Not Everyone Can Be Amazing - By: Im Kyle

With regard to RuneScape accounts, I think it is often overlooked that not everyone is on the same level. Due to the fact that we belong to a forum on a RuneScape fansite, every member of Sal’s most likely was at one point in time a relatively serious player. Therefore, the population of Sal’s is not exactly going to be an accurate representation of the entire RuneScape community (instead, the population of Sal’s will have a much higher average level of achievements than the entire gaming population will have). I say this because not everyone on Sal’s RuneScape Forum actually does have a high level of achievement in the game to which the site is dedicated. Therefore, it stands to reason that it would be much appreciated by those members with lower levels and achievements to receive guidance instead of ridicule.

There are two basic problems with the outlook some people have taken. Firstly, nobody started off with high levels and lots of cash (Unless of course, that person cheated via account trading/sharing, in which case, shame on him! Nonetheless, the account itself had to start from scratch.). Everyone had to work for what they obtained, and that means everyone was at one point in time, just as ignorant to various aspects of the game as the new players there are today. The second problem is that it’s truly a terrible thing to judge a person based on a RuneScape level (or someone’s “status” indicators on the forum, such as join date or post count, for that matter). Those things simply are not indicative of the type of person who lies behind those RuneScape or Sal’s accounts.

So, look back, and you too will remember a time when you were not an amazing RuneScape player. Some will ask, “but what defines amazing?” For the purpose of this article, that area of subjectivity isn’t entirely relevant. It is not a matter of what we deem to be amazing, but the important focus is the very fact that there is an already existing hierarchy in the RuneScape population, to which my observations are dedicated. So, determine for yourselves what you believe is good, or in some cases, respectable (though I hate to use that word to describe your levels in an MMORPG), and take into account what follows.

As previously mentioned, every RuneScape player has at one point in time had the exact same stats as every other player, which is a miniscule number 1 for every skill and 10 hitpoints. Moreover, every player has also at one point in time completely lacked any knowledge about any aspect of the game, which was then learned through discovery. In my personal experience, there has been a time in the game that I distinctly remember as a moment that I was “spit on” for my level. The first skill I enjoyed to train was mining, and at a point in my RuneScape career, I had never actually trained combat yet but had a decent mining level. In my experience, I was trying to mine iron and a mugger began attacking me and may have killed me if it wasn’t for a nearby player who killed the mugger. I thanked him for his actions and received a one-word response: “Noob.” I know, how pleasant! This kind of treatment from fellow players prompted me to write one of my very first topics on Sal’s, entitled “Define Noob.” I received mixed responses, some calling me a smart or cool RuneScape player, others telling me that I was wrong, and even others who complained that the content of my topic “has been posted so many times already!” How was I, a new forum member, to know that?

This idea carries over to Sal’s RuneScape Forum. On a forum such as Sal’s, there will always be all sorts of fads, inside jokes, and general awareness of various things that “outsiders” do not know. Therefore, it’s quite shameful when people are treated in a less than respectful manner, simply because they do not understand everything that is generally well known by the regular player of RuneScape or user of Sal’s. Therefore, questions or misunderstandings should be equally respected on all levels, because the person asking the question genuinely wants an answer, not ridicule. This is especially important because, as mentioned, a person’s achievements in a game are not even remotely indicative of the personality that lies behind them.

Therefore, one must learn to show consideration. It truly isn’t funny to joke about someone’s level, nor is it respectable to scold someone for something he isn’t even aware of (i.e. bringing something up that you or other people are sick of hearing about). Not everyone will know everything, and the high route is to help assist those people rather than torment them. After all, not everyone can be amazing.

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Fear And Loathing in Lumbridge - By: Merch Gwyar

There are many quests and many activities in Runescape, but which strikes fear into the hearts of its players? For this Hallowe'en issue, we have been bravely venturing into the game to find the most terrifying thing it has to offer.

