Keith is the acting Commissioner and Administrator, and due to having all of the responsibility and work (both in-season and off-season), he is also the holder of benevolent power. All rules are laid forth on paper by the end of June, and any issues that may arise during the season will be resolved by the Competition and Trade Committee, composed of Keith, Ron, Will, Billy, and Aarik.

Each team is composed of 19 total players, all but one of which is selected at The Draft. Each team can keep one player from their last year's roster as their Franchise Player (they designate this no later than July 15). All other players are put back into the pool, and we have a Draft Day the day before the regular season begins.

The roster parameters are set ahead of time (see below), and everyone takes turns picking players for 18 rounds. At the end of the draft, each team's rosters must conform to the guidelines set forth. After the draft is completed, each owner may change the construction of their team as they see fit (dropping a QB, adding a WR, etc.), as long as they don't have more than 19 active players at any one time.

This means that positional ratios are only applicable for the original configuration of each team on Draft Day. After the Draft, and throughout the entire season, owners can have 15 QB's and 4 TE's if they want to! Of course, they still have to start 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DF/ST...

The current Ragnarok Champion is awarded with the first overall pick in the following year's draft. At first, this may seem counter-intuitive, but consider that only 1 player is kept from year to year. Therefore, teams do not have a nucleus of players to build from each year, and the Champion should have some reward going into the next season.

Each round, the order of the draft reverses. So in the first round, the Grizzlies pick first, but in the second round, they pick last. In the third round they pick first, and in the fourth round they pick last, etc. So even though they get the first pick, they don't pick again until the 24th pick. Then they get the 25th as well (in the third round), but don't pick again until the 48th pick.

Teams are allowed and encouraged to wheel-n-deal with their draft picks on or before draft day, i.e. trading a 2nd round pick for both a 4th and 5th round pick from another team, etc. If a team does trade more picks than it receives, it can fill out the remaining roster spots after the draft is completed. If a team does not have enough players following the draft, those teams can systematically (if there is more than one team in this situation) select players from whoever has not been drafted after the 19 rounds, and then they'll have to make their team conform to the parameters set forth.

Each week, your team faces one other team (determined by the season schedule posted before the season starts), and every owner submits their starting rosters (the 9 positions defined below) prior to kickoff in that week's first game (usually Sundays, but sometimes Thursdays or Saturdays). The 9 starters each week are always in the same positional ratio: 1 QB, 2 RB's, 1 TE, 3 WR's, 1 K, 1 DF/ST.

These players earn points for their fantasy team through actual real-life scoring and yardage bonuses. The total points earned by those 9 players is that fantasy team's final score, and the winning team is determined by highest score between the two teams which faced each other. A tie is a tie.

Teams accrue win-loss records through the first 14 weeks of the regular season, and the top 6 teams face each other in the playoffs, which take place in weeks 15-17 of the NFL regular season.

During the regular season (covering the first 14 weeks of the NFL's 17 weeks), each team faces each divisional opponent twice, and every other team in the league once.

Once the playoffs begin, all regular season games are considered final. All statistical adjustments must be made prior to the playoffs.

The winners of each division, determined by the overall records within the division (and not merely the division record), get the first 3 seeds in the Ragnarok playoffs, which take place in weeks 15-17 of the NFL's regular season. This means that Team A with a 5-1 divisional record, 7-7 overall, would not beat Team B that had a 10-4 record but who's divisional record was 4-2 (the way it was prior to 2000). Team B would be the divisional champion.

Of the 9 teams remaining, the teams with the best 3 overall records reach the playoffs. The worst 6 teams in the league do not play in the official playoffs (though see the next paragraph). In case of a tie in determining what teams will make the playoffs, the total points scored throughout the season will be used as a tiebreaker (starters' points for each week, totaled). The second tie-breaker for this situation will be divisional record. The third tie-breaker will be the teams' head-to-head record. The fourth tie-breaker will be a vicious game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, 3 out of 5.

As in the NFL, every team enters the playoffs with a clean slate. In case of a tie in the playoffs, bench points are compared to come up with the winner in "overtime."

The six teams that missed the playoffs will face each other in the Loser Playoffs, which will determine their draft position for the following season. Just as the top 6 teams in the league are playing for their draft position, so shall the losers. This will take place over Weeks 15 and 16. Teams will be seeded according to their overall records, with the best team facing the worst in the first round.

Each team must have a hometown, and the schedule will comprise of a home-and-away format, with 7 home games and 7 away games. Three of those will be home divisional games, and 3 will be away divisional games.

The home team gets 2 bonus points to start the game with, reflecting their home-field advantage.

This format extends into the playoffs, and teams are now playing the regular season to establish home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Every game in the playoffs will be in the home-and-away system, with 2 points to the team with the better record, who will be playing in front of their home crowd.

In order to mix in a small element of a "Keeper League" and reward an owner's speculation for drafting a rookie, a new rule was instituted for the 1999 Draft. If a rookie was drafted in last year's draft, this year that owner may keep both their regular Franchise Player and that one rookie, IF they have kept the player on their roster at all times and give up their 2nd round pick in this year's Draft.

