Dungeons & Dragons V5.1 System Reference Document (SRD)
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Authors: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson
Year of original publication: 2016
Obtained from
https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document (
archive)
Document downloaded on on April 23, 2024
License:
CC-BY-4.0
History:
Dungeons & Dragons system reference documents have been mostly open in concept since 3rd edition, when its contemporary masters developed the
OGL 1.0a, a license intended to make it easy for other authors to write compatible content. It paid off for them in a big way as D&D maintained its position as the de facto tabletop roleplaying system for many years due to how convenient it was to add your own works to an ever-growing library. When Wizards of the Coast tried to step away from the open model, they soon paid for it in lost mind share -- 4th edition had a new license and struggled against rival game system Pathfinder, which subsisted on maintaining compatibility with all that open content of 3 and 3.5. 5th edition D&D returned to the open model which once again aided them in regaining their status as top dog.
In late 2022, news leaked that Wizards of the Coast (under parent company Hasbro) was planning on modifying that 20+ year old license. The new license would demand paid royalties, claim the ability to use licensed content in any way they wished, ban the use of licensed content in competing virtual tabletops, and deauthorize any works which tried to remain under the terms of the old license. 20 years of written works and mythology would be upended overnight. The pushback was swift and fierce, with mass unrest from gamers, authors and publishers. By the terms of the original license and the spirit it was released under, it was questionable whether such changes should even be possible, and legal challenges began to be explored. WotC eventually realized they were destroying their business and any goodwill they ever had, and with a big movie looming on the horizon at the time among other projects, they pushed the panic button. They relented on most of their proposed changes, left the original OGL intact, and also released the 5.1 edition SRD under Creative Commons license CC-BY-4.0, giving the game's core systems to the public forever.
Summary:
The D&D 5.1 system reference document consists of most of the rules necessary to play Dungeons & Dragons. It contains races, character classes, skills, equipment and gear, rules for leveling up and world simulation, combat rules, magic items, and hundreds of spells and monsters. It does not contain any rules for character creation, is missing most character backgrounds, feats and subraces, and does not include any content considered "brand identity" (such as the famous Beholder monster). It is not difficult to find or intuit the missing rules needed to be able to fully enjoy the game. Additionally, the content contained in the SRD is more than enough to develop your own derivative works, whether for tabletop use or pure storytelling -- this implementation of monsters like Owlbears and spells like Magic Missile are free to use with proper Creative Commons attribution.
Whatever people may think of 5th edition and its balance/playability as a game system, this edition may be thought of as the last minimally-pozzed, non-corporate-slop version available. As it was developed in 2011, there was not yet the sensitivity to
using terminology like "race" for dwarves and elves, no controversy over
concepts like half-elf or half-orc, no compulsion to
cast brutish orcs as a "misunderstood, noble people." Gnomes are literally 2 points more intelligent than other races, and this is not seen as problematic. There are better gaming systems out there, but we could have done much worse than receiving this edition for free.
A note on Creative Commons:
Creative Commons is not the same thing as public domain. Legally, some aspects of copyright remain untested, and some lawyers argue it may not technically be possible to voluntarily relinquish copyright over one's works. Creative Commons is an attempt to do the next best thing. Typically, the author retains original copyright over the work, but they simply grant an irrevocable license for anyone to do whatever they want with it, with exceptions that vary by license. In this case, this document may be shared and used for any reasonable purpose as long as proper attribution and a link to the license are provided, and as long as you do not do so in a way that implies the licensor endorses you or your use. It is encouraged to actually
read the license prior to embarking on any serious derivative use of the content.
