Published, self contained RPGs that are compatibleish with 3.5?

[radthemad4]

On a whim, a friend decided to run some sort of weird 'Core only' multi crossover D&D thing, where players are only allowed to use the core book from any RPG that either works with or can be easily hacked to work with 3.5 (so long as it's self contained and/or also usable to play a game without needing the 3.5 SRD or core books (besides for ability score generation and XP advancement) ). Looking for published materials only (e.g. ISBN, copyright notice, etc.) for this.

C.O.R.E.F.A.I.L.U.R.E details (https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aqwt4OQhvK2MkxnmfdR2OdRzfcXW)

=THE CORE=
The following list of resources, both core and rightfully excluded, is given as a reference with abbreviations in [BRACKETS]. Only player options have been listed here, the GM can use whatever they want.

PREAPPROVED CORE MATERIAL, PLAYER RESOURCES
* 13th Age [13TH]
* A Game Of Thrones [AGOT]
* Arcana Evolved [ARCE]
* Babylon 5 2e [BABY]
* BESM D20 [BESM]
-With the D20 Mecha Rules sampler, because the version of [BESM] I have appends it to the core book as 'free bonus rules' and that's good enough for me.
* Blue Rose [BLUE]
* Call of Cthulhu
* Conan D20 2e [CON]
* d20 Modern SRD [D20M]
* Engel [****]
* EverQuest Role-Playing Game [EQST]
* Fantasy Craft [FCFT]
* Farscape Roleplaying Game [FAR]
* Iron Heroes [IRON]
* Silver Age Sentinels d20 Edition [SLVR]
* Spycraft 2.0 SRD [SPY2]
* Stargate SG1 [SG1]
* Star Wars SAGA Edition [SAGA]
* Traveller
* True20 [TRUE]
* Wheel of Time [WOT]
* World of Darkness, Monte Cook's [WOD]
* World of Warcraft 2e [WOW]

RIGHTFULLY EXCLUDED
Too Incompatible
* Aberrant (d20 Edition) (Classless)
* Adventure! (Classless)
* Babylon On Which Fame and Jubilation Are Bestowed (Classless)
* Lamentations of the Flame Princess (Too Retroclone)
* Mutants and Masterminds (Classless)
Newer Compatible Version Available
* Arcana Unearthed (Replaced By: Arcana Evolved)
* Star Wars D20 (Replaced By: Star Wars SAGA Edition)
* Warcraft (Replaced By: World of Warcraft)
Not A Full System
* Armageddon: 2089
* Black Company Campaign Setting
* Deadlands D20
* Diablo II: Diablerie
* Dragon Mech
* Dragonstar
* Dragon Lords of Melnibone
* Fading Suns
* FBI: d20
* Gamma World
* Iron Kingdoms
* Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, The
* Legends of the Samurai
* Legends of Excalibur
* Oriental Adventures
* Skull & Bones
* Slayers D20
* Star Trek
* Swashbucking Adventures

UNABLE TO REVIEW

* Xcrawl [XCRW] (Cannot find non-pathfinder version)


WHAT COUNTS AS CORE?
I had to draw the line somewhere, any book that at a minimum fully replaces the player's handbook and does not require the player's handbook or SRD is eligible. It's fine for a core book to provide compatibility options, as long as it doesn't require another product to be complete and is a self contained system. The one exception I've allowed is that products that used the d20 system logo and brand were required to leave out the rules for character creation and advancement, so if a system doesn't tell you how to generate ability scores or give an advancement table, that's fine.

Unfortunately there are a handful of core d20 books that are less compatible than others for whatever reason, and they have been Rightfully Excluded.

I have also intentionally avoided variants of Pathfinder. This is personal preference, I want to relive the weirdest parts of those 3.X days.

Any suggestions for things that are missing that could be added?

[Particle_Man]

Legends of Excalibur

Legends of the Samurai

[Quertus]

So, a lot of your "rightfully excluded" don't list a reason.

Also, can you explain "Lamentations of the Flame Princess (Too Retroclone)" - why is "Too Retroclone" a rightful exclusion (especially compared to how "not D&D" much of this is)?

Oh, and can I be a Vorlon or buy a Shadow Ship in b5?

[thorr-kan]

Black Company Campaign Setting by Green Ronin?

