Introduction

Tutorial Island

Old School RuneScape - or OSRS for short - is a service featuring a version of RuneScape based on how the game was in August 2007.

This Old School RuneScape service was opened on 22nd of February 2013. This was following a poll where players voted if they wish to see the return of an older version of the game.

The poll was up from 15th February 2013 and finished at 00:00 GMT 1st March 2013. Enough votes were cast to reach the first level of the service within 24 hours of the poll being launched, and the final vote count was 449,351.

Access Requirements

The Log In Screen for Old School RuneScape

Only members may access the service.

The opening month of Old School RuneScape is free for members and lasts until March 31st (inclusive).

When the poll finished, even though the 500,000 vote target was not reached, Jagex announced that at least the first 6 months of Old School service would be free as a benefit to members at no additional charge. Jagex will review the cost in September 2013 and if the Old School community is still healthy and growing it can remain free to members.

If you would like to access Old School RuneScape on the downloadable client, see Accessing Old School RuneScape on the Client.

Further Development

The amount of support provided for the Old School service was determined by a poll. Although the number of votes was not enough to reach the 500,000 target, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard upgraded some elements of the service beyond the 250,000 vote level, including the gradual addition of anti-botting technology and community polls to decide on any changes to the game.

The final poll result gave the following service:

Old School Features	Votes
	250,000+
2007 Server Launch?
Level of on-going development	Small team
Cost of Service	Free **
Level of maintenance	Basic
Anti-bot upgrade
Polls to decide new content

** Free as a members benefit for at least the first 6 months, starting March 1st 2013

The original features list (with the column highlighted green showing what poll could have resulted in) was as follows:

Old School Features	Votes Required
	<49,999	50,000+	250,000+	500,000+
2007 Server Launch?
Level of on-going development		None	Small team	Dedicated team
Cost of Service		~$15	~$5	Free
Level of maintenance		Critical	Basic	Weekly
Anti-bot upgrade		None	Possible
Polls to decide new content		None	None

Developer Blogs

Every week or so a Developer Blog will be added discussing such things as upcoming changes to the service, new content and bug fixes.

1. Old School RuneScape Week 1
2. Old School RuneScape Week 2
3. Old School RuneScape Week 3
4. Game Integrity in Old School RuneScape
5. First Old School RuneScape Content Poll
6. Old School Community
7. Rare Items in Old School RuneScape
8. F2P Content Restricted Worlds
9. Third Old School RuneScape Content Poll
10. BotWatch Update in Old School RuneScape
11. The Last Two Months
12. Something Bigger
13. Rare Item Implementation in Old School RuneScape