Speaking to players in-game and in Sal's Forum, we have heard blood-curdling tales of confrontations with deadly, uncompromising, high-level horrors, and those were just the other players. The names of some NPC monsters cropped up time and time again, until we could identify the scariest in the game. But none of these bears the crown for the sheer number of people left traumatised after a single encounter with it. Read on to find out what does.

Part One: The Quests

'Wouldn't you be scared being hit in the head by a giant wooden robot carrying an anchor and being controlled by a brain in a dome?' - Conny187

It might be expected that the boss monsters in quests would rank highly as frightening to behold and, indeed, they did. All things are relative, so the level 30 vampire arising from its coffin is as dangerous to the level 21 player as the worst of those found in the advanced quests. Our survey required people to think back through their whole Runescape playing career to take into account the changes in personal ability to survive. Of course, not everyone has a quest cape, so the harder the quest, the fewer people know just how horrific they are. Nontheless, twelve quests made it into our pantheon of fear.

Eight received one mention apiece: Grand Tree, Horror of the Deep, Recipe for Disaster (final battles), Desert Treasure (Damis), Swan Song, Family Crest, Dream Mentor

Of these, Swan Song was included for a slightly different reason. It's reputation caused the nervous anticipation, though the reality fell far short.

Mentioned more frequently were another two: Underground Pass and Haunted Mine. In both cases, it was the lack of dread reputation which seemed to make things worse.

'The atmosphere. It was so big and dark and devoid of other players or banks or civilization. Not to mention being threatened every couple of minutes.' - Kieyanar

Underground Pass can easily leave a player stranded at the door of the final battle, carrying their best armour and weaponry, but unable to use it; their hitpoints reduced dangerously through the rigours of getting to this point and with them comes the loss of food. The nearest bank is an hour of real time away. No-one can easily reach you with supplies without undertaking that same journey themselves. Though a dwarf down below will sell cooked fish for a price, it is a struggle to successfully stand at that door. There is no guarantee that returning will see our hero any better off. In this state, we are asked to open a door, where a dangerous mage hits high and spikes rise from the floor to deal great damage. The dilemma exists, to open the door and invite almost certain death, with grave material losses too, or teleport out and hope that the long return will leave you in a less desperate position next time. Everything points to the fact that, in an hour's time, your situation will be just the same. Do you enter to face Iban?

Haunted Mine has surprise as a huge contributor to its fear factor. The final fight, if entered into properly prepared and with accompanying friends dropping fish and potions to ensure your survival, is fairly easily survived. This means that it soon recedes in the memory of those who have completed it, all trace of trauma, if it was ever there, now gone. Consequently, it's not mentioned in despatches. It's not whispered in awed and shaky tones by people in banks, or around trees or ores, or anywhere else where players meet to share experiences and warnings. The unwary adventurer might read guides, which conceal the true deadliness of that encounter under words like 'difficult fight'. Other details include that the ghost is level 90, so our adventurer packs a handful of lobsters and maybe a couple of pots and sets off down the darkened shafts into the bowels of the mine... Once prompted several people listed the number of times they had died in the chaotic scenes that ensued. Haunted Mine, where the first consideration for what to take with you should be 'friends who have done the quest and can carry extra sharks and/or pick up my stuff when I die', came in at joint second.

So we come to the most petrifying, heart-stoppingly traumatic quests in the game, as revealed by our survey. The disclaimer here being that there may be others of such an advanced level that only a few hardened and battle-scarred adventurers have lived to tell the tale, and none of them were around when we asked the questions. Without further ado, let us announce the Trio of Terror, which didn't have a single vote's difference to separate them.

Dragon Slayer, Great Brain Robbery, Monkey Madness

'I heard that alot of people died while doing it.' - Falcon451

In each of these adventures, the risk of sudden and devastating death, whilst carrying the best of your expensive equipment, is very real. Dragon Slayer is often undertaken while the player is a relatively low combat level. There is a persistent intelligence that, if meeting Elvarg over level 50 combat, then he will hit twice as hard. Moreover, many people complete all of the f2p quests before Runescape addiction forges many routes into membership. This is the hardest of those quests and deserved of its reputation.

