• Thaddeus was introduced to the world of Lumbridge
• He killed a rat, and acquired a piece of rat meat
• He talked to the Cook, who needed help gathering ingredients.

Part 1 : The Flour

Thaddeus looks at the list as he leaves the Lumbridge Castle Courtyard. “Flour, Milk, Eggs.” It sounds simple enough. He is acquainted with the local farms, and knows he can source all of the ingredients from nearby. Cook has even given him some hints. First up is the Flour, which can be made at the windmill to the north of Lumbridge. Sarah, the owner, can help him with it.

Out of thin air, a Highway Man appears! “Stand and deliver!” he declares jovially. Thad holds his hands up, until the highway man breaks down laughing. “Oh man, scaring new pla…I mean new adventurers always makes me laugh. You are a good sport. Here, take this money.” He slides 10 GP into Thad’s coin pouch. “Until next time, old chap.” Then, he vanishes without giving his name.

“Well… that was random,” Thad thinks.

Thad arrives at the windmill slightly confused, and Sarah can see it on his face.

Sarah has her own problems to deal with. Her windmill is across the field from Fred The Farmer, who owns a sheep farm. A new sheep has been wandering the farm, and Fred treats it like any other. But at night, she swears, it takes off its costume. And it isn’t alone. She’s seen them.

“Penguins!” she exclaims. “Penguins?” Thad replies, confused. “Don’t penguins live up in Rellekka?” She stares into Thad’s eyes deeply. “Yes. That’s where the KGP is stationed! That’s what I hear them whispering about at night. KGP this, KGP that. Why are penguins speaking the common tongue, anyway?”

Thad looks her in the eyes, and can see she didn’t sleep last night. Possibly not the night before, either, judging by the weight of the bags under her eyes. “Get some rest, Sarah. I’ll figure this out!”

Thad picks up a spare clay pot that Sarah has lying around, and ventures out to the wheat field. He grabs the wheat, and stuffs it in his backpack. Then, he climbs to the very top of the windmill, two ladders up. At the top, he throws the wheat into the hopper, and pulls the lever. The grain whooshes down, grinding the wheat into fine flour. He collects it up in the pot, slides a cover over it, and moves on to the next item on his list.

(Chaos Factor Up by 1. Now 6.)

Part 2 : The Milk

Thad travels to Groats Farm, where he can acquire milk and eggs. First, he heads to the Cow Fields. These are the Lumbridge Cow Fields, famous across the land as the best place for beginner adventurers to train their combat before exploring the world. Death does not have much domain in this world, and cows cannot logically pay the death taxes that come with dying. The cows simply respawn, as if nothing happened.

Oswald has talked about meeting Death once, on a pilgrimage. He starved himself intentionally to commune with one of the Gods, when he was testing his faith. Instead, he ran into Death, who promptly took his gold, and sent him on his way. Thad hoped he’d never suffer that fate.

Thad smiles and waves. “JESSICA!” he yells. She does not hear him. She is busy chasing one of her father’s chickens that escaped the pen. She has just run from the field to the chicken coop, with a very angry rooster in tow. Maybe he will see her later when he needs to get an egg.

He finds Gillie Groats, Jessica’s mother, tending to her prized cow, Betsy. They had a record sales year, and it was all down to Betsy producing the best milk this side of the River Lum. “How are you doing, Mrs. Groats!” Thad calls enthusiastically as he jogs up to her.

“Well, if it isn’t Thaddeus. How are you doing, son?” She returns the greeting just as enthusiastically. “Have you heard the crazy stuff Sarah has been ranting about? Penguins? In Lumbridge?” Thad sighs. “Yes, ma’am. I just came from there, actually. She was saying something about the KGP. Wild stuff.”

Getting back on track, Thad asks, “Do you have a bucket, Gillie? I need to do something really important for the Duke’s Cook.” She smiles, reminiscing about old times. “Ahhh, yes, Chef. Did I ever tell you about how I met him? Back in school?” While she’s misty-eyed over her younger days, Thad takes the fresh bucket from her hands and presses 5 GP into her palm. She watches him go.

“By the way, if you see Seth, stay away from him. I heard he is mad today!”

(Chaos Factor Up by 1. Now 7.)

