Familiarisation is a Distraction and Diversion. It is based on Summoning and was released on 16 February2010. To start this Distraction and Diversion the player has to talk to Pikkupstix in Taverley, who can teach players the art of Summoning. Pikkupstix needs players to go to the spirit plane, the home of all Summoning creatures, and gather resources from it, from which the druids create spirit shards. The player has to find the one currently active small Summoning obelisk and mentally project themselves into the spirit plane. Pikkupstix will tell the player he has an apprentice, Pikkenmix, who knows which small Summoning obelisk is currently active. The player has to find the small obelisk and enter the spirit plane with the help of Pikkenmix. There, assuming the shape of a Summoning familiar, they need to gather as many piles of raw shards as possible while avoiding certain other familiars. An obelisk will only remain active for 20 minutes after which it will become inactive. The active obelisk changes every two hours. Participation in this Distraction and Diversion is limited to once a week.
(Note: if you happen to see an active obelisk before you've spoken to Pikkupstix about it, you can go ahead and talk to Pikkenmix and enter the spirit plane.)
Familiarisation has no requirements, not even the Wolf Whistle quest which is an introduction to Summoning. However it would be of benefit to complete the quests Fishing Contest, Underground Pass, Heroes' Quest, Lost City, and partial completion of Lunar Diplomacy and Eadgar's Ruse. These quests grant access to a greater number of Summoning obelisks, any of which could become the next active obelisk.
NOTE: Since the obelisk changes every 2 hours, and only stays active for 20 minutes, it is most likely that there is no obelisk active at the time. The best way to find an active obelisk is to hop through different worlds until you find one where there is an active obelisk.
While playing you will be summoned as a random familiar and will have to hunt around for raw shards. The game will end when one of the following occurs:
As soon as you enter the spirit plane, there will be two types of familiars opposed to your form that will instantly recognise you as an enemy within their plane of existence. The longer you remain within the spirit plane, more types of familiars will start to see through your disguise and recognise you as an imposter. If you pass too close to any familiars that will recognise you (these are depicted at the top of the screen) they will drain some of your mental focus and your presence within the spirit plane will weaken.
Your level of focus is tracked by the bar on the left-hand side of the screen. When this has completely worn down, you will lose focus and your consciousness will return to your body on RuneScape, next to Pikkenmix, exactly where you last parked it, along with as many piles of raw shards as you managed to collect. Your current level of mental focus can also roughly be gauged by the colour draining from your form in the spirit plane. Mental projection like this takes a lot of effort, so you will only be able to stay in the spirit plane for a maximum of twenty minutes from when you first entered, and your run energy will very rapidly drain. That is, unless the native familiars cause you to lose focus or if you find all sixty piles of raw shards first.
Run energy decreases very quickly as a Familiar. You can gain a great advantage by taking a dip in the Salt-water Spring in the Oo'glogSpa if you have completed As a First Resort... This will give you unlimited run energy for a short while. In this case, you can basically disregard your hunters and run continuously, gaining the shards; you will collect your limit long before your focus runs out.
Don't run about randomly, try to develop an effective pattern, such as circling the outskirts and collecting all shards in sight, then finish with the centre area. This will help ensure you don't miss any, and get forced to randomly run around looking. Also remember that you have more than enough time to get the maximum number of shards (60), so take your time and avoid all your opponents shown at the top of the screen (more important to those without infinite run energy).
Another helpful strategy is to play in fullscreen or resizable mode, instead of fixed. This allows the player to see a greater area and possibly more shards and familiars.
In the Spirit Realm, your mental energy will be drained by other spirits, depending on your form in the Spirit Realm.
If you stay in the Spirit Realm for a time, more spirits will try to drain your energy. A message appears warning you of this and a picture of the spirit appears at the top of your screen. A maximum of six types of spirits would hunt the player.
These are the spirits that will always hunt you, from the beginning of the game.
Once you have completed your time in the spirit plane you have the chance to gear up for your triple charm reward by going back to Pikkupstix or Pikkenmix.
If you choose ingredients, you'll receive a Box of summoning ingredients of items that can be used to infuse pouches. What items you receive, and in what quantity, is based upon how many piles of raw shards you managed to collect from the spirit plane.
If you choose triple charms, for up to the next forty minutes of in-game time, any charm drops that you receive (including Obsidian and Abyssal Charms, but NOT Talon beast charms ) will be tripled. Each shard collected is worth 40 seconds, and the total time is rounded to the nearest minute. You will receive a warning at 5 and at 1 minute before your time runs out. Charms received from killing Bork or Ork legions will not be tripled, nor will the charm reward from a mystery box.
If you enter the spirit plane again before taking your reward, you will only be able to keep a maximum of thirty piles of raw shards from your previous trip. Therefore if you already have gathered a substantial amount of shards (60 or close to that amount) , it is more efficient to collect your reward, rather than wasting time on this again.
Remember that you can only help and claim a reward one week after your "last participation".
Players who choose triple charms should begin killing monsters with high frequency charm drops, such as waterfiends. Before claiming your reward, make sure you prepared with necessary items such as armour, teleports, food and potions, so that minimal time is spent banking or gearing up.
The animation glitchThe stranger in the familiar plane.
This is the first Distraction and Diversion that you get to play outside your avatar, although you can play outside your avatar in certain quests.
On the week of the game's release, the message when players logged in was "Stuck in a minigame or quest? Familiarise yourself with the Game Guide for playing hints."
When it was first released, people who went into the Spirit Plane would experience a graphical glitch where their character used the animations of a familiar without actually being transformed, and then a couple of minutes later they would become a familiar as normal. This was fixed very quickly.
Occasionally there is a shard or two that is not obtainable which is stuck between bushes and trees
The druid and his apprentice, Pikkupstix and Pikkenmix, respectively, are possible references to the Asterix the Gaul series of books in which the characters have Gaulish names based on popular terms. These names are puns on pick up sticks and pick 'n' mix.
While doing Desert Treasure, the Stranger can appear and attack you. You will fight with the same strength and accuracy as the weapon and the same defence as the armour you had when you entered the familiar plane but you will stay in familiar form while fighting.
If talking to Pikkenmix about the obelisk when it's active and then, after the obelisk turns inactive and without leaving the conversation, ask him if the player can help, the druid will tell him/her that he/she has already helped him this week even if the player has not ever done this D&D.
During the "More Loot = More W00t" event from the 12th November to the 14th November 2011, the triple charm bonus would multiply with the double drop bonus (in select areas) allowing one to get 6 times the standard amount of charms. For example, killing Fire giants in the Chaos tunnels would get you 6 charms instead of the standard one charm per drop.
The "Triple Charm Drops" reward is in fact a triple charm pick up reward. This is shown when a monster is killed followed by the "Triple Charm Drops" ending. The player will pick up the normal amount of charms from that monster.
Edit
