New Player Guide: What Do I Do in Old School RuneScape

New Player Guide: What Do I Do in Old School RuneScape

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You're all set up. You've got your character created, Settings adjusted, an understanding of what all of the UI elements do - you're ready for anything!


All of a sudden, your character is teleported from Tutorial Island to Lumbridge, straight into the middle of the biggest sandbox MMO around. The world's your oyster and you can do anything you set your mind to, there's just one tough question to answer...


"What do I do in Old School RuneScape?"

If this sounds like you, rest assured that everybody who's ever set foot in Gielinor has asked themselves the same question at some point, and know that you're in the right place! Our aim in this post is to give you a little more context around what 'progression' actually means in Old School, some guidance on making use of in-game systems or the OSRS Wiki to find your feet and orient yourself in the world, and even make some recommendations that might give you some things to aim for early on.


To check out some handy tips on getting your client and settings up to scratch, or to learn how Combat works in Old School - use these buttons below to visit other pages!



To jump around this page quickly, use the image above!


Progression in Old School


If you're joining us from other MMOs or RPGs, it might be a tad confusing not having an overarching level that says "this is how powerful you are", instead having 23 different Skills with their own uses, progression and identities for you to progress as you please.

Skills

These Skills (which you can check in-game using the Bar chart icon) help determine your interactions with everything else in the game, meaning levelling these is the primary way that you'll progress your character.

Not only do higher Skills give you access to new resources, allow you to equip the best gear, or even grant the ability to slay special bosses for unique rewards, but they're also required for Quests (which unlock loads of content) or 'secondary' systems like Achievement Diaries and Combat Achievements.

Setting Goals

Old School RuneScape is all about setting goals and achieving them in whatever fashion best suits your playstyle.

As you set these goals and start working towards them, the game unravels into an ever-expanding spiderweb of options, for example:

  • Fairy Rings are a powerful teleportation option that require partial completion of Fairy Tale II: Cure A Queen to unlock.
  • Fairy Tale II: Cure A Queen requires various other quests, including Lost City.
  • Lost City requires 31 Crafting and 36 Woodcutting.
  • A huge chunk of Crafting XP is available from early-game quests.
  • These quests in turn have other skill requirements or item requirements.
  • And so on, and so on... The web keeps on growing.
    •

    Don't Panic!

    It might sound daunting, but once things get rolling you'll find yourself bouncing between content whenever you like, planning out your next grind while you're working on your current one, and most importantly of all: always progressing.

    Every log chopped, every rock mined, every swing of your sword is moving you towards some goal or another, even if you don't know what it is yet.

    If that all sounds like a bit much, it's worth knowing that Old School has loads of low-intensity or outright AFK methods that will still allow you to progress (although more slowly than active gameplay) towards those goals while playing other games, watching a show, doing some chores, catching up on cardio at the gym - just about anything!

    Best of all, in Old School, the experience you earn, loot you secure, quests you complete are never going anywhere - they'll be with you always and remain relevant forever.


    Let's start with Old School's bread and butter: how do we make numbers go up?





    Levelling Your Skills


    The Skills tab is one of the most important in the game, making these numbers go up is the easiest way to feel yourself progressing in real-time. Thankfully, all of the information you need to get started can be accessed from this very tab!

    Clicking on any of the Skills shown will bring up a separate interface. We'll use Woodcutting, an iconic Skill, as an example. Use the tabs below to see how you can figure out everything you'd ever need to know about Woodcutting, which you can then apply to any Skill you like!



    This is the interface you'll see if you click the Woodcutting icon in the Skills tab. It provides a handy overview of Woodcutting which tells you what the Skill's all about, what you gain by levelling it up, as well as other useful tidbits.


    You can move this interface around by clicking and dragging at the top, or resize it using the bottom-right corner.


    On the left-hand side, we've got more tabs which show off which trees we'll be able to cut at which level, the different axes we can use to cut them as we progress, and some other more 'niche' bits if you're looking for more info.



    Click on the 'Finding In-game Tutors' tab to figure out how to find NPCs in-game with helpful information!


    Many Skills, Woodcutting included, have Tutors dotted around Lumbridge who can tell you more.
    To find them for yourself, open up the map in-game Globe icon near the top-right, or using Ctrl + M). From there, you can use the key on the left to find the Woodcutting Tutor, just click the text and you should see them highlighted on the map!


