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RuneScape is a 3D Java based massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), launched by Jagex Ltd. on January 5 2001. For a full history see History and Development.

The game has a medieval fantasy theme similar to games such as Ultima Online or EverQuest but often with a less serious tone. One of the more unusual aspects of the game is the ability to do more mundane and non-violent tasks, as well as the more usual RPG fare.

There are often over 100,000 players online at once, and on busy weekends, over a hundred and thirty thousand players, spread across its 80+ servers. These servers are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands, making it one of the largest online Java games in the world. There are also a few servers running the "classic" version of the game (split between free and pay servers).

Overview

The game is set in a fantasy world, where each player controls his or her own avatar. There is no overall objective or end to the game aside from becoming more skilled at certain activities.

Story

While there is no truly continuous storyline in RuneScape, it does have an extensive history and many developments are made on this overall as the game progresses. Much of this information is unlocked throughout quests. Most of the quests are simply various tasks set upon by various people in the world in which RuneScape is played in is known as "Gielinor", although this name is commonly ignored; the land is generally just called RuneScape. Gielinor is a vast landscape with varying climates. Characters can travel in the pleasant countrysides of the kingdom of Asgarnia, the hellish deserts of Al Kharid, the cold mountains of Trollheim, the underground Dwarven kingdom of Keldagrim, the Northern settlements of Relleka, the swamps of Morytania, the elven forests of Tirannwn and, if one dares, the barren wastelands known only as the Wilderness where anything goes. A multitude of races live in these climates including Gnomes, Dwarves, Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Elves, the ghosts of souls yet to pass into the next world, and even entire cities of apes. While there are many gods in the world of Gielinor and beyond, many are forgotten in the annals of history, and the three most commonly worshipped today are Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak. Saradomin is considered the god of holiness, and all things good; Zamorak the god of chaos, and Guthix, the god of balance. Gielinor is not the only plane in RuneScape; Freneskae, Zanaris, and the abyss also exist. Freneskae is the realm from which the Majharrat tribe, the tribe from which Zamorak and several other less than friendly deities arose, came. Zanaris is a crossroads plane, and the abyss is the stuff between planes. The interactions of the gods from these various planes and the mortals lead to quests series which provides what storyline structure RuneScape has.

RuneScape humor

While there is plenty of serious content in RuneScape, there are also lots of quirky and humorous things going on too. Some of the more unusual things include the ability to cook a variety of types of pizzas; pick bananas on a banana plantation; hold parties with balloons; play with yo-yos, spinning saucers, and toy horses; whacking others with rubber chickens; raising a pet cat which can then perform activities such as catching rats; and duelling other players with a rubber chicken or a bunch of flowers. Around Easter 2005 players had the chance to catch up with the fast-moving giant Easter Bunny (a character no longer present in the game) and receive a rubber chicken. In addition, if one searches a haystack, one will eventually find a needle. One can also "examine" certain items or people to discover amusing results. For instance, when one examines the Head Chef in the cooking guild, the game prints "Despite his name, he in fact only rarely cooks heads." When one examines the Examiner, the game prints "Upon examining the Examiner, you examine that he is indeed the Examiner." There are also various amusing 'emotes' your character can perform, including 'dance', 'panic', 'jump for joy', 'glass wall', 'cry' and 'blow kiss'.

There are also a lot of quests which have humorous parts:

• A quest to turn Ernest the chicken back into human form by repairing the poultrifcation machine.
• A quest that involves players shooting their characters into a rock.
• A quest to get some goblins to pick their armor color, and they finally settle on the original color as being best.
• A quest which requires the player to get very drunk on a large barcrawl.
• A quest to catch a wizard's pet scorpions.
• Bob the Jagex Cat, a black cat that wanders around the world and when spoken to hints at being an ancient almighty god.
• Turning into a monkey and therefore being able to communicate with others of your kind.
• A quest involving shooting frogs out of a handheld cannon.

Starting out in the game

A new player in RuneScape starts out on Tutorial Island. Although it may seem boring to some, Jagex has determined this to be imperative to understanding future gameplay and stops people from creating huge numbers of low level characters. While on Tutorial Island, players learn about gameplay, controls, combat, communication, banking, completing quests, and other skills. Once a player has completed the tasks on Tutorial Island, they are teleported to the city of Lumbridge. From then on, players can upgrade their characters in any fashion they desire. They can travel around the character's world between cities such as Varrock, Falador, Port Sarim, etc. Players can also travel around by raising their magic skill to a level high enough to perform a teleport to some of these major cities. In RuneScape, the goal is for players to develop their character by raising skills, completing quests, et cetera. RuneScape also has a highscores list where one can view the best 500,000 players overall and also those who excel in a particular skill (must be over level 30 in the skill).

Combat

Combat is an important aspect of the game, and killing monsters is one of most direct ways of gaining wealth. Combat is also needed to complete many of the quests, and can be used to fight other players.

There are 3 main types of combat in RuneScape: melee, ranged, and magic.

