Rulebook

Neither players nor GMs can be a part of multiple teams.

GMs can play in games if they are previously designated as a “player GM.” Player GMs take up a roster spot and must be kept as a keeper at the end of each season, as any other player would be. GMs must declare at the beginning of the season (when rosters are finalized) which option they elect to be. GMs may not trade themselves.

All teams may have a designated co-GM. This player does not share power with the GM, but is the first contact when the GM is unavailable and helps with the process should a GM need to be replaced.

GM appointments are made by mods and cannot be done by a retiring GM, although the retiring GM may nominate someone new.

Players cannot use alt accounts to be a part of different teams, or to play twice on their own team, or to be simultaneously GM and player. All cases of using an alt account in this way result in a permanent ban for both accounts.

Players must reply to either a draft or FA comment to be entered into the league

All username changes need to be reported to mods for proper stat-keeping and league management. Any username changes not reported could result in scores being nullified.

A GM can only become a player through the following season’s draft and must resign as GM. If the retiring GM had previously been a player and retired, they would be able to unretire to their former team.

GMs can only be removed in the case of collusion, tampering, or on a second serious offense.

GMs may now opt to be “pure” or “player” GMs. Player GMs can play, but take up a roster spot on their team. Pure GMs are ineligible to play, but do not take up a roster spot. GMs must declare at the beginning of the season (when rosters are finalized) which option they elect to be. GMs may not trade themselves.

GMs who reach a second major offense will be removed from the position. If they were a player GM, they return to the team as just a player. Otherwise, they will not be in the league and will have the option to enter the next draft.

If a GM involved in a trade is removed from the position shortly after they made a trade, that trade will be revoked.

As of Season 2, teams are allotted a 10-man roster. The maximum roster size is whatever the team’s roster count is at the final pick off the draft, but it must be reduced to 10 players by the first game of the season.

Team’s captains are not permanent, and are on a game-by-game basis. Co-gms should be more permanent, but can be changed at any time, and must notify the head mod/commish. Co-gms can be players or other persons not otherwise affiliated with the RRL.

Only players rostered on the team may appear on lineups.

A team at maximum capacity, if adding and dropping a player, must either a.) Do so in the same move, or b.) Drop a player before adding one.

Any move dropping a star player will be investigated for possible collusion, but if there is an appropriate reason for doing so, the move will be allowed.

The user @rrlmod must be in all team group chats to no cheating occurs. Not having the account in your team group chat, removing the account from a team group chat, or deleting an old team group chat WILL be considered probable cause to punish a team for cheating. Punishments will vary based on each individual situation, but they could include loss of draft capital, individual or entire team lineups being reverted to a 0, and forced forfeit of games.

All team group chats must have the team’s name somewhere in the group chat name.

6 players play on each gameday with 1 captain. A lineup containing three or fewer players will be counted as a forfeit. If the captain is not designated, the first player listed in the lineup will be designated as captain.

Players may make 3 picks from any sport except UFC and Golf. No picks may be repeated within a team. If a lineup is submitted with duplicate picks, the second listed name in the lineup will count as a 0.

Boosters apply to all playable sports, and players (typically college) with no season rank receive a 1.2x boost

The most up-to-date season ranking boosters can be found on the directory page of the group.

When submitted, picks should be submitted with a first and last name. “Kevin,” for example, would not be acceptable, but “Kevin Durant” would be.

In the case of a shorthand player name being used, such as White or Williams, the player with the highest season rank from any sport who played that day will be used.

Swapping picks after lineups are submitted will not be allowed.

Screenshots are required showing all picks of any late lineup with a timestamp. Inability to supply such evidence will result in a forfeit.

Any lineups submitted after the set submission time will result in a deduction of -2 points for every hour they are late. If submitting a late lineup, you may not actively pick any players who have started playing. The first -2 will be 30 minutes after lineups are due, the second -2 will be 60 minutes after lineups are due, and from then on it goes to every hour.

“Boombeast Rule”: Any manner of a player or GM making picks for another player is strictly illegal and will not be allowed. Advising is entirely acceptable and encouraged, but players selecting another player’s picks will be given a five-game suspension and a last-strike warning for the GM. This includes GMs correcting duplicated picks rather than the players fixing them.

Teams may submit three additional players at the bottom of their lineup to act as substitutes for any DNP picks. The substitutes will be applied in the order that they appear. For the sake of simplicity, substituted players will count towards player stats. If multiple DNPs occur in the same lineup, the order of the substitutes will be applied from top to bottom of the lineup.

If a player has a pick that plays before the lineup submission time, that pick must be reported to a mod before the pick’s game begins, or else it will result in that pick being a 0 and a one-game suspension for the player who picked them. GMs may report these picks for their players, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the player making the early game picks to report them.

All picks must be made in your team's designated team group chat; any picks made in outside DMs or apps will not be allowed.

Captain’s boosts are worth 1.2x the player’s full score.

Forfeits of any kind (cheating, lineup not submitted, collusion) are an automatic loss and a -20 to point differential.

Players with no season rank while boosters are in play are worth 1.2x

Doubleheaders will not count as one total performance, but will instead be flexed to the higher score.

As of Season 3, late lineups will be penalized by -2 points for every complete hour they are late by.

