Quick Reference Links
RuneScape News Post; Runecrafting Guild and Game – For All Players!
Game guide; Mingames; The Great Orb Project

That title is a little misleading, actually, because this update is actually more of a “New Mini-game (now with bonus Guild!)”. This is because there is more Mini-game than Runecrafting Guild, as we’ll talk about.

The First thing to talk about would be the…

RuneCrafting guild

Yes, we finally get a guild dedicated to Runecrafting! Unfortunately it is not what we expected.

The first thing you’ll need to know about this guild is where to find it and how to enter. It is located on the second floor (or first if you’re European) of the Draynor Wizard’s Tower. Actually that sentence is not entirely true, for it is the portal to the Runecrafting Guild which is located there. This portal is actually in the wall next to the stairs. When I first came to the tower searching for it I missed it (thankfully I only missed it once, those crazy Wizards are always putting things in odd places).

On entry of this portal you will find yourself in an octagonal room with many Wizards in blue robes. These Wizards are experimenting with Rune Essences (what they hope to gain I do not know). You can see some of their findings by activating the glass machines around the rooms. One object which may be useful to the aspiring Rune Crafter is the world map in the center of this room. When you use any talisman on this map it will bring up the world map and highlight where the ruins of that talisman’s rune are located, along with a short list of instructions to help you reach your destination.

As you weave your way through these experimenting mad scientists (A.K.A. Wizards) you’ll find three slightly sensible humanoids (you never can tell if a Wizard is human) which are willing to talk to you.

The First of these is Elriss who, upon entry, will welcome you to the Guild. If you wish to talk with this sane scientist further you will find out that she can build something called an Omni-Talisman, if you show her that you know the temples already. Elriss requires you to show her one talisman from every temple which requires them (Air, Mind, Water, Earth, Fire, Body, Cosmic, Chaos, Nature, Law, Death and Blood). With there being only 12 Talismans to retrieve, the experienced Quester should have little problem acquiring one of these magnificent Omni-Talismans.

Aside from researching Talismans, Elriss will also trade your Great Orb Project tokens for some of her equipment. I shall talk more of these rewards later.

The next two slightly sane Humanoids are Arcantha and Vief. Their main role is being the hosts of the mini-game The Great Orb Project, which I’ll talk about soon. With that said, it’s time to move onto our fourth notable figure.

Though quite insane (at least that’s what most think), Wizard Korvak will replace any lost Medium rune pouches at no cost. In fact, he’ll actually give you one if you’ve never had one before. Korvak also has the ability to sell you a Large or Giant pouch, for a fee of course. Unlike his colleague Elriss, Korvak appears to have some use for gold coins and thus charges you for the Large and Giant pouches (he mumbled something about a coin-to-ash spell…don’t ask). He’ll ask you for 25,000 coins for a Large pouch and 50,000 coins for a Giant pouch.

Korvak has one other use (aside from being the resident lab clown). If you’re adventurous enough to retrieve all 12 talismans required for the Omni-Talisman and show them to Elriss then Korvak can attach your Omni-Talisman to a Runecrafting staff or bind it to a tiara (allowing you to either wield the key to all the temples in your hand or on your head).

There really isn’t much more to this guild, unfortunately, so now it’s time for me to talk about…

The Great Orb Project

Yet another mini-game which Jagex thinks will be popular. Hopefully (for them) this one’s rewards will be enough to keep people coming back.

The Great Orb Project is centered on two theories (Oh how I hate theories, give me truth instead) about the rune altars. In short, one theory says that when green orbs touch the altar power is given back, and when yellow orbs touch the altar power is taken away. The second theory says that yellow orbs give power and green orbs take away. But which is correct? One, or the other? Or are neither correct? Maybe both are. Whatever the answer, we won’t know (or care) until Jagex releases the quest related to these theories.

To start this Mini-game you will need to talk to Arcantha or Vief. Arcantha believes in the theory of Green > Yellow and Vief believes in the theory of Yellow > Green. It doesn’t really matter which side you choose as neither is better than the other. The only difference is that Arcantha’s side will require you to bring green orbs to the altar and keep yellow away and Vief’s side will require you to bring yellow orbs to the altar and keep green away.

The goal of this game (as you may have already guessed) is to bring as many colored orbs to the Rune Altar as possible while also keeping as many of the opposite colored orbs away. In each game of The Great Orb Project you will play through the Temple areas of each of the following runes, in order: Air, Mind, Water, Earth, Fire and Body. Additionally, you will play through the Chaos and Nature Temples if you’re on a member’s server.

When you ask to join Arcantha’s or Vief’s teams you will be given four objects: A hat, an Attractor wand, a Repeller wand and a Barrier generator wand (which can’t be wielded). All of these items will be the color of your team, either Green or Yellow.