    Click on the 'Using the OSRS Wiki' button if you'd like to take your understanding to the next level

    While we'd like to think that Old School equips you with everything that you need to know, and we love the thought of discovering things for yourself and exploring the world just like we all did when we were younger, we know that loads of you are adults with busy lives and commitments. If you're somebody who wants to read around and get started quickly knowing that you're on the right track, our community-run OSRS Wiki has you covered.


    By heading over to the OSRS Wiki and searching for 'Woodcutting', or simply googling 'Woodcutting OSRS', you'll easily be able to find the Wiki page for Woodcutting, which is a veritable treasure trove of information - there's no question you'll have about Old School that doesn't have answers on the OSRS Wiki.



    From here, you could check out the box near the top which states "This article has skill training guides" and choose whichever applies to you. For our example, we'll choose 'Members'.



    On this page, you'll see a detailed breakdown of the fastest methods to progress Woodcutting, a list of 'Other methods' that can be used for variety or have other benefits such as additional rewards, more AFK time or just a change in scenery. These pages are a wonderful starting point for anybody wanting to learn how to level up any Skill, so if you'd like to make use of all of the tools at your disposal then make sure to check these!

    While not the case for Woodcutting, many Skills have popular minigames or activities that you can do with your friends (or with hordes of strangers) that offer great XP rates and exciting unique rewards. We'll talk through some of the most popular below:

    Guardians of the Rift

    Guardians of the Rift is a minigame for Runecraft that sees you crafting runes to power up an ancient guardian and protecting the world from hordes of demons. You'll need to complete the Temple of the Eye quest to get started here, which will introduce you to the minigame. Take a look at the requirements for Temple of the Eye, you might even gain some starting XP in Runecraft along the way.

    Tempoross

    Part minigame, part boss. Tempoross is a Fishing activity where you'll need to catch and cook fish, then fire them from cannons to subdue the ferocious Spirit of the Sea. You'll need 35 Fishing to get started, but if you're looking to get here ASAP then there are loads of Quests which reward Fishing XP to get you started.

    Wintertodt

    After level 50 Firemaking, put those skills to the use and help the Order of the Sacred Flame subdue the Wintertodt, who promises to engulf all of Gielinor in an endless winter if left unchecked. You'll earn heaps of Firemaking XP from the Wintertodt, on top of great loot to get any character started!




    Completing Quests


    Quests in Old School RuneScape are in a league of their own. Rather than being told 'kill 10 boars' (we've got the Slayer skill for that), each Quest in Old School is a narrative experience, and many of them offer powerful rewards or unlock brand new content. Quests are so impactful that some of them unlock new bosses (e.g. The Heart of Darkness), new raids (e.g. Beneath Cursed Sands), new areas like Morytania (e.g. Priest in Peril) or even entirely new continents like Varlamore, unlocked by the Children of the Sun quest - which you can complete very early into your journey!


    Some quests may be as simple as bringing an NPC some items, others feature extensive dialogue and short stories to take in, puzzles to solve, and many feature challenging, unique bosses and enemies that you'll need to overcome to progress.


    But how exactly do you find Quests that you're able to do, then actually get started on completing them?


    We can start by clicking the 'Quest List' tab, introduced to you on Tutorial Island. From here, you can see a list of all 170+ Quests in the game. Use the tabs below to learn about finding, starting and completing quests from start to finish.


    Once you've navigated to your Quest List, click the cogwheel at the bottom-right to customise your Quest List settings, you should see this interface:



    On this menu, you can configure your Quest List to your liking.

    For example, you could hide quests you lack the requirements for and ensure that what you're seeing on the list is something you can definitely do, great for getting started, but not so great for figuring out what you might want to work towards.

    Let's take a look at our Quest List and figure out something for us to do! Click on the 'Starting Quests' tab above to learn more!