This same idea can be extended through that player's third season, as well, where the team owner can give up a first round pick in order to keep the same drafted-rookie player for the upcoming third year in a row, if that player has never left their roster.

Teams can give up their second round pick next year in order to keep a rookie that they had drafted this year. And then they can give up a first round pick two years down the road, in order to keep the player for their third year.

Again, the restrictions on the Rookie Rule are as follows:

* The player must be drafted by the same team that wishes to keep him.

* The player cannot leave that team's roster at any time, for any reason (Injured Reserve is a legal place, however).

* The player must be a true rookie in the NFL when drafted by a Ragnarok team.

Ragnarok allows for each team to designate one starting Running Back on their roster as their Mixed-Yardage Specialist).

A Mixed Yardage specialist totals their rushing and receiving yardage, and compares it to the Mixed Yardage Chart. This chart is balanced and weighted so as to penalize owners from just designating any running back as the Specialist. For example, if Marshall Faulk is declared as a Specialist, he would not earn as many points as if he was just a basic Running Back. In other words, it shouldn't be just a second-hand thought and an extra ability for some player to have. It is only be practical to designate a player who really does rely on a mix of running and receiving. There are a number of running backs in the league who have good receiving abilities which are utilized by their teams, and this would be one way to recognize those players.

Once the season begins, one extra slot becomes available for each team: Injured Reserve.

There are no longer any legal definitions for qualifying a player for IR, but it is now a one-way street, where any player placed on IR cannot be reactivated without cutting them first and trying to reacquire them through Free Agency.

This results in owners having to carefully consider placing a player on IR. If one player is on IR, and another player becomes injured and the owner would prefer to keep him instead, then the second player can take the place of the first, and the first IR player would be a Free Agent.

IR players can also be arbitrarily cut, and placed into Free Agency.

After the second game of the regular season, there will be a free agent list posted every week and all owners can look it over and bid on any player on the list, keeping in mind that the roster size is limited to 19 players and one IR spot. Free Agency is not open until after the second game (it used to be right away), as the intention of the Free Agency system is really set up to offer a slight advantage to the teams that need help (see bonus Free Agency Points, below).

All sealed bids have to be submitted by 8 p.m. on Wednesdays (sealed envelope or email), and phone submissions are accepted only between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The email is publicly opened in front of other owners, and all bids are resolved simultaneously. If a better system could be offered by anyone, please bring it up. The essential part of it is that all bids have to be submitted with secrecy, and all bids are simultaneously resolved.

On other important rule to stress is that all team rosters will be locked down for the 24 hours prior to the Free Agency bid. Ergo, no trades or cuts will be allowed from between 8 p.m. on Tuesday until after the Free Agency bidding is resolved (Wednesday night, usually 9 p.m.). This is so everyone will have an understanding of the needs and thus drafting strategies of each team, which will affect bidding.

In order to implement the new system in such a way in which it can be used for teams that need help, and thus allow it to be used to elevate the competitiveness of our league, teams will immediately receive ten bonus FAP points for each defeat suffered by their team, or 5 points for a tie.

For example, if a team loses their first two games of the season, then they would have 120 FAP's to spend going into the first Free Agency period, while a team that has gone 2-0 would have 100 FAP's to spend.

Every team's FAP's will be posted online, so that all teams will have an understanding of all other owners' capabilities during Free Agency bidding procedures.

At the beginning of the season, each owner will have 100 Free Agency Points. When an owner sees a free agent which they wish to acquire, they will submit a secret bid for that player, complete with how many Free Agency Points they are willing to spend in order to get that player. The highest bidder gets the player; in case of a tie, the team with the worse record gains the player. If there is still a tie, then both teams can submit another round of secret and simultaneous bidding. If a tie is still the result, then the tie-breakers go as follows: worst total points by starting lineups thus far, worst divisional record, and finally a brutal game of rock-paper-scissors.

Free Agency Points can be traded amongst teams.

Owners can bid on as many players as they would like, but keep in mind the following important considerations:

The total number of FAP's that are bid cannot exceed the total amount of FAP's held. One cannot bid "20 points on Alfred Pupunu, only if my 40 points on Mathew Hatchette is unsuccessful."
For every player that is bid upon, a player has to be designated as being the one that is being cut. This is a mere 1 to 1 correspondence for the number of players that would be cut, but this information can be presented in list form; the players to be cut don't have to be linked to specific acquisitions, though that is an acceptable form, as well.
All roster acquisitions performed through free agency have to remain on the roster for two weeks. They cannot be traded or waived for two weeks, though they can be placed on Injured Reserve.
The respective FAP's are deducted from that owner's total, and once spent, those FAP's are gone forever. This system forces owners to carefully consider any roster movements or changes, and it will add a heck of alot of spice to the inter-owner strategies throughout the season.

All trades are pretty much legal but are subject to a Fairness Committee vote if one is called for. Teams are not allowed to "loan" or "trade for a day" players to other teams. Trading can begin July 15 (even though at that time teams only have 1 player, their Franchise Player. Keep in mind that whenever a player is acquired, they must remain on the destination roster for two NFL weeks.

Teams are also be able to include Megabucks as part of a trade.