Random event

Random events, anti-macro events, or simply randoms refers to a variety of NPCs and their associated areas that appear throughout Gielinor to interact with players. They will appear either to provide an item to a player or to ask the player to play a short minigame to earn a prize. When random events appear, they specify one player with whom they will interact, and only that player will be able to interact with them, besides basic dismissive dialogue. If the player does not wish to interact with the random event, they can right-click and dismiss the event, or just ignore the event, which disappears after a minute.

Most random events can be exited after starting, but before completion or failing. Exceptions for this include Mime, Pillory, and Quiz Master, which will hold the player in a separate instance indefinitely until they are completed. The Maze event cannot be exited until it is completed, or the timer runs out.

Not all random events are allowed everywhere in the game. For example, any random event that takes players into a separate instance will never appear in the Wilderness (as it could allow a fleeing player to escape and remain there until it is safe). Random events will also not appear in most banks, boss areas, and minigames; if a random event NPC is following the player into a disallowed area, it will despawn and not return, except for Count Check, Dr Jekyll, and the Genie.

To determine when the player will receive a random event, the game will pick a point in time between 1 and 2 hours in the future relative to the player's last random event.^[1] This moment is defined with a real-time clock, meaning it will tick down even if the player is not logged in.^[2] A check is made every 5 minutes of in-game time to see if the required duration has elapsed.^[3] If the player is offline when they are due to receive a random event, the timer will be extended by 10 to 70 minutes and continue counting down.^[4] If the player is available when that time rolls around, an event will be selected at random from all of those the player is eligible to receive (depending on their location), with each one of them having equal weighting.^[5]

Supposing the player is in a location where random events are not allowed to spawn when they become eligible to receive one, it is likely that they will miss out on the opportunity altogether, leading to a new spawn moment being chosen one to two hours down the line.^[6] Random events will not spawn if the player character is using an altered model, for instance while a transformation ring or greegree is equipped.^[7] In the rare case a player would be eligible to receive an event while a previously spawned random event NPC is still trying to draw their attention, a second event NPC will not be spawned.^[8]

It is possible to briefly stall an event spawn if the player has an interface open or is in the middle of a repeated skilling action (through the "Make-X" option) when they are awarded an event, in which case its spawn will be delayed until the player becomes available again.^[9][10] In the event a player is teleported away from a tile that has afterwards become inaccessible, they will be teleported back to Lumbridge upon completing the event instead.^[11] Standing on a tile previously occupied by an object of destructible scenery can cause this to happen in case it respawns while the player is away.^[12]

While most random events offer relatively small rewards for the effort required to complete them, like the Capt' Arnav's Chest, some rewards can be very fortunate.

It is recommended to always do the following random events:

• Maze: The maze takes less than two minutes to complete at the fastest speed, with rewards possibly including hundreds of chaos and death runes.
• Quiz Master: Choose the Mystery box for the highest possible reward, with a chance for clue scrolls (up to hard) or a stale baguette worth 792,820 coins on the Grand Exchange.
• Sandwich lady: She gives a small chance of giving a stale baguette instead of a regular baguette worth 792,820 coins on the Grand Exchange
• Genie: Gives a lamp (up to 990 experience) for simply talking to him.
• Count Check: Gives a lamp (up to 990 experience) for simply talking to him, if the player has both a Jagex Account and a Bank PIN.
• Beekeeper: Gives a lamp (up to 990 experience) and either a part of the beekeeper's outfit, coins, or flax.
• Surprise Exam: Although it takes about a minute to complete, the book of knowledge (up to 1,485 experience) can be valuable for pures and new players wishing to level a skill fast.
• The Drill Demon, Freaky Forester, Gravedigger and Mime events reward you with a lamp after their respective outfit (and emotes, in the case of the Mime) has been obtained. Also the Kiss the Frog event rewards a frog token which can always be traded in for a lamp, or for pieces of the Royal frog costume.
• The Gravedigger event also has access to a bank deposit box in the form of a mausoleum.

In addition to the above, if playing on ironman mode it is also recommended to do the following events, due to the difficulty to obtain certain rewards:

• Certer and Rick Turpentine: Short events which can reward a cosmic or nature talisman and even a small chance for a half of a key.
• Prison Pete: Rewards can include 6 grimy toadflaxes or 4 grimy snapdragons which would require Farming level 38 and 62 to grow respectively.
• Dr Jekyll can reward players with many specific potions. Notably, if the player is carrying a clean torstol, he will offer a stamina potion (4), which some Ironmen use for the revitalisation pool.

The following random events offer unique outfits or emotes:

• Kiss the Frog: Always grants a frog token which can be used to buy an untradeable frog mask or Royal frog costume. Needs to be completed 2 times to unlock both pieces, though unlimited pieces can be obtained. Extra tokens may be traded in for an XP lamp at Thessalia's Fine Clothes in Varrock.
• Beekeeper: Needs to be completed 5 times to unlock all beekeeper's outfit pieces. After the full set, flax or coins are awarded instead. Also, a lamp is always awarded, even before the full set.
• Drill Demon: Needs to be completed 4 times to unlock all three camouflage outfit pieces and unique emotes. After the full set, a lamp is awarded instead.
• Freaky Forester: Needs to be completed 3 times to unlock all three lederhosen outfit pieces. After the full set, a lamp is awarded instead.
• Gravedigger: Needs to be completed 5 times to unlock all five zombie outfit pieces and unique emotes. After the full set, a lamp is awarded instead.
• Mime: Needs to be completed 7 times to unlock all mime outfit pieces and unique emotes. After the full set, a lamp is awarded instead.

Random events were originally implemented as an anti-macro technology alongside RuneScape 2, which eliminated RuneScape Classic's fatigue system. With the fatigue system, players were required to sleep in a bed or a sleeping bag for a few seconds after gaining a certain amount of experience. In order to wake up from sleeping, the player would need to answer a captcha to resume playing. Players could continue to train skills or combat if their fatigue was at 100%, but they would not gain any more experience until they slept.

Random events were designed to simultaneously prevent macros from operating properly and to reward legitimate players with small rewards. Some random events, such as the Rock golem, Tree spirit, or Evil Chicken, would attack and eventually kill players who did not run away from them. Events like the Exploding rock would damage players' equipment if they did not stop mining that rock until the smoke went away. This would require players to repair their equipment for a small fee before they could resume using it. Some events, such as the Genie, provided a small reward to players for simply talking to them, and would teleport players away from their current location if they were ignored.

These events were eventually phased out in RuneScape 3 as better anti-macro software was developed. After the release of Old School RuneScape, players and developers realised that modern macro clients were able to solve random events relatively easily and that a more comprehensive anti-macro solution needed to be implemented in the rebooted game. Many players complained that random events were harming gameplay; for example, players fighting aggressive monsters in the Abyss or Ape Atoll Dungeon would likely be confronted by a random event such as the Sandwich lady, who would teleport players away if they could not solve her puzzle. Players would be unable to solve the puzzle interface because they were surrounded by aggressive monsters and would end up being teleported away, even though they were playing entirely within the rules.

The developers were able to implement RuneScape 3's anti-macro software into Old School RuneScape, after which they polled for the removal of aggressive random events and the conversion of other mandatory events to be optional based on a Developer Blog on 28 August 2014.^[13] The poll was met with a positive 86.6% of the vote, and the changes were implemented shortly thereafter. This update allowed players to decide whether or not to partake in these events, without a risk of dying. It also removed several random events from the game.

Many random events were discontinued after the update that made them optional. Some of the random event NPCs were relocated to various locations around RuneScape to preserve them in the game. The discontinued random events will be recorded here for historical purposes.

These random events would result in some sort of equipment malfunction while the player was training a skill. In these randoms, the graphic of the tree, rock, or fishing spot would change to indicate that the player should not continue to use that resource. If the player did not stop using the resource within about 30 seconds, their equipment would be damaged, and players would have to fix it or find a replacement to continue skilling. The damaging event would stop after a few seconds, rendering the resource safe to harvest again.

• Ent - The tree would grow an evil face and move slightly. If players did not stop cutting the tree, their axe would break, and they would need to take it to Bob in Lumbridge to have it repaired (for a small fee).
• Exploding Rock - The rock would begin to smoke. If players did not stop mining that rock, their pickaxe would break, and they would need to take it to Nurmof in the Dwarven Mines to have it repaired (for a small fee).
• Whirlpool - A whirlpool would appear on top of the fishing spot. If players did not stop fishing from that spot, their small net/harpoon/etc. would be swallowed by the whirlpool and could not be retrieved. Players would need to find another fishing implement before they could fish again.

