Renaissance Guide to Home Ownership

So you have placed your first house, or you are a veteran house owner looking to make sure all your valuables are safe and secure. This is the guide for you!

In this guide you will find information on the following topics. To skip ahead to any specific section simply search (F3) in your web browser and type in the section number.



Guide Table of Contents

1. Frequently Asked Questions
2A. Various Types of Home Security
2B. Small House Home Security
2C. Medium House Home Security
3A. Large House Home Security
3B. Massive House Home Security
3C. Massive House Courtyard Security
4A. Security & Detect Hidden
4B. Public & Private Houses
5A. House Keys - Front Doors
5B. House Keys - Interior Doors
6A. Home Owners
6B. Co Owners
6C. Friends
6D. Bans & Kicks
7A. House Decay Phases
7B. Refreshing Your House
8A. Bans & Kicks
8B. Lockdowns & Secures
8C. Co-Owner Strongbox​

Other Handy Guides

Renaissance Guide to House Bridging by Chris
How to Setup a Resist Training Party House by Blaise
The Handyman's Guide to Craftable House Addons by Corruption
Renaissance Guide to Running Your Own Vendor by Markos
Housing 101 - Entrance Security - Tips and Tricks by Chris
Housing 102 - Protecting Your Valuables by Chris
Housing 103 - House Ownership & Commands by Chris
​

Section 1

Q. Are house keys blessed?
A. No! Never carry your house keys. They should be placed on a key ring and locked down near the door to which they open. See the section of this guide on house keys to learn how to setup easy access to your house for friends and co owners.

Q. How many houses can I own?
A. Each character on Renaissance can own 1 house.

Q. Are house deeds blessed or newbied?
A. House deeds are newbied items and will not drop on death unless you are a murderer.

Q. Can you resell house deeds for full value?
A. House deeds can always be redeemed for their full value. Find the carpentry shop and real estate agent and drag the house deed onto him.

Q. Are characters on the same account that owns a house co-owned to the house?
A. Yes, if they do not own a house they will automatically inherit co-owner privileges in a house owned by a character on the same account. This is not affected by the player owning a house themselves.

Q. Can players who are not friended/co-owned access my house and its locked down containers?
A. Yes. There is no access level security on Renaissance houses. If a player can get to a locked down container, they can access the contents. See the section on secure containers for how secure container security works.

Q. Do items decay in the courtyards of houses?
A. For Keeps, Castles, Large Keeps and Fortresses items will not decay in the courtyard. They can however be stolen by other players who have access to these areas. Players also have the option of blessing their own courtyard via a platinum purchase or in the near future purchasing a courtyard "moat". For more information see the section on (1Massive House Courtyard Security)

Q. Can anyone access the courtyard of my large house?
A. Yes if they have a rune and the spot is not blocked they can access it. However players cannot teleport into a courtyard area from outside a house using any method or exploit. For more information see the section on (3b. Massive House Courtyard Security)

Section 2A

Renaissance employs the classic mechanics of house ownership where players have limited access to lock downs and secure containers. Players are allowed unlimited storage in their house however they must take steps to protect their valuable items not in a secure container.


The most common method used by players to secure their house is the classic table wall design. Either by itself or combined with a trash barrel or footstool ladder. Depending on the size of the house some players will use multiple table walls to protect their valuable items and locked down containers. Make sure that your table wall allows no diagonal access or there is the off chance that a player could resurrect a ghost in that location who could gain access to the secure area.

Make sure to also not place accessible items or containers near a table wall or depending on their elevation they can be accessed. In a small house this would be an example of safe storage locations.



The red tiles would be places someone could access items if they made it inside the door. The yellow tiles would be accessible depending on elevation and the green tiles would be safe places to store items.




