The System Reference Document (SRD) contains D&D rules content you can use and reference to publish content under Creative Commons.
The purpose of the SRD is to provide a foundation of Dungeons & Dragons content on which third-party publishers can build their products. It allows creators to reference and use the base game rules of Dungeons & Dragons in their products without the need to pay a licensing fee to Wizards of the Coast.
The Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is about storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like those games, D&D is driven by imagination. It’s about picturing the towering castle beneath the stormy night sky and imagining how a fantasy adventurer might react to the challenges that scene presents.
Unlike a game of make-believe, D&D gives structure to the stories, a way of determining the consequences of the adventurers’ action. Players roll dice to resolve whether their attacks hit or miss or whether their adventurers can scale a cliff, roll away from the strike of a magical lightning bolt, or pull off some other dangerous task. Anything is possible, but the dice make some outcomes more probable than others.