Patch Notes

1. 22nd February 2013
   • Player owned Housing and the Construction skill have been temporarily disabled.
   • The Barbarian Assault minigame has been temporary disabled.
   • The Slug Menace quest has been temporary disabled.
   • The Death to the Dorgeshuun quest has been temporary disabled.
   • Unidentified herbs have been changed to grimy herbs.
   • The respawn timer for resources and NPC’s on Tutorial Island has been reduced.
   • An issue with players being able to eat food with 0 HP has been fixed.
   • An issue with players being stuck on Fishing Trawler minigame has been fixed.
   • The logout timer has been changed from 90 seconds to 5 minutes.
   • Various performance improvement fixes have been made.
   • Various security improvement fixes have been made.
2. 25th February 2013
   • The change for herbs from "unidentified" to "grimy" was reverted, by popular request.
   • Trade/Challenge offers will work more reliably for players with spaces in their names.
   • Behind-the-scenes preparatory work for a downloadable client was completed (see Accessing Old School RuneScape on the Client).
3. 27th February 2013
   • The ESC key will once again switch your side-panel to the inventory.
   • A technical problem that had caused some of the game worlds to go offline has been fixed.
   • The server's internal log has been changed as it was getting spammed unnecessarily.
   • A quest animation was interrupting other game features and so has been fixed.
4. 5th March 2013
   • Player-Owned Houses are now accessible enabling the proper training of Construction.
   • The Slug Menace quest is now available, providing access to Proselyte armour.
   • A bug has been fixed that was making the Fishing Trawler fail to fill with water properly when sinking.
   • The food-rotting special attack of ghasts has been adjusted slightly to fix a bug.
5. 13th March 2013
   • The Barbarian Assault minigame is now accessible.
6. 18th March 2013
   • An issue has been fixed whereby holding down keys - such as the arrow keys or CTRL - for long periods caused a sort of click/input 'lag', and, in worst cases, disconnections.
   • As part of the recent policy change on unofficial gambling games, various items that were used for player-run games of chance in OldSchool RS have been changed to match the changes in RuneScape.
7. 21st March 2013
   • The Death to the Dorgeshuun quest is now accessible.
   • You can toggle the report option by right-clicking on the Report Abuse button.
   • Toy mice were giving too much Agility xp and have been fixed.
   • A minor animation bug in the Fremennik Trials quest when playing the lyre has been resolved.
   • A problem when talking to cats whilst having a follower has been fixed.
   • The following items voted for on the content poll have been implemented:
     • Toggle run mode remembered between logins.
     • Right-clicking on chat messages from your friends will more easily let you reply to them.
     • Pressing 'tab' will reply to the last private message sent to you.
     • Left-click to bank is now be available on bank booths.
     • Pressing 'Enter' will now log you in after typing you username/password on the login screen
8. 22nd March 2013
   • Typing ::toggleroof into the chat box will now toggle between two options for removing roofs from buildings. Roofs will either be hidden or be shown selectively.
9. 26th March 2013
   • The Easter event from 2007 has been added to the game and will run until April 8th 2013.
10. 4th April 2013
    • Slayer masters will now check your Defence level is appropriate before assigning creatures which require special equipment that you don’t have the requirements to wear.
    • An issue when retrieving the diary pages in the Royal Trouble quest has been fixed.
    • There is no longer an infinite stock of certain slayer items.
    • A problem with Oaknock’s machine has been fixed.
    • The “ALQ” fairy ring code now works properly and takes you to the Haunted Woods.
    • The cannon ownership system has been improved to be more robust.
    • Hunter implings can now only be caught by one person at a time.
11. 11th April 2013
    • Juna's stone bowl will no longer get permanently stuck in your hand.
    • For the benefit of players with certain medical conditions, we have toned down the flashing effects in the Killerwatts' realm and for alchemy animations.
    • The following items voted for on the content poll have been implemented:
      • While you're trading, your trade partner's chat will appear on the Trade chat tab.
      • Multiple players can now pass through certain Agility obstacles simultaneously.
      • If you cast a second alchemy spell before your last one finishes, it's now queued up.
12. 25th April 2013
    • Prison Pete's balloons have been enlarged, making them easier to identify.
    • The Grand Tree show-down with the demon now works like a cutscene.
    • Farming gardeners will more reliably recognise that fully-grown willow trees can be chopped down.
    • Harpie bug swarms will no longer be assigned as a Slayer target unless you have the appropriate Firemaking level.
    • The jewelled sceptre no longer teleports players into the Desert Treasure pyramid before they have completed enough of the quest to unlock it.
    • An emote has been updated to stop it interfering with your movement.
13. 9th May 2013
    • We've fixed the following bugs:
      • Empty essence pouches that were being fussy with which types of essence they would accept will take all types once again.
      • A cutscene in A Tail of Two Cats has been fixed.
      • A patch of ground near the Observatory no longer pushes you off it.
    • The following items voted for on the content poll have been implemented:
      • F2P-style worlds are now available for subscribers who wish to play without members' features.
      • If you log out or disconnect in the TzHaar Fight Cave during a wave, you will now automatically restart that wave when you log back in.
      • Yanni Salika will now sell you another bone key after completing Shilo Village so that you can revisit Rashiliyia's tomb. The key can now be added to the keyring.
      • Rohak will now sell you another rock cake after completing his section of Recipe for Disaster.
      • The Slayer gem now has a right-click option for checking your progress.
      • Number input boxes now understand "k" = "thousand" and "m" = "million".
      • You are no longer locked into the action when smithing at an anvil, so you can walk away at any point, and your run energy will restore while you smith.
      • Your prayer points and other stats are now restored when you leave Castle Wars.
14. 16th May 2013
    • Combat damage will no longer follow you out of the Culinaromancer's battleground.
    • The alchemy spells will no longer try to run on sliding puzzle pieces.
    • Random events will no longer try to drag you out of Castle Wars on login.
    • Barbarian Assault will no longer let you carry capes into the waiting room, since you can't wear them in the game anyway.
    • The Fight Cave will no longer let you run back in immediately after leaving.
15. 23rd May 2013