For players who have trained to the higher levels, then the opposite challenge arises when meeting Barrelchest. So used to being able to just stick on the protect prayers to breeze through the great fights, The Great Brain Robbery leaves them exposed and vunerable. No prayer, just food, no safe spots, as the monster hits constantly in the high 20s or beyond. Many described surviving this fight as a matter of sheer luck.

In the majority of potentially deadly quests, the risk boils down to a solitary, climatic battle. Not so Monkey Madness, where the likelihood of death by violence or poison starts early on, in this long, long quest. This state of affairs continues until a interval about three-quarters of the way through, where the transformation of player into monkey arrives like the sun emerging after a storm. There are still opportunities to die horrifically, but they are lessened and each step no longer has to be planned with precision or else entrusted to instinct and luck. There is still the notorious jungle demon to kill, but only adventurers practically driven to suicidal insanity have made it that far anyway. The trauma of Monkey Madness is enhanced by the disorientation of entering Ape Atoll itself. The location encompasses a whole town, including the killing tunnels below, which cannot be entered and scoped beforehand. Confusion reigns, as players hurry to locate buildings, camoflaged gnomes or other NPCs, while arrows rain down, spiders and spikes poison, floors give way, monkeys punch, huge gorillas perilously entrap and just a glimpse of them by certain characters can place them straight back into the dangerous jail where they started. It's a wonder anyone returns to the town at all!

After all of that, what could possibly be more terrifying to the denizens of Runescape? Plenty as it happens.

Part Two: Monsters Generally.

Not many monsters, outside of the quest bosses, were named instantly as the most fearsome aspects of the game. Those which did do have a terrible reputation for player slaughter, they are: Bronze Dragons, Greater Demons, Daggonoth Kings and the Kalphite Queen.

Bronze Dragons aren't the most ferocious of the metal clan, in fact they are the lowest. What renders them more terrible than even their mithril cousins is the fact that they are usually the first encountered. It can take nerves of steel to enter Brimhaven Dungeon, having asked around, taken advice and, perhaps, clutching your first ever anti dragon breath potion. Fear of the unknown is a powerful thing, but once the first Bronze Dragon is despatched, the rest have a point of reference.

The other monsters named are simply some of the highest combat and deadliest to encounter in the entire of Gielinor. In the case of the latter two, it's better to challenge them in gangs, several players all fighting in their best armour and to their highest ability. Meeting them alone can, and invariably will, be the last thing you ever do (before respawning, obviously).

Yet there are encounters still yet more terrifying than the NPC monsters.

Part Three: The Other Players

Player A: 'I was really excited when I got to use a rune axe, but he said offer and I said 7k and he called me a newb.'
Merch Gwyar: 'So that's why you're still using mithril now?'
Player A: 'Yes.'

When John Donne wrote that 'no man is an island', he almost certainly didn't have Runescape in mind, but it applies nontheless. Each day in Gielinor provides countless interactions with other players. These aren't programmed NPCs, who might mindlessly kill us because Jagex made them that way, these are real people making decisions at every turn about a variety of actions and reactions. This makes it so much worse. Just walking down the street can solicit a random insult hurled in someone's direction, but things can become really scary when the meeting is more pronounced.

As in life, there are a plethora of personalities representing every shade between good and bad, shy and extrovert, the novice learners and the masters, the kind and the cruel, and every other polar opposite too. For every stranger who is willing to share their knowledge and experience with those seeking to learn, there are others who will pour scorn on any show of weakness or ignorance. The fear begins with not knowing, until it's too late, which sort of person is beside us. Even if the player seems friendly, the sense of being out of their league and not knowing what they don't know can see the nerves heightened and maintained throughout the conversation or trade.

