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In theopen gaming movement, aSystem Reference Document (SRD) is a reference for arole-playing game's mechanics licensed under apublic copyright license to allow other publishers to make material compatible with that game. In 2000,Wizards of the Coast pioneered this by releasing a SRD forDungeons & Dragons 3rd edition under theirOpen Game License (OGL).
Dicebreaker described a SRD as a "handy guide on how to use, hack and implement an existing game system for your own purposes".[1]
The first SRD was published in 2000 byWizards of the Coast (WotC) and is based on the third edition ofDungeons & Dragons; it was released under theirOpen Game License (OGL).[2][3][4] it was revised following the release ofD&D version 3.5 in 2003. That SRD allowed for third-party publishers to freely produce material compatible withD&D. It also formed the basis for independent role-playing games from other publishers, such asMutants & Masterminds and thePathfinder Roleplaying Game, among others.
The4th edition ofD&D, released in 2008, was not licensed under the OGL, but under the more restrictiveGame System License. Subsequently, the 4e System Reference Document is quite different. Instead of the full texts of the OGL-licensed rules, the 4e SRD presents only lists of concepts and tables from the 4e rulebooks that may be used in a compatible product.[5][6][7][8]
The5th edition ofD&D was released in 2014. A new OGL-licensed SRD based on 5th edition was released in January 2016, and updated to version 5.1 in May 2016.[9][10] In January 2023, Wizards of the Coast announced that the fullD&DSystem Reference Document 5.1 (SRD 5.1) would be released under theCC-BY-4.0 license.[11][12][13] SRD 5.2 was released on April 22, 2025.[citation needed]
Some other game systems, such asFATE, theMongoose Publishing editions ofRuneQuest,Traveller, andZweihänder Grim & Perilous RPG have also released their own mechanics under distinct OGL-licensed "System Reference Documents".
Chase Carter, forPolygon in 2022, highlighted that theindie game design scene "has moved toward extremely permissible SRDs and the open plains of collaboration. [...] When SRDs do pop up in indie games, they read more as political statements about art and creation under capitalism".[14] Carter commented that "independent designers are looking toward a future divested from the weight of D&D. [...] SRDs, or whatever their next form might look like, may provide fledgling artists waystones through an open field instead of fence posts around private property".[14]
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