Welcome to Shardrealms!

Shardrealms, a collaborative community-driven open-source tabletop RPG toolset and experience that either can stand-alone as an RPG system, much like Dungeons and Dragons, or can supplement other RPG systems. What makes Shardrealms unique is that it is entirely open source and is free for use under the General Public License. Additionally, Shardrealms is open for expansion and improvements by its community of contributors. In short, Shardrealms is founded on principles that a lot of tabletop RPG fans have been longing for: free, open, and community-driven.

Shardrealms is three projects in one

Shardrealms is a massive undertaking in creating a whole new experience for tabletop RPGs. As such, it is broken into three separate projects:

• The Shardrealms App This is the core of the project. It is an online application to manage campaign details in a way that is fluid and intuitive for any existing RPG system.
• The Shardrealms System A completely open-source RPG system, similar to D&D, that simplifies core mechanics but allows for diverse and creative play.
• The Shardrealms Universe The events, locations, characters, and stories that make up this familiar, yet unique, high fantasy experience.

All three parts of Shardrealms harmonize into a single rich experience, but no one part requires the use of the others. If you want to use the Shardrealms App for homebrew stories but still play your sci-fi RPG, great! If you want to play in the Shardrealms Universe, but also utilize D&D's core system, that works too!

How to access Shardrealms

Shardrealms Universe

The Shardrealms Universe is a high-fantasy story setting for tabletop RPGs. It is entirely free, community-driven, and compatible with the Shardrealms System and App. Currently, the Universe has a broad range of background topics, but continually expands and will one day be deeply rich. Check out the Introductory Shardrealms Universe document to get started.

Shardrealms System

The Shardrealms System is a high-fantasy tabletop RPG system, similar to D&D or Pathfinder. It is entirely free, community-driven, and compatible with the Shardrealms Universe and App. The System is currently in beta phase and should be completely playable. Check out the Introductory Shardrealms Systems document to get started.

Shardrealms App

The Shardrealms Creation App is a powerful open-source tool for a game master to keep track of his campaign story. Hopefully, this idea intrigues any of you who currently act as game masters, or are interested in running a tabletop RPG. With that in mind, know that this project will not go live until it’s ready, which may be a year, or it may be 10 years. It all depends on how much help we have in getting the Shardrealms App ready for release.

If you want to contribute to the development of the Shardrealms App, check out the Shardrealms App Base Repository on Github with instructions on how to get started on contributions.

Want to contribute?

If you find this project interesting, we’d love to have you join the Shardrealms contributors team! Joining is as simple as getting involved in the community and producing your own contributions. Shardrealms is already open and waiting for contributors to join in, so join us today!

We’re looking for a variety of skills from contributors, primarily web developers, writers, and playtesters, but also artists, graphic designers, server/database managers, or anyone passionate about contributing! If this doesn’t include you, but you know someone who may be interested, please share this with your friends and invite them to contribute!

Most importantly, follow these steps to learn how you can contribute.

Shardrealms subscription

The Shardrealms Universe and Shardrealms System will always be completely free and available at any time. The Shardrealms App is also free... if you want to host it on your own server. Otherwise, the Shardrealms App can be accessed via a free-as-can-be subscription via our own servers. Your subscription covers the costs to run the application, such as servers, databases, file storage, and cost of maintenance. No one is set to make money on the Shardrealms App: costs are solely to keep the app operation and not to pay for development. Feature development comes from the great community of contributors!

If you’d like a more thorough explanation of the costs, you can read about it with our Shardrealms App Costs document.