Placing keys on a key ring and locking them down inside or near the doorways is one of the most common methods of providing secure access to your house. For a detailed guide on setting up doorway keyrings check this post on entrance security.
Keyrings & Entrance Security



Most doors will allow you to lock a keyring down in the doorway if you elevate it high enough. Some doors in towers, 2 story houses and others will not allow this. Should you be able to get a keyring locked down in the doorway it allows you to lock/unlock the door from inside and outside the house which can be very handy.

Should you buy a house from another player, or change the locks on a house you might be lacking the interior door keys. In these situations you can either copy the master key multiple times (not recommended) or you can use the master key on an interior door which will create an interior door key. For more information on exterior and interior house keys see Section 5 of this guide.




Another common method of protecting your house from intruders is the table wall and trash barrel combination. House owners and co-owners can place a trash barrel using the command "I wish to place a trash barrel as shown in this example.



Using an axe you can break the existing trash barrel, walk into the location it was in and place another trash barrel very quickly and easily. Since this method is only open to owners/co-owners it can be a useful mechanic in a public house, vendor house or guild house where other players could be friended.

This is a good method also to avoid anyone stealthing past you into your house as they would be revealed trying to walk past you.




Foot stools provide a unique method in which you can allow access to an area without allowing the player to return to the area they came from. This is very handy in creation an exit from an area while blocking other players from entering the same area. This is accomplished by elevating the first footstool 1 time and the second footstool 3 times.


Lock down two footstools as shown and then using an interior decorator (or other method of elevation) raise the first stool one time and the second stool three times. This will create a ramp that allows you to leave the area but does not allow access inside.




Section 2B


Most players will start out their time on Renaissance in a small house of this style. Small houses can easily be as safe as the largest house available with a bit of effort.

As always you will want to setup a keyring and use it to enter and exit the house. Depending on the purpose of the house you can go with a table wall as an additional layer of security. This is only really needed if you store a decent amount of items in the house which could be at risk to a thief.

If you intend to use the house often and store a great deal of items, develop character, etc then the following design would be very effective.



This small house design includes a loom, spinning wheel, forge and anvil along with locked down wooden chests for bulk storage. The wooden box on the table that is secured for runebooks, boat keys and often accessed essentials. When entering and exiting the house you would chop and replace the trash barrel after using detect hidden. The chair in the middle is the only completely safe spot in a small house so it is the best spot to macro from without outside interference.

For a more simplistic design but with the same security aspect you can use 4 tables and a trash barrel.

Either of these designs can be used as a vendor house as well since the front doors being public would still provide the same amount of security for your items, however you would not be able to macro using the house safely.





Small marble workshops primary purpose is as a vendor house so the security and safety options are limited. However they are popular with players due to their 3 stories. One simple method is using a keyring in the doorway and a single table blocking access to the 2nd floor. A table has to be used in this setup as a trash barrel cannot be this close to the doorway.



Given the openness of the roof area it is not safe to macro as someone from a nearby house could kill you. You should also place a table on the 2nd floor stairs as well to protect from a summon (blade spirit/energy vortex) from being targeted on the roof and going downstairs.

Some players also combine a keyring on the 2nd floor doorway with a step based table wall setup. This provides some security but should never be used as a primary method to protect your valuables.





Stone Workshops are similar to marble workshops in design just without the roof access. They should still be primarily used for a vendor house rather than a primary place of residence.



First and second floor access examples using a trash barrel. Remember to always macro in the center of your house on the 2nd floor for the best chance at safety.





Small stone towers are the most popular of the small house variety as they provide the most usable space and security. The best location for a table wall is on the 2nd floor 1 tile from the stairway. This allows you to use the first floor as a lounge/active use area while keeping all of your valuable items safe upstairs. And with all houses with a roof make sure you block the stairway just in case someone manages to place a summon on the roof.



When macroing in a small stone tower the best spot is the 2nd floor center 2 tiles of the room.



Section 2C



Sandstone patios are another house that can primarily be used as a vendor shop. Used as a primary residence they require that you take several precautions. In addition to the normal table wall to protect your values it is imperative that you block the stairwell as shown in the example below. Due to the nature of the roofs on these houses it is very easy to target.

