Beginner's Reference

Introduction

This guide is an extension of the Beginner's Basics Guide, and serves the purpose of giving a more in-depth look at various technical aspects of the game.

Chat effects

You might have seen someone who is typing with a red-coloured text, or text that's waving. Typing like this is called chat effects, and you can only see them if you have the chat effects part of your settings in your control panel on. Chat effects will only appear over the head of the person using them, not in your chat box - there, the text will look normal.

To use the chat effects, you will need to write the code, and a colon ( : ) right after it with no space, and then your message without a space before the first word. For example, writing red:Hello would make you say "Hello" with a red font, but if you throw in a space and write red: Hello, you would actually say "Red: Hello" in game... Here is a full list of the codes:

Now, if you want to do something really advanced, you can use one of the colours AND movements at the same time. For this you need to write the colour first, and then scroll/wave. For example you could write something like this red:wave:Hello everyone and you would say "Hello everyone" with a red waving text.

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Emotes

Emotes are a nifty feature. You can make your character perform various actions and poses by simply clicking your desired emote. Activate one by clicking on its image in your Emote menu, accessed by clicking on the waving man icon. The image displayed in each spot is the emote activated when clicking it. You can also hover the mouse over the image for a tooltip to appear displaying the name of the emote. Coloured emotes are ones you have unlocked, while grey emotes are ones you haven't unlocked. Emotes are also split up into different groups and are as follows: All, All (unlocked), Greetings, Conversation, Dance, Feelings, Mime, Zombie, Holiday, Achievements, Weather, Treasure Trail, Loyalty

*The Super September emote was unlocked after completing 15 challenges during the Super September challenge in September 2013.

Notes:

• Holiday emotes were issued at the following events:
  • "Scared" Halloween 2005 or 2006
  • "Rabbit Hop" Easter 2006, 2007, or 2008
  • "Zombie Hand" Halloween 2007
  • "Snowman Dance" Christmas 2007
  • "Egg Transform" Easter 2008
  • "Trick" Halloween 2008
  • "Freeze" Christmas 2008
  • "Give Thanks" Thanksgiving 2008
  • "Around the World in Eggty Days" Easter 2009
  • "Dramatic Point" Christmas 2009
  • "Puppet Master" Halloween 2010
  • "Seal of Approval" Christmas 2010
  • "Invoke Spring" Easter 2011
  • "Living on Borrowed time" Halloween 2011
  • "Chaotic Cookery" Christmas 2011
  • The "Love at First Sight" and "Jealous Rage" emotes were unlocked in celebration of Valentines Day 2013 by using 1,750 Valentine hearts for each emote.
  Read about holiday events in our Holiday and Rare items guide.
  
• The emotes from Iffie in Varrock are obtained after purchasing a piece of the mime and zombie outfit respectively.
• The "air guitar" emote can only be obtained after unlocking 500 pieces of music.
• The "faint" emote can only be obtained after completing a certain court case.
• The "skill cape" emote is reserved for members wearing Achievement Capes or certain Capes of Distinction.
  
• To do the "Egg Transform" emote, you must wear and operate your chocatrice cape gained from the event.
• The "Taskmaster" emote can only be obtained after completing all the Tasks.
• The buyable emotes are bought with loyalty points.

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Glossary

In addition to common internet shorthand (brb, lol, g2g, etc.) RuneScape players have developed a set of slang for RuneScape items, places and terms. Hover over each term for more information.

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Gravestones

Players in Runescape have default wooden plaques that stand in the place that they died, waiting for them to get their items. Below the minimap, a small counter will appear, telling you how much time left until your gravestone collapses. An arrow will also point toward your grave on the minimap.

If you can get to your gravestone before the timer runs out, you can access it to equip and reclaim all of your dropped items. Otherwise, it will crumble away and you will lose all of your items.

IMPORTANT: You must be in the same world as when you died to retrieve items from your gravestone! Upon logging into the 'wrong' world, you will receive the following interface:

If you have completed The Restless Ghost, you can purchase gravestone upgrades from Father Aereck in the Lumbridge church. More expensive headstones preserve items for more time. Members who have completed The Giant Dwarf quest can speak with the sculptor in Keldagrim, east of the Consortium Palace, to purchase more expensive and longer lasting gravestones (Shown in gray below). A gravestone's life can be recharged if repaired by another player, or its life may be extended to almost an hour if blessed by another player.