Trades may only contain draft capital from the next two drafts.

Both GMs must DM head mod/commish the same version of the trade for it to be processed.

If a player is traded after a game starts, their result will stand, but if traded before a game and they play on their original team, the result will be nullified.

Players may request trades, but these requests do not require the GM to trade the player.

Free Agency is comprised of all players not selected from the draft pool and any players who join the free agency mid-season.

Free Agency is open for new players to join until the end of the All-Star Break, which occurs at the midway point of each season.

Players in Free Agency are not available until they are added to the spreadsheet. This is both for record-keeping and to act as a waiver period.

Players may not retire twice in one season and may not retire more than twice over the course of their career.

Retirements must last longer than 5 matchdays.

Players who retire are eligible to rejoin their team provided the required time has passed.

Players under 25k karma cannot participate in the RRL due to concerns of alt accounts.

Suspicious trades may be investigated for tampering or collusion.

If a player is involved in a trade and retires shortly after the trade's occurrence, the trade will be disallowed and reverted.

Trading inactive players is strictly prohibited.

The draft will be a keeper draft. The draft has 5 main rounds, and teams keep up to 5 players from the previous season. As listed in Section 1, Player GMs must be included as one of these keepers.

In the event of an expansion draft, earlier rounds are added before the main draft to accommodate new teams.

Trades are allowed and encouraged during drafts, as long as the trading guidelines described in Section 5 are abided by.

All draft picks are final, even if players cannot be assigned (username changes, bans, etc.)

GMs shall receive no more than two minutes to make a selection before an auto pick is made. This is the standard draft pick time, and is suggested but can be altered by draft mods if deemed fit.

Autopicks will follow the draft order sorted by previous RKL averages, karma, or another statistic determined by draft mods.

Draft order will be determined by a lottery system, with all eight non-playoff teams being included. After picks 1-8 are set, picks 9-16 are determined by each of the playoff teams regular season records, with the 8 seed being pick 9, and the 1 seed being pick 16.

All deferred keeper slots will be added to the end of the draft round in the initial draft order.

Similarly to rule 2d, suspicious keeper choices will be investigated, but if not found to be a matter of collusion, will be allowed.

“iivo clause” At the end of the season, a player who is kept by their team and does not wish to remain on their team with a legitimate grievance may invoke the “iivo clause”, which will forcibly send them to the draft pool. Their team will receive a compensatory pick as determined by the Rules Commission, who will also be tasked with deciding whether a player’s grievance is legitimate grounds to invoke the clause. Poor team or player performance is not a legitimate grievance.

The top 8 teams by record make the playoffs, with teams seeded 5-8 participating in play-ins. Tiebreakers will be applied as needed to determine seeding in the case of teams having the same record.

Playoff tiebreakers are head-to-head, with the tiebreaker being points for, then point differential.

Play-In matches will be one elimination game, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be three-game series, and the finals will be a five-game series.

The season will be a 16-game season, formatted by round robin (all teams play all teams) and with a “rivalry day” to conclude the regular season.

Rivalries are predetermined before each season. Any complaints about which teams are rivals should be reported to a mod and can be discussed further.

Mods can be players, non-RRL-affiliated persons, or GMs due to the need for mods

Mods found guilty of misconduct in the ways of fixing matches by scoring, abusing mod powers against teams/players, spreadsheet tampering, or any other offense will be banned from the moderator position, serve a 10-game suspension if a player, and will be ousted if a GM.

Any suspicion of mod cheating should be reported to the commissioner as well as the entire mod team.

Rule changes and major league decisions are to be made by the Rules Commission, and need a 50% vote to pass. The rules commission is to be made up of one GM/player from each team, so that all teams are equally represented. If the director is a GM or player, their team may not be doubly represented.

There will be a director of the commission (does not have to be the league’s commissioner) who casts tie-breaking votes and more or less acts as the lead figure in the commission. If this person is not the commissioner, they should work in contact with the commissioner. If the commissioner is a GM or player, they shall be their team’s representative, and if the commissioner is independent, the body expands to include them.

In matters that concern a certain player, GM, or team, the representative relative to this team does not receive a vote. If a representative does not believe they can be impartial about a vote, they are expected to abstain from voting. (example, if a representative’s close friend is under investigation for cheating or if a decision has massive playoff implications for one’s team, that representative is expected to abstain from voting.

For all major cheating offenses, such as illegally making picks for another player, the player or GM will be suspended for however many games they are found guilty of cheating in.

If an issue or dispute arises with the rules that were not specified in the rulebook, then the Rules Committee will vote on the matter, and an amendment to the rulebook will be made based on their ruling.

Early Injury Rule

DNPs will be applied to any players who leave early in a game due to injury, provided that they:

a. Do not return later in the game post-injury past the limits (ex. returning in the second half)

b. Do not exceed a 4 score post-multiplier.

c. Do not outscore the replacement pick.

Here are the limits by sport:

NBA, CBB, FC, NFL, CFB, WNBA - 1st Half

NHL - 1st Period

MLB - 2 or less ABs, 3 Innings for Pitchers

If a player is removed from the game for any reason that is NOT an injury, they still count as having played the game. If a player is ejected or a coach pulls them early for one reason or another, unless it was reported that the player was pulled for injury or injury concern, that score will still count.