
Read the terms of the open gaming license for the exactiness of it.
I prefer http://www.d20srd.org, since it's easy on the eye, well laid out and includes other open content such as Unearthed Arcana variants and the epic level rules.
I've found this page invaluable.
Not only is most everything hyperlinked, but there are excellent search utilities (monter listing by CR, etc.) and built-in features -- just click on a monster's damage and it rolls that damage for you!
Exactly Scylla. Handy if you use a laptop off to the side as a DM. Example: you have a PHB with 5 players crowded around it to create their new characters. When one player interrupts you to ask how many hit die/base attack/saves his new drow rogue will have, you can tell him quickly without having to tear the PHB away from people using it.