Spawning

In RuneScape, spawning is the in-game creation of an entity, for instance a player character, non-player character (NPC), or an item. Respawning is the recreation of a player, NPC, monster, or item after its death, destruction, or use.

Spawning
Spawning of players in RuneScape occurs at the beginning of the game on tutorial island. Logging on is not spawning as you remain in the same place as where you logged out.

Some players will lie in wait around spawn points to kill NPCs as they spawn, a common practice known as spawn camping. Spawn points for in-game objects are often used in a similar fashion. Similarly, the word respawn can be used to describe an item or NPC that reappears in the same area after it has been picked up or killed (respectively).

It is noteworthy that the speed of respawns varies directly to the amount of players in a world. In other words, the more people in a world, the faster spawns are there. This applies to trees, rocks, and monsters, in addition to item spawns. If you were a poor player and heading out to a chaos rune spawn for example, you might want to pick a world with just under 2000 players. This way you will get the items faster, assuming no other players are there.

Various items in the game also have set spawn points where they appear after being picked up by a player. For example, chaos runes respawn in the Wilderness where moss giants also reside, and bones respawn in the graveyard by Clan Wars.

Respawn point
A Respawn point is the place where a player that has been killed or has had his/her ring of life activated reappears.

Player respawning occurs after a player dies. Players respawn at spawn points or spawn sites, with only their three best items in terms of the Low Alchemy price under normal circumstances. (1 extra if Protect item prayer was active, 0 if you have a Skull over your head from Bounty Hunter, Abyss etc). In RuneScape, players respawn in Lumbridge. However, if a member has completed the Recruitment Drive quest, they may choose to respawn in Falador instead. Also, a player who has completed Knight Waves Training Grounds, which requires the King's Ransom quest to be finished, allows the Camelot spawn point to be unlocked. After completing Nomad's Requiem the spawn point can be set in Soul Wars. Players in Activities such as the Duel Arena or Bounty Hunter typically do not respawn in Lumbridge, Falador or one of the other regular spawn points. See specific entries for details on respawns in Activities.

Lumbridge
You will always respawn here unless you choose another, making it the default spawn point. This is the only respawn point non-members can use (other than the first time you die). You can change your respawn point back to Lumbridge by speaking to Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador, Merlin in Camelot, or Zimberfizz at Soul Wars.

Grim Reaper's Office
This is the respawn point for new players for the first time they have died. They go to this place and The Grim Reaper talks them through death etc. He acts as a 'death tutor'. Once they have been here once they can never go again (on the same account).

Falador
Players can respawn in Falador once completed the Recruitment Drive quest. Talk to Sir Tiffy Cashien if you wish to respawn in Falador.

Camelot
After completion of the King's Ransom quest and completion of Knight Waves Training Grounds miniquest, players can choose to respawn in Camelot. Talk to Merlin if you wish to respawn in Camelot.

Edgeville
While in a Bounty hunter world you will automatically spawn in Edgeville.

Soul Wars
After completion of Nomad's Requiem the player can switch their respawn point to Soul Wars, by talking to Zimberfizz. This is the most popular respawn point among high level players who completed Nomad's Requiem as it is closer to a bank than any of the other spots.

Fremennik spiritual plane
When doing Blood Runs Deep, players will respawn in the Fremennik spiritual realm (the Fremmeniks' heaven) in certain points during the quest, such as when fighting the Dagannoth Mother. After the quest, however, players can no longer respawn here.

Trivia

 * During the Hallowe'en event, if you are/were a member, and your last respawn change was to either Falador or Camelot, when dying in a F2P world, one of the Grim Spectre of Death's lines will be "Let me escort you to _____, Player Name," with ____ being your members respawn point. You will however, still be teleported to Lumbridge upon death.