'I got scammed on Candor by someone, which left me with like just 10 swordies.' - Scrufie21

Amongst those asked, the most terrifying encounters with other players included both fear that something horrible might occur or else actual experience of it having happened in the past. Situations included being scammed or derided for an offer whilst merchanting; being lured somewhere dangerous, whilst asking for assistance when lost; and being exposed as a lower level, thus risking someone jumping in to steal things like mining spots, after being conversationally asked what level they are. Less specifically, but extremely scary for some players was the risk of seemingly personally inferior, for example, two people asked turned out to be dyslexics, who had both previously been humiliated publicly by tactless players ridiculing their reading speed and spelling.

The fear engendered by other players does not have to stem from a player's lower abilities, as the other extreme brings its own terrors.

'Cold sweat, shivers, even when going 'naked'. It seems that at a certain point (read: combat level) you are fair game for any player. You are the 'friendly banker', you are/have become a source of possible income, you are a 'no-lifer' when you don't respond, you are at the butt of any joke, you are... feeling like that level 3 player, fresh out tutorial island, venturing out on his first steps in this daunting realm we call Runescape.' - Simple, on the perils of being level 126 in F2P

Another example of this was the player, who was entrusted to lead a PKing clan into the Wildy. There are few things more terrifying than carrying the responsibility for the lives and successes of a whole group of other people.

Part Four: Locations

Fear of the unknown has already been touched upon, but nowhere is this more keenly felt than when entering a new location. One person recalled a particularly terrifying incident, wherein she had been out exploring and had strayed out of her chartered world. Suddenly, a high level NPC leapt out upon her and she barely escaped with her life, running further into the unknown. She was lucky. She found a safe-spot and also had a much higher level friend to contact in IM. The friend gleaned enough details from her description of all she could see to be able to track her down. She arrived in Falador with some healing fish and an offering to escort her safely past the Highwayman back to Draynor.

As new quests unlock new lands, even the most experienced players have to draw breath before being player pioneers. It could just as easily turn out to be a multi-combat, ferocious monster killing ground as a place where crafters can serenely stitch their hides. It could be anything and how does a player prepare for that?

'There could be monsters in there that I don't know about and I could die easily. I was scared because I didn't know what to do.' - Biscuit

Indepted to those pioneers, even places generally known might be new to individual players. Even the most vivid descriptions in guides and conversations cannot prepare people for certain places.

When listing fearsome locations, the Barrows was mentioned time and time again. It, however, wasn't the scariest place in the game. Just pipped to the post of the most petrifying thing ever encountered was a location: The Wilderness. Stories spilled out of being lured into it, being PKed, fleeing from its monsters and being lost in lava mazes. Many people have resolved never to enter it again after one or several traumatic experiences. Billed as an area of great rewards and great danger, it is just too terrifying for a substantial proportion of Gielinor's population.

Part Five: The Most Heart-Stoppingly, Terrifying Thing in Runescape

So now we come to it. In our survey, we trembled over a vast array of horrors, but one stood out over all of the rest. It was a thing so chilling that every person surveyed has done their best to avoid it, but what was it?

Not a player, monster, quest, location or skill, though all might factor in it. The most frightening thing in all of the game is... dying.

Whether you emerge in Lumbridge, Falador or Camelot, death is never permanent in Runescape, but it is rarely convenient. Players have often trekked a long way into far-flung regions to meet their deaths and face the prospect of having to return to finish their quest or task. They have almost always been wearing their most expensive equipment and their loss can be devastating for those without a pile of gold pieces in the bank.

Moreover, dying in Runescape has a sense of indignity about it. It's almost never viewed as an occupational hazard or a mistake learned, and therefore crossed off the list, so never to do that again. It seen as failure and more than one person has logged off for a moment's calming down, before returning to the game to bemoan their fate to friends.

With this we conclude our epic journey through the terrors of Runescape and wish you all a wonderful Hallowe'en.


With thanks to all the people, named or unnamed, who contributed their experiences during the research for this article.

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Quests- The Best In Everything - By: Take This Post Seriously

Warning: Heavy quest spoilers. If you like the element of surprise in some of the quests you embark upon in RuneScape, you may not want to read this article.

