1 March 2007 - Behind the Scenes - March ?

First up in March comes an exciting update to the way that the in-game music works. Soon, you'll all be able to hear the melodic strains of 'All's Fairy in Love and War', 'Romancing the Crone' and all the other songs exactly as the musicians intended, as well as toggling the log-in screen's music. This will also improve compatibility, so the music should work on many more systems once this is released.

The monks of Harmony Island have recently lost their piece of mind, as those dastardly pirates of not-really-alive persuasion attempt to take over their island. Brother Tranquility has managed to get away, though, and will be looking for help. You'll need to be ready for knockout gas and a boat-load of dodgy doctors, but who could refuse to help the monks victimised in the Great Brain Robbery? As always, those pesky pirates are bound to throw a holy spanner into the works, so be prepared to fight off some nasties and wield a new maul-esque weapon with its own special attack! Yarrr! Avast! The quest itself will also feature a brand new island with some really fantastic new pirates and animations… arrrr, that it will be.

Followers of the Morytanian struggle will notice a new route opening up in March. The Temple Trekking service, in which you escort desperate NPCs to the relative safety of Paterdomus, will be expanding to include a return journey. This means that you will be able to escort folk back and forth across the fetid vampire-infested lands, picking up your rewards from the Burgh de Rott bank. New routes also mean new perils and new dangers, especially regarding the 'nail beast', who will no doubt be of interest to our potion-making community.

The cave goblins that you've helped out so much in the past are ready to return the favour this month, as the Council is finally going to open the gates wide. Dorgesh-Kaan is a remarkable city filled with all the technology of the Dorgeshuun... and a new Agility course with sizeable rewards for the highly agile. Of course, Dorgesh-Kaan is a fully-fledged city, so there will be much more to it: from a marketplace to sell your intriguing surface food, to a Dorgeshuun inventor experimenting with Magic for the first time, and much more besides. There's even a new Slayer spot just beyond the city, where a strange beast lives - it's a cross between a mole and a basilisk, and a weird-looking beastie it is, too.

A few of the more domestic animals get their makeovers this month, with a few tweaks to make them more attractive to the farmers that look at them every day. Cows, chickens and rabbits may not be the most impressive of creatures, nor the most majestic, but they lie at the core of any farmer's stomach.

Finally, you'll have the opportunity to look into the dark heart of old Varrock, digging holes into ancient caverns best left undisturbed. What Lies Below the city? What foul plots are afoot? Do you have what it takes to join the Varrock Palace Secret Guard? Don't expect a simple story in this quest, for the conspiracies and plans of wicked men are rarely transparent... though there will be Runecrafting rewards for anyone that can translate them.

As you know, we are committed to redesigning anything that needs improving, and this isn’t restricted to the graphics alone. As such, this month we will bring you the newly improved Fishing Trawler. Players familiar with this content may have noted that the fishing nets didn’t necessarily catch that many fish. Well, Murphy has been working on a far more efficient way of doing things and he tells us that the rewards will increase dramatically once he's had a chance to fit the new nets… so you’ll be certain to see more sea turtles and manta rays gracing your local firepit.

Not only have we been beavering away behind the scenes to bring you more letters, pictures and QuestHelps, but we have also been tweaking the way the polls work. Player feedback is very important to us and although we do spend time reading the forums, you can’t all post at the same time… but in a poll, you can! Members: please make sure you fill in the polls. It’s your chance to let us know what you want!