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(NOTE: I plan on making a new rulebook for every season to keep up-to-date with the latest cheat engines, gameplay updates, and changes to the league in general. Making changes from the last rulebook might cause confusion because I have a large chance of forgetting to change a few parts, and that throws newer people off if they don't know much about the league or the game. The rulebook is also supposed to help new people get more information about how to play and what the league is about, so I owe it to them to keep them in check once a season by wasting three hours of my life making a rulebook that lasts about a month.)
This very long wall of information is what every member from seasons past have been following since the league began. Over the years, many changes have been introduced by the league to improve league efficiency and entertainment in the game. We suggest reading the entire rulebook, as long as it may be, so that you are able to successfully know everything you need to know about the league and not be caught doing something you didn't know was against the rules.
=== GETTING STARTED ===
★ To get started, join the RHL group (search "RHL" in the group search bar, and click the top result).
★ After you join the group, send a message to BasedFox asking to be put on the waiver list. I will most likely send you a confirmation message saying "Welcome" or something of the sort, letting you know I got your message and you are set to go. This will put you in the next waiver run, and if you are wanted, you could be on a team in as little as a day. Some take a little longer than that (for more on waivers, find the WAIVERS section of the rulebook).
★ Once you are on a team, one of the staff members will rank you. You don't have to go asking staff members what team you are on. You will find out when your rank changes.
★ Some teams have groups of their own that they might want you to join to get information on practices and strategies for your team. We suggest you join it, but if you don't have room, then you do not have to. It's up to the team owner if they require you to or not, however.
★ Pay attention to group shouts, because they give important information like surveys that we want you to participate in or games for the next day, scores for that day, etc.
★ Use the wall to communicate with other members about anything. It doesn't have to be about the RHL, it can be about anything (emphasis on everything).
★ If you have any questions, please message a staff member, which is found on the staff rank of the group. Follow their instructions, please do not spam them. They are busy enough as is with other events in life and, if they are like me, I'm always doing something to improve the league and sometimes don't even notice messages for hours after they are sent. They will get to them eventually. If they tell you to message someone else, I suggest you do so because it either means they don't know, or they are too busy to respond at the time.
★ If you have a problem with any staff member, please message me and me ONLY. Don't message the staff member that annoys you rude messages, because it could get you in trouble, and that's not going to be a good way to start off your time in the league.
=== GAME NIGHT PROCEDURE ===
★ Every game is consists of three periods of 10 minutes each.
★ The team that scores the most goals in the three periods is the winner of the game.
★ Providing that both teams are tied, the game will have five-minute overtime periods until the next goal is scored. There will NOT be any shootouts for any reason. If the game gets too long, we will suspend the game and continue it at a later time.
★ Teams who are not able to bring at least three players will automatically forfeit without dispute. It's unacceptable to only have two people from a 15-player roster show up to your game.
★ Repeatedly forfeiting may result in a replacement of the team owner, franchise penalty, etc.
★ Each team receives two timeouts per game. This includes all overtime periods. If you suspect the game has a potential of going to overtime, I suggest holding onto a timeout for that time. Timeouts can ONLY be called during stoppages (before periods, after goals, while time is not running, etc.)
★ Teams are also given one challenge per game to use if they are unhappy with the call that was given by the game official(s).
★ The team admin must explain the reason for the challenge unless it is obvious what the reason of it is. This lets the game official(s) know what to look at when reviewing game footage.
★ There are three ways a call can be reviewed. A call may stand, be confirmed, or be overturned. If a call stands, it means video evidence could not prove the call, but at the same time could not disprove it either. A call being confirmed means that video evidence showed evidence of the call that was made by the game official(s). A call being overturned means that video evidence determined that the call that the game official(s) was incorrect and will be changed. Video evidence must CLEARLY prove the call was incorrect for the call to be overturned.
★ If a team successfully overturns the call that they wished to review, they will keep their challenge for another use. Once the team uses a challenge on a correct call, the team will not only lose their challenge, but will lose a timeout. A team may not challenge if they have no timeouts remaining, because there would be no timeout to take away.
★ The following can be reviewed: Goal/no goal, game clock, penalties (only if called by the referees, not if suspected to be a penalty), offside calls that affect scoring plays (called or not called).
★ Each player should be at the game no later than 20 minutes prior to the game's scheduled start time. This allows time for warm-ups, introductions, and having faceoff exactly on the time it was scheduled.
