Survival in an online medieval world

Online games seem to be the craze now. Walk into any internet cafe, it doesn’t matter where it is, and nine out of 10 times you will see several people playing games such as GunBound or Ragnarok. They often stay there for hours on end. I have tried these games, and I often ask myself, is this all there is to this game? Since then I have shied away from such online sources of entertainment. Until recently, that is.

A few months ago, one of my friends told me about another online RPG. It is called Runescape, he said, and it wasn’t very popular among the Pinoys (probably because they were all playing Ragnarok), but it had a better gameplay system and I wouldn’t have to spend my pocket money on those stupid cards. Also, I wouldn’t need a disc to install it because all I had to do was click on the "play game" link on the site. It had an easy-to-remember name too. It is www.runescape.com. Loading time took approximately three to five minutes, longer if the connection was bad. Just another crap game, I thought. Against my better judgment, I decided to try it out. In those first few minutes, I was instantly hooked.

Runescape is an international RPG set in a medieval setting, where players have a wide variety of skills to train, monsters to slay, and quests to complete. Unlike other online games, Runescape is not just about fighting. You can cook, craft, fish, mine, smith, fletch, and thieve aside from learn the combat skills of attack, strength, defense, hitpoints, magic, prayer, and range (archery). Every time you do something in a certain skill, you get experience points for that skill. When you reach a certain amount of experience points in that skill, you level up in that skill. The higher the level you have in a certain skill, the better you are in that skill. You also have a vast selection of armor and weapons to use, from longswords to scimitars and chainmail to plate armor. There are different types of metal in Runescape, the weakest being bronze, and the best being runite (or rune for short). The full list goes as follows in order of weakest to most powerful: Bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamantite and runite.

Items can be purchased in the many shops in Runescape or from other players.

Quests can be done to get free experience in a specified skill, a reward in gold, or to earn the right to wield or wear a particular item (for example, to wear the best armor in the game, rune plate armor, you must first have done the dragonslayer quest). You only get the reward when you complete the quest. You also get a number of quest points when you finish. Quest points are used to obtain access to the champion’s guild, the hero’s guild, and the legend’s guild.(ex. To enter the champion’s guild you need to have at least 32 quest points.)

Combat is an essential part of the game. The attack skill increases your chance of hitting your opponent. The strength skill increases the amount of damage you deal. Defense decreases your opponent’s chance of hitting you. Hitpoints, well, all I can say is that once you run out of hitpoints you die. Magic is all about casting spells at your opponent, but you can use it to teleport to certain areas of the game. Ranging is also quite useful for hitting enemies at a distance. You have several different prayers in Runescape, from prayers that increase your combat stats temporarily to prayers that make you invulnerable to attacks.

When you die, you lose all but your best three items and you end up in Lumbridge, the place where all the noobs (newbies) start out. Players can pick up the items you dropped.

To prevent chaos reigning in Runescape, you can’t just attack players left and right. You have to go to the extreme north of the map called the wilderness. In the wilderness you can attack other players left and right. However, if you attack another player, you get a skull over your head. If you die with a skull over your head, you LOSE all your items.

Still baffled on how the game works? The first time you play, you go through a short (but fun) tutorial on how to play. No money for cards? You don’t need to pay to play Runescape. Any more questions? Just send me an e-mail and I’ll answer it to the best I can. Also, if any of you are beginning to play, my username is Warlord Belm. Add me to your friends list and send me a message and I’ll give you free armor and weapons.

Attention to spammers: You filled up my e-mail with spam messages, so I have something to say to you: SCREW YOU ALL!!!

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Send e-mail to ifyoudonteatyoulldie@yahoo.com.