Important! Even standing on the roof of this house is not safe as players from the ground can easily have line of sight to target you with offensive spells. If you use a sandstone patio for your primary residence make sure to never go unattended on the roof or without a table blocking the stairs.







Log Cabin houses require very little effort to keep secure other than the standard doorway keyrings and table wall/trash barrel. Make sure to always keep the balcony door locked as well. When macroing in a log cabin make sure to keep to the center of the house away from any exterior walls.







Two Story Villa's provide a nice large amount of space and a great location for an entryway table wall. As shown in the picture below you can easily setup a nice lobby area inside the doorway. This leaves you the main room and 2nd floor for secure storage. For an added layer of security or if you want to keep the downstairs area less secure you can use a single table to block the hallway. Combined with a keyring on the 2nd floor bedroom. As always make sure to lock the balcony door.

For safe macroing in a 2 story villa make sure to avoid any exterior walls. The center of the 2nd floor room is usually the best location as long as they balcony door is locked.

Important! 2 Story Villa's have double doors both of which can be locked and unlocked independently. So make sure you use detect hidden to verify all of your doors are locked.

Section 3A



Large brick houses have a variety of options that can be employed to protect your valuable items. You can use a table wall like the one shown below along with keyrings on the interior doors. By keeping valuable loot inside the two back rooms a thief would have to bypass the table wall and a locked door to steal any items.

For safe macroing as long as you avoid the exterior walls you will be safe in a large brick.







Large Patios come with their own counter which can provide a nice divisor between players looking to steal your pixels. One trick with a patio or any house is to place any items to be put into storage onto the counter and then by logging in a character behind the counter to organize and store them. With the amount of doors in a patio with this method you could avoid the table wall completely by keeping all your important items behind 3 locked doors.

Patios also have the unique ability allowing you to drop items onto the patio from outside the house making them appealing houses for loot drops. However items left near the edge of the patio could be accessed from outside so make sure to never leave anything valuable there.

Note: Always lock the interior doors in the patio as it is possible that a blade spirit or energy vortex could be summoned onto the patio and make it inside the house attacking you or destroying anything not locked down.







2 Story Houses come with 2 lockable rooms similar to a large brick house. Depending on your use of the house you can depend on the locking interior doors for your additional layer of security or you can go with the table wall examples shown below. Either using the entrance table wall from the first example, or a simple 1 table barrier on the 2nd floor landing.

For safe macroing in a 2 story house the center of either bedroom is recommended. Just make sure to avoid idling within two tiles of an exterior wall.







Large Mable Patios were primarily designed to serve as large vendor malls and provide little obvious security. Using the examples shown below you can secure access to the patio area or behind the double doors. While on the second floor it is important that you secure the balcony doorway in the following manner.

For safe macroing make sure you use the center of the 1st or 2nd floor rooms away from any exterior walls.

Important! Items placed near the edge of the patio area could be accessed by someone outside the house so make sure you secure or lock them down.







Large towers are one of the most secure houses for their size. With 3 large lockable rooms players can easily store their belongings in relative safety. A simple table wall to the left of the entrance or one in the doorway to the stairs can provide an extra layer of protection. As always make sure you have keys setup for each of the doorways.

For the 2nd and 3rd floors you can also place a table wall in the doorways as shown.



Since towers have an exposed roof it is also important you place a few tables on the stairs. Many a player has had many items broken by an energy vortex summoned on the roof that made its way down to the first floor.






Section 3B



For a classic style large keep you will be using the front door for access so a simple table wall/trash barrel setup at the entrance is the most effective. Some players like to keep secured containers in the hallways for easy access items, runebooks etc. Since the keep has large open spaces and walkways it is imperative that you secure the doorways with tables to deter any summons from making it inside the code of the house. A secondary table wall near the stairs on the second floor is recommended allowing you to store all your valuables in the 2nd floor main room.