★ If you feel a game was done incorrectly, or a controversial call should have been reviewed automatically by the officials but wasn't, you can send video evidence to BasedFox and ask for a game dispute. A possibility of redoing a portion or the entire game is possible.
★ If a goalie pulls in overtime during a regular season game and loses while pulled, the team that pulled will lose the point that they received for pushing the game to extra time.
★ Coaches or team admins MUST send an in-game message (:pm [game official's username] message) of any substitution during the game. Every player getting on or off the ice must be included to avoid a penalty. A suggestion is to have your second team admin off the ice to send the message so you have an admin off the ice at all times, that way this doesn't affect playing time. **NEW** -- NOTE: We are discussing have team reporters that will do this. This makes it so that referees know when each player went on and off the ice, making it easier to track minutes in statistics.
★ Teams are allowed to have two team admins to alert players of line changes. This is a change from the previous one to allow for substitution messages to the official(s) without interfering with play quality.
=== STOPPAGES ===
★ Offsides (when a player of the offensive team crosses the attacking blue line before a player of the same team that has the puck does) -- NOTE: Tagging is no longer part of this rule. If the ball is knocked out and back into the zone, and the player does not get out in time, it's ruled as offsides.
★ Icing (when a player on the defending team completes a pass from before center ice to the offensive red line, and a player from the other team touches it first.) -- NOTE: The goaltender from the opposite team is not allowed to touch and have it count as icing, it must be a skater from the opposite team. Also, a clear from the defending goaltender does not count as icing.
=== COMMON VOCABULARY BY OFFICIALS ===
★ IW/Ice Warn (Warning that if the player of the team retrieving the cleared puck beats out the run to touch it first, it will be an icing)
★ TMM Warn (Warning that an extra player is on the ice for a team, but the extra player has not touched the puck yet.)
★ EO[Period #] (End of a period)
★ TO (Timeout was called by a team)
★ OTO (Timeout was called by an official)
★ DP (A delayed penalty has been called, but play is allowed to continue until the team that received the penalty touches the puck - the goalie of the opposite team is allowed to pull for an extra skater)
★ OOP/H## RUN (Puck is out of play, trying not to get this thread deleted)
★ EA (Early attack)
★ DOG (Delay of game)
=== COMMON VOCABULARY BY PLAYERS ===
★ LC (Line change, means that the current players that are on the ice are going to swap out for a new set of players)
★ H## RUN (Puck is out of play, trying not to get this thread deleted)
★ TO (A team is asking for a timeout)
★ REKT (A player was flung by another player using their stick or other part of their body. Usually a physics mishap)
★ BIAS (Saying that the referee is favoring one side with calls, although it is not true and you will get penalized if saying this seriously)
★ THROTTLE/Other purposeful spelling errors of THROTTLE (A player is accused of using a cheat engine [CE] to increase FPS for a faster speed. Usually it is hard to determine throttlers because their speed is only slightly increased. Rarely are these accusations true.)
=== SERVER RULES ===
★ In servers where the maximum amount of people allowed is 20, each team can only have up to seven members in the server at a time. This allows teams to get enough people to play into the server and also allow the officials in as well, rather than having an entire roster taking up the server.
★ Servers with a maximum of 30 people permit each team to have a total of 12 people per team, making the total amount of players in the server at 24 if each side has twelve. This is enough for officials and others to also get into the server without a problem.
★ Servers with a maximum of 50 people should pose no issues and has no limit to the amount of people a team can allow into the server.
=== PENALTIES ===
★ Too many men (A team has too many men on the ice) -- 2 minutes
★ Illegal pull (A goaltender pulls while winning or with more than two minutes left in the 3rd / additional periods) -- 2 minutes
★ Delay of game [SKATER] (A player touches the puck before the countdown for a faceoff begins) -- 2 minutes
★ Delay of game [GOALTENDER] (A goalie touches the puck outside the designated area [trapezoid behind the net]) -- 2 minutes
★ Illegal substitution (The coach / team admin fails to notify the referee of substitutions, or does not include every player in the notification) -- 2 minutes -- The players may decide who serves the penalty.
