Welcome to this guide that will explore the Falador Massacre in detail. If you’re new to RuneScape 3 or OSRS, you’ve probably heard somebody mention this phrase and thought, what could this possibly mean?
Like me, you probably searched the web for answers and found minimal information. Therefore, I’ve created this blog to help like-minded people learn about one of the most iconic moments in RuneScape history. I’ll explain how the Falador Massacre started, what happened to the players, and the aftermath, enjoy!
Bottom Line Up Front
This is a shortened version of the explanation. The Falador Massacre occurred on 2006 June 6th (6/6/6). It happened due to a line of code with the construction skill that kicked everybody from a player-owned home into Falador. Players using the fighting pit were still given permission to attack other people, regardless if it was a PVP area.
This led to many players losing their items and people running literally for their lives. After Jagex fixed the error, the individuals exploiting the bug were banned.
What Happened on June 6th, 2006?
Let me paint you a picture of what happened on the date 6/6/6. You’re enjoying the RuneScape experience, training skills, and exploring the world of Gielinor. You hear that Cursed You, the first person to ever get 99 construction is hosting a party at his player-owned house. Upon entering the house, you chat with players and socialize in the game. At this point, there are so many players that the game is starting to lag. This is 2006, so servers couldn’t deal with so many players in the same location.
The game lags out and kicks everybody out of the player-owned house into Falador. However, during the house party, Durial321 and another player were using the combat ring, which is a safe PVP area that lets players fight to the death. After the game lagged out and players were kicked, Durial321 still had permission to attack other players while they could not fight back.
This led to the most famous game-breaking bug in RuneScape history. Once Durial321 discovered that he could attack anybody, he went on a massacre in Falador. He killed anybody close by without hesitation, regardless of their level and armor.
Players were spamming for everybody to bank their items before Durial321 came to attack them. Other players were enjoying the spectacle and following the murderer to see who his next victim would be. In total, the killings lasted for an hour before Jagex moderators were notified and dealt with the situation.
Why Did The Bug Occur?
Although the huge number of people in the player-owned house was not the main reason the glitch occurred, it played a big role. After Jagex researched what happened thoroughly, they stated the bug happened from an error in the construction skill code. However, they did not elaborate on how this game-breaking code error was left in the game before 6/6/6.
The Aftermath Of The Falador Massacre
The glitch was fixed shortly after the Jagex mods were notified of what was happening in Falador. Mod Peter apologized to those who were attacked, but this was more for PR as nothing else happened afterward. Unfortunately, the players did not receive the items back that were stolen from the massacre. Approximately 2.5 billion gold points were lost that day with rumors that a player lost their green partyhat.
Durial321 was permanently banned from RuneScape for exploiting the glitch and killing players. As for Cursed You, he was banned shortly after in August 2006 for participating in real-world trading, which is against RuneScape’s rules.
Incorporated in RuneScape Lore
The Jagex team has added the Falador Massacre to the in-game lore. I adore this decision as future players can read about the fundamental events in RuneScape’s long 21-year history.
The Falador Massacre’s historical event occurred between the Siege of Falador and the start of the Sixth Age. Officially, the massacre occurred in the year 169 in the Fifth Age.
Falador Massacre 10th Year Anniversary
The Falador Massacre’s 10th anniversary took place on June 6th, 2016. All players receive an in-game message “Cursed You is having a 99 construction house party in Rimmington on world 111. He will level in X minutes”.
The house party featured dozens of players talking about the historical day of 6/6/6. Shortly after everyone was teleported to Falador for the next stage in the event.
The 10th year anniversary featured two main phases that all players could participate in:
Phase 1
Players in Falador will get possessed by the ghost of Durial321 and can attack other players with specific weapons – dragon dagger, abyssal whip, and ancient staff. Like the real event, those who did not have Durial321’s ghost were left defenseless against possessed players. Fortunately, this time players that died did not lose their items.
Phase 2
Once a good portion of players was possessed, a giant version of Durial321 spawned. He had 1,000,000 life points and a combat level of 321. This time players could work together to beat the boss. After he died, a green partyhat would sometimes spawn; this is an item worth multiple billions of GP. However, nobody could pick it up, and attempting to would result in one of these funny messages:
- You Wish!
