Spawning is the in-game creation of an entity, for instance a player character, a non-player character (NPC), or an item. Respawning is the recreation of a player, NPC, monster, or item after its death, destruction, or use. In RuneScape 2, respawn rates depend on the number of players on the server with faster respawns for a higher populated server. It is not yet verified if this applies to RuneScape Classic as well.
Player Characters[]
Spawning of players occurs at the beginning of the game on Tutorial island. Players that log out remain in the same location upon login, so technically, logging in is not a respawn. Players respawn in Lumbridge upon death, typically at the hands of an NPC, player killers in the Wilderness, or from losing a duel.
Non-Player Characters[]
Non-player characters will respawn upon their death at a certain location after a certain amount of time. This allows for effective combat training because, if there are enough NPCs in a location, the first will have respawned before the last is killed and thus the player can continuously train without having to wait for an NPC to respawn.
Items[]
- Main article: Item Spawns
Certain items occur at set locations in the game, called item spawns. When a player picks up one of these items, it will respawn in the same place after a set time period. Item spawns include such items as runes, low-levelled weapons, low-levelled armour, food, logs, bones and big bones, and various other items. Picking up these items and either world switching or waiting for said item to respawn is a very good money making method for low leveled players.
Other[]
Other objects in the game can also respawn, such as trees, mining rocks, or flax plants. Unlike RuneScape 2, fishing spots cannot move or disappear and so do not respawn.