[radthemad4]

To try to clarify, my friend is looking for books where you could hand the player just that one book and they could be able to create a character using just it without referencing anything else (and then also using all the other such books too... but the 'joke' for this whole thing is sort of that 'Core-only is the best way to play'). It's more about 'Can this book be used to make a character without referencing anything else?' AND 'Is this at least slightly compatible with 3.5? It's fine if something doesn't have rules for generating ability scores and/or XP/levels (those aren't open content), but besides those it should have everything else a player needs to make a character.



@Quertus
Flame Princess uses some minor 3.x elements, but its essentially 2e homebrew remade using the OGL

I don't even see any stat blocks for vorlons
there is a shadowship, but no clear way to attain one

@Particle_Man, thorr-kan
Legends of the Samurai appears not to be a complete system. The legends of Excalibur one is just a campaign setting, its got classes and stuff, but not a combat chapter or a skills chapter, etc. Black company is more complete, but still defers to other books for the bulk of its skills, feats, etc. Which is a shame, since I liked the books. or at least the first series of them (I only read the first series)

[AmeVulpes]

AFB, but there's Star Wars d20 Saga Edition core rulebook(I don't think it references SRD at all), and is 3.x IIRC.

[radthemad4]

Yeah, SAGA is already approved

[Dunsparce]

Slayers d20

Based on the Slayers franchise(Specifically only the content from the first three seasons of the anime adaption from the 1990's, rather than the original novels they were based off of or any of the movies that were canonical to both the novels and anime), offers a very different magic system from vancian casting and has a few other things like new classes, skills, and feats.

I heard after the company that made the book lost the license to Slayers they republished the same magic system in an unrelated book only converting all of the SRD spells to the system, rather than using the spells from the Slayers universe(IIRC similar to spell points from Unearthed Arcana using the SRD spells for the system made it quite overpowered compared to the slayers book)

[zlefin]

there's a narutod20 I don't know enough about it to say if it satisfies your criteria or not.
you'd have to google it and assess it yourself.

[radthemad4]

Slayers unfortunately requires the PHB and DMG.

Naruto d20 is a fangame (like say Zelda d20). I'm looking for things that were officially published for this.

[zlefin]

Slayers unfortunately requires the PHB and DMG.

Naruto d20 is a fangame (like say Zelda d20). I'm looking for things that were officially published for this.

huh ok; you should probably make a note of that criterion in the OP then (or maybe its there already and I just missed it)

[radthemad4]

It's in the thread title, but sure, I'll do that. Clarification doesn't hurt.

[ShurikVch]

Call of Cthulhu (Classless)Not a complete truth: while Investigator is - indeed - the only Core class, there are still bunch of PrC in various supplements - thus, technically, not *Classless*


* Traveller T20 SRD (Classless)The Travellers Handbook have bunch of classes - 9 Core, 4 Service, and 3 Prestige
Is it for some other variant of Traveller?


* Star Wars D20 (Replaced By: Star Wars SAGA Edition)IMHO, Star Wars D20 (Revised) > Star Wars SAGA Edition
Also, doesn't D20 just have more books than SAGA?
No need to discard decent things just because something similarly-named war published later


* Warcraft (Replaced By: World of Warcraft)Note: despite the similarities, 1E (a.k.a Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game) still have some stuff which 2E (a.k.a. World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game) lacking

[radthemad4]

Sorry about the late response. Anyway,


Not a complete truth: while Investigator is - indeed - the only Core class, there are still bunch of PrC in various supplements - thus, technically, not *Classless*

The Travellers Handbook have bunch of classes - 9 Core, 4 Service, and 3 Prestige
Is it for some other variant of Traveller?You're right. Apparently it was a brain fart and both Traveller and Call of Cthulhu have now been approved!


IMHO, Star Wars D20 (Revised) > Star Wars SAGA Edition
Also, doesn't D20 just have more books than SAGA?
No need to discard decent things just because something similarly-named war published later

Note: despite the similarities, 1E (a.k.a Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game) still have some stuff which 2E (a.k.a. World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game) lacking'Newest version only' is a semi arbitrary criteria, but it's what the GM decided to go with ("I'd prefer there only be one stat block for e.g. Darth Vader"). But both of those, and probably lots of others will likely be fair game for M.O.R.E.F.A.I.L.U.R.E. :smalltongue: