In business, it takes money to make money and the online MMO Runescape is no exception. In order to become a Runescape millionaire, you will need to start with a modest amount of gp. The best way to go about earning your first 100k gp in Runescape is to train some of your skills.

The three typical Runescape money making skills are mining, fishing, and woodcutting. Woodcutting and mining are most profitable in the short term for free-players, and fishing can be a decent money maker for higher level members. Since I'm assuming you are not a very high levelled Runescape player, we will focus on mining and woodcutting.

For the begining levels of mining (up to about level 15), I recommend taking the best pick you can afford and use (iron at this level) to the Eastern Varrock mine. Here you can drop mine (aka powermine) tin and copper for some quick levels. Tin and copper are fairly worthless money-wise, but you have to start somewhere.

What is Drop Mining/Powermining in Runescape?

For the unitiated, drop mining in Runescape refers to the process of mining your ores in rapid succession and dropping them for the purpose of gaining quick mining experience. Some people call this powermining.

Once you reach level 15 you can start raking in the gold. Buy a steel pickaxe from the Grand Exchange and head on back to the Varrock Eastern mine. Compete with your fellow Runescape players for the iron ore and bank when necessary. The current Runescape Grand Exchange price for iron ore is at a steady 100 gp per ore! This means you only need to mine 1000 ores for our goal of 100k gp!

Woodcutting in Runescape for Money

Woodcutting in Runescape is similar to mining in many ways, and the best way to make lots of money woodcutting early on is by cutting willow logs. You will have to work your way up to level 30, however. I recommend heading over to Draynor and cutting the normal trees around the bank until you reach level 15. You will need to cut 97 trees, and the bank is close by so banking them is easy. Once you reach level 15, buy a steel axe and cut oak trees. Oak logs are actually worth money, so make sure to bank these too and sell them on the Grand Exchange for some quick and easy gp.

Cut oak trees until level 30, and then move on to the willows outside of the Draynor Bank. Willow logs sell for 18 gp each currently, which doesn't sound like much, but believe me it adds up. You obtain logs much faster than ores, so mining and woodcutting are roughly equal in money making potential.

Now that you've made your first 100 thousand gp, it's time to multiply that amount ten fold and aim for one million Runescape gp.  There are two ways of going about this, maintaining skill training, combat, and merchanting.  You can earn money from your skills by just doing the same old routing, but if you would like to earn more money faster then I recommend trying out PVP and merchanting!

With Jagex's updates regarding real world item traders and Runescape bots, many players believed the old methods of earning money in the wilderness to be gone for ever.  And they were largely correct.  But as recently as May, 2009 there was a glimmer of hope.  Jagex revamped their bounty hunter minigame and increased the rewards substantially.  So let's start making money through combat!

1. Begin by logging in to a Runescape bouny hunter world, you will need to be standing in the wilderness or Edgeville to successfully log in.
2. Wear some decent armor, mithril or adamant, whatever you can afford to lose.  Also bring the best weapon you can afford.  I recommend a rune scimitar.
3. Be sure to bring food to heal!  Lobsters and swordfish are recommeded for freeplayers.  Sharks and monkfish for members.
   
4. Now you can choose to hunt as a team or hunt solo.  Fighting players by yourself is more lucrative, and consequently more dangerous.
5. If you decide to go it solo, like a medieval Dirty Harry, then look for stragglers.  People of lower level who are separated from their groups.  If you yourself are in a group, then attack who the party leader says to target.
6. Once you kill the player, Runescape will assign a randomized drop based on the difficulty of the kill and your time in the wilderness!  These drops can add up, and you can easily make over 100k an hour with this method!  High levels have been known to make over 600k an hour!!
   

The basic principles behind Runescape merchanting are very simple economics.  By low, sell high.  This is what we raised that prelimary 100k gp for, to make more Runescape gp!  With the advent of the Grand Exchange, merchanting has become a different ballgame, with some of the older merchanting methods becoming obsolete.  Never the less, it is still possible to make a handsome income through merchanting!

Jagex has released a tool designed to track trends in the Grand Exchange.  You will learn to rely on this tool for important market information.  Buy low ticket items, typically natural resources that are dropping in value.  You will be able to buy a large volume of them, such as flax or feathers, at a fairly low price.  When the market bounces back, just like on Wall Street, sell these items for a profit!

That's all there is to it! 

So whatever method you choose, be it through your skills, player vs player combat, or merchanting, you will be able to quickly and effectively accumulate millions of gp just by playing the game!

Say no to dangerous autoing programs, bots, and gold selling.  These activities can get your account banned and are not worth it.  By legitimately playing the game of Runescape, it is quite possible to succeed!