The following random events would displace, but not destroy, your equipment. These events were immediate and could not be avoided. Players could pick up the part that was thrown off of their equipment, reattach it in their inventory, and resume skilling. If players did not pick up their equipment quickly, though, they would risk other players picking up the piece once it was visible to them, or the piece would despawn after a short amount of time, leaving the player without the proper tool for their task.

• Big fish - A large fish would appear and eat your fishing gear, then would spit it out a few tiles away.
• Pickaxe handle/Pickaxe head - While mining, this random event would cause the head of your pickaxe to fly off. Pick up the head and reattach it to the handle before it disappears.
• Axe handle (historical)/Axe head - While woodcutting, this random event would cause the head of your axe to fly off. Pick up the head and reattach it to the handle before it disappears.
• Spade handle/Spade head - While farming, this random event would cause the head of your spade to fly off. Pick up the head and reattach it to the handle before it disappears.
• Rake handle/Rake head - While farming, this random event would cause the head of your rake to fly off. Pick up the head and reattach it to the handle before it disappears.

Aggressive random events, known as guardians, used to appear when players were training gather skills, which included Mining, Fishing, Woodcutting, and Prayer (burying bones). Players could fight these monsters for reduced combat experience but also for a chance at an item drop based upon the skill they were training. The level and max hit of the guardian that appeared were dependent upon the level of the player that they would attack, as follows:

The evil chicken was slightly different from the others:^[14]

The guardians were all removed from the game in the random event update, as their primary function was to kill players. However, for historical purposes, the guardians were relocated to areas across Gielinor. Players may still kill them for their drops, but they are no longer considered aggressive. Their new locations are as follows:

• Candlelight - The player was teleported to a chapel with a strange monk wandering around. The player had to talk to the monk, Pious Pete, and ask him what was wrong. Pious Pete responded that his candles always go out when he lights them, so he needed the player's help to light them. He would then give the player a lighter. Once the player had the lighter, Pete told the player to light only the candles that were left standing, not the ones that were burnt down (he'd take care of those). There would be a screen with arrows to the left and the right, and a button in the middle. Once pressed, the player would light the candle (if it was an unlit candle). After all the candles were lit, the player would talk to Pious Pete and be teleported back to where they were with a small reward.
• Lost and Found (also known as the Abyssal network) - Triggered by players teleporting using a Magic spell. Players would be required to pull the "odd lever out" to continue with their teleport, after which they received one law rune and three air runes to compensate them for their time.
• Lost Pirate - Cap'n Hand would mistake the player for one of his shipmates and talk to the player. If the player ignored him, he would attack the player with a crossbow. He would usually keep shooting the player until death. He was very accurate and hit almost every time, even if the player was wearing high-level armour. If a player tried to talk to him while he was in the process of attacking that player, he would stop attacking them, and they would receive the reward from him.
• Poison gas - A random event from Thieving chests. Occasionally, while looting a chest, gas would come out and damage nearby players. Despite the fact it had a green hit splat, the event would not inflict poison.
• Strange box - Required the player to answer a question about the box to receive a reward before it replicated in their inventory. The Mysterious Old Man can now be found in a house in eastern Falador, forever trying to solve a strange box.
• Swarm (random event) - A very weak random that could not be hit; the only solution was to run away until it despawned. A harmless version of it can now be found on the docks of Port Piscarilius.

There are some random events that few people know about because they only ran for a short time, were very buggy, were taken out for balance reasons, or were unfinished and never released. These randoms were discontinued well before the 2014 update.

• Dr. Ford
• Tangle Vine
• Watchman

The Duke of Bridgelum was an unreleased random event that involved going to ScapeRune to help the Duke of Bridgelum reassemble dead cows from their component parts. The random event was scrapped because the testers at the time pointed out that the dismembered cow parts looked grotesque.

The reward would have been pieces of the cow outfit, which are now given to players as a reward from birthday events.

The Speedy Gnome, Sebastian Gno, was mentioned in a Behind the Scenes article as being the "fastest gnome in the world", and was to be released alongside several other random events such as the Sandwich lady. Judging by the statement in the article ("Don't ignore them!"), Sebastian Gno would have been one of those random events where an NPC appeared and tried to get the player's attention, like the Drunken Dwarf.