For macroing the safest area in a large keep is the center 5x5 area. Due to how the walls are in a keep you can possibly be targeted in other areas of the house.







Large keeps are similar to their classic counterparts with a few noticable differences. Players can use the private courtyard for primary access and the 2nd floor doorways now have doors. Providing the large keep drastically more safety. Since you will not be using the front door as much you will want to place a simple table wall there along with the standard keyring. Some players also add a secure container to the steps of the house which includes a rune or runebook to the courtyard. Handy when you are at the house but don't want to go to the bank for courtyard access. Just remember friends could steal the rune.

With the available courtyard players might want to block off most of the recall locations with tables leaving a few spots open for each access. However you should never completely assume your courtyard is safe so a keyring and table wall will ensure complete safety. A great deal of players who get looted do so simply because they assumed no one had a rune, and left their courtyard doors unlocked.



For the second floor of a large keep you will want to add keyrings to the doorways and keep those doors locked when possible. A secondary table wall can be helpful at the top of the stairs for more public houses.

For safe macroing make sure to stick to the center 5x5 of the keep.







Castles are the largest classical house and take a variety of steps to secure. As a guild house using secure access levels is usually the best way to provide basic security but as a private residence there are a variety of steps to follow.

Start by adding a keyring to every doorway in the house. You will only need to generate 1 key for each pair of double doors. Like other houses with a courtyard a small secure on the front steps of the house with a rune to the courtyard is always handy. A table wall in the entry way will keep ghosts from making it into your courtyard and being nosy as well.

And in the main room a table wall combining a trash barrel for entrance into the secure area and a stool ramp for access to the courtyard. There are a variety of ways you can setup a table wall in this room but I always recommend at least one somewhere. I always liked to setup a lounge area in front of the table wall with a rune library and secure containers so I could actively play without worrying about security knowing all my items were behind table walls deeper into the house. Also make sure you protect the back door even if you do not use it often.



For the second floor of a castle make sure to table wall the doorways to the walkways as they could potentially allow summons access into the house. And always make sure to lock down anything breakable.

For macroing anywhere in the center of the house should be considered safe, but always 2 tiles away from any exterior wall.







The largest house of all is primarily designed to be a guild house but is popular as a private residence as well. The same size as a castle the courtyard is much smaller making the house seem drastically larger. Also with only one point of entry security is very simple. Make sure you setup keyrings for the front doors and the main entryway. Should you use the smaller rooms for secure storage keyrings there are a good idea as well. In the examples below I have setup the trash barrel entrance and stool ramp exit in the main entryway.



Also an example of keyrings in each small room on the east and west side of the fortress. On the 2nd floor of the house the main thing you will want to watch out for is summons from nearby houses. So it is a good idea to block off the entryways into main areas. Depending on where you macro/idle/keep breakable things these walls can be adjusted as needed.

Detect hidden on Renaissance, when used in a house you are friended/co-owned/own will always reveal any hidden player inside the house. This makes it an essential tool for players looking to keep their houses and belongings secure. However there are a few tips to the proper use of the detect hidden skill.

When using the detect hidden skill what you are looking for is the message "You can see nothing hidden there". If you do not see this message this means that something in your house was revealed. A clever thief might expect this and simply re-hide very quickly.

The best time to detect hidden is once you have entered your house and locked the door. But before you chop the trash barrel or release a table to go farther into the house. This will ensure that no one ever is able to sneak into your house.

Note: Detect hidden will not alert you to the presence of ghosts in your house. This has been discussed as a future perk of the spirit speak skill but for now it is best to assume ghosts can be anywhere.



With the implementation of Patch 56 players can now also see the status of all the doors in their house so make sure to not be fooled by that message when looking to see if anyone was detected.

This change will allow you to easily see that you have all of your doors locked and didn't accidentally unlock the wrong front door. This will also let players in larger houses check their complete house for any unlocked doors before finishing their gameplay session. This feature is available to anyone who is friended/co-owned/owns a house and the message is only seen by the player using the detect hidden skill. This will also work at any level of detect hidden skill, so you do not need to train the skill for this feature to be effective.







