OSRS RuneFest 2026: Every Reveal & the New Roadmap

RuneFest 2026 is over, and the Old School team brought one of the biggest line-ups in years. A brand-new one-life game mode, a 20-year-old city finally opening its gates, more than five new bosses, a Mining & Smithing rework, a Fairytale finale and a full month of new quests. And Raids 4 is out in two weeks.

Here's every RuneFest reveal in one place: what's confirmed, what's going to the poll, and what you can do now to be ready.

RuneFest 2026 Roadmap at a Glance

The Summit poll is open now, with 12 questions covering everything marked "Summit poll" above. If you have an opinion on any of these, go vote.

Hardcore Worlds (November 4th)

The headline reveal is a permanent new game mode. Hardcore Worlds are separate worlds with their own economy, where everyone starts a fresh character with all the freedoms of a normal account: trading, the Grand Exchange, everything. The catch is that you only get one life.

• No XP or drop rate boosts. Unlike Leagues or Deadman, you progress at normal speed. The only twist is that death is permanent.
• When you die, you choose: reset your character and start over, or leave Hardcore Worlds and move your character to the main game.
• Transferring keeps your progress, not your losses. Anything that wasn't protected under the normal "Items kept on death" rules is gone for good and doesn't come with you. Bringing your best gear everywhere is a real risk.
• It's deadlier than a normal Hardcore Ironman. Hardcore Worlds use the Hardcore Group Ironman rules, so the Fight Caves, the Inferno and even the Nightmare Zone count as unsafe deaths.

A fresh economy also means early money is up for grabs. Players who get skilling supplies, crafted gear and smithed items to market first could do very well. Jagex has promised a dedicated Hardcore Worlds blog soon with the full rules.

Tip: Brush up on the content that's normally safe before you try it with one life. Our Nightmare Zone guide is a good reminder of how much of your training normally relies on safe deaths.

Dungeons of Gielinor (Poll)

Dungeons of Gielinor is a proposal to send players back into the game's forgotten caves and dungeons with new threats inside. Jagex calls it the biggest batch of standalone bosses ever released in one update:

• At least five new bosses across a range of difficulties, from full boss encounters to smaller demi-bosses and supporting activities. There are about ten ideas on the shortlist so far.
• One short early-game quest, new Slayer creatures, a boss with a hard mode, and small skilling improvements to some of the most overlooked existing dungeons.
• Familiar requirements. Expect things like access to Varlamore or Morytania plus low-to-medium Slayer or quest requirements. If you've unlocked most of the map and kept up with Slayer, you should be fine.

Some bosses are being kept secret on purpose so there's still something to discover at launch. Two have been revealed:

Gemstone Dragons & the Diamond Dragon

• Location: A huge cavern beneath Fortis in Varlamore
• Level: Mid to late game
• What's inside: Sapphire, Emerald and Ruby dragons, each with clear weaknesses you'll want to plan for, plus a new Gemstone dragons Slayer task that covers all of them (like the Metal dragons task).
• The boss: The Diamond Dragon, at the bottom of the cavern. You'll have to fight your way down through the dungeon to reach it, so bring plenty of antifire.

Hidden creatures, resources, skilling spots and easter eggs are planned off the main path too. If you're working towards higher Slayer, our Slayer training guide will help you get ready.

Ripgut (Goblin Boss + Quest)

• Location: Asgarnia
• Level: Early to mid game, with a hard mode for experienced players
• What it is: A goblin boss in the same mould as Brutus. It's built to teach newer players core boss mechanics without needing end-game gear, and it's tied to a short quest.

Ripgut's hard mode turns it into a much tougher test of movement and reactions. Hard mode rewards are expected to be cosmetic only. If you're just starting out with bossing, our entry-level bossing guide covers the bosses you can learn on right now.

Poll questions 1-4 ask whether to build Dungeons of Gielinor at all, then whether to include the Ripgut quest, the Gemstone Dragons Slayer content, and the improvements to existing dungeons. Rewards will be polled separately.

