Varrock

unquestionably the largest city in the free-to-play world, Varrock is a common destination for free-to-play and pay-to-play alike. Varrock contains the Grand Exchange, the trading hub of Runescape. To those who don't know about the Grand Exchange (GE for short), it is a place where players can buy and sell any tradable item. to buy an item, you simply have the money in your inventory, put up a buy offer, and if someone is selling that item for the buyer's price, or lower, the buyer can take the item from the exchange, and the seller gets the money.

About half of the free-player quests use locations and things in Varrock, and a few even start in the area. The quest Romeo and Juliet, takes place completely in the Varrock area.

there are several ways to get to Varrock. the easiest (and one of the few available to free players) is to cast the Varrock teleport spell (level 25 magic required). if you have started the Giant Dwarf quest(to the point of gaining access to the mine carts), you can take them to and from Keldagrim, White Wolf Mountain (Fishing Contest quest required), or Ice Mountain. If you have done the Tree Gnome Village quest, you can use the Spirit Tree on the north-east corner of the GE. Other methods include Fairy Rings (Fairy Tale Part II at least to the point of Fairy Ring access), and the cannoes.

South of the Grand Exchange, is the Cooking Guild (32 cooking and a chef's hat/cooking skill cape must be wielded to enter) For free players, the cooking guild is a great place to train cooking until the player cooks lobsters/swordfish. the Cooking Guild has every ingredient for cooking apple pies, and making wine right inside (Though you will have to run behind the guild to get grain. Don't worry, it only takes a few seconds to get there).

North-east of Varrock is the sawmill. The sawmill is where members can buy planks (assuming they have the logs required in their inventory.) used for the construction Skill.

South of Varrock is the Champions' Guild. the Champions' Guild requires 32 quest points to enter, and is where the quest Dragon Slayer is started. on the top floor of the Champions' Guild contains shops selling Runite armour (no rune plate body, just rune chainbody.) Before buying from these shops, check the Grand Exchange prices of the items, because Runite equipment is often cheaper there than in these shops. In the basement is where the Champion's ChallengeDistraction and Diversion is fought.

For new players, Varrock is a great place to get swords, and long swords (up to Adamantite), though, you may want to get a scimitar rather than a long sword(scimitars are faster, and only hit slightly lower than long swords. the scimitar's speed makes up for the slightly lower hits. for scimitars up to Mithril, go to Al Kharid)

next time you need some equipment, Varrock is the place to go, because the Grand Exchange is right there.

until next time, Happy 'Scaping

Lumbridge

When you complete the tutorial, you find yourself in a nice town, Lumbridge, an ideal place for beginners. Unless your a member who has gotten to a certain point in the Achievement Diaries for other areas, when you die, you respawn in the Lumbridge castle court yard. This is also where the Lumbridge teleport will send you (31 magic, and the required runes), and where (in the regular spell book) the home teleport (1 magic, no runes are needed, but you can only cast this spell once every 30 minutes)sends you. Lumbridge contains a few shops, including Bob's Brilliant Axes, the General Store, and a fishing shop. Lumbridge also holds a church, an anvil, a furnace (for smelting metal bars), and a windmill (for making flour. there is also a wheat field next to the windmill). there are three dungeons around Lumbridge: the Lumbridge Swamp Dungeon (members only), the Lumbridge Catacombs (a low level dungeon containing monster from level 1 to level 20. great place for new players to train combat. Requires the quest The Blood Pact) and another members only dungeon in the cellar under the kitchen (only accessable after The Lost Tribe quest.) The two members dungeons are connected. for the Lumbridge castle dungeon, you will need a light source.

Lumbridge is a great place to train most free to play skills. I spent a few hours sitting at the duck pond fishing and cooking crayfish from level 12 to level 32 ( the level required for the cooking guild) Low level miners and/or smiths can head through the Lumbridge graveyard, and follow the river Lum to a mining spot with copper and tin rocks. a perfect place for mining the ores for bronze bars. there is also a furnace north-east of Lumbridge castle, and an anvil in the same hut. there are some combat dummies for those who don't have food. (though these dummies can only be used up to 7 combat/magic/ranged)

When you first reach Lumbridge, you may want to go to the shops to grab the free samples, so you can start training your skills. Lumbridge is available for both Free-to-play, and members. There is much more to Lumbridge that you will discover yourself.

Have fun and Happy 'Scaping