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Steel yourselves for self-sufficient 'Scaping but this time with a team of friends! Now's your chance to build a powerful squad of Ironmen, where the team is stronger than any individual, and compete for the top spot on the leaderboards. It's a new way to experience Gielinor!
Group Ironman follows the same principles as normal Ironman rules. Players are self-sufficient, unable to trade (mostly) and have a DIY attitude towards the game and its challenges.
However, in Group Ironman you embark on this journey with a group of 2 -5 friends and take on all the challenges Gielinor can throw you! Group members can trade freely, tradeable items to each other. For regular irons, this isn't possible and to take it a whole step further they will have access to a Group storage function, a shared bank that would let you pass around select items that were previously untradeable.
You will also be able to compete for new leaderboard positions in both Competitive and Regular Group Ironman modes. And earn unique rewards like the group Ironman armour which improves as you complete journey achievements. In this blog, we will go over information that was previously released in our RCE Blogs and other discussions!
If you are an avid reader of the recent FAQ and RCE Blogs on the GIM content a lot of this information won't be new to you, the main goal of this blog is to try gather it all up.
Group Ironman introduces an exciting new way for adventurers to explore Gielinor. Now it's time to gather up to five of your most trusted allies and face the challenge together as a team!
So if you are familiar with the regular Ironman mode (has it already been 10 years) you will be well in your element but there are a few twists to playing as part of either a Group Ironman or a Competitive Group Ironman.
Group Ironman comes in two varieties: Group Ironman (GIM) and Competitive Group Ironman (CGIM). While these modes are similar, there are key distinctions between them.
Does your group want a relaxed experience with fewer restrictions? Or do you prefer the challenge of stricter rules to showcase your skills? We've designed these two modes to cater to both playstyles.
Regular Group Ironman (GIM) follows the familiar RuneScape Ironman rules but in a group setting. Group members can share access to Group Storage, trade items, and participate in the Journey system together. This means GIM groups can engage in content with other groups or non-Group Ironmen while adhering to standard Ironman rules and allowances. GIM has its high scores, and regular Ironman accounts can switch to this mode, though the change is irreversible.
Competitive Group Ironman (CGIM), on the other hand, is guided by a single principle: no interaction or assistance from anyone outside your group. It’s just you and your team—together as one.
In CGIM, certain content is either restricted to group members only or locked due to the potential influence of outside players. Additionally, PvM loot rules require CGIM members to deal 100% of the damage to receive any drops. To balance this, boss instancing will be free for CGIM players. This mode is only accessible to new accounts, and a CGIM group can only replace members with fresh accounts if someone leaves.
To prevent accidental downgrades from CGIM, the game will block or prevent any actions that break CGIM rules. For example, if you attempt something against the rules in PvM, you’ll either receive no rewards, be automatically teleported away, or be prevented from completing the action.
When a group is formed they have a Founders status. This is a cosmetic indicator that is reserved for groups consisting of the founding original members, setting them apart from those that have altered over time.
This status rewards teams for staying loyal to each other and recognizes their collective progress. Founders' status is displayed in a message box when the group is created but is lost if any new members are invited after the group is formed. It's a special way to encourage commitment and celebrate a team's unity.
There's a 7-day grace period on group forming so any members that join within 7 days will have founder status. No need to wait for everyone to be online at the same time, The group leader will need to return to the Iron Enclave to invite the new members, but this can be re-accessed at any time.
It's crucial to have a clearly defined ruleset outlining what Group Ironman players can and cannot do, especially for the Competitive Group Ironman mode.
These rules should be accessible at any time, easily understood by anyone, including the development team, and leave no ambiguity about what is or isn't allowed, even as future content is added. To ensure clarity, the rules will also be available in-game, providing a reliable reference if there's ever uncertainty about the mode's mechanics.
The ruleset for both Regular and Competitive Group Ironman can be found below.
Rules (Click here to expand)
All Ironman mode rules apply to Group Ironman mode. Rules within the Group Ironman ruleset override any conflicting rules from the Ironman mode ruleset.
