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System Reference Document

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In the open gaming movement, a System Reference Document (SRD) is reference for a role-playing game's mechanics licensed under the Open Game License (OGL) to allow other publishers to make material compatible with that game.

The first SRD was published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and based upon the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons. That SRD formed the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including d20 Modern and d20 Future. The SRD is also the basis for role-playing games published by companies other than WotC, including Mutants & Masterminds and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, among others.

Some other game systems, such as FATE and the Mongoose Publishing editions of RuneQuest, have also released their own mechanics under OGL-licensed "System Reference Documents" of their own.

4th Edition System Reference Document

The manner of presentation for the 4th edition System Reference Document is quite different. Whereas the 3.5E SRD presents complete information about major game mechanics such as races, classes, combat formula, spells, and so on, the 4E SRD presents only lists of concepts and tables from the 4E Player's Handbook. One can not read the 4E SRD by itself and understand thereby how to design a game. Instead, one must look up the parts of the Player's Handbook that are referenced in the SRD, and construct a game system from those elements of the Handbook.

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