Melee: To do melee attacks, use weapons such as swords, maces, etc. Players must train their attack, strength and defence. The attack stat determines the chance of making a hit, whilst strength determines the maximum damage a player can do. Defence will determine how often a player is damaged. Attack also lets players wield stronger types of weaponry as their attack level increases. Defence also lets players wear stronger types of armor or shields as their defence level gets stronger. Melee attacks are most effective against ranged players.

Ranged: To do ranged attacks, use a bow and arrows,darts,throwing knives, throwing axes, or one of the other various archery weapons in the game. Players must train their ranged stat, which determines the chance of a hit and the maximum damage done by a hit. Using stronger ammo can raise the amount of damage. Ranged type attacks are most powerful against mages.

Magic: To do magic, use runes. Players must train their magic stat. The higher the stat, the greater the number of spells available and the greater the likelihood that they will succeed. Magic can also be used to teleport to locations far away at higher levels, or enchant amulets and magic rings for enhancing abilities. In the new RuneScape (RuneScape 2), missile spells can fail but the number of magic experience points received from these spells is identical to that received if the missile spell had not failed. In the original version of RuneScape (known today as RuneScape Classic), missile spells that failed did not yield any magic experience points to the caster, but to compensate for this, successful spells would yield more magic experience points than in the current RuneScape 2. Magical attacks are most effective against people in metal armor.

RuneScape has a 'combat triangle', which is intended to stop any one class becoming dominant. Magic will tend to beat melee, ranged will tend to beat magic, and melee will tend to beat ranged. However it is often argued that the triangle becomes unbalanced at times. Continuing updates attempt to address this problem with varying success.

All three combat types also rely on the player's defence and hitpoints stats. The defence stat determines how likely one is to block an incoming attack, whereas hitpoints determine how much damage that can be taken before dying. The prayer stat, while seeming subtle at first, can turn the tide in a fight. Prayers such as the protection spells can render a person invulnerable to enemy attack, and they provide numerous protections.

And of course in addition to that which equipment a player is holding, the potions they have drunk, how much food they have, and countless other factors all combine to determine who will win the battle.

A player's 'overall combat level' is derived from the 7 stats mentioned above: attack, strength, defence, hitpoints, magic, prayer, and ranged. The combat level is designed to indicate a players overall strength and is also used to decide which players can fight each other to stop for example, very high level players preying on very new players. The maximum combat in RuneScape Classic is 123 (123.75 including decimal levels), and the maximum in RuneScape 2 is 126 although this can only be achieved by players with a prayer level of at least 98, as increasing the prayer level periodically raises combat level.

Player vs Player combat

Players cannot normally fight with each other in most areas of the map. There are however three different areas where player vs player combat is allowed in RuneScape, each with different rules and properties.

The Wilderness

For a long time the only way to fight other players was to visit the Wilderness. The Wilderness is a large area of map located in northern RuneScape. The Wilderness has great rewards, but also great risks. The Wilderness is the most hostile of the PvP types available because players can be attacked unexpectedly and if killed, will lose all but their most valuable items. Exactly how many items kept when killed depends on a player's prayer settings and whether they have attacked another player recently. Killing another player in this area is referred to as PKing (Player Killing). As one gets deeper into the Wilderness they can fight with other players further and further away from their combat level which makes it more dangerous. Half of the wilderness only allows 1-on-1 battles, whilst the other half allows multi-way combat and potentially huge team based wars.

Duelling Arena

The Duelling Arena is only available to subscribers. Located in the Al-Kharid desert it allows a more formal fight where the players can pre-agree the exact terms of combat, and what items will be gambled. It is possible to change a large number of settings to restrict exactly which items and combat styles are required, and players can choose either to duel for fun (in which case no items change hands), or to wager items which the winner will receive. Because of the option to limit the risk to a level of a player's choosing, this way of testing a player's combat prowess against other is popular with many players.

Castle Wars

• See main article: Castle Wars

Skills

• See main article: RuneScape skills

Skills are abilities that enable players to perform activities in the game. Some skills are available only to members and some skills are only present in newer versions of the game. Many of the high-level abilities in each skill are reserved for members only. Players gain experience in a skill when they perform activities that utilize that skill, for instance mining a rock would raise the mining skill. A player's level of experience determines the level of that skill. New abilities are given to the player when they reach certain levels. Higher-level abilities in turn give more experience to compensate for the roughly exponential increase in experience points needed to reach each new level.

As in a number of games, some players chose to focus on improving themselves in a small number of skills. Players who train only one or a few related stats that affect combat level are known as "pure". Some people may have multiple accounts, one or more of which is a "pure account". The purpose of pure accounts is to try to be the same level as an enemy, or a lower level, but specialize in dealing a lot more damage, which is especially helpful in player vs player combat.

Game economy

• See main article: RuneScape economy

History and Development

Version 1

Developer started work on the original game in 1998. This version was very different to the RuneScape of today. It had isometric graphics and was titled 'DeviousMUD'. This version was never released to the public, and only a few people ever saw it. It featured the town of Lumbridge and was an all player vs player zone.

Version 2

Developer scrapped version 1 and started work on a complete rewrite in 1999. Despite being a complete rewrite, this version was very similar to version 1 with the same graphics and name. This version was released as a public beta for only about one week, and then withdrawn again.

Version 3

Developer started yet again with a third attempt starting on October 1999. This time the isometric view was replaced in favor of 3D graphics and 2D sprites. The game was renamed RuneScape and released to the public on January 5, 2001. This version is still online today but has been renamed RuneScape Classic when Version 4 was released on March 17, 2004.

Members launch

On February 27, 2002, Jagex launched a new optional 'members service'. This allows players to pay $5 USD a month to obtain access to new quests, features and skills. Paying members have a far greater choice of things to do, but it is still possible to play the game for free, and there is in fact still more free content available than ever before. Whilst not a new version as such (the game still ran on the same version 3 engine), this did significantly change the focus of the game.

Version 4

Developer went for yet another complete rewrite. Version 4 changes the graphics to full 3D and has many other significant improvements. Whilst in development this version was called RuneScape 2, but when launched was just called RuneScape. An incomplete beta of this version was available to members on December 1, 2003, and then the finished version was launched on March 17, 2004. This is the current version of the game being promoted by Jagex. This is the version most people think of when one says RuneScape.

Community

Players of RuneScape represent a wide range of nationalities, genders and ages. However, the user base is predominantly English speaking because the game itself is currently only available in English.

Most players play the game fairly casually, spending a few hours a week playing, however it is not uncommon for a dedicated player to spend in excess of four hours a day training his character. There are, however, a few rare cases of players regularly spending over ten hours a day online.

Clans

Players often band together to form groups known as 'clans'. Many clans are just groups of friends who help each other in the game, have in-game parties and organize events. Others are more focused on player vs player combat, and form armies to gain an advantage when PKing (Player Killing) in the wilderness. These clans often form and break alliances with each other, and fight each other in large clan wars to see which clan is the best. The clan pictured to the right is The Moriquendi who are fighting The Unbreakables.

Some clans are short lived, lasting just a month due to wars, in-fighting among members, and inactivity. Some do grow over time and flourish as new members join. It is certain that there are now more than 1,000 clans in RuneScape.

The game currently has no formal support for forming clans of players, aside from the special wilderness garments which stop a player from attacking someone wearing the same type of cape and the "clan recruitment" and "clan discussion" forums of the official RuneScape message board. It is very difficult to obtain enough of the same kind of cape to support a huge clan besides the recent addition of 50 team capes brought throughout the wilderness. A developer news post in 2004 did hint at the possibility of a proper clan system being added in the future. A brief history of clans can be found at RuneScape Clan History according to TimmyMWD.

Drop Parties

Occasionally, players host drop parties. They may be quitting, trying to clear out space in their bank, or just feeling generous with their items. Parties are sometimes advertised on forums so that more people are there. They drop the items and the people try to get them. The first drop parties were in fact scams. The hosts of these drop parties wanted other people to drop items without dropping anything themselves. Drop parties are now much safer thanks to the drop party hall in Seers Village. People put items in a chest and pull a lever (this costs 1,000 gold pieces) and the items will fly out of the chest inside balloons.

Quests

Quests in RuneScape are one-time adventures which serve a variety of purposes. The novice quests act as tutorials to get new users acquainted with the various skills and abilities as well as giving them some extra money. More difficult quests serve as a rite of passage which test the player's and their character's abilities. All quests include some kind of reward such as money, rare/valuable items, or an increase in abilities. Some quests are part of an overlapping storyline. Each quest also awards a certain number of quest points. Thirty-two quest points will grant access to the Champions' Guild. The members-only Hero's (55 quest points required to start) and Legend's (107 required) quests grant access to their respective guilds upon completion. Quests can be found all over the map, in the game's three kingdoms of Misthalin, Asgarnia and Kandarin, as well as some even more distant lands.

Graphics

The graphics of RuneScape, while not revolutionary on the whole, are of good quality for a freely available Java game. The latest version of the game is rendered in complete 3D. A lot of emphasis has been placed on allowing players to customize their character. Players are given a wide choice in creating character models, from hairstyle to facial features and gender. Additionally, appearance can be further optimized by wearing/holding different items, with each different weapon having a unique image. Once the game has started, players can change their character's appearance in total at the hairdressers in Falador, or the clothes shop in Varrock. Gender and skin can be changed by the Makeover Mage southwest of Falador. There are also many different animations in the game for the variety of things one can do from combat, to magic, to the various quests. The game can be run on high or low detail level. While high detail gives different things more texture or design, low detail gives everything a cleaner cut look, and reduces in-game latency. The female characters of RuneScape have recently had a facelift, and now are more distinguishable from the male characters. The females are also given more clothing to choose from. In addition to this, certain Members Quests have cinematics, not nearly as high quality as from games such as World of Warcraft, but still relatively good.

Random events

A variety of random events can take place in the game. Jagex maintains that this is to help prevent macro programs. They can also add variety to some of the more repetitive activities in the game.

Players must respond to most of these in the correct manner or will receive a negative effect (such as being teleported across the map) Some of these negative effects can be quite annoying, but most can be easily avoided if players are paying attention. Some random events will also give players a reward if they react appropriately. The random events which give rewards are generally far more popular. Some players dislike random events which can give penalties but no rewards and consider them annoying hindrances.

The following is a list of the different random events in the game at the time of writing.

Guardians

Guardian random events are quite dangerous and annoying; they include the River Troll, Rock Golem, Watchman, Zombie, Tree Spirit, and Shade NPCs. River Trolls generally attack when players have been fishing in the same place for a long time. Tree spirits and Rock Golems may rise when woodcutting or mining. Tree Spirits can attack even if the player is not cutting wood but happens to click on the tree. Zombies and Shades may rise when a lot of bones have been buried. Guardian monsters are always considerably tougher compared to the player they are attacking, but their loot might be worth fighting for.

Annoying

Some random events monsters are simply annoying. Examples include the Swarm of Insects (only escapable by fleeing; otherwise the swarm attacks the player until she/he dies), a tree changing into an Ent (causes hatchet to break, but can be fixed by Bob in Lumbridge), finding a Whirlpool in the water (only high level players can fish in these), a Smoking Rock (mining such a rock will cause an explosion which injures the character and breaks the pickaxe, but the pickaxe may be fixed by the pickaxe merchant Nurmof in the Dwarven Mine), Poison Gas which deals damage to players while thieving from chests, and big fish which steals the player's fishing equipment.

Inconveniences

Random breakage of equipment, such as pickaxes when mining and hatchets when woodcutting, are another type of random events that are simply inconveniences. Players can generally avoid these by not mining a smoking rock, not trying to cut down an Ent, or not fishing where there is a Whirlpool or Big Fish. Damaged equipment is easily repaired though, either by player himself or by visiting certain NPCs with the required skill. Pickaxes can be fixed by "Bob" in the Dwarven Mines and "Nurmof" at "Nurmof's Axes" inLumbridge can repair hatchets that were broken by trying to chop down an Ent. When fixing items, a small cost is incurred based on the value of the equipment. Split hatchet and pickaxe heads can be fixed by using the shaft with the head.

Teleporting

Sometimes, the Mysterious Old Man will appear, and teleport a player to a special location. In order to return, a player must accomplish a given task, such as mimicking a mime or navigating through a maze as fast as possible. A generous gift or special ability (such as a brand new emote) is granted for the accomplishment.

The Genie also teleports the player if the player hasn't talked to him to get his lamp. He will also drop all items that are on the player, including those that are wielded, randomly across the area.

Gift Givers

Some random events consist of characters that simply give gifts. For example, a Drunk Dwarf may appear with beer and kebab, Genie with a magic lamp and the Mysterious Old Man with a strange box. If ignored, even gift givers can hurt a player (Dwarves), or teleport him to a random location on a map (Genies and Mysterious Men).

When a lamp is rubbed, a menu with all of the available stats is opened, and the player can choose what skill they wish to gain experience in. The player will gain an amount of experience points (xp) equal to 10 times the player's skill level in that skill. Note that people playing the free version may not choose to advance member's stats with such a lamp.

The Mysterious Old Man's strange box is a special item, since it can multiply when unattended. Unless a player opens the box and solves the riddle inside, their entire inventory might fill up with boxes. Once all the boxes have been cleared, a small gift is given, usually an uncut gem, an uncut diamond if lucky (or in member's case, a half-key or a cosmic talisman), but only a small sum of money when unlucky.

Weapons

There are a number of weapons available in RuneScape.

Ranged Weapons

Bows and Arrows

Bows are the most popular ranged weapons in RuneScape, and the only ones that can be used by nonmembers are the bow and arrows. Both of these can be fletched by members. Nonmembers can buy bows in the archery shop in Varrock and in Rimmington (or from other players). Arrows can be bought from these stores or received from monster drops.

The following are the types of bows (with ranged level requirements in parenthesis and italicized bows being members only):

• Long/short bow (level 1),
• Oak long/short bow (level 5),
• Willow long/short bow (level 20),
• Maple long/short bow (level 30),
• Yew long/short bow (level 40),
• Magic long/short bow (level 50; both with special attacks),

The arrows are identified by the metal their heads are made of. They do not have ranged level requirements, but the better arrows can only be used by the better bows (all arrows are non-members except rune arrows):

• Bronze arrows (can be used with any bow)
• Iron arrows (can be used with any bow)
• Steel arrows (must be used with oak bow or better)
• Mithril arrows (must be used with willow bow or better)
• Adamant arrows (must be used with maple bow or better)
• Rune arrows (must be used with yew bow or better)

Brutal arrows

After completing the Zogre Flesh Eaters quest you can make brutal arrows. They are a new type of arrow with a crushing attack.

Ogre bows and Arrows

You can get and ogre bow and ogre arrow after completing the chompy bird hunting quest. Also after completing the zogre quest you can make composite ogre bows.

Crystal bow

The Crystal bow can be bought after completing the Roving Elves quest. The Crystal bow takes no arrows, but rather is bought with 2,500 magical charges and requires both 70 range and 50 agility to wield. When the charges are used up, the bow reverts to a seed that can be recharged from where you bought it (in Tirannwn) for a fee. Everytime you recharge the bow, the fee decreases, but it levels off after the fifth recharge. The more shots used, the less powerful the bow becomes. The bow is useful for training quickly, but it is expensive, and because of the cost of the bow, it is rarely used in the wilderness. However, with the recent introduction of the new mage spells, it may prove more useful.

Crossbows (bolts)

Crossbows aren't used often because they are not nearly as fast or accurate as bows. However, they can be advantageous when fighting dragons as they are one-handed (whereas bows are two-handed) and allow you to hold an anti-dragonfire shield. There are only three types of crossbows (each available to nonmembers) and all can bought from Lowe's archery store in Varrock:

• Crossbow
• Phoenix Crossbow (used in the Shield of Arrav quest; it has the same attack bonus, but some players claim that it is more powerful than the normal crossbow)
• Karil's crossbow is one of the most powerful ranged weapon in runescape. It is part of a barrows equipment set. It requires bolt racks to work.

Only normal bolts are available to nonmembers, but members can attach bolt tips to the bolts to make them more powerful. All bolts can be used at any ranged level:

• Bolts
• Opal bolts (Opal bolt tips can be received from using a chisel on a cut opal; Opals are mined from gem rocks in Shilo Village, pickpocketed from ham members and dug up/panned from the digsite)
• Pearl bolts (Pearl Bolt tips can be received from using a chisel on pearls; Pearls can be caught while fishing with a big net.
• Barbed bolts (Barbed bolt tips can be bought from the ticket merchant in Hemenster's range guild)
• Bolt racks (these only work with Karil's crossbow)

One-handed weapons

One-handed ranged weapons are basically the "miscellaneous" weapons. They are all members only and one-handed so a shield or prayer book can be wielded:

Throwing knives

Throwing knives can be made of bronze, iron, steel, black (only dropped by Shadow Warriors and Imperial Guard), mithril, adamant, and rune. These weapons can also be made by players. They can be tipped with poison to increase lethality.

Darts

Darts can be made (by players who have completed the Tourist Trap quest as well) of bronze, iron, steel, mithril, adamant, and rune. They can be poisoned as well.

Javelins

Javelins can be made of bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, and rune. Javelins can be found as drops from dead monsters and can also be purchased inside the ranged guild.

Throwing axes

Throwing axes can be made of bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, and rune. They can be bought from a shop in the rangers guild.

Dwarf Cannon

The Dwarf Cannon is by far the most unique weapon in RuneScape. To use it, you must have completed the Dwarf Cannon quest. The cannon consists of four parts (base, stand, barrel, furnace) and uses cannonballs as ammo. The complete cannon can be bought from the dwarves after the quest. A cannonball mold can be bought at the entrance to the Dwarven Mine and is used to make cannonballs. Cannonballs are made from steel bars and each bar makes 4 balls.

To use the cannon, a player must set up all four pieces on the floor and load it with up to 30 cannonballs. The cannon will rotate, attacking all monsters in range. This feature is very useful in multi-combat areas. When in single combat areas, the cannon will fire at the monster shooting at the player who set up the cannon, but only if the monster is in the cannon's firing path. In some positions the cannon cannot fire because of the angle, or often because there is something obstructing its path. If the player is not in combat as the cannon fires, the cannon will fire as if it was in multi combat. The player must frequently refill the cannon with cannonballs since it fires so quickly. This can sometimes be annoying and seem expensive (as cannonballs cost a good amount if not smithed yourself) but it is known as the quickest way to gain ranged experience. Many players consider the Multi-Cannon to be a powerful weapon that requires a lot of time and/or money to maintain.

The cannon also takes up a lot of room and often requires a big empty spot to set up at. It cannot be set up at certain places, either, such as both the slayer cave and castle, and in other areas such as the bar in Canifis.

Melee weapons

Melee weapons are used for hand to hand combat. How effectively a player uses a melee weapon is governed by their attack and strength skills. The following are not all of the melee weapons (as many unrelated objects, such as a rubber chickens, can be used as weapons) but these are the most commonly used. Some weapons, such as dragon weapons, granite mauls and abyssal whips exhibit special attacks that allow a user to perform such effects as hitting twice in one turn or stunning an opponent.

Daggers

Daggers are the cheapest, most basic melee weapons in RuneScape. They also have the fastest attack rate. Nonmembers can use bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant and rune daggers, while n00bs can poison their daggers which leaves a lingering effect on the victim. n00bs can also use dragon daggers. Dragon daggers can be bought in Zanaris (requires a diamond to enter the area) after completing the Lost City quest and are often used as a backup weapon for rangers and mages in the Wilderness. The special of the dragon dagger hits twice in quick succession.

Note that the dagger uses stab as its main combat functions, while when the special is used the dagger uses slash.

Swords and Scimitars

Swords and Scimitars are slashing weapons that hit fairly fast and slash well. Long swords do the most damage out of the three, but are also the slowest. Swords and scimitars hit fairly quickly, but the longsword does more damage then the scimitar.

The scimitar is the most popular weapon in the free to play worlds, because it has a good balance of power and speed. However, Jagex is moving towards a balance between the weapons so that each is equally useful in training against NPCs and in the wilderness. Scimitars will still stay most popular though, as rune scimitars are a semi-rare drop from Fire Giants and there is an over-abundance of them in the economy.

Nonmembers can use bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant and rune swords, long swords and scimitars, while members can use dragon variations of the long sword and the scimitar. Dragon Long Swords can be bought in Zanaris after completing the Lost City quest and until recently were the most widely used melee weapon in the wilderness. The special attack of the dragon long sword increases your accuracy and strength for one attack. Recently, Jagex released the long-awaited Dragon Scimitar and it can be bought on the Monkey Island after completing the Monkey Madness Quest. In parallel with the rune scimitar's success, the dragon scimitar instantly became the melee weapon of choice in the wilderness. This is in part to the dragon scimitar's special, which temporarily disables the victim from using any protect (from melee/range/magic) prayers. There is no Dragon Short Sword yet in existence.

Maces

Maces are similar to swords, but they use a crush attack and are less accurate and slower. However, these weapons are slightly unique in that they have a high prayer bonus so that your prayer will last longer. Nonmembers can use bronze, iron, steel, mithril, adamant and rune maces, while members can use dragon maces. These can be bought in the Hero's guild after completing the Hero's quest. They are normally a very inaccurate weapon, but the dragon mace's special allows a warrior to hit the highest possible in RuneScape. Rumours say a player can inflict a hit that deals up to 52 damage when using a combination of a super attack potion, a zamorak potion, the incredible reflex prayer, and the ultimate strength prayer.

Battle axes and warhammers

Battle Axes and warhammers aren't very popular in RuneScape. The battle axe (or b-axe) is sometimes used in the wilderness because it has crush and slash attacks, but the seldom instances where a crush attack is useful do not make up for its low accuracy . Comparably, the warhammer exhibits the same attack statistics as a battle axe, but can only be used with a crush attack, therefore making it extremely unpopular.

Nonmembers can use bronze, iron, steel, mithril, black, adamant and rune battle axes and warhammers, while members can use Dragon Battle Axes. These can be bought in the Hero's guild after completing the Hero's quest, but are much cheaper when bought from other players. The special of the dragon battle axe temporarily increases your strength while decreasing you attack, defense, magic and ranged. When used in conjunction with a restore potion (which restores attack and defense to their normal levels), the special is comparable to drinking a super strength potion but for much cheaper. Nonetheless, the dragon battle axe is very expensive (so it is not commonly used in the wilderness) and slow (so is not used to train except for as a supplementary weapon).

Two-handed swords

Two-handed swords (2h) are the slowest yet the most powerful weapons in the basic (smithable) weapon line. Unfortunately, that's where its advantages stop. Since two hands are needed to wield these powerful weapons, shields or prayer books cannot be equipped simultaneously. Although it used to be the weapon of choice in the wilderness in RuneScape Classic, it has since become obsolete. There is no dragon two-handed sword yet in existence, although the weapon used by the Fire Giants closely resembles what one would look like.

Claws

Claws are a members only item and can be smithed and equipped only after completing the Death Plateau Quest. Claws are comprable to daggers in attack, accuracy and speed, but have some serious drawbacks. They are two handed, and a shield or prayer book cannot be equipped at the same time. They are also more expensive, as they take more bars and a higher level to smith. These disadvantages don't make them a very popular weapon. There are no dragon claws yet in existence. Rune claws are the only claws that have a special attack - impale - which is more powerful and more accurate, but slower than normal.

Spears

Spears are a members only item and can only be obtained from monster drops (and the rune spear from the Tai Bwo Wannai Trio quest). They are two handed weapons and are very slow. Spears can be poisoned with the normal weapon poison or a Karambwan Poison which is more potent and can only be used on spears. Although it can only be used to train controlled and defensive attacks, it is still arguably the most flexible weapons in the game, as they can use stab, crush, and slash attacks all effectively. However, spears are rarely used to train or in the Wilderness. The Dragon Spear, which resembles a trident more than a spear, is the most expensive dragon weapon, as it can only be obtained from monster drops. The special for the dragon spear stuns the opponent momentarily (for one turn) so that he/she cannot run or attack.

Halberds

Halberds are one of the most useful weapons in the game but are for members only. After completing the notoriously hard Regicide quest, members are able to buy bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, rune and dragon halberds from a store in the Tyras Camp. The basic halberds can be resold to people who have not completed the quest, but the quest must be completed to wield the dragon halberd.

Halberds are a two-handed weapon and very slow, but have a major advantage over other melee weapons in that they can attack an opponent two squares away (where any other weapon can only reach to an adjacent square) and even through and over obstacles such as fences and tables so the opponent cannot attack back. The dragon halberd's special raises accuracy and strength for one hit, and when used on a character that occupies more than one space (such as a Blue Dragon as opposed to a man), it hits twice in quick succesion. If there is 3 small monsters side by side, the special attack will hit them both once.

The slow and innaccurate attack leads to slower training, but not having to use food and being able to attack monsters that would normally be impossible is a definite advantage. The weapon is not used often in the wilderness as it is expensive, and its single advantage is useless as opponents just move away from you if you attack them through/over an obstacle.

Mystic staves

Mystic Staves are another flexible weapon. Available only to members, they are obtained by taking a elemental (air/water/earth/fire/lava) battle staff to Thromac the Wizard and having it enchanted. However, to do so, you must have completed the Scorpion Catcher quest and pay him a fee.

Mystic staves are comparable to a dragon dagger, but have a little more power, use only a crush attack (although can use accurate, agressive and defensive attacks) and cannot be poisoned. They allow a player to train fairly quickly and are useful as they allow a player to switch swiftly between melee and magic attacks, while only using one weapon.

Granite maul

The granite maul is a very powerful two-handed hammer. It is becoming a notorious tool in the wilderness as it can easily kill an opponent in 3 or 4 hits. It is a semi-rare monster drop from the Gargoyle that takes a Slayer level of 75 to kill. The granite maul, along with the abyssal whip, excalibur and rune claws, is one of the only non-dragon melee weapons to have a special attack. The maul's special attack allows a player to hit twice in quick succession.

Abyssal whip

The abyssal whip is currently known as the strongest, most accurate and most expensive weapon in RuneScape. It requires 70 attack to wield. It is a semi-rare monster drop from the Abyssal Demon that takes a Slayer level of 85 to kill. Though the whip is generally accepted as the most effective implement of Melee training in RuneScape, it lacks the ability to directly train the Strength statistic. The Abyssal whip's special attack cause the player to absorb 10% of the openent's energy if a succesful hit.

Barrow's Weapons

All barrows weapons and armour last 15 hours of solid combat before they must be 'repaired' at a fee (for each piece) when the weapon has become totally degraded. If you choose to repair the weapon before it becomes fully degraded, the cost will be lessened depending on how damaged it was to start with. The armour/weapon sets are very expensive, but provide the highest stats for defense and attack, being better than dragon armour itself. Although they have no normal special, each set possesses its own passive special which is activated when the full set of armour is worn. These specials range from leeching an opponents health to draining their agility.

Mage weapons

Mages use staves and runes of varying effects. Runes are small stones endowed with magical energy. Runes are used to cast a wide range of spells. Each casting of a spell uses up a certain number of runes, and different spells use different types of runes.

Runes

Runes are the basic building blocks of all spells. Every time a spell is performed, the runes needed for the spell disappear. The following is a list of all the runes available in runescape with the ones available to members only italicized:

• Elemental Runes include air, water, earth and fire runes. They are very common drops and are used in conjunction with other runes to perform all of the spells of RuneScape. All elemental runes can be replaced by equipping an elemental staff, which are explained later on.
• Missile Runes include mind, chaos, death and blood runes. These are used to cast strike, bolt, blast and wave spells, respectively. The blood runes are also used for god spells (Claws of Guthix, Flames of Zamorak and Saradomin Strike) which cause damage and lower a certain skill such as magic (for Zamorak), defense (for Guthix) or prayer (for Saradomin). The charge spell also increases the attack power of the 3 god (or 'arena') spells by increasing the damage they do by 1.5 times.
• Nature Runes are a unique rune and are used for superheat, alchemy spells and capture spells (bind, snare, entangle).
• Law Runes are a unique rune and are used for teleport spells, teleblock (which inhibits opponent from teleporting) and telegrab (which grabs items that could not be normally reached).
• Cosmic Runes are a unique rune that are used solely for enchanting rings, amulets and saphire necklaces.
• Curse Runes include body and soul runes. These runes can be used to cast 6 different spells that decrease the opponent's strength, attack, defense or by 5% or 10%. Soul runes can also be used with law runes to cast teleport other spells that teleport another player to a location. The target player must accept being teleported.
• Combination Runes are a new type of rune released recently that combine two elemental runes together into just one rune. The advantage of this is to save inventory space. Combination runes include mist runes (air + water), dust runes (air + earth), mud runes (water + earth), smoke runes (air + fire), steam runes (water + fire), and lava runes (earth + fire).

Staffs

Normal staffs and Magic staffs add to the player's "magic attack rating" and in so doing, cause the players spells to be more effective. They also allow the repetitive casting of attack spells in combat without requiring the player to click the spell and then the target for each individual casting.

Elemental staffs

Elemental staffs include Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Lava (fire+earth). In addition to the effects of a normal staff, an elemental staff takes the place of elemental runes of the same type used to cast a spell. Unlike runes, elemental staves are not destroyed after being used to cast a spell.

Battle staffs

Battle staves are stronger versions of the "Elemental Staffs" with increased melee stats.

Mystic battle staffs

Mystic battle staves have stats similar to the rune longsword, but have added magic power. They can be upgraded by Thormac the wizard in the Wizard Tower south of Seer's Village after finishing the Scorpion Catcher quest.