    So we've configured our settings to make sure we're only seeing Quests that we haven't completed, let's pull up our Quest List and see what we've still got to do:



    It looks like Misthalin Mystery is still on our list. We'll use this one as an example since it's got a fun story, some cool puzzles and provides a nice boost to your early Crafting XP! To get started, click on 'Misthalin Mystery' in the Quest List, which should bring up a handy scroll:

    This scroll gives us information about the quest: where it starts, how tough it is, how long it should take, whether or not it fits into a wider storyline, and when it was released. You'll also be able to see Requirements and Recommendations for Skills or Combat Level, which should give you a rough idea of what to expect during the quest. What we're most interested in here is that 'Show on Map' text near the top, which should light up when you hover over it.


    Clicking the 'Show on Map' text will open the World Map, pan your view over to the Quest start location, and highlight it for you so that you can figure out where you need to go to get started.



    Now we know to head just south of Lumbridge into the Lumbridge Swamp to start our Quest: Misthalin Mystery. At this point you'd make your way there, chat to whichever NPC kicks the quest off, and get going!


    Up next is the fun part: actually completing the quest! Click on the 'Completing Quests & Using Quest Guides' tab above for some handy hints to solve Quests by yourself, or useful resources for those of you looking to tick them off quickly.

    You're only able to complete Quests in Old School once per character, so how you choose to experience them is entirely up to you! Some players love solving things for themselves, while others might read through the dialogue but follow a guide, and the speedsters among you will race through everything to unlock new stuff as fast as possible. Whichever of these you are, this section should help you get started, sticking with our example quest: 'Misthalin Mystery'!

    Solving Things Yourself

    We're not going to spoil our example quest for you here, but if you're looking to progress without relying on guides then here are some handy hints:

    • Pay attention to dialogue from NPCs and text in books or documents you might find during your Quest.
    • Keep track of what you've done and what you need to do next by looking at the Quest Journal entry for your current Quest. Note that some older Quests can be a little light on details here, but it's still worth checking this page if you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing!
    • If you're stuck, chat to NPCs in the area that you're at - there's no telling who might have useful tips and tricks for your progression.
    • Keep an eye on the items dotted around areas for Quests. While some might just be random spawns, many Quests are kind enough to provide you with items that might come in handy later on.
    • Skill requirements for Quests can sometimes hint at things you might need to do for progression. Keep in mind that these requirements are not keeping Iron restrictions in mind, so there might be some Quests that require you to have higher stats for in order to craft required items for progression.

    OSRS Wiki Quest Guides

    While we think most Quests are best experienced for yourself - you'll only get to complete them once, after all - we know that many players just want to get through them and unlock rewards, it's for this reason that Quest guides have been a staple for many RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players since the early 2000s.


    Just like before, the OSRS Wiki has detailed and 'quick' guides for every Quest in the game. You can find these by searching the Wiki, googling '(quest name) OSRS', or right-clicking quests in the Quest List and selecting 'Open wiki guide' if you're on RuneLite and using the Wiki plugin. Even if you're not looking to have the whole Quest solved for you, these pages can be a useful way for you to check which items you might need in advance and cut down on backtracking.

    RuneLite's Quest Helper

    If you're really looking to race through quests, you could opt to make use of RuneLite's 'Quest Helper' plugin, which provides a hand-holdy approach to guiding you through Quests from the comfort of your own game client. Quest Helper's a default plugin, so it should come bundled in with RuneLite, simply right-click on a quest that you're interested in and select 'Start Quest Helper' to open it up in the plugin.


    Note that Quest Helper itself can be configured to be a little less helpful if you'd like to solve more sections for yourself. No judgement from us if you opt for this, but we'd still very much recommend reading through dialogue - the characters you encounter throughout Quests have loads to say on Gielinor's history and unravelling stories, paying attention to them is a great way to further immerse yourself in the world.

    While you're running about adventuring, you'll likely find yourself running out of Energy and doing more than your fair share of walking. Let's talk about ways to alleviate that...





    Getting Around Gielinor


    While it might not be immediately obvious, even when looking at the World Map, Old School RuneScape has countless options for teleportation and transportation to help you navigate the world and jump quickly from place to place.

    If you're interested in a full list, you can check out this wonderful OSRS Wiki page to see everything that's available to you. There's a lot on there and it's easy to get overwhelmed, so we'll cover a couple of the highlights here - using the tabs below - to get you started.