Menaphos: The Golden City (Poll)

After 20 years of seeing it from outside the walls, Menaphos might finally open. It's the next chapter of the Kharidian story that runs through Prince Ali Rescue, Icthlarin's Little Helper, Contact!, Beneath Cursed Sands and the Tombs of Amascut.

• Access: Completing Beneath Cursed Sands opens Menaphos.
• Fool's Gold: A Master-level quest about the same size as Beneath Cursed Sands. You go undercover to find out how Amascut is controlling the Puppet Pharaoh, Kemesis. Finishing it unlocks more of the city.
• The true Soul Altar: The original Soul Altar, needing 90 Runecraft. Unlike the Arceuus altar, it works like the true Blood Altar: a traditional runic altar with a new route through the Abyss, a new Soul talisman and a craftable Soul tiara. It's set to be faster than the current Arceuus method.
• Vault of the Soul Altar: Old School's first-ever Skilling Dungeon. You use Thieving, Agility and Runecraft to get past traps and obstacles as you push deeper in. Jagex wants it to be an active training method and one of the main reasons to keep coming back to the city.
• City life: Banks, shops, water sources, a Sailing port with port tasks, and yes, a cactus patch. Ideas still being explored include a mummy Slayer creature and a high-level Prayer altar.

Poll questions 5-8 cover Menaphos itself, Fool's Gold, the Vault and the true Soul Altar.

Runecrafters should pay attention here. A faster Soul rune method would change high-level Runecraft. Our Runecrafting guide covers the fastest route to 90.

Mining & Smithing: Reforged (Poll)

Jagex admits Mining and Smithing have never lived up to what Tutorial Island promises (mine some ore, forge your own gear, become an adventurer). Right now, they mostly exist as quest requirements. The proposal is to build a framework that lets both skills grow over time, the way combat has over the years, rather than fix everything in one update.

• A player survey is coming first, asking what you want changed, added or left alone.
• Mod Ash has said that traditional methods can stay alongside new ones, in the same way old Farming and Thieving methods still exist next to the Tithe Farm and Varlamore's wealthy citizens.
• Mod Rice has hinted at more complex ideas set in the Chasm of Fire, alongside some simpler fixes to long-standing problems.

Poll question 9 only asks whether Jagex should explore a rework. No specific design is being voted on yet.

Fairytale III: Nexus of Power (Poll, 2027)

The finale of the Fairytale questline. The Fairy Godfather wants the Nexus, the artefact that powers the fairy ring network, and you'll pull together a team for a heist to steal it first. It's a Master-tier quest aimed at 2027, and the early reward ideas are big:

• A new, more relaxed Runecraft training method built around the Nexus.
• A package of fairy ring upgrades. Jagex has teased using rings without a Dramen staff before you get your Quest cape, and even a fourth code wheel.
• A repeatable boss, the Nexus Guardian, in Zanaris.

Poll question 10. Rewards will be polled closer to release. In the meantime, our optimal quest guide will get you through the earlier Fairytale quests in a sensible order.

The Chosen Commander (Poll)

The 2009 conclusion to the Dorgeshuun questline is being backported, and we finally find out what happened to Zanik after Land of the Goblins. It will be tweaked for Old School and bumped up to Master tier (the original was Experienced).

Requirements:

• 58 Agility
• 54 Thieving
• 46 Strength
• Completion of Land of the Goblins
• Recommended: 80+ Combat

Rewards:

• Three lamps worth 40,000 XP each in Agility, Strength and Thieving.
• Zanik's Modified Crossbow: rune crossbow stats with a lower Prayer bonus and a special attack called Defiance (75% energy). It raises your minimum hit to 50% of your max hit. Against a target at full health and Defence, it also guarantees a maximum accuracy roll, and a successful hit lowers Defence by 10% plus the damage dealt. In PvP, the minimum hit boost only applies when the target's health and Defence are full.