All Ironman mode and Group Ironman mode rules apply to Competitive Group Ironman mode. Rules within the Competitive Group Ironman ruleset override any conflicting rules from the Ironman and Group Ironman mode rulesets.
You can downgrade your account to modes with fewer restrictions. Warning: Any downgrade is permanent.
We're introducing a new feature to Group Ironman aimed at helping groups find direction if they haven't fully planned their approach when forming their team. Inspired by the Qualifications system in Archaeology, this feature will guide players through key aspects of the game, providing increasingly valuable rewards as they progress.
When creating your group, you'll be tasked with completing your first "Journey Tier" achievement—an introduction to the longer journey ahead. Unlocking the first of ten Journey Tiers serves as a brief tutorial, explaining how the system works and granting your group access to Group Storage. To give you an idea of how this will function, here's a breakdown of the requirements for Journey Tier 1:
As you may have noticed, we've added new achievements that will be available to all players on the release of Group Ironman. We've added these, and other new achievements, to better help the scaling difficulty of Journey Tier achievements where existing achievements don't cover what we require. Here are those two new achievement requirements:
The Journey achievement system is designed to provide your group with goals to complete and an opportunity to specialise in specific areas of the game, should you choose to.
Whether your group wants to focus on quests, PvM, skilling, or take on a generalist role to assist with various group needs, the choice is entirely yours. Specialisation can help streamline your group's progression, but it's not a requirement.
Ultimately, how you engage with the Journey Tier achievements is up to you. You can pursue them for added direction and rewards, or you can take a more flexible approach without specialising.
This game mode is meant to adapt to your group's preferences, giving you the freedom to decide how you want to tackle it.
Speaking of rewards as you complete the Journey Achievements Tiers your group will unlock Group Ironman-specific rewards such as:
Deck the squad out in matching dapper threads! Available in Blue for Group Ironman and Red for Competitive Group Ironman players. This armour updates at different tiers and unlocks some fiery effects for the plume at Tier 4.
Not only will you get to remind everyone you are a "Group Ironman Btw" but you will also unlock the "Together as One" title as you progress.
These special Poses are available to the entire group so you can strike a dramatic pose when snapping screenshots of the milestones you will be earning!
Oh and don't forget the biggest reward!
Group Storage is a shared bank that grows in size as you progress the journey achievements that are available to all members of a Group Ironman team, allowing them to store and access items seamlessly. Any group member can deposit or withdraw items from Group Storage, which is accessible at any location with a bank. This makes it easy to share items without the need to meet in person, providing a convenient way to support your team.
But that’s not all—certain untradeable items, which are typically restricted from player-to-player trading, can also be stored and shared through Group Storage. This feature allows important items, such as augmented weapons and armour, to be freely exchanged within the group.
In Old School RuneScape, it's common for groups to share key PvM items, as they remain tradeable. However, in RuneScape, augmenting items is critical, and de-augmenting or removing perks to trade them would not only create a significant barrier but also waste valuable resources like perfectly perked gizmos. This was a priority for us during the early design phase, and it has been a highly requested feature from the community. By including this in Group Storage, we’re excited to deliver a truly cooperative experience that lets you share and strategize with ease.
Ensuring player safety and security is a top priority, and this extends to the tools needed to manage a group in Group Ironman. In any multiplayer environment, misunderstandings or impulsive decisions can occur, which could lead to significant changes within a group. To prevent this in Group Ironman, we’ve implemented safeguards for important group decisions, such as removing a member or downgrading from Competitive mode.
These decisions will require a supermajority—meaning every other member of the group must agree before any action can be taken. Additionally, each decision will have an associated timeframe, allowing for changes to be reversed if the group reconsiders. This system ensures that all key decisions are deliberate and that no drastic changes happen without full group consensus.
We recently hosted both anAMA and published ablog to address some of the most pressing questions players had about Group Ironman (GIM). To ensure everyone stays on the same page, we’ve compiled and organised those questions and answers here.
We wanted to limit the sort of items that can be added as little as possible. The following is the in-game description of the Group Storage and Trade Restrictions. You will be able to read the full list in-game and in the Rules section earlier in this blog.
