Community Rundown

## Purpose

This document was assembled in the interest of making access to basic information easier to better standardize play and introduce new members to our community. Please note that this document is neither a rules nor a thematics source and only seeks to clarify and consolidate information contained in multiple places, so please check out #stuff-we-would-pin-but-we-want-it-easier-to-find, #roles, and all the other channels on the discord when you have the time.

As with any community document, please refrain from direct editing unless you are absolutely sure of the validity of your addition/correction. If you have any questions, ask in the Nuts and Bolts channels and a member of the community or volunteer staff will be happy to answer.

## Things Necessary for Play

A Discord account- for communication.

A Roll20 account- for play.

Chummer- for character generation. This must be setup like so.

A Google Drive account- for character storage.

## Roleplay Safety and Community Expectations

The Farmer’s Market utilizes a set of safety systems to ensure that all involved are having a good time when engaged with the community. Understand that these systems are in place for the protection of the community as a  whole and every member of the community. Deliberate failure to uphold the safety systems by players or GMs will result in discussion and possible punishment. In an effort to minimize unwanted exposure to potentially harmful scenarios, we use these safety measures:

* The X-Card.
	+ Say, write, or message the letter X in a place where the current GM or another active member of the run or staff can see it and the current scene will be immediately stopped and the run will proceed to a short (typically 5-10 minute) break. Upon return, the group and user will attempt to reach a consensus on whether to rewind, retcon, or avoid the scene in question entirely.
	+ Listeners do have the power to X-card, but this power should only ever be used in the most extreme and extraordinary circumstances, as listeners have the ability to simply disconnect from a call with no repercussions.
	+ Abuse of this system, either as a player or a listener, as a means of hindering runs or avoiding consequences for actions taken, is strictly prohibited.
* Streetlight System
	+ Similar to the X-card above, streetlights can be said, written, or otherwise indicated to the GM, active members of the run, or active mods/advocates to enact their various effects.
	+ Red- please stop. The current scene is harmful and we should steer away from it immediately.
	+ Yellow- go no further. The current scene is potentially harmful and we should not proceed any deeper into the subject.
	+ Green- go ahead. The current scene is adequate and more like it should occur.
	+ Black- no further description is required. The current scene is causing discomfort due to ongoing description, however it can still happen with a “fade to black”.

All safety systems are anonymous unless with the express permission of the user, meaning that players are not obligated to explain their use of safety systems and GMs should never indicate who or why the safety systems are used. Most GMs will also explain or offer to explain these safety systems before a game begins, so if you are ever unsure about when or how to use them, ask your GM.

All safety systems may be used while outside of a run (such as in the discord). In contexts where a GM, advocate, or other such leader is not present and active in their duties, the message should be placed or spoken in a public place such that participants of the conversation are made aware. This could mean saying "red card" in a voice chat or typing out "x-card" in a text chat.

As a community, we are committed to the protection of our members and the diversity that they represent. Actions, in or out of character, meant to demean, bully, or persecute individuals or their backgrounds are strictly prohibited. In-character discrimination against or idolization of elements of a character’s background should only be used with a full comprehension of that element and an understanding that it may lose you, as a person, popularity out-of-character. Please use common sense when determining what is and is not harmful and, if a decisive resolution cannot be reached, err on the side of caution and contact the other people involved to ask their opinions of the situation.

In the event that you feel that you or others are being targeted or treated unfairly in any way, you can talk to individuals with the role Moderation or Advocate for advice on how to proceed with the situation.

The official advocate guidelines and discussion of community health can be found in the #advocate and #community-discussion channels. Decisions that come from these discussions can be implemented through a community vote in #community-votes. Unlike rules votes (discussed at the end of the document), community votes have a minimum interval of 1 week.

### Character vs Character Interactions

The primary component of any actions taken by a character should serve to help flesh out their story and the collective story of the server. CvC is not a vehicle for bullying.

The central tenet of our CvC system revolves around informed consent. As such, players are required to talk to the opposing player first about any possibilities of CvC in order to determine if the idea is amenable and, if so, how far that CvC might extend. Nobody wants to take away another person’s story, especially if it isn’t finished.