Part 3 : The Egg

Thad runs into Jessica as he is entering the field. She is just emerging from the chicken coop. The angry rooster is still screaming from inside, though not as loudly as before. He is so dumbstruck when he sees her, he doesn’t realize he has left the gates open, and a hen has slipped by him. “Thaddeus!” she cries. “Now look what you’ve done.” She rushes by him, trying to catch the runaway before it gets too far.

Seth was not the happiest man on the best of days. On the worst of days, he could be quite a handful. He gets clumsy when he is mad. Thad can hear him moving around in the house. Now is his chance to try and steal an egg.

Motivation Reroll

He musters up all his strength. This is the first step he is taking on the way to adventuring. He can’t let this stop him now. If he doesn’t steal this egg, then someone else will. He reaches in, and tries to take the egg.

As his hand wraps around the egg, he hears the door slam behind him. “Thaddeus, you son of a bitch!” Seth has his pitchfork and is glaring at him, menacingly. “First, you steal my eggs. Then, you plan to steal my daughter. I see the way you look at her. I’m gonna give you to the count of three to get off my property.”

Thaddeus does not need to hear that twice, and slips away out of the gate sheepishly, as Seth calls out “…two…”. Thad uses his foot to nudge a hen back in as he closes the gate, making sure she does not escape. Seth grumbles and goes into the house. Seth never liked Thad, and Thad suspects he just made it worse.

Part 4 : Wrapping up

The rain picks up, and Thad has to tuck into a barn for the night. He is used to dank, damp places to sleep, so hay in a barn in the rain is not the worst place to bed down.

Catalyst Reroll

That night, dreams of gold and marrying Jessica fill his head. He hopes they bring him good fortune in the morning.

He wakes up in the morning to see that the sky has cleared. It was just a passing storm. The sun shines bright, and sweat rolls down his brow as he walks in the humid morning air on his way to Lumbridge.

Cook meets him at the front. “Thaddeus! Thank god you survived! Did you bring the stuff?” As he hands off the ingredients, he asks, “You aren’t mad?” “No, boy, no. That storm last night? The Duke was tied up with the Archmage all night arguing about it. It was a magical storm, caused by a recent Lesser Demon summoning at the peak of the Tower a few days ago. Some residual energy passed through after. He showed up right when you left, actually.”

“Anyway, all of this to say, the party got postponed to today, when the Duke could attend!”

Thad looks at him. “Can I come to the Duke’s party?”

“No way. You are the ratcatcher, after all. You did a good thing today, but don’t forget who you are, my boy.”

With a laugh, Cook heads toward the front doors of Lumbridge Castle. Over his shoulder, he calls, “Don’t be a stranger, though!”

Quest Complete - Cook’s Assistant
Rewards : +1 Cooking, Access to Bank in Lumbridge Castle, Access to Lumbridge Castle Facilities.

Downtime

As the night passes, and the Duke parties, Thad rests his head on his bedroll in the sewers below. He thinks that the hay was more comfortable last night. Still, he smiles as he drifts off. Today, he took his first steps towards glory and adventure!

• +1 Thieving (Used this session)
• Downtime Activity:
  • Talking to Bob at Bob’s Brilliant Axes
  • +1 Woodcutting

Link To PDF

How And Why I Homebrew

When I first opened RuneScape Kingdoms, I wasn’t expecting it to play exactly like Old School RuneScape, but I did expect many of the game’s cornerstones. Instead, a lot of basic features that could improve the experience are missing. For example, even without enchanting the gems, why can’t you cut gems with a chisel and make jewelry? Also, to anyone who designed this game who is reading this for any reason, WHY DO I NEED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN PANTS AND SHOES? There are Boots and Platelegs in the game, but only one Leg slot. Why do I need to make this impossible choice that will certainly have social ramifications?

Besides fixing little issues like this that I found, I wanted to provide some structure for players. One big problem of Roleplay, especially as a Solo, is finding structure for a game without relying completely on improv or random chance. The more “clues” you have to work with, the richer the roleplay experience can become. I am simply taking the blueprint laid out by Old School RuneScape, and integrating it as best I can into the TTRPG ruleset.

When I am adding material in, I have a three-step system, based on these questions:

1. Is there already a hook for this in the book? e.g. Count Draynor Boss Stats for Vampyre Slayer
2. Is there something in the book that can be reskinned? e.g. Adding Wizards using Dark Wizard
3. Is there a piece of content I can attach this to? e.g. Dark Wizard Hat added to the drop table of Dark Wizards.