Quests. Ah, Quests. Maker of much stress, and many pleasant afternoons. Creator of incredible armor and even useful skills, and yet the source of so many rants.

Quests are arguably the best part of RuneScape. Most skills require more clicking than thinking, and even such skills as Farming, which require much planning, improvisation, and organization result in inevitable drudgery, repeating the same tasks over and over again. Yet quests are always a reprieve from this monotony, consistently surprise you, and open up new features like Tears of Guthix and Dragon Scimitars.

But why do them aside from pleasure? Even given the prominence of quest guides in today’s RuneScape society, many players (my across-the-street neighbor, for example, who is level 91, 1300+ total and yet only has 57 QP), find quests simply a waste of time, or worse, dull! F2Pers, in fact, who have only one quest that was originally designed less than six years ago (and that the only one in the game that requires nothing but walking and talking), may find them an inescapable drudgery. I know many people who can’t bear the thought of doing Prince Ali Rescue, simply because it’s incredibly annoying by F2P standards. Still, many people do enjoy them, and that is what this article is about: finding things to enjoy in virtually every quest.

There are four types of quests: ones where you’re assigned a list of tasks to do, ones where you have to figure things out on your own, ones where you kill things, and mixes of the three. I’ll give some examples of the best and worst of each kind of them (in my opinion):

First, when you’re assigned a list of tasks to do, graphics and a good soundtrack are often the most redeeming things. That includes cutscenes. For example, anyone using a quest guide during Goblin Diplomacy can complete the quest in two minutes tops, just by bringing the supplies to the Goblin Generals’ quarters. However, the cutscenes recently added are humorous and have actually been quoted in several Sal’s members’ signatures at one point. So all in all, for the ten minutes it takes to round up the materials and head on up there, Goblin Diplomacy can be enjoyable if you know what to expect…but the reward, unless you’re a member and looking to complete Recipe For Disaster, or some easy quest points, is not worth your trouble.

Grim Tales, on the other hand, is an excellent example of how a linear quest can be an exciting task. The quest begins by a strange merchant asking you to retrieve several things, including a griffin’s feather and a dwarf’s helmet. You go up the nearby mountain, chat with a griffin and make him fall asleep. Then you go to a dwarf, chat, go to a dungeon, clamber through and fight giant mice (at least, giant compared to your puny size), take an item and go back to the tower, free the dwarf, then grow a beanstalk and fight a massive giant known as Glod.

The excellent sound track (again, in my opinion, and only on some of the songs, like Fe Fi Fo Fum), strong humor, and bizarre scenery and graphics is enough to make it one of the most pleasurable quests so far. Again, the reward is negligible for a Master quest (I mean, who needs an ugly-looking helm with stats similar to Rune and untradeable?), but the pleasure of doing it is so redemptive that Grim Tales is one of the best RS-related ways you can spend a lazy Friday afternoon.

Now for quests in which you figure things out on your own. These are, in a way, even more controversial than the previous type, because while many people are upset when a non-challenging quest comes out, even more people are angered when the quest wastes time and they are at a loss for how to proceed. However, for those who like a challenge, these quests are often very rewarding ― and incidentally, they tend to be darker and more mysterious than linear quests.

For example, Ernest the Chicken is a seemingly simple quest which requires excellent deductive reasoning to complete without a quest guide ― in fact, I don’t know anyone who didn’t “cheat” on the part of the quest where you try to get to a pressure valve hidden by several locked doors and many confusing levers. For new players, this is one of the first quests they often attempt, and this is unfortunate, because the mansion can be deadly to lower levels and people need all their wits about them when they attempt to piece together various bits of logic and figure out how to kill the piranhas without getting bitten. The reward, again, is not particularly fine, but the joy of completing such a difficult quest can often hearten the novice more than 10k ever could.

Of course, that’s not to say that things don’t get much tougher at higher levels of play. Darkness of Hallowvale (I’ve occasionally suspected that J.K. Rowling based her final HP book’s title partly on this quest!), though only an Intermediate quest, requires a mad dash through a Vampyre-haunted slum practically devoid of all hope or empathy. However, when in groups, I’ve found this quest to be positively delightful, and the obvious misery around you can only heighten your desire to win through and liberate humans from the iron grip of the wicked Lord Drakan.