Headstone	Information	Standing Time	Cost
Memorial Plaque	A simple plaque, bearing the name of the deceased.	5 minutes	Default(0gp)
Flag	A dignified little flag flutters in the breeze.	6 minutes	50 gp
Small Gravestone	A simple little gravestone.	6 minutes	500 gp
Ornate Gravestone	An ornately carved gravestone.	8 minutes	5,000 gp
Font of Life	An elaborate font. As water collects in the bowl, it symbolises new life and hope.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Stele	A monolithic memorial stone bearing a selection of emblems.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Symbol of Saradomin	The four-pointed star is universally recognised as the symbol of Saradomin.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Symbol of Zamorak	This serpentine sigil represents the ruthless Zamorak.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Symbol of Guthix	Favoured by humans of a mystical or drudic inclination.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Symbol of Bandos*	Followers of Bandos are now scarce, but this symbol is still used by those who remember that violent god.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Symbol of Armadyl**	Armadyl's love of winged creatures is represented by this elegant symbol. Little else is remembered of him.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Ancient Symbol***	Adventurers often request this symbol, although its origin and meaning have become obscure in the centuries since the god wars.	10 minutes	50,000 gp
Angel of Death	The ultimate marker for a grave, this statue evokes intimations of mortality in all who are faced with it.	12 minutes	500,000 gp
Royal Dwarven Gravestone****	The dwarves of Keldagrim are said to be the world's greatest sculptors, and a gravestone of dwarven design is an unparalleled work of art.	15 minutes	500,000 gp

* You must have completed The Land of the Goblins.
** You must have completed the Temple of Ikov.
*** You must have completed Desert Treasure.
**** You must have completed King of the Dwarves.

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Your Character's Looks

You can wear many different clothes, hats, gloves and boots in the game, but there are ways to change even your basic appearance.

• Skin colour and gender: If you want to change your skin colour or your gender, you will need to visit the Make-over Mage. He is located south-west of Falador and will perform all services free of charge.
• Hair and beard: If you want a new fancy haircut, a nice smooth shave (he can make your beard grow as well!), or a new hair colour, jump by the Hairdresser in his shop in north-west Falador. He will change your appearance free of charge.
• Clothes: If you want some different clothes, drop by Thessalia in Varrock (her store is in the south-west corner of the market place.) She will change your top and legwear free of charge. To change your boots visit the Fremennik tailor Yrsa on the west side of Rellekka (only members who've completed the Fremennik Trials quest). The change is free and pictured below. To change your armguards visit the dwarven smith Reinald on the east side of Keldagrim for 500 coins (only members who've started The Giant Dwarf).

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Getting started with your skills

Here you will find a few tips on how to start the different skills. If you want more information, click the name of the skill, and you will be transferred to the Tip.It guide about that skill.

Free Version (F2P) Skills:

Combat: (Attack, strength, defence and Constitution): What can we say...? Just fight low levelled monsters and you will improve your combat skills depending on your fighting mode. Around Lumbridge, fight level 2 and 5 goblins in the forest, or chickens and cows at farms.

Ranged: To begin ranging, you'll need a bow and some arrows. Unfortunately, these can be costly. Visit Lowe's Archery Emporium for free starter equipment, and when you get some money, come back here again to buy more gear. If you have finished The Blood Pact, an easy quest located in Lumbridge, you will recieve a sling that requires no ammo to use. Start ranging in Lumbridge against goblins or chickens.

Prayer: There's not much to say about this skill, just pick up all the bones you see on the ground, and choose 'bury' when you have them in your inventory. Prayer will help protect you when you're fighting.

Magic: To start you will need some runes. You can a few free ones from Aubury's Rune Shop in Varrock. Once you have some money, you can come back here to purchase some more runes. Once you have the runes to cast a lower level spell, go to the magic part of your control panel and choose the spell you want to cast: then just click on a monster. A good way to start is with Wind Rush. This simple spell only requires air runes, and is free if you're wielding a staff of air, bought for 1500 coins in the staff shop in Varrock.

Crafting: You can mine clay south-west of Varrock, then wet it with water and use the pottery in the Barbarian Village to the west. You can try leatherworking, too: kill cows for hides in Lumbridge and get them tanned in Al-Kharid.

Runecrafting: The traditional way to start this skill you need to complete the Rune Mysteries Quest. After that, mine rune essence and make air runes at the air altar south-west of Varrock. lternatively, you can go to the top floor of the Wizard Tower and enter the green portal for a less traditional (and faster) method of training. It is recommended that you talk to Wizard Finix (the wizard in blue robes) and take his brief tutorial if you are a new player, as it is quite helpful! You do not need to bring anything to Runespan with you. You can also check out our Runespan guide.

