Rookie Guide (START HERE)

[SwagSloth]

Welcome to the International Simulation Football League!

If you haven't already, please join our league discord here!

Our Rookie Discord is here! Please post in Role Request to get your exclusive Rookie Role!

Table of Contents

Creating and Improving your player (START HERE)

Applying TPE/Updating your player

Earning and Spending league cash

Player Retirement

Important Links

FAQs

LEAGUE OVERVIEW

The ISFL is a player-based sim league. Each team is comprised of players created by real people, who have complete control of their skills, player type, and career choices. Each season, these teams face off in competition. The games are simulated using Draft Day Sports Pro Football 2021 and broadcast on YouTube.

Once a player is created, they will have the opportunity to rise from rookie status to become a veteran superstar. Your player will start off in our development league, the DSFL, and have a chance to prove themselves before being drafted by one of the 14 existing ISFL teams. Once drafted by an ISFL team, the player will join the drafting team for 3 seasons before getting the opportunity to continue with their original team or sign with a new one. Just like the NFL, ISFL players negotiate with interested teams and can participate in Free Agency. For more info detailing our rules, please refer to our Official ISFL Rulebook.

If you need any assistance or have any questions while going through this process, please feel free to contact one of our Rookie Mentors for help.


As recorded by our very own @ElvinEnchant we have a visual aid for those that prefer to watch, rather than read, when it comes to getting started. Of course, you'll still want to at least skim the rookie guide, and perhaps the rulebook, but this is a great place to begin.

Good luck, rookie! 

[TeyonSchavari]

CREATING A PLAYER

1. Head to the Create a Player section and create a “New Topic” titled after your player. The format will be: (Draft Year) – Player Name – Position Abbreviation. (Example: (S6) – Michael Johnson – LB).

2. Choose an archetype / specialization. The positions and their corresponding archetypes can be found HERE in the Player Templates. Once you make your choice, copy the archetype form from the correct position thread and paste it into the new topic you are creating.

NOTE: If you’d like, take a moment and check out the Position Tracker so that you can see which positions are in high demand. You are granted 1 free position switch while you are in the DSFL, so don’t stress too much over your choice.

3. Each new player is given 50 TPE to start out with. You cannot lower any of the starting values of your stats when creating a player.
The ISFL uses TPE to track the points you earn to improve your player.

Speed is the most important stat to increase for most positions, but it is recommended to check how important each stat is for your position in the linked document HERE.

4. Post the topic - this will be your player page. This page is used for rostering purposes, so you will not need to update it after creation. After posting, a rookie mentor will let you know if you need to fix anything. If all looks good, they will send you an approval message outlining the next steps you will need to take, and from that point you will be able to start earning TPE! An example of a player page can be found HERE.

37thchamber's Player Builder Form is also available to help guide you through making your first player. While you wait for approval, we encourage you to continue reading!

NOTES:
Quarterbacks: Unlike RB or TE, which can also see play at FB or WR, each team only needs one QB, so players at this position will need an extremely high level of dedication and activity to earn/keep a starting job. If you are not experienced in sim leagues like this one, you may not fully understand the level of activity a starting QB is required to have. We recommend that new players try out a different position for your first player unless you're willing to take on a large commitment with your first creation.
Offensive Line: OL has a special position swap rule: you may swap positions at any point in your career for free, and you may redistribute 75% of TPE rather than 50%. So, if you’d like to try it out, go for it!

IMPROVING YOUR PLAYER

Over the course of your career, your player will receive a resource known as TPE (Training Points Earned), which is used to increase your attributes over time. This resource is awarded through point tasks and activities.

As your attributes increase, though, they will require more TPE to upgrade. Refer to the update scale below to see how much TPE you must spend to upgrade an attribute.

0-50 - costs 1 TPE to go up 1 point

50-70 - costs 2 TPE to go up 1 point

70-80 - costs 5 TPE to go up 1 point

80-90 - costs 10 TPE to go up 1 point

90-95 - costs 15 TPE to go up 1 point

96-100 - costs 25 TPE to go up 1 point

For example, let’s say you want to increase your player’s Agility. It’s currently at 40. Increasing it to 50 only requires 10 TPE. However, if you then wanted to increase it to 60, the next 10 points would cost 20 TPE. These diminishing returns represent the difficulty required to continue to increase these stats over time. Much like real life, it’s easier to improve at something early on, but it gets tougher over time. The best players in each attribute category work hard to reach that level and tend to stand out because of it.

After your character is created and approved, their page will be moved to the Prospect Roster and later to the corresponding team’s roster page once you are acquired by a team. Once this occurs, you will have the chance to earn new TPE through various activities, such as:

- Activity Checks – Post your name in the weekly activity check thread for easy TPE.
- Point Tasks - Briefly write about a topic or create a related graphic before the deadline.
- Game Predictions – Predict the winner of season games. If you’re right, you receive TPE for it!

[TeyonSchavari]

APPLYING TPE / UPDATING YOUR PLAYER

Of course, once you earn TPE, you’ll want to spend it. Players will be given a roster page, which tracks your updated attributes and player information. You will also create an update page, which you will use to link newly earned TPE and either spend it on attribute increases and/or “bank” it for later use. Once your update is posted, a league member known as an Updater will apply the attribute changes and any banked TPE to your player’s Roster page on the following Saturday, so that you can easily keep track of your progress.