With a convoluted storyline and a fascinating array of characters, I’m shocked that this quest hasn’t attracted more fans. The graphics of Meiyerditch are very impressive, especially for a Java game, and the maze is extremely well designed, defeating the ease in which minimaps simplify mazes without getting rid of it altogether, like a few quests do.

Mourning’s Ends Part Two is a completely different story. Perhaps the most testing trial of wit and time efficiency in RuneScape is when attempting this quest without a guide. Few quests are more hated, and yet the ecstasy resulting from completing it, even with a guide, is more than enough to defeat the meager reward. (Whoever can complete this quest and is in sore need of 25k has my condolences, and death rune crafting is almost completely pointless.) After all, this maze has been known to take people more than ten hours, and all while being attacked by creatures that can do 11 damage in multicombat!

Even with a quest guide, the logic and clear thinking required is considerable, and even after all of this, the story behind the maze is thick and fresh, none the less because of the thick layer of lies your character has already cut through in the previous parts of the storyline.

Quests which are mainly based around killing are among the least-hated quests, although from those with lower combat levels, some still receive their share of rants. These include some of the arguably dullest quests in the game, such as Imp Catcher and Olaf’s Quest, but they also include quests like Horror From the Deep and Desert Treasure, which include some of the most difficult and rewarding battles in existence, and also have their fair share of flavor.

Imp Catcher, for example, has got to be one of the least important quests ever. Despite giving many an adventurer their first 875 Magic experience, killing imps is a very irking task for the low-combat players that usually attempt it, especially if they haven’t found the imp “breeding grounds” on Karamja Volcano. And the amulet garnered as a reward is quite useless, giving only a +4 bonus to all attack forms and thus only making a significant difference on a low-level and poor warrior, and even then not much of one. Aside from all of this, there is no humor, no special music, and certainly no particularly good cutscenes.

Likewise, Olaf’s Quest is a largely useless quest that relies mainly on killing things. Although it requires you to fetch several items and solve a few simple puzzles, the real emphasis is on killing Fremennik skeletons, in a very shallow plot with a worse reward: the ability to kill Brine Rats, which are worthless level 70 monsters with worthless drops, 20,000gp (which, incidentally, might actually be useful to some players who can complete the quest), 4 rubies, and 12,000 Defence experience, which isn’t particularly hard to get for most people capable of slaying a level 100 monster.

There is practically zero humor in it, and the only cutscene is when the level 100 skeleton appears out of nowhere, in a rather dull position. To make matters worse, even walking through the cave is tedious, with a slippery bridge that repeatedly drops people in a river and carries them all the way out of the dungeon. All in all, a very useless quest, and the perfect example of a failed combat-based quest.

However, combat quests are not always futile. A good example of an elaborate, well-done one is Horror From the Deep, a quest that requires killing possibly the strongest monster level 100 or below: the Dagannoth Mother. It’s a very elaborate fight, because every 10 seconds or so you must attack in a different way in order to damage the Dagannoth Mother, and she hits very high for a creature of her level. Even with protection prayers, the damage removed is limited. The quest is also well-designed, with agility obstacles and a touch of insanity added, as well as a dash of romance. The reward isn’t brilliant (around 5,000 experience in three skills and access to prayer books), but it’s sufficient for the brief amount of time required for completion.

Lastly, who can forget Desert Treasure? This classic combat-based quest unlocks the powerful Ancient Magicks, including spells like the fabled Ice Barrage and the only Morytanian teleport spell in existence. It requires four epic battles with truly powerful level 150+ elemental guardians scattered across RuneScape, all in dangerous areas which are in themselves quite challenging to get to.