- Nope!
- As you touch the partyhat you think to yourself… red would suit me better
- Keep trying, maybe, just maybe, eventually… it might work.
- You know what, I just don’t believe you want this enough…come back when you really want it!
- If you jig three times, go north, go south, tell the player to the left of you that you love them and click on the partyhat again you might be able to pick it up.
- Picking up fake partyhats is XP waste.
- You firmly grasp the partyhat before falling over and dropping it.
- Not only did he commit a massacre, he littered aswell!
Once the huge Durial321 dies, a random player gets possessed by his ghost, and the phases repeat. The next event is set to happen in 2026, but so far, there are no leaks of which activities will take place.
Falador Massacre Easter Eggs
Today RuneScape players can find easter eggs referencing the Falador Massacre. Personally, I think this is great for adding depth to the city’s lore. Two random events can happen when exploring Falador:
- Going through the north gate in Falador can trigger a vision of Durial321 killing another player in full steel armor. A text will appear: “Woooo wooo wooooo woooo”. However, if you are wearing a ghost speaker amulet, the text will be “Bank all your items!!” instead.
- The Falador Park has a memorial plaque that discloses all the victims of the infamous Falador Massacre.
FAQs
Question: What were the biggest glitches in RuneScape?
Answer: RuneScape is almost 22 years old, so the game has experienced its fair share of glitches and bugs. Some go unnoticed while others are exploited until Jagex patches them. These are the most famous glitches in RuneScape:
• Noclip Glitch: A bug was discovered in the Heroes’ Guild that let players walk through the walls on the second floor. This allowed people to walk anywhere in RuneScape without restrictions. Unfortunately, noclip led to multiple scams and people dropping items on top of the Grand Exchange. This was confusing to people as they often saw random items floating.
• Falador Massacre: This event happened because of a glitch in a player-owned house. When players enter the combat ring and get kicked out, they can still attack other players. Durial321 was the main abuser of this big, which led to the most famous event – the Falador Massacre.
• Partyhat Duplication Glitch: This duplication glitch required using a third-party software to break the RuneScape game engine. Players could create anything they wanted, and partyhats were the most expensive items at the time. Fortunately, Jagex cracked down on the duplicated partyhats and removed them from the game.
Question: What are the rarest items in RuneScape?
Answer: RuneScape has several discontinued items that are incredibly hard to obtain due to their price or exclusivity. As the game progresses, these items become rarer since items get lost, people lose their accounts, etc. One notable event regarding a rare item was during the Falador Massacre, where a player supposedly lost their green partyhat.
Here are the rarest items RuneScape has to offer:
• Pumpkin
• Partyhat
• Christmas Cracker
• Easter Eggs
• Santa Hat
• Black Santa Hat
• Hallowe’en Masks
• Christmas Tree Hat
• Disk of Returning
• Half Full Wine Jug
Question: Who is Durial321?
Answer: Durial321 began his RuneScape journey in May 2005 and loved the PVP element in the game. He quickly joined the PVP clan 3v0luti0n X for their welcoming enthusiasm and love for RuneScape.
He is notoriously known for abusing the player-owned house bug that kicked players from the location. As a result, those who were in the combat ring gained the ability to kill other players in safe locations throughout Gielinor. Although several people abused this glitch, Durial321 was the most well-known.
Summary
That concludes this explanation of the Falador Massacre. We’ve covered why the event occurred and what happened to the players exploiting the glitch. It’s perhaps the most famous event in RuneScape’s history, and gamers still talk about it today. In fact, it was added to the RS lore taking place in 169 before the Sixth Age.
Today, players can find Falador Massacre easter eggs where they can see Durial321 killing players in specific locations. Also, you can look at the memorial to see the players who died during this horrendous event. I hope you learned something new by reading this guide and if you have any questions, please leave them below.
For more interesting readings check out:
- Romeo And Juliet OSRS Guide
- Daemonheim Tasks Guide
- Cooks Assistant OSRS Guide
- OSRS Ironman Crafting Guide
- Contact OSRS Guide - September 13, 2022
- Violet is Blue RS3 Guide - August 3, 2022
- Falador Diary OSRS Guide - July 12, 2022