HERE is the forum where you will create your update thread by selecting "New Topic" and copy in the info from your selected archetype template marked --copy into update thread-- Next, follow the instructions in the linked PDF below:

How to Update

Once you have created an update post you can edit the same post to add more links to TPE you've earned. Every week one of the updaters will come along and record your updates for the person in charge of simming the games. They will leave a reply that they have updated you. After an updater has recorded your updates you will begin a new update post by replying to your original thread. This can be seen in the example thread. Make sure to create a new reply for each new update instead of editing an old post, so that the Updater can reference past updates for comparison.

[TeyonSchavari]

EARNING AND SPENDING LEAGUE CASH

The league also allows players to earn and spend cash to help improve their attributes. This is not to be confused with real money, only in-game cash. (No micro-transactions in the ISFL.)

While your player is signed to a team, you will receive payment (agreed upon in negotiation) at the start of each season. In addition to that, there are also several other ways to earn money:
- Performing a league job (Official Job List)
- Writing articles and/or completing pressers (Q&As) in the Media Section
- Recording podcasts in the Podcast Section
- Creating graphics for yourself and other players in the Graphics Section
- Posting tweets from your ISFL Player’s twitter account

The best way to earn money is to produce media or graphics at a consistent pace. Once you've found a way to earn money someone will deposit that into the bank in your name. The ISFL bank is located HERE. All deposits are made available, so that everything can easily be tracked and verified. The Bank Spreadsheet is also available if you want to view your player’s current balance.

The most common use for cash earned in the league is weekly training, which allows you to spend money to earn additional TPE. Your player can only participate in training once each week. You may spend $500,000 to add 3 TPE or $1,000,000 to add 5 TPE. For first time players, your first training is free HERE.

Another common use for cash is purchasing equipment. There are several different types of equipment available each can be purchased once per season. Equipment is laid out in tiers, with higher tiers offering more TPE for a steeper price. The full list of available Equipment purchases and their associated tiers can be found HERE.

To put in a request for a Training or Equipment purchase (or any other transaction), locate your team’s Transaction page by clicking HERE and then post in the correct thread.

For example:
“Withdraw $1 mil for +5 Weekly Training”

Once the post is made, someone from the league will verify that you have enough cash for the purchase and add a “Processed” note to your post. Note that you may go into debt up to $2,000,000. If you do not have enough cash for a purchase, but do have media coming in from completed media or graphics, you may also make a note about that in order to get the withdrawal processed faster.

[TeyonSchavari]

PLAYER RETIREMENT

Retirement is a long way off, so if you’d like, you may skip this section. Of course, regression is part of any athlete’s career. Some step down before it starts to show, but every athlete starts to show wear and tear at some point. In the ISFL, players are penalized by age, but they start to lose TPE after the end of their 7th season. The first season that you are drafted by a DSFL or ISFL team will count as your first season, so if you join up after a draft and join a team via the waivers, you will not be penalized for it. At the start of the 8th season and onward, you will have to deduct a percentage of your total earned TPE from your existing.

7th season 20% TPE loss

8th season 25% TPE loss

9th season 30% TPE loss

10th season 40% TPE loss

11th season 50% TPE loss

12th season 75% TPE loss

13th season 75% TPE loss

14th season 75% TPE loss

15th season 75% TPE loss (final season)

When you are ready to retire, you will make a post in the Retirement Section. Players that retire can continue to play for their team until the end of the season. Once you retire a player, you may create a new player and start a new career. You retain any League Cash, but any unspent TPE from the previous character does not move to the new character.

[TeyonSchavari]

Useful Links

Activity Checks

Bank Accounts

Create a Player

Equipment Information

Free Agent Update Section

ISFL YouTube (Game Channel)

Official Job List

Player Archetype Templates

Player Builder Form (Credit to 37thChamber)

Point Tasks

Position Tracker

Same IP Thread

TPE Tracker

Team Transactions Section

Update Tool

Additional Links

Official League Rules

The ISFL Twitch Channel (Past Streams)

[TeyonSchavari]

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make more than one character?
- No. Only one player and account per person. This is known as a “multi” and is against league rules.

What if I create a character during the season? Will I have to wait until next season to start playing?
- If your player is created after the ISFL draft for the current season has occurred, you will still be available to play and will be entered into the waiver system. If a team opts to pick you up off waivers, you will be placed on that team under a 1-season contract and still participate in the following season’s draft.

Am I restricted to only playing my chosen position?
- Please note that selecting a position does limit where you can play. The ISFL allows some players to play out of position (more information can be found in the rule book),  but you will be limited by your archetype still even if you are playing a different position.

Can I claim TPE from an activity as soon as I complete it?
- Activity checks and training/equipment purchases can be claimed immediately. However, most tasks, such the Point Tasks and Game Predictions, require a mod to grade and/or verify completion. Our league officials regularly post “Claim Threads” which award points to players for completing the associated task. Always wait for a claim thread to be posted before claiming the reward from that task. These are usually posted within a few days of the deadline is met.

Another player and I share an IP address, but we are different people? What can we do to make league officials aware of this, so one of us doesn’t appear to be a multi account?
- This can be common if you share a router with someone (roommate, family, etc.) or if you use the same network as another member (work, school, etc.). Fortunately, we have a thread for tracking shared IP addresses. Simply post HERE detailing who you share your IP address with, your connection to that person, and the scenario that causes you to share (We live together, work together, etc.). All users are expected to post here within the first week of account creation if you expect to share an IP address. Failure to post here if you are aware of a shared IP could lead to issues later and is not recommended.

For the purpose of “weekly” activities, when does the league week start and end?
- League weeks end on Saturdays. At 12:01 AM PST on Sunday a new league week starts. All Time-Zone usages otherwise shall be assumed to utilize the standard EST zone unless specifically specified in the given rule or definition.