GM Rules

## Expectations of the Farmer's Market GMs

### Have Fun and Put Real Life First

This should go without saying, but we've seen our fair share of Living Community GMs burn themselves out. Never feel like anyone's fun is solely your responsibility. Never feel compelled to GM a game by a certain date. You will make mistakes, but laugh them off and learn from them. When you are relaxed, the players sense your relaxation. If you are really interested in a run's story and a metaplot's topic, your passion comes through the run. Focus on having fun.

### Be a Fan of the PCs

To quote Blades in the Dark's GM section on page 193, "Present the world honestly—things really are stacked against them—but don’t make yourself the enemy of the PCs. They have enemies enough. Be interested in the characters and excited about their victories."

If the players come up with a clever plan that completely negates your security plans, congratulate them on their cleverness. Play with the players, not against them. Challenge and risk can make for a great and memorable experience -- but don’t make the game you vs. the players. Assume competence, and don’t try to catch players in “gotchas” -- competent runners might make a mistake or forget something if they’re pressured for time or under fire, but it’s good practice to give them the benefit of the doubt when they aren’t.

We’re fundamentally here to play games together and have fun, and as the GM you have a lot of control over how the game goes; with that great power comes great responsibility, and the responsibility is to try to make sure people have a good time.

### Ask for Help

Don't feel shy to call and break and ask for help in the channel #gm-chat or message an advocate if you encounter a situation you don't know how to handle.

### Hold on Lightly

To once again quote Blades in the Dark's GM section on page 193, "Always feel free to rewind, revise, and reconsider events as needed. This is not a “no take backs” kind of game. You can always say, “Actually, no... let’s say it was only two guys, instead. I don’t know why they’d have any more than that here.” This can be a tricky principle to internalize. It can be so tempting to put your foot down (often for no good reason) or to treat elements of the game as too sacred. Resist that impulse!"

### Impact our Shared Setting

We want organic storylines that have an impact that is felt, those are exciting and cool runs. We want to be able to write about an awesome pink mohawk exalted style sword fight on top of the Space Needle that sent its radio antenna crashing to the ground. We want to cheer on our players as their trenchcoat-wearing PCs send stock prices into freefall. As long as the core elements of the setting remain intact and major buildings can be repairable, go for it.

### Treat our Shared Setting with Respect for Other GMs

Tell a story together with other GMs. It really sucks if another GM blows up the homebrew gang that you created. This is a shared sandbox, don't kick down other people's castles. Try to build your castle around their creations. Share the setting with respect towards the other GMs.

### Understand the Setting is Vast

Players (and GMs) can play the kind of Shadowrun they want to play. If you have a specific view of how Shadowrun should be, you’re entirely free to pick people who conform to that philosophy, but it’s not okay to tell other people how to have fun, or their kind of fun is wrong. As the GM, it's your responsibility to communicate your particular style to your players - through a Style Guide as well as pre-game discussion.

The setting is vast enough that we can have VTOL battles above the skies of Seattle while runners creep through a high-security facility.

### Be Reasonable

Stay within reasonable expectations. It may be fun for a character to get milspec armor from a ganger in the barrens on a low-threat run, but it really cheapens the experience of the player who slogged through the amazon to pry that same armor off a super-soldier during a prime run.

### Know the Major Rules for Key Aspects of your Run

If you have a major obstacle, know the rules related to that obstacle. If a big part of the run involves a car chase or a host dive, you should have a good grasp of the rules related to car chases or host dives (or whatever the obstacle is). Ask the Farmer's Market #mechanics and #thematics for training on mechanics and lore you want to learn.

### Modulate the Number of Players at your games

It is tempting to take 5 or more players on a run, and it is possible to do with an experienced game master leading a group of experienced players. However, the Market caters towards new players and the nature of online play limits some of the communication bandwidth found in real life. Consider limiting yourself to 3 or 4 players. If you seek to push beyond that number, have each player's role on the team be well defined and ask for their cooperation.

### Assume Competence

There are a lot of trivial decisions -- that is, decisions with a clear best choice and no downside -- that shadowrunners routinely make. These are things like wiping an astral signature, infiltrating in disguise, wearing a mask in a firefight, setting up a DNI before the meet, running silent while hacking, and turning off SINs before committing crimes. In general it’s best to assume that players do these things unless they say otherwise (or some kind of constraint -- like time -- prevents them). Exactly what assumed competence covers is a matter for debate and should be discussed with the players at your table in the event it comes up. When in doubt, rule in the player’s favour; try to avoid “gotcha” moments. Generally for the sake of tidiness and expedient gameplay most GMs choose to assume competence, but each GM table is unique.
The standard is to assume competence. The onus is on the GM to explain what they mean when they say they won’t assume competence, and it something they need to ensure players are aware of before a game begins, whether through the application thread, their style guide, or before the game begins.

Keep in mind that a lack of assumed competence doesn’t mean assumed incompetence. The nature of a community means that players will need to adjust to different GMing styles. Consider giving your players the benefit of the doubt in case they forget something obvious, or making use of the Common Sense quality to prevent potentially derailing situations.

## Required Pre-Game X-Card Briefing

In order to ensure player safety, all the Farmer's Market Game Masters are mandated to explain the Market's global x-card policy if any players feel uncomfortable, unsure, or are unaware with the current roleplay safety systems. (Remember, you as GM can use an x-card if a player is making you uncomfortable as well)

Some example scripts:

* This run will utilize the 'X-Card' system. If, at any point, you are uncomfortable with the current scene or the topics, themes, and subjects starring within the scene, you may say or type the phrase 'X-Card' and I will immediately stop the scene and move on.

* We on the the Farmer's Market use the X-card system, simply say or type x-card and the game will stop immediately. You do not have to give a reason, you do not have to explain why.

Please see The X-Card: A Guide for the Farmer's Market GMs and Roleplay Safety Systems for more details.

## Becoming a GM

There are no requirements to becoming a GM for the Market beyond your express desire to be one.

Go to the #Roles channel look at the first and second posts made there. clicking on any of the reactions made to the first post will add or remove the appropriate roles from your profile. The second post will show you which role each emote changes.

If this does not work for any reason ping the @techy role, stating your desire to become a GM. They can apply the role to you.

## Runs

### Run Posts

GMs should maintain a document covering their personal GMing style, linked on their run post and held in their google drive folder or on this wiki.

#### Style Guide

* For now, use whatever structure and information you feel best, but the following questions must be covered
	+ Whether you're okay with players applying to jobs their character has a high chance of declining at the meet
	+ Whether you're okay with players applying to jobs their character will actively attempt to thwart or derail
	+ Views on realism and seriousness of the setting
	+ Views on consequences and failure up to and including character death
	+ Views on sandbox versus story gameplay
* Runs that notably differ from your normal style as described in your document must be noted as such

#### Selection

* Private: the majority of players were pre-selected. Private runs are not eligible for additional GM rewards.
* Public: not private

#### Scheduling

* Scheduled: post and picks were made at least a full day in advance of the run, the post accurately informed players when picks will be decided, and the game started within an hour of the scheduled time
* Impromptu: post and picks were made within just a few hours of the run
* Overflow: an Impromptu that was made within two hours of another run's game start in response to high player demand
* Replacement: an Impromptu that is hosted within two hours of another run's game start in response to a postponed game or missing GM.
* Normal: otherwise

#### Support

The support levels of a run provide no numerical benefit to the GMP gain of a GM, however, this section is included to highlight the different ways that GMs can improve their runs if they so feel like it.

* Coached - Coached Runs have a more experienced GM sit in as a non-player to provide real-time support. The GM or the coach can call for a break and discuss matters at hand. PMing during the game is discouraged, outside of asking for a break, because it can be distracting. Because they don't play and are on standby to support a low leveled GM, they earn 10 GMP.
* Approved - These runs have a scaffold or document filled out and placed in #gm-chat ahead of the run for advice, comments, or constructive criticism.
* Freeform - These runs are completely freeform and have no support.

#### Threat Level

The following are rough guidelines on threat level in game. For a more detailed description of each level, see Run Threat Levels.

Each run post should state the designed threat level, but threat levels can be increased based on conditions on the table. However, these adjustments should be consented to by the players, either in advance or by signaling that an unexpected course of action may result in escalation of threat. Note that the GM still needs to have a sufficent GM level to run at the new threat level, which may require converting the run into a different type (i.e., getting a coach or employing pregenerated grunts, and so becoming a Coached or Structured Run).

#### Special

* Multi-Session: a run that takes place across multiple play sessions
* Mock: a run with zero rewards (for both players and GMs), consequences, or effect on the canon that can be run by anyone, (GM or not) at any difficulty, with no requirements whatsoever, for zero pressure practice or just to have fun, so long as it clearly noted as such by tagging the run post title with [MOCK]. It doesn't even need to use the Farmer's Market characters.

### Run Rewards

Upon completion of a run the characters are eligible for payment in Nuyen, Karma, CDP, Gear and other goodies. Nuyen specifically is usually hashed out with Mr. Johnson before the run begins but the rest is largely left to GM discretion. The amount of rewards a run should provide is outline in Run Rewards and is largely based on the posted Threat Level of the run.

GMs are also rewarded for their time and effort in the form of GMP. The amount earned is also largely based on threat level and can also be found in Run Rewards

## Earning GMP

### Running Games

After a run the GM may claim a number of GMPs scaling with the difficulty of the run and other factors, see Run Rewards.

### Other Sources

* Playing a premade character on a run grants half of the run's RVP as GMP to the player.
* Writing an After Action Report earns up to 4 GMP. The GM of the run has priority but may allow a player to write the AAR and claim the GMP for doing so.
* Participating in efforts to improve the community, subject to community approval.

## Spending GMP

1 GMP can be redeemed to add one of the following to a character of your choosing

* 2000 nuyen
* 1 karma
* 4000 nuyen worth of gear to the rewards of a run, including being in excess of the RVP cap.
* 1 GMP for 1 faction rep. This includes NPCs, so GMs can use it to upgrade faction contacts and the like with the standard reputation powers, as per cutting aces
* 2 CDP

### Note on GMP - Street Cred

GMP does not count towards a character's street cred, Career Karma or Career Nuyen when applied. To count this in chummer, use the refund option.

## Losing GMP

GMP will be explicitly lost if the PC that GMP has been applied to dies or otherwise ceases to be playable. During resubmits, GMP is handled in special ways depending on the type of resubmit. Please see the player rules for more details.

## Run Content

### Reusing Material

Re-using run concepts and ideas is allowed, but GMs are encouraged to make their games as unique as possible for the benefit of the players. If reusing or utilizing content created by another player or GM, confer with them about what you plan to do and whether that is in line with the content's intended purpose.

### GMPCs

It is strongly discouraged to have GM PCs in game without good reason. Understand that while your fun is also important, excessive use of a GMPC in a way that sidelines or undercuts a player character actively detracts from the fun of others. Always have another GM check over your proposed run plan to ensure that the GMPC is not stealing the spotlight.

### Character versus Character

CvC is always at the GM’s discretion, and should only occur if both players out of character have given express consent to it and established rules or levels to which the CvC will proceed (until death, without allies for example). If CvC does happen, don’t let players burn edge to smackdown in CvC, and if edge is burnt for Not Dead Yet, the player who burnt the edge gets to live unless the other player takes steps to circumvent death defiance.

### Space-time

The Farmer's Market operates in real-time. A day in the real world is a day on the Farmer's Market. However, some games take place over the course of a couple days, a week, maybe even longer. These games are considered to be part of their own “pocket universe" and may be "time bubbled" for convenience if necessary.

#### Downtime

Character adjustments, purchases, and other time-sensitive cooldowns are unaffected by pocket universe time. As an example, a character who initiates before a run that spans a month in-game will not be able to initiate at the run’s conclusion as though a month has passed in real-time. Similarly, a character who learns a skill or spell, or increases an attribute during a long run only has that skill in the pocket universe of that run: they must pay for the change in downtime as normal before they can use it on other runs.

#### Multi-Session Exclusivity

Note, characters in the middle of Multi-Session runs are assumed to be free to go on other runs unless either of the GMs in question elect to not let them. This should be clearly communicated in advance to avoid any issues.

## Run Content Limitations

Some content GMs cannot use or must change due to their incapability with the lore and lack of consistency with the Market's rule set. They are also considered non-canon on the Farmer's Market.

### Banned Content

* The Ares Firewatch "Bug Stomper" Custom Armor (Street Lethal, Page 130)
* The Stoner-Ares M-22A1 Vehicle Mounted Heavy Machine Gun (Street Lethal, Page 130) shall be banned from all use, including by GMs.
* The MCT/Winchester-Howe Hornet Direct-Fire Mini-Grenades (Street Lethal, Page 132) shall be banned from all use, including by GMs.
* Zapper Rounds (KC 48) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* Fuzzy rounds (KC 50) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* E0-E0 rounds (KC 51) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* COS Grenades (KC 54) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* Douser grenades (KC 55) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* DumDum grenades (KC 56) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* Flicker IC (KC 67) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.
* Blue Goo IC (KC 68) shall not be permitted on the the Farmer's Market in any capacity.