Dungeoneering: This skill is started and trained at an area named Daemonheim, located east of the lower wilderness. Speak to a local Fremennik to obtain a Ring of Kinship and to start Dungeon raiding!

Mining / Smithing: You can mine tin and copper in the Lumbridge Swamp East Mine south of the graveyard. When you decide you have enough ores, go to the furnace north-east of Lumbridge castle and smelt them into bars. Then head to Varrock and get metal-bashing!

Fishing / Cooking: To begin fishing, you'll need a net; then just go to a sea and start clicking. If there's a tree nearby, take your hatchet and tinderbox to raise your cooking, too. At a chicken farm you can train combat, prayer and cooking at the same time!

Firemaking / Woodcutting: To start these skills, simply go to the forest between Lumbridge and Draynor. A free bronze hatchet is available from Bob's Brilliant Axes and a free tinderbox is available from the Lumbridge General Store. Chop down some trees and choose 'Light log'.

Member Only (P2P) Skills:

An introduction to Member skills, guides, areas, and tips is included in the New Members (P2P) Guide. Member only skills are Agility, Construction, Farming, Fletching, Herblore, Hunter, Slayer, Summoning, Thieving, and Divination.

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Legacy Mode and Evolution of Combat

In 2012, Jagex overhauled their traditional point-and-click combat in an update dubbed 'Evolution of Combat,' adding in abilities triggered by hotkeys to make combat more proactive. After much controversy and discussion, a couple of years later a 'Legacy Mode' was introduced to bring back the option to play the traditional form of combat for players that so desired. You can switch between modes freely under most circumstances. See our pages specifically on Evolution of Combat and Legacy mode for further information. Evolution of Combat can seem quite daunting for a new player, definitely pay a visit to the Combat Academy in-game (in Lumbridge) where you can learn more about abilities, cooldowns, and how to use them.

If you want to switch from EoC to Legacy, you will find it under Gamplay Settings, and in a similar place from Legacy to EoC:

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Ironman and Hardcore Ironman Modes

Ironman and Hardcore Ironman are two more challenging modes of gameplay than the standard RuneScape and are not for the faint of heart. More information is available on their respective pages, but the jist of it is as follows. In Ironman mode, you cannot trade with other players or use the Grand Exchange except for very specialized circumstances, i.e. trades necessitated for completion of a quest or to give yourself a bond from another account for membership. Hardcore Ironman has the additional requirement that you will be permanently removed from the game on that account if you die. You can purchase one or two extra lives if you manage to train your stats high enough, but that's it. If you lag, Jagex has server issues, or something out of your control happens - too bad! So choose carefully if you want to play in this way. If you want to play either of these modes, create a new account and select one of them under the dropdown menu as pictured below.

If you select Ironman or Hardcore Ironman modes, you will be bombarded with warning prompts before the system allows you to proceed. If you are doing Hardcore, it is strongly recommended to authenticate your account before starting. You don't want someone hijacking your account and making you lose all your progress, and Jagex will not reinstate your account, no matter what. Other than that, you can just skip through all the prompts (examples below).

Downgrading Ironman accounts

Should you wish, you can downgrade your Hardcore Ironman into a regular Ironman account, and similarly an Ironman into a regular account. You may do this using items purchased from Mr Ex. They are the Jar of divine light to downgrade a Hardcore Ironman into a regular Ironman, and a Book of diplomacy to downgrade an Ironman into a regular account. Remember that downgrading is PERMANENT and IRREVERSIBLE, so be sure this is what you want before using these items!

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Developer's Console

If you press the (`) key on your keyboard while holding down 'Alt' (so Alt+`), the developer's console will open as an overlay on the top half of your game screen. From here you can type in "help" or "commands" and press enter for a list of usable commands. You can use this console to see various diagnostic data, such as memory usage, java usage, frames per second, and other rendering information. This interface can be closed by pressing Alt+` again.

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Credits

Original Guide by: Cameron and Ks Jeppe

Special thanks to: pokemama, SerpentEye

Thanks to: applejuiceaj, Arceus, BattleThingz, CookMePlox, duffmannx0, Georgelemmons, Howlin0001, Jaffy1, Lady_Shahdie, Octarine, pokemama, SerpentEye, Shelby_Polo, Speedyshel, Sonikku, Tecmaster532, Vulxai, Warriormonkx, wyvren2000

Last updated by: Arceus

Last updated on: 6-Dec-2014