Although the need for mental prowess is absent, with the use of a guide, at least, mid-to-high level players will find themselves severely challenged in these battles, especially the ones with the notorious Kamil and Damis. Best of all, the reward is more valuable compared to the quest difficulty than any other quest in existence. Truly, Jagex has never made a more satisfying combat-based quest, thus proving that this hack-and-slash genre need not be dull!

Finally, there are the mixes of all three types. These are in many peoples’ opinions both the best and most satisfying quests, and the most humorous and rewarding. Three of the best in this category are My Arm’s Big Adventure, the fabled Legend’s Quest, and Lunar Diplomacy. Most of the best quests along these lines have high requirements, but for the majority of them, the perks of the quests are nearly worth the hard work.

My Arm’s Big Adventure is one of the most hilarious capers ever released in MMORPGs. A babyish troll named My Arm (you’re better off not knowing why) wants to grow crops, but simply doesn’t get it. You have to guide him through many cutscenes and crazy individuals, to the jungle island of Karamja. Without a quest guide, it can be a bit difficult to figure out the next step, but thankfully there’s little thinking required to spoil the fun. “Da rumble in da jungle” has to be one of the silliest things you will ever see on RuneScape, but I won’t spoil it — you’ll have to see it for yourself. At the end, a fairly challenging fight with a Giant Roc (level 172) awaits, thrown in rather randomly but all the same welcome for a bit of added risk.

The quest reward is generous in experience, and herb farmers are especially thankful for the reward as it gives them the only disease-free herb patch in the game. In short, this has to be one of the most successful quests Jagex ever put together.

The Legend’s Quest is one of the best examples of a mix of all three elements. With a very dark and involving plotline (but only good when the music is on), it combines a good story and a linear path with some intellectual challenges on the way as you try to navigate ancient spiritual passages below the primeval Kharazi Jungle.

To make matters even more interesting, three ancient guardians around level 100 guard the lava-filled bowels of the dungeon, and a level 187 demon makes a triple appearance in this quest, requiring a difficult battle indeed. Since this was one of the original 50 quests (in fact, the 50th), and thus created in RuneScape Classic, there is virtually no humor in it, but all the same the Legend’s Quest is an imposing, challenge, and very deep quest that won’t easily be forgotten. Not while I have anything to say about it!

And finally, Lunar Diplomacy. This has an excellent mix of the three elements, with excellent cutscenes, a nice soundtrack, good graphics for RuneScape, intellectual challenges, and mid-level battles. Even though many high-level skills are required to embark on it, this quest does virtually nothing to disappoint. A group of bumbling pirates involve you in Lunar politics before you even reach Lunar Isle, and the Oneiromancer, a mage who works with dreams, assigns you difficult-to-decipher tasks for Lunar robes, a Lunar Staff, and a strange potion.

You are forced to kill six Suqahs, level 111 troll-like creatures capable of casting, by some strange chance, Ice Rush.

At the end of the quest, a climactic tournament in several different skills, teaching debatable life lessons, happens to your character in a cloudy realm of Dreams, and you’re forced to fight a level 81 clone of yourself using nothing but Lunar robes and your Lunar staff. All through the quest, humor, confusion and surprises leap out at you behind every corner, and the reward is yet another spellbook, with high-level spells for all occasions.

Some people may find that battles in quests have become easy for them, even tame. The simple way to solve this is to bring less powerful equipment to the battle, or challenge yourself not to eat any food. Use a less powerful combat style. Better yet, drag out the battle and roleplay a dramatic situation, yelling cliché protagonist (or villain!) lines, and make it easier for the monster if possible. Many people enjoy being tested to their limits, and if it’s within your ability to dance around the boss(es) without certain death, then by all means take a shot at it.

Remember, all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women (and monsters!) merely players. Each and every quest you do brings you closer to the Quest Cape, and the end of the freedom to spend a free afternoon trying out a new (to you) adventure. From the point you finish every quest in the game, a quarter of the fun of RuneScape leaves you forever.

Don’t despair in your loss of entertainment, though, but rather rejoice at every opportunity to go through an adventure. The best virtue in RuneScape is optimism, through which all other virtues and creativity stem from.

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