#DND SRD

[thehomelybrewster]

An Implication from the SRD 5.1 being now under CC-BY 4.0 [NOT LEGAL ADVICE]

Thanks to WotC putting the entire SRD 5.1 under Creative Commons… They did do a slight blunder. They have surrendered certain terms that were previously deemed product identity!

beholder (listed as a typical aberration and as an example card in the Deck of Illusions)

mind flayer (also listed as a typical aberration, as well as when describing the Psychic damage type)

umber hulk (listed under the Guards and Wards spell and the Tremorsense entry)

All three were explicitly mentioned in the old SRD 5.1 that included the OGL 1.0a preamble as being part of product identity.

Arguably also included in this list are the following two entries, since they are "the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich", who is mentioned in the SRD as an example for the paladin's divine sense feature, and the slaadi, who are also included in the list of aberrations together with mind flayers and beholders.

Now what does this mean?

For one the stat blocks for any of these creatures is not available under CC-BY 4.0, and Count Strahd von Zarovich is a proper name of a developed fictional character. So, as a not-lawyer, I'd recommend you avoid using Strahd for any work derived under the CC version of the SRD 5.1 because that is not going to end well.

Now in regards to the slaadi, beholders, mind flayers, and umber hulks... You can definitely now mention these terms in your published homebrew (as long as it uses proper attribution under CC), so if you ever wanted to write a mind flayer adventure, you can now sa-fely create an encounter that includes a fight between the heroes and a group of four mind flayers led by an arcanist (with the clear implication that the DM needs to check the Monster Manual for the stat blocks) or similar. Creating custom stat blocks for these creatures, especially for commercial projects, is not advised.

Furthermore you can PROBABLY use these terms to label similar creatures in your original non-D&D works, as long as it also includes the proper attribution. Also I'd still suggest making an effort to make them distinct enough, so e.g. with beholders, yes to alien eye monsters, probably no to the typical arrogance and eye stalks.

[thymefraym]

New Video Alert: Solasta: Crown of the Magister Playthrough

Episode 041: A Dragon Owes Us a Favor? Description: They say never look a gift dragon in the mouth, but there's still something to be said to befriending a dragon who appears to have been around since the last great calamity. And we done got it!

And as always, I would love to invite you to join me live every Monday and Wednesday from 7:30 pm until 10:00 pm (Pacific Time). We'd love to see you there! https://twitch.tv/ThymeFraym

[hyliandude]

Oof 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[daarka]

I'm seeing this response a lot. I want to quickly throw this out there: this is also not an option.

Several other games, such as Pathfinder 1E, Pathfinder 2E, 13th Age, Fudge, and Traveller all use the OGL1.0 as the backbone of their existence.

They, too, will be forced to choose to either cease all production and sales of their products, or sign on to OGL1.1 and give WotC a 25% (gross, not net) royalty to stay in compliance with the new license.

I cannot overstate this enough:

THIS WILL AFFECT YOU.

Again, please go here for all information, and sign the letter in support.

Also thank you to this person, you gave me a snicker.

[dungeonmalcontent]

So this is what I've been working on for the past few days. Most of that time was trying to figure out how to actually get the text in the format I wanted (turned out I really did need to do it the hard way). Clothing designs are not my forte, but I do enjoy them.

Anyway, behold, System Reference Drip: Barbarian.

This test design has the entire SRD text for Barbarians (including the Berserker archetype). The text is shaped like an axe with brutal gouging on the red background.

This is a proof of concept more than anything else, and what's more it's on Redbubble (which is severely limited and frustrating to use), so quality is not assured. I'm still looking for a better on-demand printer that won't charge up front for hosting a design (which isn't mandatory, but these are test designs so I'll be going through a lot of them). But if you want to snag what is essentially a first draft, the shop is open and you get get there by following this link.

I'm open to suggestions on what piece of the SRD I should try to design after this (not what kind of design it should be made into, just the chunk of text).

[fantastictalesofadventure]

[evilroachindustrial]

Now that all the shenanigans from the original draft has been removed, this actually released draft OGL seems like a pretty standard boilerplate license.

It honestly just feels like a more concise version of the current OGL, it’s irrevocable, which is what the community wanted; and content previously released under the current OLG 1.0a does not have to update to OGL 1.2 when it does become official.

As a laymen with this sort of stuff, overstated, explicit clarity is always appreciated.

[craigofinspiration]

How to Play D&D For Free. Forever.

All you need to play D&D.

One of the things I love about this hobby is that you can participate in it without spending any money whatsoever. Of course, you could spend all your money on the hobby but here I will show you how to play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition for free, forever. Free Ruleset Recent events have led to the DnD 5e ruleset being published under a Creative Commons license. This means that the basic rules…

[nealflitherland]

My first Kickstarter is getting ready to go live! If you’re looking for a unique game in a bizarre setting, then click the button to be sure you’re notified when this game of tactical plastic goes love!

