Four SRDs are now Illustrated & In-Print
Big news from us today about the original for Cthulhu Eternal SRDs (Jazz, Modern, Victorian, Cold War). In response to many requests since these came out 4 years ago, we have decided to release formatted & illustrated versions of these rulesets and also make them available as softcover print books.
So … why this change?
When we first created Cthulhu Eternal the idea was to make free but feature-complete rulesets that anybody could use. Our team spent hours writing them (adapting wonderful OGL rules for Arc Dream’s awesome Delta Green RPG) but without a budget to pay for art or layout, the Free-Open-Source version was just text. Given that we are effectively giving these rulebooks away at no cost (unless you want to donate something), it was the best we could do at that time.
The text SRDs have been awesome in allowing us and others to make things that simply couldn’t be released under other licensed “walled gardens” like Chaosium’s Miskatonic Repository.
But over and over people comment: “we love your rules, they’re an improvement on what we usually play … but text-only? … it’s kind of hard to read”. And: “having free PDF rules are awesome, but isn’t there a print option so I can have a reference when playing face-to-face?”
Late last year — having received a modest cash injection from a super-successful Bundle of Holding promotion in October — we decided to do something more with these rulebooks. And today we’re delighted to announce the release of the first fruits from that project: the “illustrated editions” of the Jazz Age, Victorian, Modern, and Cold War SRDs.
What is an “illustrated SRD?” you ask … well it’s basically the identical text as the normal SRD but with professional formatting and B&W interior (stock) artwork. It’s probably easier to show rather than tell:
While going through the process of revisiting these original SRDs we also took the opportunity to bring them all into line with optional rules that we have added in later versions of the rules and also to rewrite everything to conform to our new house style for pronouns (we’ve abandoned things like “he or she” in favour the the gender-neutral “they”)
For the modern, Victorian, and Cold War SRDs we also added some minor new content:
- Modern: Hacking & Cyber Warfare guidelines
- Cold War: optional Martial Arts skill and combat options
- Victorian: optional Spiritualism powers and rituals.
Of course having beautiful layouts also allows for softcover print versions.
Rather than make these versions separate products on DTRPG, we’ve simply added the PDF illustrated SRD versions as updates to the original PWYW products on DTRPG, making them free downloads for anyone who’s already nabbed the SRD. If you’ve already got the old SRDs in your DTRPG bookshelf, just go back and the new files should be added. If you don’t already own them, these pages will allow you to nab them:
The print versions — which can also be ordered via the links above — aren’t free, but hopefully affordable to anybody who wants a shiny softcover book.
We hope that by releasing these illustrated versions of our four most popular rulebooks we hope that it will make it easier for folks to play Cthulhu Eternal … and also encourage game designers to release material which works with (or adapts) our free/open rules.