THE GAME ARCHIVE
Ironman Modes: Choosing Your Restrictions
The choice happens at the Magic Instructor's house, where the game lets you pick your mode. Standard accounts can do everything and anything, unless you add self-imposed restrictions. Regular Ironman makes you stand alone: you won't be able to trade with other players, buy things off the Grand Exchange, or pick their items off the ground. Slightly stricter is Hardcore Ironman, which keeps the same restrictions as regular Ironman but adds that you cannot use a Bank. That mode also carries a single life; the game labels it NOT RECOMMENDED FOR NEW PLAYERS.
Team Ironman plays "Standalone... together" in a group of 2 to 5. Normal trading with other players is still blocked, but you can trade within the group and get a space for shared storage. A variant combines the rules of GIM with Hardcore Ironman; instead of one life, you get a number equal to the number of people in your group, so the game warns you to be aware of your teammates. Dying does not delete your account. You simply lose your status and continue as a regular Ironman.
Inventory Management and Item Handling
The inventory holds items that cannot be or are not equipped, and it can hold up to 28 items. Any additional items must be stored elsewhere. The mouse is the primary control for movement, attacks, item interactions, and camera control. Left- and right-click serve different functions: left-click options are the go-to functions, while right-clicking an object opens up many more opportunities. For quick dropping, hold Shift and left-click on an item; no right-click is needed. In settings, you can keybind F-Keys on keyboards to open up different tabs, and use the scroll wheel to change camera zoom distance.
To manage the 28-slot inventory efficiently, use the mouse for item interactions: left-click for primary actions and right-click for additional options. The Shift-click drop lets you discard items without opening a context menu. Keybinds assigned to F-Keys in settings open interface tabs, allowing quick access to inventory or other panels. The scroll wheel, which can be enabled in settings to change zoom distance, works alongside mouse movement for camera control. Additional items beyond the 28 slots must be stored in other storage, so plan pickups accordingly.
Prayer Points, Protection Prayers, and Data Orb Tracking
Prayers unlock as your Prayer level rises, and they can assist in combat with boosted Attack, immunity to Magic damage, or faster Hitpoint regeneration. While any prayer stays activated, your prayer points are slowly drained; those points are required to keep prayers enabled. You regain them by praying at altars or by drinking potions. The Prayer orb is a data orb that displays your current Prayer points; right-clicking it lets you set up Quick Prayers, which turn the selected prayers on or off by simply clicking the orb.
The Hitpoints orb shows your current hitpoints; if it changes to another colour, you are affected by a status condition: Poisoned, Venomed or Diseased. The Run Energy orb shows how much energy you have to run across the world, and clicking it turns your run On or Off. Within the Settings menu you can set a Run Threshold so run mode toggles automatically at that energy level. These data orbs are the circles tracking this information.
Spellbooks and Magic Filters
A spellbook is a list of magic spells available for casting to a player, and four exist: the standard spellbook, the Ancient Magicks spellbook, the Lunar spellbook and the Arceuus spellbook. Two of them carry gating: Ancient Magicks and the Lunar spellbook require a quest to be completed in order to unlock them. The remaining two, the standard and Arceuus spellbooks, are described without that quest condition. Choosing a book therefore means choosing which list of spells is available for casting at a given time.
Within a spellbook, you can filter your spells via level unlock, runes held and more using the 'FILTERS' button at the bottom. Those criteria narrow the list to spells matching your current level unlocks, the runes you are holding, and other filters offered by that button. The interaction is mechanical: the FILTERS control sits at the bottom of the spellbook interface and adjusts which entries are shown. Prayer is separate from spellcasting, as points are required to have prayers enabled and are drained as prayers run, regained by praying at any altar or using prayer-restoring potions.
Skills, Combat Options, and Progression Freedom
On the Combat Options tab, you select an attack style directly from the combat screen section of the interface. The available combat options are determined by the weapon category, which is listed just beneath the auto-retaliate option and the special attack bar. Your chosen attack style dictates which experience you receive during combat. For progression, the Skills panel showcases all 23 skills. Unlike other MMOs, you are not bound to training up a selected few; you can train any skill without restrictions on training paths. This means you can freely switch between combat and non-combat skills.
The World Switcher button lets you hop between different worlds, as you are not bound to one world or realm. Depending on the configured layout, this button can appear in the bottom-right, top-left, or top-right corner of the screen. Certain activities are best on other worlds, so explore the world list to see the full range of activities. Emotes are a selection of movements a player can perform; some are unlocked by default, while others are unlocked through random events, quests, and more. Emote icons indicate unlocked status.
Chat Channels, Commands, and Social Tools
Chat text is routed by typing "/@x" before a message, replacing "x" with p for Public, f for Channel, c for Clan, gc for Guest Clan, or g for Group. Filters sit on the chat buttons: right-clicking the main button switches between ON, which displays everything, and FILTERED, which shows only major messages such as alerts or advancements. Right-clicking the public button filters what appears there, with options including FRIENDS. The filter menu also offers none and clear history, so the visible feed can be narrowed as needed.
Typed commands cover utilities and text styling. By themselves, ::bank, ::toggleroofs to toggle roofs on or off, ::wiki(search term) to open an OSRS Wiki window, ::displayfps for the client's frames per second and memory usage, and ::renderself to toggle the player's character model visibility to themselves. Effects go before messages: colour effects such as :flash1, :glow1, :rainbow, and pattern followed by numbers and letters, plus text effects like :wave1, :shake, :slide, and :scroll. A Wiki button beside the Minimap accepts a manual search or a clicked object.
Sources & further reading.
- Old School RuneScape — official gameplay documentation Retrieved Oct 15, 2026
First published .