The Mysterious Old Man, affectionately known by players as M.O.M, is a RuneScaperandom event. He was released back in 2002, and discontinued on 24 October2012, along with other random events. Nowadays he can only be briefly seen inside the cutscene at the feast of Recipe for Disaster, just after the player completes the first miniquest of it.
While his origin is unknown, it was alluded to in a Letter to Saradomin that he is a wizard practicing the magic of Summoning, though the only magic he has demonstrated to players thus far, teleportation, is not to be confused with it. Summoning is the using of powerful spiritual energies to anchor mighty and unique creatures from other planes into Gielinor, whereas teleportation is simply to pass through the Abyss using RuneScape's magic to another destination instantaneously.
File:Mysterious old man maze.pngPlayers who quickly find their way to the centre of the maze will be given a prize and be teleported back to where they originally were.
Sometimes the man will appear and send players into a maze. Players who quickly find their way to the centre of the maze will be given a prize and be teleported back to where they originally were. The faster they are, the better the prize. There are chests throughout the maze which have items inside and time can be spent to search for them but the final prize is a lot larger. Also, the man follows you all around the maze telling you which doors do not take you to the centre of the maze when you try to open them, and serving the same purpose as a Deposit Box during the event when you talk to him, so you can deposit items that you get from the chests or that you had in your inventory before being teleported to the maze. That way you will have enough space for the items you get from the chests or from the final prize.
Other Events
The Mysterious Old Man will also sometimes appear and transport players to the Mime, Pinball, and Surprise Exam! events. In the Pinball event he appears to be its master, while the other events are controlled (coordinated) by other characters, such as the Mime or Mr. Mordaut.
Discontinued events
The Strange Box random event was discontinued from RuneScape after an update.
Strange box (discontinued)
A mysterious box.
The Mysterious Old Man used to give players a strange box. If opened, a simple question of matching the number/shape to the shape/number on the box will be given and if answered correctly, a mystery prize will be given (usually coins or gems). If the question is answered incorrectly, another mystery box will appear. Over time, if the box has not been opened, the box will multiply and eventually fill a player's inventory. The maximum number of boxes a player can have at any given time is 28, 1 in each free inventory slot and then all the rest in the final box slot. It cannot be dropped and if attempted to; the original box will stay and another will appear in the player's inventory. Attempting to bank the box or perform Low or High Level Alchemyonit will also cause it to duplicate. Only the original mystery box contains a prize. Many players complained about this random event because it gives bad rewards and consumes time. This random event seems to have been the most common in RuneScape.
In the shortstory "The Mines at Falun" by E.T.A Hoffman, there is an old man by the name of Torbern who is said to bestow wisdom and grant knowledge to miners of where rich veins of ore are. His appearance, much like the Mysterious Old Man are unexpected and while he isn't said to teleport, he is known to disappear at his own whims.
Talking to the Mysterious Old Man (Discontinued)
The Mysterious Old Man would appear but not talk to players. When players spoke to him he would reward them with a random item, wave, then teleport away. Players who failed to talk to him got teleported to a random location and all notable items in their inventory were noted.
A player receives a visit from the mysterious old man.
Trivia
The Mysterious Old Man appears during Recipe for DisasterThe mystery box used to feature colours, but people with colour blindness were unable to complete the event so Jagex changed it to only feature shapes and numbers.
Not only does the mysterious old man appear to players, he also can appear to some NPCs in certain quests such as Recipe for Disaster, taking away the Duke of Lumbridge, one of the members of the council, though these appearances are scripted and only put in to show that random events are part of Runescape, and not 4th-wall breaking occurrences which only target players.
Since the Mysterious Old Man follows you during the maze random event, it is possible to encounter other Mysterious Old Man NPCs who are following other players doing the maze. If you catch up to one and talk to him, he says "Sorry, this is not the mysterious old man you're looking for", which could be a reference to the famous "These are not the droids you're looking for" line from Star Wars.
Sometimes if you are right in front of the Grand Exchange box, the Mysterious Old Man may appear inside the Grand Exchange box (where the bankers are).
If you fail at the puzzle, another box appears, but only the original will give you a reward;The other boxes just disappear.