If something doesn’t fit any of these, but I still see a reason to add it, it makes it in anyway. This is why you see me selecting certain quests from Free-To-Play. I selected quests that best fit into the tiers that I selected, and were “iconic”, instead of putting in every Free-To-Play quest.

Let’s go over some of the changes I made.

Solo Play First Changes

Everything I designed here is “Solo Play First”. I do not have a group playing RuneScape Kingdoms, and I do not know when I will. Until then, I plan to continue playing solo, as you can see from this blog. I enjoy Oracle systems like Mythic Game Master Emulator, but they require you to feed them lists to really make their engines run. This homebrew is a massive sack of coal from me to you to feed into that engine and power it as far as it can take you. Use everything in this homebrew as a suggestion. At the end of the day, it is your table, not mine!

Quests

I decided to take 17 quests and make a path through the Free-To-Play Old School RuneScape experience. You start with the classic beginning quest Cook’s Assistant. By the end of Tier 1, you become the hero of Lumbridge, known for helping everyone. In Tier 2, you expand your name across the countryside, gaining favor and new resources. Tier 3 will test your skill, beginning with a Vampyre hunt, and ending with the iconic Dragon Slayer I. By completing this, you have proven you have mastered the game, and are ready for any content that comes next.

I also adapted a new quest, The Ides of Milk, released earlier in 2026. It introduced a beginner boss, Brutus, to the game. It’s also Free-To-Play, which made it a perfect candidate to let me test adapting game mechanics from OSRS to RuneScape Kingdoms!

Brutus, Repeatable Bosses, and Drop Rates

RuneScape Kingdoms has Boss monsters to kill, and they have a “drop system” using a ratio of x:6. However, there is no boss that is repeatable for drops. The book includes items like the Abyssal Whip, but no way to receive them. There is some flavor text about “Being created by the spine of a demon”, but the game doesn’t even have Abyssal Demons. This provides a rich design space that is virtually untapped. I plan to release more drops in a future “Members” update, as the Abyssal Whip/Demons teaser above shows.

This leads us to Brutus, the first “Repeatable” boss in RuneScape Kingdoms. He’s easier during the quest, and afterward he can be killed repeatedly. He has a more robust drop table than any other monster in the game, with three uniques: Endless Milk Bucket (4:6), Mooleta (2:6), Cow Slippers (1:6). It requires more rolling, but if you are fighting a boss, you should get better loot than your average monster drops!

Beginner Clues and Fashionscape

Beginner clues add a fun diversion for players during their downtime. At the end of it, they have the chance to get new items that do not provide skill or attribute bonuses, but provide roleplay value. Most of the clue items in OSRS have become “Fashionscape” items, where players sometimes spend millions of GP for a pair of pants that are flared. These pants have no other stat value, but the community values them.

These items allow the player to express themselves outside of the armor they wear. With this lane paved, there’s room for so many more items to come!

Skills Rework

I have a lot of problems with the base ruleset when it comes to Skills. Anyone can attempt any task at any skill. And if you fail, you still get 1 resource. This means a Player with Level 1 Mining can walk up to a rune rock, and get 1 rune ore regardless of their level. The only thing they are really rolling for is how much ore they get.

My first change was to add level requirements. They aren’t a perfect 1:1 with the skill thresholds from OSRS, but they’re close enough that if you’ve played before, they’ll make sense. Most skills got small changes, but two got major overhauls.

Magic

The biggest rework was to Magic. Besides the level changes, I added spells that seem like no-brainers. The base game focuses on combat spells, with very few utility spells. Why would you add Telekinetic Grab, but no Alchemy of some kind? Also, the teleport spell allows you to go anywhere you have been, and teleport everyone in your party. I split these into teleport to location, and “teleother”. You unlock locations as your Magic level rises. This gives you one more reason to train your Magic, even if you never plan to cast a spell at an opponent.

Lastly, I added enchantment spells for Jewelry, since I added Jewelry as well!

Crafting Jewelry and Enchanting

There were no gems or jewelry in the base RuneScape Kingdoms game. To accommodate this, I added a Ring and a Neck slot for Rings and Amulets respectively. You can buy gems, use a chisel to cut them, and use them with a gold bar at a smelter to make a ring or an amulet. You have to get a ball of wool to string an amulet after it is made. The base jewelry can be worn, sold, or enchanted. There are 20 new items with this update, with 4 gem types, 8 base jewelry types, and 8 enchanted versions!