★ Early attack (A player touches the puck before the countdown ends prior to a faceoff) -- 2 minutes
★ Speed-sticking (A player repeatedly selects and deselects their stick in order to interfere with another player's camera -- 2 minutes
★ Admin abuse (Using admin to teleport players off the ice during play to prevent a too many men penalty or using the :m command while in the server) -- 2 minutes
★ Illegal number of team admins (More than two players from one team have admin, this includes staff)
★ Illegal use of equipment (A player drops their stick to try and interfere with another player's breakaway or camera) -- PS or 2 minutes
★ Spam (Continuous chat, at least three messages sent by the same person in a short period of time) -- 2 minutes
★ Fighting (Players from opposite teams participate in a fight) -- 5 minutes *** If fighting is available ***
★ Unsportsmanlike (A player continuously argues a call or is being an annoyance to the server) -- 5 minutes
* Any penalty can become a double minor if the penalty is continued while the other team still has the puck [delayed penalty] or if two infractions occur before the first one is able to be called.
* A player is ejected after accumulating 10 penalty minutes or three minor penalties in a single game. This also includes a one-game suspension.
* Penalties against a goaltender can't be served by the goaltender, but rather a member of the same team that is a skater. Unless the goaltender is ejected, he or she will not serve the penalty, but the penalty minutes will still go against them.
=== SUSPENSIONS ===
A player can be suspended for the following (suspension lengths may change depending on the severity of the offense or the amount of times this player has committed this violation):
★ Offensive comments toward another member (3 games) -- Additional games if the comments are spammed or extremely offensive
★ Ten penalty minutes in a game (1 game)
★ Continuous arguing over a call (1 game)
★ Severe admin abuse [Banning, causing the game to stop, etc.] (3 games)
★ Hacking, exploiting, cheating (Remainder of the season)*
★ Any other offense that seems reasonable to suspend a player (Discretion of the commissioner and league staff)
* - If the player hacks/exploits/cheats past the halfway mark of the regular season, they player will be suspended for all of next season as well.
=== ROSTER INFORMATION ===
★ Each team is allowed to have 15 players. 16 players are allowed only when the GM is not playing.
★ A GM must message BasedFox who else is allowed to make transactions before other players make transactions for the team.
★ GMs or trusted team members may bid players on the waiver list if there is roster space.
★ Trades must have evidence that both teams agreed
★ A player may be signed only if he/she is on the free agents list on the league site.
=== WAIVERS ===
★ Waivers are for players who are dropped or are new to the league. A player will go to waivers as soon as he or she messages the commissioner after joining the league.
★ A waiver sequence is ran every Tuesday through Saturday at 6:00pm ET. Waivers may be rescheduled only if commissioner says.
★ If a player is put on waivers after 4:00pm ET on a waiver day, they will automatically go into the pool for the following waiver day to prevent late and unfair additions to the list.
★ A team is allowed to have one HIGH-priority bid and one LOW-priority bid.
★ At the beginning of the season, the waiver order is decided by the standings of last season. If the franchise is new, it will be determined by the franchise they replaced. The worst records start at the top, going down the list as the records get better.
★ Every time a waiver is run, high priorities are filtered through first. The highest team on the list to bid for that player gets the player.
★ If a team higher on the list bids low on a player, while a team lower on the list bids high, the lower team will claim the player because waivers are ran high first, then low following.
★ Every time a player is claimed by a team, they move to the bottom of the list, bumping everyone else behind that team up one spot.
★ Once all high-priority players are claimed, then the order is reconfigured and low-priority players are then claimed from that list.
=== DRAFT ===
★ Each team must drop to four total players 24 hours before the draft.
★ The draft sign-ups will begin as soon as the postseason begins from the previous season.
★ There will be as many rounds as needed to get as many participants drafted as possible without having partial rounds. Extra draftees will be moved to waivers for the first waiver run.
★ Teams may trade picks from the current season or future seasons for keepers or other picks.
=== TRADE DEADLINE ===
★ During the trade deadline, only picks may be traded for other picks. You are still able to claim players from waivers, until three days before the last day of the regular season.
=== DISCLAIMER ===
★ Anything mentioned in this rulebook can and will be used against you during an investigation that includes a possible suspension. A simple "I didn't know it was in the rulebook" will not do, because it's been in the rulebook and it is your responsibility to read through the rules. If you didn't see it, it's your fault for not caring about being suspended or banned from the league.
★ If at any point in time you see someone breaking any rule that is listed in this rulebook, please take a screenshot of it and find a way to send it to a league admin (preferably BasedFox). The staff and I will take care of it as soon as possible. The more evidence you have, the better chance of us catching the person breaking the rules.
If you feel like this is missing something or you want to request a change for this season or future seasons, please message BasedFox. |