Individuals must opt in or out of non-lethal CvC on character wiki pages. That said, it is still recommended that you talk to players first whenever possible.

## Roles

Our community is populated by a variety of roles. Most are for notification and are fairly self-explanatory, but some are volunteer staff as outlined here.

Advocates- Individuals who exist to help you as a player or a GM resolve awkward or hostile situations diplomatically. Talk to them if you encounter issues with other members in the community or if you just aren't sure what to do. Advocates are appointed by community vote

Moderators- Moderators are Citizens that have been entrusted by the community with Discord’s moderation tools to be able to contain and defuse toxic situations before they become unmanageable. You can read more about Moderators and Moderation Here.

Chargen- Chargen is in charge of verifying characters are built according to the Player Rules before starting their career as a runner on the server. They can also answer a lot of general questions about mechanics and thematics. The chargen team has a head member; talk to them if you'd like to help out.

GM- GMs are the people who run games. This role can be taken in the roles channel.

Techy- Our discord sysops. They take care of things like channels, permissions, and roles, but don't have any outstanding power. They are elected biannually.

Thematics- Thematics is here to help steer GMs into creating a cohesive, shared story through positive reinforcement of community-centered runs with an extra 1 GMP and fleshing out runs with lore implications. They can be contacted in #metaplots.

Wiki- The team managing and maintaining this wiki. If you need any help figuring out where things are or how to do things on the wiki, just let us know in #wiki.

## Character Generation

Character generation is handled through the programs Chummer (which should be set up like so with the most recent "Market\_Rules.zip" found in #stuff-we-would-pin-but-we-want-it-easier-to-find)

The basic process and information involved in the creation of a character starts on page 50 of the Core Rulebook. Here is a guide for buying gear.

If you have any questions about characters or character generation, members of our Chargen department are easily accessed through the #chargen channel or are found on the member list under the “Chargen” title. Characters should be stored in a personal google drive folder, which must be linked on a character's wiki page. Characters created can interact with others in roleplay rooms (in the IC Shadowrun category) as long as they are submitted in the #submissions channel.

To be submitted and approved for play during a run, a character must be logged in the #submissions channel, using the format at the end of this section(Also found pinned in the Submission channel), for a member of the chargen team to review and approve. The chargen approval process varies greatly in time and depth according to the volume of applications and preferences of both the applicant and reviewer.

Please understand that these people are volunteers and if you are ever dissatisfied with their decisions, the situation can be resolved peacefully and diplomatically through discussion either with them or others in the chargen department. Once your character is stamped and approved, you will be pinged #quote-chargen-unquote channel

The #quote-chargen-unquote channel is a channel meant for chargen department members to ask questions and discuss rulings amongst themselves and was made public for the sake of transparency. You likely will never need to post anything there unless you yourself are a member of the chargen department.

### Submission Format

[Character name]: [Archetype]

Format: [Chummer]

Gen: [Normal/Prime STT/Karma]

Review: [Heavy/Light] (Heavy reviews offer opinions of the individual, and sometimes the department, on how to make your character more viable in the current environment, while Light simply looks at whether your character is legal. It is highly recommended that players newer to the system or server choose the Heavy option.)

File Location: [A link to the character's file location.]

Wiki Page: [A link to the character’s wiki page.]

Notes: [Any other notes that a chargen member should know before they start the review]

### Wiki Pages

Character wikis are now mandatory for submission. To make one, you can follow the instructions below.

1. Go to the Character Template page.

2. Highlight and copy all but the first sentence in the page.

3. Search up the name of your character, hopefully you will not be taken to an existing page.

4. Directly under the heading labeled "Search results for [Character Name]" there should be a section that says "Create the page [Character Name]". Click on the name of the character to create a new page.

5. Check that you are using the "Visual Editor" mode (if it isn't in that mode, simply click on the words "Source Editor" to bring up a dropdown menu). You can see the current edit mode at the top-center or top-right of your screen.

6. Paste all of that wonderful markup you stole from the character template page et voilà you have a character.

7. To edit the character, just replace all of the generic/inaccurate things and customize the page how you like.

8. Once done, the save button is in the bottom right.

9. If you encounter any complications, you can always ask for help in #wiki.

## What is Shadowrun?

A great place to start is page 8 of the Core Rulebook (leave the black-background stories for another time).