Post-quest content in Dorgesh-Kaan (details and rewards to be polled later):

• Bandos' Throne Room: Fight goblin, ork, ogre and ourg statues for a new reward. The top-tier ones are meant to work like Tormented Demons: a bit more involved than just clicking, but not a full boss.
• A new Agility course through the throne room, based on the RuneScape version with numbers adjusted for Old School.
• The Gasworks: Turn spare Buckets of sand into tools and trinkets for some Crafting and Firemaking XP. The real goal is building Cave Goblin reputation for exclusive rewards, similar to Giants' Foundry.

Poll question 11.

Quest Month (November) & Questing QoL (Poll)

Jagex wants to make November 2026 "Quest Month". On top of the already-planned Graveyard quest, there would be at least five more quests, with at least one every week. They'd be:

• Small but meaningful, mostly Novice/Intermediate and never above Experienced.
• Surprise quests, like Scrambled and The Ribbiting Tale of a Lily Pad Labour Dispute were for Varlamore. Details stay secret until release, but any notable rewards still get polled.
• Worth quest points and suitable XP.

That's poll question 12. These quality-of-life changes are planned to come alongside it:

• Better "Starter" quest order in the quest list, with the Activity Advisor updated to match.
• Pin quests you're working on to the top of the list, and an option to move completed quests to the bottom.
• Some miniquests becoming full quests, starting with Daddy's Home, which teaches Construction but gets missed because it has no minimap icon.
• XP rewards added to quests that currently give none. If you've already done them, you can claim the XP from Perdu.
• Quest ratings: an optional 0-5 rating prompt after you finish a quest.
• A Lumbridge tidy-up: fewer redundant tutor NPCs, more natural dialogue, and a feel closer to pre-2007 Lumbridge.

Since several new quests are on the way, it's a good time to clear your quest backlog. Our OSRS questing services can get the older ones done so you're ready to jump into the new ones.

The Fractured Archive (October 20th)

Raids 4 is two weeks away. It's a 2-8 player raid under Lumbridge that requires While Guthix Sleeps. Jagex is hosting a launch-day watch party on Twitch, and plenty of creators will be streaming their world-first attempts. We've covered requirements, scaling, wipes, boss routes and every unique in our Fractured Archive (Raids 4) guide.

The Tower & Other Roadmap Teasers

The Tower got a mysterious, corrupted teaser and no details at all. Expect a lot of theories until Jagex says more.

The roadmap also had a few smaller teases:

• PvP Tutorial, launching October 7th.
• Community Bingo is coming.
• A new diving expansion for Sailing. Our Sailing guide covers the skill as it stands.
• Another Summer Sweep-Up planned for 2027.
• And, in Jagex's words, more secrets they're not telling yet.

How to Get Ready Now

Most of the RuneFest content will take a while to arrive, but several requirements are already known and you can start on them today:

1. Complete While Guthix Sleeps for the Fractured Archive on October 20th.
2. Complete Beneath Cursed Sands so you're ready for Menaphos.
3. Train Runecraft towards 90 for the true Soul Altar. Agility and Thieving will matter for the Vault too.
4. Get 58 Agility, 54 Thieving and 46 Strength and finish Land of the Goblins for The Chosen Commander.
5. Keep your Slayer level up and unlock Varlamore and Morytania for Dungeons of Gielinor.
6. Finish your existing quests so Quest Month is just new content.

RuneFest 2026 has something for everyone: a brutal new game mode, a long-awaited city, a pile of new bosses, and plenty of questing. Vote in the Summit poll, get Raids 4 ready, and start working on the requirements above so you can get straight into the new content when it arrives.

Want to be ready for launch day? → Get the Kharidian quests, While Guthix Sleeps and Land of the Goblins done with our OSRS questing services. → Hit 90 Runecraft, plus your Agility, Thieving and Slayer targets, with our OSRS skilling services. → Prepare for Raids 4 with our OSRS raid services.