Each wand has a use. The…

Attractor wand will continually attract any orb you’ve clicked towards you (this allows you to pull your opponent’s orbs to you or away from the altar if you position yourself correctly). The higher your Runecrafting level, the quicker they come to you.
Repeller wand will push any orb you’ve clicked away from you, unfortunately it will not continue to do this (this allows you to push your opponent’s orbs away or push your orbs into the altar if you position yourself correctly).
Barrier Generator wand can be used to create a temporary barrier in which no new orbs can pass through (either way). If someone was already pulling or pushing an orb through the square which you barred then they will continue to do so.

When used in conjunction, these wands can be very useful for both the defender and offender.

You will have to collect your orbs and defend the altar from your opponent’s orb for 2 minutes per Rune Temple. At the end of each 2 minute period (usually referred to as rounds) you will be given a few normal (on free servers) or pure (on member’s servers) rune essence. During this 30 second period you will be able to craft runes at the altar you’re currently at. Each Great Orb Project game will last about 12 minutes on free worlds and about 16 minutes on member’s worlds.

At the end of each game you will be awarded tokens if your team won at least one round. The amount of tokens you can win per game varies, so be prepared to play many games if you want all the rewards.

The Rewards

The Rewards of The Great Orb Project have a few good uses, though some are only useful if you like to play this Mini-game. Because the prices of these items vary, I can’t say exactly what they cost, so I’ll just list the items instead.

Any of the 12 Talismans.
Runecrafting Hat, Robe top, Robe bottom, and gloves.
Normal or Pure Essence.
Runecrafting Tele-tablets.
Runecrafting staff.

Any of the 12 Talismans Pretty self-explanatory, you can buy a(n) Air, Mind, Water, Earth, Fire, Body, Cosmic, Chaos, Nature, Law, Death and Blood talisman.
Runecrafting Hat, Robe top, Robe bottom, and gloves The Runecrafting clothing comes in three colors; Green, Blue, and Yellow. It also gives you a special Runecrafting level bonus when playing The Great Orb project (these bonuses do not allow you to craft runes of a higher level which you cannot naturally craft, thus you cannot craft Nature runes if you only have 40 Runecrafting). The gloves give +2 levels, and the Robe top and bottom each give +3 levels.
Normal or Pure Essence You can trade one Token for one Pure or Normal rune essence. Go onto a free world to trade it for Normal essence.
Runecrafting Tele-tablets These allow you to teleport to their respected Temples if you have the required Runecrafting level.
Runecrafting staff The Runecrafting staff can be fused to a talisman to create a staff of that rune. This does not allow you to turn a Fire talisman and a Runecrafting staff into a Fire staff which gives infinite runes, but it does allow you to create a staff which would take the place of a tiara or talisman when wielded.

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I think that’s about it. The only thing left is a list of minor fixes and additions, which I’ll leave for you to read.

Kazgar, Mistag and Dartog have been given right-click options so you can quickly ask them to guide you through the Lumbridge Swamp Caves. Elkoy, the guide from the Tree Gnome Village maze, has been given a similar option.

* Treasure Trail sliding puzzle boxes were getting stuck, making them impossible to complete.
* The roof of the Grand Exchange was failing to disappear correctly when you stood underneath it. Similar bugs were affecting the front of Varrock Palace and bits of the Warriors Guild.
* The Amulet of Catspeak was incorrectly positioned on female characters.
* The Amulet of Fury was not rendering correctly with the Bandos chestplate on male characters.
* If you wore a blue snelm, your chathead was appearing yellow.
* The 3D models for skillcapes were using too many polygons, resulting in bizarre graphical glitches. They have now been remodelled to resolve this problem; their appearance is largely unchanged, but you may notice some slight changes.
* Mud pies were positioned incorrectly when you wielded them.
* Flared trousers were rendering incorrectly with most boots.
* The ‘fine shirt’ base kit had a glitch affecting the neck area on male characters.
* The mind tiara was missing part of its model.
* Baba Yaga’s hair was clipping through her hat.
* The progress hats from the Mage Training Arena were not rendering correctly with players’ hair.
* Radimus Erkle, master of the Legends’ Guild, had a rendering problem with his cape.
* The obsidian cape was rendering incorrectly with certain tops.
* Bogrog was checking for the wrong Summoning level when players tried to exchange praying mantis pouches for shards.
* Trimmed chaps and Wilderness capes were rendering incorrectly on female characters.
* The mime mask and zombie mask items were displaying incorrectly during dialogue.
* Players could walk through a rope barrier in the Varrock Museum.