However, Sebastian Gno was not added to the game along with the rest of the random events named, due to the race track in the random event being static and thus not an effective anti-bot feature at the time.

Certain zones throughout Gielinor are designed so that players do not receive random events while in them. Traditionally, these zones were popular with players who wanted to train skills uninterrupted, such as players training Magic with High Level Alchemy. However, this also made these areas susceptible to bots. These zones lost some of their advantages with the 2014 update that made random events optional.

The following zones are currently known to be free of random events:

• Within the vicinity of Forestry events that occur
• The Golem workshop section of the Ruins of Camdozaal
• Grand Exchange, in the area with stone ground
• Inside any bank with a bank booth and in front of most bank chests
• Ruins of Tapoyauik
• Player-owned houses in building mode
• Player-owned boats used in the Sailing skill
• Lake Molch
• On the Shayzien Agility Course
• Death's Office
• The Goblin Cave
• The Stranglewood
• The Scar
• Charred Dungeon
• Most minigames, such as:
  • Blast Furnace on the worlds with workers
  • Mastering Mixology
  • Mage Training Arena (while inside the minigame)
  • Pest Control (while in the bank, during the activity, or waiting in the boats)
  • Tithe Farm, in the farming area
  • Trouble Brewing (both inside the minigame and in the lobbies)
  • TzHaar Fight Cave
  • Pyramid Plunder
  • Volcanic Mine, inside the mine
  • Stealing valuables inside the thievable houses
  • Shooting Stars, in the vicinity of a crashed star
• Most bosses and combat areas, such as:
  • Abyssal Nexus, near the Abyssal Sire's chambers
  • Ancient Cavern
  • Ape Atoll (while the greegree is equipped)
  • Crash Site Cavern
  • God Wars Dungeon
  • Neypotzli
  • PvP worlds
  • Ruins of Tapoyauik
  • Waterbirth Island Dungeon
  • Wintertodt, inside the prison

Some random events are unable to spawn in some parts of Gielinor.

The following zones are currently known to have reduced random events:

• Underwater - Only the Certers, Count Check, Genie, Dr Jekyll, Mysterious Old Man (excluding Mime or Maze variants), and Rick Turpentine can spawn.
• Kalphite Lair - Only the Certers, Count Check, Genie, Dr Jekyll, Mysterious Old Man (excluding Mime or Maze variants), Rick Turpentine, Drunken Dwarf, Drill Demon and Strange plant can spawn.
• Hunter areas - Random events that can teleport the player away do not spawn in the original Hunter areas.^[15]

Certain banks allow for random events to spawn while the player is stood in front of them. This can be useful for players wishing to utilise their bank to train skills such as Magic or Fletching, while still getting random events.

The following locations have banks that are currently known to allow random events:

• Ferox Enclave
• Giants' Foundry
• By the charcoal furnaces in Hosidius
• Myths' Guild, which also has a stove
• Rogues' Den in Burthorpe, which also has a nearby fire
• Trouble Brewing
• Sunbleak Island, after the bank chest is built by the player
• Wyrmscraig, after the bank chest is built by the player
• Odovacar in Tarn's Lair

Note that because these locations are not treated as banks, certain items may not behave as expected, such as the Reagent pouch's contents not being usable when mixing potions. However, reagent pouch is usable at the banks in Myths' Guild and Trouble Brewing.

There are 23 collection log items that can be obtained from random events. Even though the rare stale baguette is tradable, it must be obtained from the sandwich lady or quizmaster to count towards the collection log.

• In the feast cutscene of the Recipe for Disaster quest, the Duke gets the strange box random event, and Evil Bob teleports Osman away, which is probably a reference to how players find them annoying and interrupting.
• Some random events can appear underwater on Fossil Island and in the Mogre Camp; they will also wear a diving apparatus and fishbowl helmet as well as disappear with a surge of bubbles rather than the standard puff of smoke.
• When receiving a random event reward with a full inventory, the reward is dropped to the floor. It stays there for up to three hours before despawning, much longer than normal for a dropped item.^[16]
• Traditionally, most random events would be assigned to a skill or a specific task - for example, the Beekeeper random event would only appear to players who were picking flax, and the Gravedigger would only appear while burying bones. Since the Optional Randoms update, all events can happen at any time in any place, except for certain excluded areas.