    There's no method of transportation more reliable than carrying yourself around on your own two feet. Old School's unique in that it has an Energy system that determines how long you can run for before you're forced to walk again and let it regenerate. This can be frustrating when you're getting started, but means that all of these transportation unlocks feel even more impactful once you start stacking them up.


    Sometimes, you'll have to traverse from A to B on foot, but you've still got options to empower yourself here!


    Agility is a skill that you can start training at the Rooftop Course in Draynor Village, just west of Lumbridge. By levelling your Agility, you'll increase the rate at which your Energy regenerates and decrease the rate at which it depletes. In simple terms: higher Agility means you can run longer distances, and spend less time walking around before you can run again.


    Keep levelling your Agility and you'll start to unlock Agility Shortcuts, which you can see on the World Map - these are quick obstacles and timesaves littered all over Gielinor that might see you jumping a fence, navigating an underground tunnel, jumping across a river, or even grappling to higher-ground!


    Running's great over shorter distances, but even players with 99 Agility will find themselves out of Energy over long distances, that's where our next option comes in.

    If you open up your Spellbook tab, you'll notice a lot of icons featuring a letter surrounded by two blue circles. These are Teleport spells which you can unlock by levelling up your Magic skill.


    If you've got a Magic Level of 37, you'll be able to rapidly teleport between Varrock, Lumbridge and Falador - instantly appearing in the centre of these cities and setting you up perfectly for many early-game quests. These spells are very self-explanatory, get the necessary runes, click the icon, teleport!


    Above is an image of Varrock on the World Map. In the green square you can see the Grand Exchange, where non-Iron accounts can purchase runes or teleport tablets. The orange square shows Aubury's rune shop, where Irons can purchase some starter runes to begin training their Magic level


    If you're a Normal/Main account, you can head to the Grand Exchange just north-west of Varrock to buy runes for yourself, or even buy teleport tablets to get around the game even if you don't have the Magic level that's required for the teleportation spell!


    Those Law Runes might prove tricky for any Irons among you, since you're not likely to stumble across them in the early stages of the game. Fortunately, the OSRS Wiki's got you covered so let's take a look, this section should prove helpful for more than just runes!



    By searching the Wiki for 'Law Rune', we can see a full list of every single source of them in Old School. To see for yourself, click here.


    From here, we could check out these shops to see which one suits us. Thrill-seekers could check out the Mage Arena, located deep in the Wilderness, but would be at risk of being attacked by other players on the journey there. Alternatively, we could complete The Feud quest to unlock the Rogue Trader miniquest, to unlock Ali's Discount Wares. If we don't feel like spending our money, we could also check out which NPCs drop Law Runes, pop our combat gear on and try our luck - remember that bit at the start about setting goals and watching the game unravel around you?


    Alternatively, you could train up your Runecraft skill using the resources we showed you earlier on this page, and make Law Runes for yourself!


    No matter how you choose to get your hands on the necessary runes, the power of teleportation can't be understated, but Magic has even more applications for getting you around the world...

    Sure you could spend one Law Rune to get yourself to Varrock, or you could spend one Cosmic Rune to enchant a piece of jewellery for multiple teleports to several different locations, let's take a look!


    If you take a look at your Spellbook tab, you'll also notice this 'Jewellery Enchantments' icon. Clicking this will bring up seven spells, allowing you to enchant various types of jewellery - it all depends on the gem that you're using.


    Either through trading with other players, drops from NPCs, buying them from shops or crafting them for yourself, you'll be able to snag rings, necklaces, amulets and bracelets made with sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds and dragonstones. Enchanting these jewellery items gives them unique effects, which can include charges to teleport with!



    We won't go into too much detail (and you can find a full list of teleport jewellery for yourself on the OSRS Wiki by clicking here), but we'd like to highlight in particular the Ring of dueling (an enchanted emerald ring) and the Games necklace (an enchanted sapphire necklace). By combining your Magic and Crafting skills (or buying jewellery from the Grand Exchange), you can easily stack up a bunch of these which boast eight charges that you can use to teleport to a variety of really handy locations for any player who's just getting started.


    Some teleportation jewellery can't be made and is unlocked by completing content like Quests or Achievement Diaries. Check out the 'Other Transportation Methods' tab to learn more about these!

    Beyond everything you've learned about already, there are loads of items you can grab from shops, enemy drops, or by completing quests!