Shadowrun is a game system that, for us, takes place in the 61 years in the future (with the exact same date and weekday format for convenience), a time when nations are no longer the most powerful organizations on Earth. Cash is king and the kings of cash are the megacorporations. These various industry conglomerates control everything everywhere and take advantage of lax extraterritoriality laws to do so without major national or international regulation, intervention, or oversight. Combined with the return of magic to the world in 2011 and the advancement of futuristic technology, the institutions, nations, power structures, and even races of our planet have been changed drastically.

You fit in all this chaos as a shadowrunner. An individual that carries out “plans which are illegal or quasilegal” on a daily basis as a means of making a living. This could mean being anything from being a renowned eco-terrorist famous for sticking it to the corps and nations of the developed world, or the biologically engineered living weapon that was delicately assembled in a corporate laboratory over the past decade just to kill them. We encourage diverse backgrounds and modes of play, but make sure to check that your character fits into the world and the community.

To get a general feel for the world of Shadowrun and the events that have happened between its divergence from the real world in the 90s and the world in play, you can check out this handy timeline. As with previous disclaimers, the other shadowrun wikis are neither rules nor thematics sources and you should instead research the provided references at the bottom of the page for exact wording of events and descriptions.

That being said, the fandom wiki and shadowiki are great places to start researching a wide variety of thematic subjects since they often provide page number references to official books.

Any questions about thematics can be directed towards the #thematics channel in the discord server.

## What is the Farmer’s Market?

The Farmer’s Market is a datahost assembled for the express purpose of connecting shadowrunners with their Johnsons (the anonymous word for employer). Think about it as like a dark, morally and ethically ambiguous LinkedIn. The host is based in Seattle and does a majority of its business there, however, its runners are wanted worldwide and well, where there’s money to make, shadowrunners are soon to follow. All new applicants (employers or employees) are vetted before being allowed entry onto the host to prevent law-enforcement moles or competitive sabotage.

Additional information about the Farmer’s Market can be found here.

Unknown to many of the newer members of the Farmer’s Market, the organization was started as an offshoot of the larger and more popular ShadowHaven datahost, which was dissolved due to an unknown threat in 2081. The exploits of the ShadowHaven and its runners can be read about here.

## System

This community uses Shadowrun 5th Edition. While the core rulebook is the only book necessary for play, supplemental books are almost always encouraged, as they are considered “in play” regardless of whether or not you use them. The list of supplemental books in play can be found here. As a recommendation, do not try to memorize all of the rules for all of the archetypes/roles, focus on one or two until you are comfortable enough to expand to others.

Jobs are offered in the #job-board channel with the GM’s channel and relevant information. To apply for a job, reply to the attached job thread with your characters name, wiki page link and a short blurb describing. The rewards and effects of the run on your character will often be provided to you by your GM in the #completed-jobs channel after the run is complete.

As with any TTRPG system, dice are rolled to determine the results of events with uncertain outcomes. Shadowrun is a d6 system where instead of rolling a single die, you typically roll multiple 6 sided dice to determine what happens. In most cases, a 5 or 6 is considered a “success” or “hit” while a 1-4 is considered a failure (your GM will inform you if this is not the case). Greater numbers of hits typically means a more positive outcome. Glitches are strange and unusual events that occur when greater than half of the dice rolled are 1s.

Further information on hits, tests, glitches, and other common elements of the system can be found starting on page 44 of the Core Rulebook.

## Contacts

Contacts differ heavily from the base game of Shadowrun 5th edition in order to simultaneously make them simpler and more useful. Details about contacts and their uses in the core rulebook can be found on pages 386 and 419.

Our contact rules are heavily based on the homebrew contact rules devised by the ShadowHaven; the following section will serve as a brief overview of those rules.

Most contacts can be found in #contact-introductions, those that are not are typically holdovers from other LCs or private contacts. In a contact’s infobox you will typically find various descriptors, but the most mechanically important are the role, connection, and aspects. A contact can help out with various rolls or perform rolls on their own with bonuses according to their role as determined by the table below.