### Modified Content

* Sleuther IC (KC 67) shall be permitted. Rather than the normal listed effects, a successful strike places a single mark on you. This mark provides the Host that struck you with the name and location of any Grids or Hosts you may visit, stored in an automatically created file within that Host. This IC may place multiple marks, and the marks it places may be erased normally. If all such placed marks are erased through any means, the Host ceases to receive data about your travels.

* Offline Hosts (KC 46) shall be permitted. GMs should be careful to not overuse these, as they are rare.

* The rules text for Blight described on page 157 and 158 of Better than Bad shall not be used on the Farmer's Market. Instead, Blight shall be a Contact, Injection Vector toxin which, upon hitting a spirit, shall remove its Immunity to Normal Weapons for [12 - Spirit's Force hours, minimum 1 hour]. The speed, penetration, and power are unchanged. Blight has no effect on non-spirit entities.

GMs should generally also follow modifications listed in the player rules.

### Needs Approval

The following section includes content that should have lengthy and thoughtful discussion in the #gm-chat before use due to its intense nature, severe effect on characters or the gameworld, or general rarity and esotericness. There is no formal approval process nor requirement, but rampant or excessive use without discussion with or consideration for others and the stories they seek to cultivate may result in steps being taken.

* Fader IC (Page 89, Street Lethal) shall be permitted, but only with explicit Thematics Team approval.
* Bug Queens
* Master Shedim
* Crystalline Entity
* Yama Kings
* Horrors
* Elder Gods
* Great Dragons that are not named in canon
* (unnamed by Catalyst) Immortal Elves
* Plots that could potentially bring about the deaths of the people within the majority single city block.
* Plots that (do or stand a chance to) alter/kill/remove Public Contacts .
* Plots that involve raids on RP areas (just to confirm handling) such as The Daze.
* Canon: (established by Catalyst) runners, immortal elves, great dragons, or other important characters being directly involved in a run. (they hire the PCs/go on a mission with the PCs/oppose the PCs/tell the PCs critical information in exchange for something etc).
* Canon (established by Catalyst) runners, immortal elves, great dragons, or other important characters in a run being damaged or changed from their canon lore (canon character is killed/injured/has mental damage/gains a new enemy/loses something they canonically have/or in any other way has their canon meaningfully changed by the interaction)
* WMDs being detonated.
* Street Lethal Future Tech (due to it technically not being invented yet).
* Enemies with Tech/Magic/Skill far beyond their means (Low rank/wealth enemies geared with Deltaware, milspec gear, magic 12 or other odd things without a proper explanation as to why but simply rather to boost their stats (or perceived threat)).
* New Tech (futuretech+, or things that have never been published or are completely homebrew.)
* New creatures/spirits (unpublished, homebrewed adversaries).

## Table Rules

In order to establish consistency for our often brand new Shadowrun players, GMs should not have table rules that deviate excessively from the norm and must follow as many of the rules listed in the Player Rules as possible. If a GM disagrees with how the the Farmer's Market rules on an issue and it truly impedes their ability to GM, they are welcome to propose a change in ruling or community behavior via the #rules-discussion-docket or #community-discussion channels.

GMs who use table rules, special items, or other such mechanics restricted to their play space must be aware that other GMs may not have adopted those rules will not have mechanics for these items and situations. As such, items with special mechanic cannot be carried over to other tables should not be overpowered or have a usecase outside of your run to dissuade attempts to sneak them off the table.

## GM Moderation

Any advocate can stop a game in progress for gross misconduct that goes against our community expectations. A community vote can be used to ban a community member from GMing for gross misconduct and behavior that disrupts the shared sandbox and storyline that other GMs use.

The intent of these rules is to create a safe place for new GMs to fail and learn. If you are failing and learning in good faith, no action will be taken against you. Newer GMs should consider taking experienced players on their runs to learn from them when possible. Every experienced Farmer's Market GM has ran a lackluster game before, but we learned from our mistakes.

However, we have a duty to ensure our players have a good time as well. Therefore, the run may be modified or fully retconned by community vote if it is deemed to severely negatively affect the gameworld or the shared stories of others.

## Acknowledgement

Some of these GM rules were taken, modified or inspired by the ShadowHaven GM rules, Shadownet GM rules, and the Light in the Dark GM rules.