Review of The Complete SRD Ruleset

[Thore_Ironrock]

Just posted to RPGNow, for anyone interested in purchasing this ruleset.

https://www.rpgnow.com/product_revie...iews_id=12470&


Thanks to I.Perez for the review!!

[BaldMike]

Thore,

A few questions for you about your product if I might...

Given that I love D&D but am not strong on computer skills - don't write code, etc. - it would seem that this would be one of the perfect tools a guy like me would want at his disposal when he starts to DM in the virtual world. Am I correct? (Bottom line, I need my time to spend working on campaign specific issues not on dealing with custom rulesets, character sheets, etc.)

Do you foresee adding, or would you be able to add, published campaign specific information? (For example, races & classes specific to Eberron)

When you state the "complete" SRD should I take that to mean all the rules relating to D&D v3.5? (Maybe a dumb question, but still being new to the virtual gaming world I'm not always sure how things interrelate. i.e. I presume the SRD would take the place of the actual DMG, PHB & MM that I would use over the table. Is that correct?)

Thanks for your time and patience. I know these questions may appear to have obvious answers but again, being new, just don't want to assume anything.

[richvalle]

Hey Mike,

I'm sure Thore will come along and post his own message. But I'll give you something to read till then.

I have his SRD and like it a lot. That said, you don't NEED it to play DnD via FG. What it does is compleate the referance material that is in FG. What you get in the d20 book on the side.

As for adding campaign material, that would depend on Wizards of the Coast giving their blessing to the project. Not impossible but I'm not sure if there is a good chance either.

the SRD is a set of rules that gives MOST of the information needed to play DnD 3.5 but not all. It, specificly, does not replace the need to own the 3 core books if you want access to all the rules and core material. For example, the SRD has a lot of the core monsters in it but not Beholders or Mindflayers.

You can also access the SRD materal from other places. Here is my favorate:

https://www.d20srd.org/

What Thore and company did is to put all that information into FG in a nice organized way so you can referance it from there. Heck, just getting all those Monsters in into FG is worth the $5 I think.

Hope that helps some.

rv

[BaldMike]

Rich,

Thanks, that does help.

I agree, the monsters alone seem to make it worth the money. I've got books but I was looking for a tool loaded right into FG that would make life easier.

My understanding is that the SRD that comes with the purchase of FG is just a scaled down version of the C-SRD. Not having had a lot of experience with the FG system yet it seemed, intuitively, that having as much of the ruleset online - particularly monsters, any rules relating to character development, combat, etc. - might make things run a little more smoothly.

I suppose I'll have to find out for myself what makes me most comfortable. Right now, I'm just getting ready to enjoy the experience solely from the players perspective and then maybe DM down the road a bit. Nonetheless, for $5 it doesn't seem like a deal anyone would pass up.

I was fortunate enough to land a spot in Stuart's Sunday night campaign. Sat in with his friday night group once, he's a great DM, has done some great work on his own campaign world and the players all seem solid. So, pretty excited right now.

Thanks for the response.

[ghedrain]

Personally I think it's just a waste of money if you have the books. In my opinion it's just as easy to look up the info in one of the core books as it is to use the SRD in fantasy grounds.

[Griogre]

Personally I think it's just a waste of money if you have the books. In my opinion it's just as easy to look up the info in one of the core books as it is to use the SRD in fantasy grounds.

To a certain extent I agree with Ghedrain you don't need anything but the core books. I think that is one of FG's strengths. You may still want tools to speed up play like the SRD Complete. Mostly it is a question of what you are looking up and how often. That said, I will probably buy the Complete SRD Ruleset. I was waiting for 1.06 to come out before I did. I will buy the complete SRD because sometimes it is simply faster to look up things online inside the game when I am DMing.

Bascially it is a convenience. That's the same reason I bought Creative Mountain's awesomely indexed SRD for when I'm making a face to face adventure. It's just so convenience to find something and then cut and paste it into your document.

[richvalle]

Personally I think it's just a waste of money if you have the books. In my opinion it's just as easy to look up the info in one of the core books as it is to use the SRD in fantasy grounds.

Yes and no.

One thing I do in FG is to open up charts and spells that I know are going to be used or are currently being used and then minimize them. When we need to referance them I have the information handy.

I still think having the expanded list of monsters in FG is well worth it as well. Now you can drag and drop those guys onto maps or the init chart very easily.

rv

[kalmarjan]

i 'hide' my spell lists and 'modifier' lists by placing them in my hot keys under shift+control+alt, so i always have the lists at hand, and i never have a cluttered screen.

[i am typing like this because i have a broken hand and it is really hard tp press the shift key lol]

sandeman

[richvalle]

i 'hide' my spell lists and 'modifier' lists by placing them in my hot keys under shift+control+alt, so i always have the lists at hand, and i never have a cluttered screen.

[i am typing like this because i have a broken hand and it is really hard tp press the shift key lol]

sandeman

Ouch!

A cluttered screen is something I have a problem with. I suppose I should use the number keypad to save those items I want to pull up again.

rv

[mr_h]

Myself and my players really like having the complete SRD. Sure, if you have the books, you have all the info and it's redundant. But to me, the convience of having all that information a keystroke/mouse click away is well worth the price of not going out to eat lunch one day a week