    Perhaps the most useful among these for players just starting out is the Chronicle. You can purchase these from the sharply-dressed Diango in Draynor Village, buy some Teleport cards to put inside the Chronicle, then use it to teleport right next to Varrock - neat!



    If you're looking for a more long-term goal, those Fairy Rings that we mentioned at the start are scattered all over Gielinor, making them an extremely useful unlock and appealing early goal.


    Keeping with the magical theming, Spirit Trees (unlocked by completing the Tree Gnome Village quest) are a great option for getting to some hard-to-reach areas like the Gnome Stronghold, Tree Gnome Village or Khazard Battlefield just south-west of Ardougne, and can all be accessed from the north-eastern corner of the Grand Exchange - handy!


    For another quest unlock, the Ectophial is a great teleport to aim for by completing the Ghosts Ahoy quest, offering you a reliable and reusable teleport to the eastern edge of Morytania, which isn't the easiest to access in a pinch while you're less-progressed.



    This last one's not an item, but extremely useful! Click on the tab denoted by two smiley faces, then navigate to the 'Grouping' section. From here you can pull up a drop-down list of many of the minigames on offer in Old School. Select a minigame of interest and then use the 'Teleport' button to whisk yourself away. Note that some of these teleports will have requirements to unlock - more for you to work towards - and that teleporting in this manner has a 20 minute cooldown between uses.


    There's even more to getting around than we could possibly list here, so check out those OSRS Wiki pages that we've been linking for yourself, or just make sure to keep an eye out as you're progressing throughout your adventures in Gielinor!





    Which Goals Are Worth Setting?


    At this point, you've had a lot of information thrown at you. Hopefully, you've gotten to this point with a better idea of how to research and learn more about your goals in order to chase that ever-so-satisfying feeling of achieving them.


    What's still a struggle for new players though, is exactly which goals are worth setting?


    We're not here to backseat drive your entire journey, but we would like to offer some guidance that might help you get started while still affording you all of the freedom to explore at your own pace. With that in mind, here are some common milestones that many players tackle early-on into their Old School journey.


    These ideas should help you find your feet and get used to questing, levelling up your skills, keeping yourself topped up in combat, and even getting around Gielinor quicker. Old School's a massive game with loads to do, start small and let your knowledge build up - there's no rush to learn everything straight away, so try not to feel overwhelmed!

    Complete some Quests!

    Completing some early-game Quests should help you get acquainted with the world, and how quests work.

    There's no need to target anything crazy at this point, the likes of Cook's Assistant, Sheep Shearer, Imp Catcher, Witch's Potion, Romeo & Juliet, Goblin Diplomacy or Doric's Quest are all great fits here.

    Find some food!

    Fish and cook some food so that you can top up your Hitpoints if you take damage.

    Alternatively, you could level your Thieving and try stealing some cakes in Ardougne, though it's not easy to get to as you start out! If this interests you, try out the Castle Wars minigame teleport and guide yourself north towards Ardougne using the World Map.

    Level your Combat stats

    Put that food to use and level up some Combat stats so that you can dish out more damage or keep yourself alive.

    The bravest among you could try your hand at some iconic quests which supercharge Combat training. Many experienced players tick off Witch's House for some Hitpoints levels before taking on the Waterfall Quest for a huge Attack and Strength boost, though these can be tough for brand new players!

    Visit the Stronghold of Security

    Check out the Stronghold of Security to learn about Account Security and snag some starter money.

    You could do this even earlier if you'd like, but it's safer with more Hitpoints, watch out for those Catablepon!

    Get some early Agility levels

    Stop by Draynor Village to level your Agility and improve your Run Energy Regeneration and Drain rate. While you're here, use some of that starting cash to grab a Chronicle from Diango for teleports near Varrock!

    With the fundamentals established, you can start moving towards slightly loftier goals...

    These ideas should give you loads to do, if you get to the point of completing goals like these then you'll probably have a pretty good idea whether or not Old School's the right fit for you

    Earn some GP (Money)

    You'll need plenty of this to fund your future endeavours, but getting started earning GP can be tough. YouTube is full of fantastic resources on this front, or you could check out the OSRS Wiki for a huge list of options here. Just make sure to check that whatever you're interested in makes sense in the here and now, don't just blindly follow a guide or video from a decade ago!