    The following items voted for on the content poll have been implemented:

    • Team capes are now available on the worlds with F2P-style restrictions.
    • Chat-channel messages now have a 'Kick' option.
    • Attempting to kick a player from a chat-channel will cause a notification message to be sent round the channel.
    • The money in your Miscellania coffers is now protected by your Bank PIN.
    • Tool leprechauns now stand near their patches rather than wandering so far away.
    • Tool leprechauns will now convert your crops to banknotes. Use the items on the leprechaun to make use of this facility.
    • If you put something into a compost bin, you will now automatically continue putting those items into the bin until you run out or the bin becomes full.
    • Pineapples and watermelons now have 'Use' as their left-click option, rather than 'Eat'.
    • Ava will now sell you replacement devices or upgrade your existing devices with less dialogue.
    • The 'Bones to Bananas' and 'Bones to Peaches' spells now work on more types of bone, including big bones.
    • Dunstan will now sell you additional law talismans, provided you have fewer than 5 law talismans and law tiaras in total.
    • Magic carpets can now be used while you have a weapon equipped. The 'Travel' option on the merchants now has less dialogue.
    • When you have teleported with the ectophial, you will now automatically try to refill it from the Ectofuntus.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s this whole “Old School RuneScape” thing, then?

2. How do I play Old School RuneScape? Do I need to register for a new account?

3. I used to have a RuneScape account from back in the day, but I can’t remember my details. How can I get these back?

4. I used to play RuneScape in the old days. Can I resume my existing progress?

5. When does the free month start and end?

6. How much does Old School RuneScape cost?

7. Have you altered anything in this resurrected version from how it used to be?

8. Does the main RuneScape game link into Old School RuneScape service?

9. Are the rules and community etiquette different between the main RuneScape and Old School RuneScape?

10. What happens if I encounter a bug in Old School RuneScape, can I report it to get it fixed?

11. Does Jagex Account Guardian (JAG) work with Old School RuneScape?

For more detailed questions relating to the Old School RuneScape service take a read of the transcript of the recent Q&A on the topic.

For more details about how the Old School RuneScape service came about, please view the poll FAQ.

Community & Forums

Within the RuneScape Forums exist several forums dedicated to Old School RuneScape and its community.

• Old School RuneScape
  • Old School RuneScape General - Old school servers are here! Discuss Old School RuneScape here.
  • Old School Clans - Come here to find and form clans
  • Old School Advice - A place to share and receive advice in Old School RuneScape
  • Old School Feedback - A place to give and share feedback on Old School RuneScape
• Old School RuneScape Marketplace
  • Armour and Weapons - Buy and sell all armour and weapons here
  • Runes and Ammo - Buy and sell runes, talismans, arrows, cannonballs etc.
  • Food and Potions - Buy and sell food, potions and other supplies here
  • Ores and Bars - Buy and sell ores and bars only!
  • Crafting and Construction - Trade gems, flax, leather, planks, furniture etc.
  • Miscellaneous - Buy and sell items that don't fit into the other Marketplace forums

These forums are open to qualifying Members with access to the RuneScape Forums.

Old School RuneScape Wiki