[shaneplays]

Zach Glazar (Frog God Games), Bill Barsh (Pacesetter Games) and Levi Combs (Planet X Games) share the personal impact (here’s a hint: "existential threat") and professional impact that Wizards of the Coast’s recent OGL announcements had on them, and where they’re going from here. "Unprofessional" and "ham-fisted" is mentioned a lot by our guests. Third-party publishers have been publishing the strong stuff for 5E in recent years. Was WotC's final decision enough to get things back to what they were with 3rd party TTRPG publishers and creators or is the relationship over? What options are on the table if someone wants to leave WotC and their OGL behind? OGLs versus SRDs. ORCs and Black Flags. Finer points of TTRPG legal warfare. What the heck does irrevocable mean, anyway? Our guests have firm theories on what level in WotC this all came from (and the theories might surprise you). Shane Plays gets a HOT SCOOP from Pacesetter Games.

[spilled-reincarnation-dust]

Roku Brightclaw Dragonborn (Crystal) ~ Monk (Cobalt Soul)

A wise yet remote hermit, he prefers the company of books to other people. He has taken a vow of silence only to be broken in the direst of situations; if he must communicate, he uses writing or telepathy.

He lives a simple life: reading, exercising, tending to his garden. While not a strict vegetarian, he tends to avoid meat where possible; he often is treated to a meal when visiting the nearby village, and would rather be polite than turn it down, however.

To the villagers, he's an odd figure who always tends to show up whenever there's a problem he can solve. Bringing the knowledge of remedy to a rare disease, or giving advice on crops after a harsh drought; he does not expect payment, only requests to borrow books from time to time.

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inspiration: Latios oh heck he Nyoomin. okay, so. crystal dragonborn? luster purge and telepathy. easy one. as for monk? he is a jet plane dragon after all. though. for the specific monk (no, it's not just because blue, it just fit nicely), we need to refer to the secondary inspiration. tl;dr way back when I was in a dragon rp guild on neopets, and Roku was a blue dragon I had adopted who could read (unlike most dragons in that game). I remember very little about that game, but what little I do, thought it'd be nice to give them life again.

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share link: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D35713523/

[thymefraym]

New Video Alert: Solasta: Crown of the Magister Playthrough

Episode 040: Um… Sleeping Dragon! Description: I know I joked about it. And I know that this is based on Dungeons and Dragons, but it's still always an amazing thing when you meet a dragon (or it should at least be so).

And as always, I would love to invite you to join me live every Monday and Wednesday from 7:30 pm until 10:00 pm (Pacific Time). We'd love to see you there! https://twitch.tv/ThymeFraym

[wodealto]

People are defending G Gygax when all he did was make an okay game.

Strange hill to die on, imo.

Mike Mearls is clutching his Mike Pearls while he watches us erase bigotry from the history of TTRPGs.

[daarka]

#OpenDnD

Hey look! It's an entire website for an open letter to D&D that you can sign, including a ton of informative resources, all in the same vein as the things I have been posting! :) I wish I was just misinformed and blowing things out of proportion and completely wrong in my statements. I have yet to see proof that I am.

If you care (and if you play D&D5e, you absolutely should), please click here to sign this letter to WotC! This site also has ample links for anything you might want to better understand.

OpenDnD.Games

Get loud. Get upset. Show them what under-monetized actually looks like. I truly believe we can make a difference.

[dungeonmalcontent]

Okay, I need actual feedback on this project I'm working on before I try any more approaches on it.

When WotC made the 5e SRD a creative commons document, they opened it up to a lot of possibility. But when it happened I had an idea. It's a little spiteful, and perhaps rightfully so. WotC and Has to have earned some disrespect.

But the SRD itself can be used as part of graphic designs now (at least, to the best of my knowledge and understanding), including for-profit designs. The easiest way I know how to do this is with text art or with what I would call text anarchy. If I was going to be very stylized about it, I could put the entirety of something like a class or race option, or a specific character build or all of the text for a specific creature type and have it all in an actual stylized design like a great axe containing all the text for barbarian or a skull containing all the text for undead. But if I wanted to go for text anarchy, I could smash all ~ 400 0ages of the t into one specific design (kind of like how you can get the entire Bible on a single poster).

And I'm not really sure where I want to put my energy. Any feedback on what would be more interesting would be appreciated.

[whatdoiknowjr]

What Do I Know About Reviews? Quests from the Infinite Staircase, Part Four (Chapter 4)

Back on track after an . . . interesting . . . weekend. This time we're going to look at the 5e conversion of Beyond the Crystal Cave, as we continue to look at Quests from the Infinite Staircase #DnD5e #TTRPGs #5eSRD

Continuing with adventures I, personally, hadn’t read through from previous editions, and also continuing our trend of looking at the UK series of adventures, our next adventure is Beyond the Crystal Cave. While the plot doesn’t directly follow any one story, there are some elements in this adventure borrowed from Shakespear, most notably with the NPCs the group is hired to find, with their…