    For Irons, this is a little trickier. There's a page on the OSRS Wiki with some good starting points that's worth a look, detailing some strong starters like the Stronghold of Security, Pickpocketing via the Thieving skill, Wintertodt, the Agility Pyramid, or simple looting methods like picking up Eclipse Red wine in Varlamore. Iron is naturally a harder game mode, so don't be discouraged if it takes a while to find your feet here!

    Grab some runes for Magic training!

    Either buy (using your newfound wealth) or craft (via the Runecraft skill) some runes to get started levelling your Magic skill. Like we've mentioned above, Magic is a pathway to really impactful teleports, but also a really strong Combat style in the early game, particularly against NPCs who have an Elemental Weakness.

    Purchase some gear upgrades

    You can find loads of incremental upgrades dotted around Varrock, Falador, Barbarian Village and Al Kharid. We've linked to the 'Locations' section for each of these places, where you can see all of the shops in town!

    If you want to try your first ever gear grind, you could try and obtain the iconic Rune Scimitar. Remember to check the 'Item Sources' section to figure out where it comes from, we'd recommend Fire Giants (who have a hefty weakness to Water spells) or Zamorak Warriors.

    Unlock some new areas!

    Help the Priest in Peril to gain access to the inhospitable Morytania. This region houses all sorts of cool content, but it's pretty spooky and more than a little inhospitable - we wouldn't recommend locking yourself here for 5,000 hours, you'd have to be crazy to try that.

    Complete the Children of the Sun Quest to gain access to the Shining Kingdom, Varlamore. Varlamore is full to the brim of stuff to do for players at any level of progression, including skilling activities, quests, bosses, and some subtle-but-useful amenities like shops or sawmills!

    Slay the dragon of Crandor

    Put those Combat stats and gear upgrades to the test by tackling the Dragon Slayer quest - slaying Elvarg is no easy feat, prepare your best gear, best food and perhaps even a Ring of Recoil or two!

    Learn about Achievement Diaries

    These are a great way to help round out your account and motivate you to train your skills. While Achievement Diaries are relevant all the way until the endgame, some Easy diaries are able to completed very early-on and are a great excuse to round out your stats or learn more about various parts of the game!

    The Ardougne Easy Diary is a popular choice, since it rewards the Ardougne Cloak 1, a cape with some Combat bonuses and an unlimited teleport that's close-by to an Altar (for recharging your Prayer points), a Fairy Ring (for transportation down the line), a Spirit Tree (more transportation), a Bank, and even a dock that you can use to sail to Brimhaven or Rimmington.

    If after all of this, Old School's feeling like the right game for you, then consider taking a look at some even loftier, longer-term goals...

    These ideas should help you find your feet and get used to questing, levelling up your skills, keeping yourself topped up in combat, and even getting around Gielinor quicker. Old School's a massive game with loads to do, start small and let your knowledge build up - there's no rush to learn everything straight away, so try not to feel overwhelmed!

    Unlock Fairy Rings

    Unlock Fairy Rings to aid your traversal around Gielinor. To do this, you'll need to partially complete Fairytale II - Cure A Queen, which has its own fair share of quest requirements.

    Become a monkey's uncle

    Immerse yourself in simian society by completing the Monkey Madness quest, allowing you to use the powerful Dragon Scimitar, a huge step up from its Rune equivalent.

    Obtain the iconic Dragon Defender

    Gain access to the Warrior's Guild and try your first real gear grind for the Dragon Defender, a powerful Melee off-hand that'll stick with you for a long time.

    Beyond these, set your sights on completing Recipe for Disaster to unlock the Barrows Gloves, a powerful glove-slot item that's great for all Combat styles until much later in the game, and consider embarking on the rite of passage that is obtaining the Fire Cape by besting one of Old School's most infamous challenges: the Fight Caves.


    If you've made it all the way here, you're familiar enough to pick and choose what you'd like to do - Old School is a massive game with heaps to do, and you're always in the driver's seat.




    It's almost impossible to run out of things to do in Old School RuneScape, we hope that this page has given you a better idea of how to chart your own path, learn more about the game, and enjoy the endless content we've got to offer.


    We'll see you in Gielinor!