Marlaine’s Musings

As a perfect way to illustrate how to begin a Runescape character, I’ve decided to start a new character – Marlaines2nd – just for this guide and for subsequent guides for the building of skills and free quests. I’ll also be using this character to do the guides for quests that my main character has already done as well.

Go to the start page of Runescape and choose Create A Free Account.

I strongly advise starting as a free character, even if you know this game well. You can build some basic skills for a month or two before spending any money. I also advise that you do all the free quests before starting a membership. Those quests will help you a great deal if you do join. You can get on high scores while staying on free play but you won’t be able to be a top player without working on the member skills that are not available on free.

You will be shown this page before you continue to the tutorial. Take your time choosing the features for your character. The odds are that you will have to keep the look until you can earn enough gp to change it. Go through all the options a couple of times to be sure you’ve seen all your choices. As Runescape progresses and improves it’s graphics, they are offering more choices all the time. They actually change many choices as well, so the hair color you choose today may not be available in 6 months.

Once you’ve decided on your character’s look, click accept.

Now you will find yourself at the beginning of the tutorial. Click the characters or objects under the flashing arrow icons to continue through the tutorial.

First you learn how to make a fire – you will be given an axe and a tinder box. Cut a few logs and light a few fires. You can do both until you have level 3 in each – but you don’t have to. Then your survival guide will give you a fishing net. Use it in the little lake right next to you. Fish until your inventory is full – you will get a couple levels while doing this. Light a log and cook the shrimp. You will burn quite a few so fish some more and cook until you have about 20 cooked shrimp. Right click the burnt shrimp and choose drop. You will burn the food less and less as your cooking levels go up. You can not get higher than level 3 in anything in the tutorial but having extra food will help you later.

Next you learn more about cooking on a stove and the music jukebox, emotes, and running. Then the quest guide is explained to you.

The next area shows you how to mine, smelt ore and smith a weapon. You will mine copper and tin, making a bronze bar. Do only what you need to here and keep the bronze dagger.

Now you go to combat training with Vannaka. He will give you a sword and a shield. He wants you to go kill some rats. Go ahead and bury the bones, too. Try to keep the food. You can drop the pot and bucket because replacements are easy to get.

Next you will go to the bank and they will tell you how to store your goods in the bank. Keep your items in your inventory because they won’t be there when you leave Tutorial island. So wait to bank until you are done with the tutorial.

The next guide tells you how to make gp – gold pieces – on Runescape. You will be sent on quickly to the monk to learn about prayer and burying bones. He will also talk about how to conduct yourself without getting banned.

Finally, you will get to the last instructor – The Wizard. He’ll tell you how to cast spells and give you runes to practice with.

Once you have finished Tutorial Island, go inside the Lumbridge castle to find the bank.

That is just east of the spot you started in.

Use the mini map up in the right upper corner of your game screen to help orient yourself.

Look around on your way – you will pass the Cook’s Kitchen where one of the quests begins. You can see the quest icon on the mini-map. You can pick up a few things while you are there. A knife, a pot, a bowl, a jug in the kitchen, and mind runes by the staircase. When you are beginning, pick up everything you can. You can always drop it later but it may come in handy. Just tuck it away in the bank for the time being. Any red dots on the mini-map mean it’s something that is either able to be picked up or something left by a player, like ashes from a fire.

You need to go up two stories to get to the bank. The second floor is the location for two quests and you will see the quest icon in the mini-map when you are on that level. There is also a tutor icon – a blue question mark – on the second floor and that is the crafting tutor. You can also pick up a bronze dagger and a bronze medium helmet in the room with the crafting tutor. You will only be able to pick up one helmet, but the daggers will respawn. You can sell the daggers in the general store later. The logs of wood can be picked up and burned – a ready supply for firemaking – but the store won’t give you any gp for them.

At this stage of the game, pick up any gold pieces or bones you see on the ground. Lots of player leave it laying there from fight drops. You will even get random events like Rick Turpentine – just talk to him or do whatever a random asks of you and you will usually get something that would help you as a beginner. Later on, those randoms will be more of a nuisance.

The bank is on the 3rd floor. Put the shield, sword and helmet on. Keep 5 or so cooked shrimp in your inventory. Put everything else away but the axe and tinderbox.

If you don’t get a random that gives you some gp or find gp on the ground somewhere, go to the 2nd floor and pick up the bronze helmet and bronze dagger. You can sell the daggers at the general store near the spot you started the game. Keep the helmet until you can afford a better one or make one.

Here is where you can begin to level up your skills. First combat, cooking, prayer and crafting. Leave the castle and go east to cross the bridge. Follow the road north and watch for the cow pasture. If you are lucky, someone will be fighting cows and leaving the raw meat. You will only need a few to cook to be able to fight the cows without dying. If not, try killing a cow. Then go outside the fence, cut some wood, light it and cook the meat. Cut another couple of logs to take into the pasture.

Now you can fight, eat the beef, cook more beef and keep fighting for a long time. Pick up all bones and bury them. Try to save all the hides by banking when you are full. Once you have enough strength, it will go faster. Remember to change the combat style for defense, strength and attack to build up all your combat levels.

To change that setting, just look at your ingame menu…………

Left click the crossed swords icon and click whichever skill you want to work on…….

When you are tired of cows and storing hides in the bank, go over to the goblin hut and train on those. The Goblins drop a few runes at a time and gp – 5 often. Always pick up and bury bones no matter what you train on for now. Pick up any runes you see laying on the ground and bank them. Many of the things the Goblins dropped can be sold at the General Store.

The quicker you can level up your prayer to Protect from Melee – the better! That is a life saving prayer! All three – Protect from Range, Magic and Melee come in very handy in later quests and combat.

If you lose your arrows, bow, shield or sword – just talk to the tutorial guides near the spot you first started and they will give you new ones. Even the magic tutor will give you runes to practice with.

A word about arrows – if someone is ranging with a bow and the arrows are laying around, you are able to pick them up if you see them but it is not a nice thing to do. Some people range without worrying about their arrows and let them disappear. If you notice someone doing that, race to pick those arrows up!

I will be adding more to this beginning tutorial soon – mining and smithing next to make new armour and weapons for your higher combat level next! With some fishing on the way to mining – in Runescape – A Beginner’s Guide Part Two.

To help you explore the free player’s world on Runescape, use this map.

All the member’s areas are blocked by gates and fences. You can’t do any of the member’s skills either, including thieving, farming or agility.