We built out the group storage whitelist through the following flow. Each item would go down this list in order, if it passed the criteria it would go in and if it got to the end of the flow it wouldn't be allowed in. Here is an example of an item passing through this process:
Augmented Abyssal Whip:
In general, items that make it through this entire flow without being categorised would be blocked by default.
It's worth mentioning that the team is happy to take on feedback post-launch if there are certain blacklisted items that players would like to be able to share. We'll be paying close attention to player feedback on the Group Storage and can make changes if they are desired by our community.
All accounts with Group Ironman status will have access to all Loyalty Point Shop auras at all tiers. If you downgrade from a Group Ironman to a regular account, you will lose access to those auras and need to purchase them with Loyalty Points.
While we will be making changes to certain harder requirements, we will not be making any exemptions or allowances for content that is technically completable in a smaller competitive group.
As an example, Beastmaster Durzag is mechanically completable in a smaller group, and we will not be making special allowances for competitive groups to be able to play this content with players outside of their group.
With that said, we will be looking at things like the "Yakamaru Puzzle" and the entry requirements for Barbarian Assault, post-launch. We will continue to review and aim to make as much of the game available as possible to GCIM players.
Group Ironman Mode teammates are restricted similarly to Ironman Mode, CGIM is further restricted due to how some of these activities function.
Minigames
GIM follows standard IM rules. Competitive GIM follow IM rules, but are excluded from:
D&Ds
GIM follows standard IM rules. Competitive GIM follow IM rules, but are excluded from:
Other Content
Both GIM & CGIM have access to the following content:
Competitive Group Ironman players will not be able to obtain the Dark Onyx Core.
When considering new game modes it's important that they offer something different. For Competitive Group Ironman, the group-only interaction rules may mean that several items, such as the Dark Onyx Core, are unavailable.
We understand there are rewards you may want to use, and we will continue to monitor feedback well after Group Ironman Mode launches. In certain cases, a future game update may change content to allow Competitive Group Ironman to participate, or we may offer different routes to obtain desirable items but these will not be available on launch.
Yes! A variety of new global broadcasts have been added. A full list of those broadcasts can be viewed here:
World First Broadcasts:
These will be global broadcasts and will be permanently visible in-game by interacting with a statue on the Iron enclave.
There are individual broadcasts for each group size, both in competitive and non-competitive modes.
In addition to the new world's first broadcasts, the following will remain as general achievement broadcasts:
There will also be non-world first broadcasts, that will appear in the group Ironman chat for
Originally, we planned for this to be the case, viewing competitive mode as the choice for high scores. Following community feedback, we have added an unranked status. If your Ironman group invites a player who was playing in Ironman mode before the Group Ironman release, you will be warned that your group will be removed from the high scores before choosing to invite them to your group.
An Ironman account created after the Group Ironman release may join an Ironman group without removing the group's high scores.
When joining a new group there is a 14-day cooldown period before you would be able to use the Group Storage, so to leave and rejoin the same group would require a minimum of 28 days. In addition, the founder's status will be shown on the hiscores to identify groups that have never had a player leave or join. It's also worth noting that it is not possible to rejoin a Competitive Ironman group, so if you wish to compete against others who never swap groups, Competitive may be the mode for you!
To expand on this, when leaving an existing group you will have the following choices available to you:
If you are a Competitive Group Ironman:
If you are a Regular Group Ironman
Yes, anyone who has selected this option will have the ability to transfer from Ironman to Group Ironman if they choose. They will also have the chance to reaffirm their decision to remain un-downgraded.
However, it's important to note that you can only downgrade to a Group Ironman and not to a main account. There are internal discussions around offering a method to players who had previously opted out of deironing indefinitely but nothing has been decided at this point and will not be available for the launch of GIM.
Group names are limited to 20 characters. You can change your group name once every 28 days, but to do this, your group must first vote on whether to proceed with the change. If the vote passes, the group leader can select a new name. However, other group members cannot vote on the new name itself, so it's important to discuss and agree on a new name beforehand.
Yes, so long as your account remains in the character creation screen you'll be able to select Group Ironman Mode on release day.
GIM will have the same rules as ironman and can accept bonds from anyone.
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