Closing Thoughts

Making this homebrew has been an amazing creative exercise, adapting one of my hyperfixations since middle school (Old School RuneScape/RuneScape 2) into one of my other hyperfixations, Solo TTRPGs.

As of writing this article, I am putting the finishing touches on the document, adding Tier 3 quests. When I wrap this up and have it playtested, I am going to start working on the “Members” expansion.

If you want to see the homebrew in action, follow my campaign for the game on this very website! The adventures of Thad the Ratcatcher will be my personal playtest of the homebrew.

Skill Packages

Since I’m playing solo but still wanted a sense of progression, I chose 2 Skill Packs. 3 felt like too many.

Catalyst and Motivation

Next, I rolled on the Motivations and Catalysts. These are used once per session to reroll dice, and provide direction to your character.

Attributes

I had 8 points to spend, so I decided on:
Agility : 3
Strength : 3
Intellect : 2

Derived Attributes

Life Points

Life Points equal the sum of my Attribute Points and Skill Points, which gave me 49 to start.

Prayer and Summoning Points

Prayer Points = 3 x Prayer Level = 3 x 4 = 12
Summoning Points = 5 x Summoning Level = 5 x 3 = 15

Starting Gold

There are no rules for starting gold. However, with my background below, I decided starting with 10 GP felt fitting.

Step 2 : Setting the World

Thaddeus (AKA Thad) worked as a ratcatcher for the city of Lumbridge. He lived in the sewers, in an out-of-the-way section where no one could find him. He has a bedroll, a sack for storage, and a campfire area. He makes his money cooking the rat meat he gets from clearing out the rats in the Lumbridge Castle and the Giant Rats in the Lumbridge Swamps. He collects tips from the castle staff, and sells the rest to travelers.

One day, a monk from the Edgeville Monastery appeared in Lumbridge to meet with the local priests at the Lumbridge Chapel. Thad escorted him through the rat-infested swamps on a trip to the famed Wizards’ Tower in Draynor Village. On their travels, the monk introduced himself as Brother Oswald, and Thad spent the nights talking with him about Saradomin’s light.

Thad was a personal worshipper of Guthix. Oswald was once like him, but reasoned that Guthix was too far removed from this realm. Who knows if he will ever awaken? Saradomin favors humanity, and humanity needs him now more than ever. At the end of their travels, Thaddeus had decided to work with the local church to deepen his connection to Saradomin. He kept in contact with Brother Oswald, and learned the ways of the monks.

He pines for the attention of Jessica Groats, daughter of the local farmer, Seth Groats. Groats Farm is Lumbridge’s largest dairy provider. He dreams of the day he returns from adventuring with enough gold to win her heart and ask Seth for her hand.

Step 3 : Beginning the Adventure

Our first scene is Thaddeus fighting with a rat in the Lumbridge Castle Courtyard. Since it was his job, he has an edge when fighting rats, and used his Hunting instead of Attack for Attack checks. Both the rat and Thad start Near each other.

Combat 1 : Rat

Turn 1

Thad

Thad attacks the rat with his staff.

Rat

Turn 2

Thad

Thad attacks the rat with his staff. He is immune to the effects of Scatter, since he is using Hunting instead of Attack.

Thad deals 2 damage to the rat. It has 0 armor soak, and is defeated. Thad receives 1 x Rat Meat.

As he slays the rat, The Cook from the Castle comes up to him. “Thad! Oh Thad, I’m so happy I found you!” Thad stares at him as he stows the rat meat in his backpack. “What’s up, Cook?” (It struck Thad as odd that he’d never learned the Cook’s name. He was just… Cook.)

“Haven’t you heard? It’s the Duke’s birthday!” Thad had not. He had only thought about catching rats that day. And Saradomin. “I have so much to prepare, and I need someone to gather ingredients for a cake. Can you please do this for me?”

Thaddeus agrees and starts his first quest!

Session End

Hunting was the only skill used, so I leveled it up.

• Hunting - 4 -> 5
  • A skill that reaches 5 lets me add a point to an attribute
• Intellect - 2 -> 3
  Even when killing rats, Thad can always learn something new.