Occasionally a contact will say Custom(letters). Those letters correspond to the four columns in the table, the first letter being the highest priority (8) and the last being the lowest (-2).

The general formula for putting these meaningless numbers to use is described here:

Role Ability(check the table) + Connection + Loyalty + 2 per applicable aspect - Notoriety

### Aspects

As mentioned earlier, contacts have aspects, special quirks, interests, or expertise that allow the contact to perform with greater ability in certain fields. Most aspects simply provide a +2 when applied to the relevant roll and whether they apply is typically up to the GM. Off table (like for downtime gear acquisition (found on page CRB 419)) it is up to you to decide what does and does not apply. Contacts will always have Connection + 1 aspects. In the event that a contact does not have aspects, use half the number of total aspects they would have, if the action is something they specialize in, and a third the number of total aspects they would have, if the action is something peripheral to their specialty.

Once in a while contacts will have a special or unique aspect that does not offer a +2, instead offering some kind of special service unique to them. These aspects are few and far between and may only apply in certain scenarios. As of yet, there is no single unified system for declaring or marking them, so talk to some people in #thematics if you plan to make a contact with a special service or the individual responsible for a contact if you plan to use that special service.

### Availability

Contacts in play will occasionally be unavailable. To represent that, the GM rolls 2d6+Loyalty (when they feel it is appropriate), if this total meets or exceeds the contact’s connection, you successfully get in contact with the contact.

## CDP (Character Development Points)

A custom rule used on the Haven and thus here on the Farmer’s Market. The basic summary is that it is a combination of experience and personal growth that allows character to better learn about people and knowledge as a result of the runs they are on. You receive 2 CDP after every mission. All CDP expenditures should be recorded in #paperwork.

This CDP can be spent to buy/upgrade knowledge skills or contacts. For knowledge skills, just redeem the CDP at a 1:1 ratio for karma (which you use exclusively for knowledge skills). For contacts use this.

## GMP (Game Master Points)

The other esoteric acronym thrown around, GMP serves as a way to reward GM, so their characters don’t fall behind when they aren’t running. Each GMP is worth 1 karma or 2k nuyen and, once redeemed, cannot be taken back. All GMP expenditures should be recorded in #paperwork.

## Gear Acquisition

On runs, consult your gamemaster, but this is for the downtime sections in which you are not on runs. Gear can be acquired off-table using Gear Acquisition rolls of contacts with their relevant aspects. Anything below availability 12 is easy enough to find that you don’t need to roll for it (just be aware that whatever it is may very well still be highly illegal). Delivery times during downtime are instantaneous, however, if you fail the acquisition roll you must wait double the normal delivery time before attempting it again through that avenue (with that certain contact or yourself).

 101 t0 1000 nuyen
 1001 to 10000 nuyen
 10001 to 100000 nuyen
 Anything more than 100000 nuyen

Keep in mind that this is measured in real time.

## Rules and Rulings

Note: Please never feel pressured to know every mechanic and ruling by heart. Just scan the rules votes every once in a while and ctrl-f the Player Rules page to make sure your characters adhere to them.

Mechanics are a freeform set of rules that we embrace as a community in an effort to make play more fun and fair for everyone involved. Understand that GMs have the final say on what is and is not admissible on their table, so long as they are acting in good faith to make the run more fun for everyone involved, even themselves. When in play, default to the judgment of your GM and use diplomatic discussion to avoid arguments over rules about imaginary roleplay. When not in play, any and all questions about mechanics can be raised in the #mechanics channel of the discord server.

If you are ever dissatisfied with current rules or rulings, you can discuss rules changes in threads created in the #rules-discussion. The results of these conversations can be put into vote form in the #rules-votes channel. Anyone can propose or vote on rules and rules changes so long as they are voting citizens (which you can opt-into via the #roles channel). Rules votes last for 3 days before either being rejected or adopted by the community.

Besides the rules described in the published books, we use a variety of homebrew rulings and content heavily based on the rulings of another community, ShadowHaven. Our combined rulings and rules votes on most mechanics issues and homebrew content can be found in the player rules.