Ancient Staff

The ancient staff is a reward for completing the Desert Treasure quest. This staff allows you to continuously cast the new ancient magicks. The new spells are highly destructive and add more power to the magic class of RuneScape. You can switch between the new and old spells in a pyramid located south of the Shantay Pass. The new spells include four types of spells, two powers, and two forms. There are the weak single strike spells (15 damage max); the weak spells that strike multiple people (15 damage to each person, max); the strong spells (30 damage max); and the strong that strike multiple people (30 damage to each person). There are also the ice spells which hold the enemy(s) for 5-20 seconds each (depending on the level of the spell); the shadow spells which lower the enemy(s) attack temporarily; the smoke spells which poison the enemy(s); and the blood spells which drain 25% of the damage dealt to the enemy(s) and heal yourself with it. The major downfall of the spells is that they all have a huge rune consuption. The staff itself has stats similar to the mystic staffs but provides a better magic attack and defence bonus.

Ahrim's Staff

This is part of the Ahrim's barrows equipment set and needs 70 magic and 70 attack to use. It has slightly better melee and magic strength then mystic staffs, but it is very, very slow to attack with.

Mini-games

There are a few "mini-games" that can be played within RuneScape. These are available to members only.

Agility Arena

In the agility area, players navigate through an ancient lava filled cavern through various traps, nabbing tickets by tagging pillars. These tickets can later be exchanged for rewards. Rewards include items and herbs found nowhere else, along with large amounts of agility experience points.

Archery Guild

A ranged level of 40 is required for access to the Archery Guild, and members of the Archery Guild can pay a small entrance fee and shoot a target. Tickets are awarded depending on how well one scores. These tickets can be exchanged for items from a nearby ticket trader. Members of the guild can also go up a ladder to the towers and train against NPC archers from opposing towers.

Barrows

The barrows is a way to get some of the best armor at the game. One must travel through shifting tombs, killing the spirits of undead minions that inhabit the tombs.

Burthorpe Games Room

In the Burthorpe Games Room, one can choose from two classic games, with runes being used as game pieces. Runelink is similar to Connect 4. Draughts is the British name for checkers. JaGex has not confirmed whether players will be able to stake items in the future, yet they have promised to add more games since the game room has proven sucessful.

Castle Wars

• See main article: Castle Wars

Duel Arena

Duel Arena is a battle zone where players can fight without the risks of the Wilderness. Players can customize battle options such as "no prayer" or "no food" and can stake items on the fight.

Fishing Trawler

The Trawler is Captain Murphy's vessel, that is full of holes and falling apart, and the goal is to keep the boat afloat as the net gathers both rare and common fish, along with junk. The boat must be kept on the surface by keeping water out with bailing buckets and sealing holes with swamp paste. The net often breaks and needs fixing with rope. Players can enter the trawler from Port Khazard.

Gnomeball

Gnomeball is a minigame that gnomes play it trains agility. Players try to score the ball through a goal, but there are many gnomes in the way. Players pass the ball, tackle, and get tackled as you make your way to enemys goal hoop.

Mage Arena

The mage arena is where high-level magicians work to receive and learn to use God staves. Players need level 60 magic to do this, and have to battle several opponents. The mage arena is deep in the Wilderness, so going there can be risky on a crowded server.

Tears of Guthix

Tears of Guthix is a mini-game accessible only after doing the quest of the same name. The number of quest points a player has determines the length of time that player can spend in this mini-game. The aim of the game is to collect blue tears from weeping rocks into a bowl, to gain experience in one's weakest skill as a reward. If green tears are collected, the amount of tears in your bowl goes down. The more tears collected, the more experience one gets.

Treasure Trails

Clue Scrolls give members a chance to obtain rare and valuable items by following a series of clues. Clues are mostly dropped by monsters but can also be found in the shade chests. Clues come in three levels, and generally, tougher monsters drop higher-level clues. Higher-level clues offer the potential for greater rewards.

Chat Effects

In RuneScape, players can apply special formatting to chat, such as making it different colours or appearing on the screen in different ways. Chat effects can be performed by members and non-members alike. Players can create chat effects by typing simple commands before what the player wishes to say.

However, when a user tries to use profanity or tries to give others his or her password, the letters are replaced by asterisks (*) to keep RuneScape a safe and protected game.

JaGex Mod Tree

A JaGex mod tree consists of 3 teams of mods specfically assigned to carry out certain duties.

JaGex Mod (J-Mod) They consists of coders, script writes and graphic designers as well as customer service staff. JaGex employs them to work on Runescape.

Player Mod (P-Mod) A more tuned down team hand picked by JaGex staff to maintain Runescape and keep it free from rule breakers. They have the ability to mute.

Forum Mod (F-Mod) Hand picked by JaGex to carry out the tasks of managing Runescape's forum. They have the ability to lock any threads but must provide a valid reason.

All mods will be hand picked by JaGex and there is no other way you can get it.

External links

• RuneScape
• Jagex Limited

• RuneScape