Private houses are just like the name implies.

Non friended players cannot log out in a private house, they will be ejected on login.
Players cannot place vendors in a private house.​

Public houses allow you the following features.

Ability to place vendors in your house.
Ability of friends/co-owners to place vendors in the house.
Ability to change the sign type of a shop or guild type.
Players can log out in a public house and log back into the safe location.
​

Notice: If you purchase a public house or use a public house for storage keep in mind the previous owner or player who had access to a back room could have timed out in that location. They could log in and find themselves in a newly secured room and help themselves to your loot. If you want to use a house as a private residence make sure to flag your house as private.

Notice: In order to return your house to a private status all vendors must be removed from the house. If you have abandoned vendors in your house the staff can assist you with removing them.

Section 5A

Should you want to change the locks on your house you can do this using the house owner and double clicking the house sign. Navigate to the options menu and click on "Change the House Locks" option. You will notice that one gold key appears in your backpack. This gold key will now work on every door in your house.



At this point you have two options. You can generate individual keys for each of your interior doors or you can simply copy the master key as many times as needed to setup key rings for each interior door. I highly recommend creating interior door keys as shown in the next section.


Section 5B

If you have just placed a new house you will notice that named interior door keys have been placed in your backpack. Should you change the locks or be transferred a house you will need to create the interior door keys yourself using the following method.

To create an interior door key one needs to have the following. The House owner and the master house key. Without placing the key on a keyring use the key on an interior door. Rather than locking or unlocking the door a new interior door key will be generated. Should this be a set of double doors like in a large keep, castle or fortress a single key will be generated for both of doors.

Note: Make sure the double doors are closed when doing this or this can result in only one of the locks being changed.

Section 6A

Home Owner's can do the following...

• Secure a container
• Lock down an item/container.
• Release a secure container
• Release a locked down item/container
• Ban/Kick a player from the house.
• Add/Remove Co-Owners
• Add/Remove Friends
• Remove a Co-Owners Strongbox
• Chop a trash Barrel
• Place a Vendor
• Add/Remove an Addon
• Declare the House Public/Private
• Change the house sign type
• Change the Locks, Create Interior Door Keys
• Use detect hidden in the house with 100% success

Section 6B

Co-Owner's can do the following...

• Secure a container
• Lock down an item/container.
• Release a locked down item/container
• Ban/Kick a player from the house.
• Add/Remove Friends
• Chop a trash Barrel
• Place a Vendor
• Use detect hidden in the house with 100% success

Section 6C

Friends can do the following...

• Ban/Kick a player from the house.
• Place a Vendor
• Use detect hidden in the house with 100% success

Section 7A

Houses on Renaissance take approximately 15 days to decay from the time they are last refreshed. This is a slight deviation to account for the lack of daily server restarts.

There are six phases of house decay as indicated by single clicking the house sign.

• Like New - 2 Hours
• Slightly Worn - 3 Days
• Somewhat Worn - 3 days
• Fairly Worn - 3 Days
• Greatly Worn - 2.75 Days
• In Danger of Collapsing - 17 Hours (This can vary slightly)

Once a house collapses all of the items (except addons) in the house will drop to the ground. Any vendors in the house will perish leaving their belongings where they fell.



Notice: Should the staff place a house for event purposes it will list a decay status of "Ageless"

Should a player not refresh their house using the owners account in 90 days, the house will enter a condemned status and can only be refreshed by the account that owns the house. The condemned flag is reset by the owner of the house simply logging in, they do not have refresh the house.



Section 7B

On Renaissance you can refresh your house in a variety of methods.

• You can double click the house sign
• You can open the front doors of the house.
• You can open an interior door of the house.

Once you refresh your house you should always at least single click the sign to make sure that it was refreshed properly. You never know when you mis-click or hit something other than the doors.

Each of these actions will refresh the house and start the 15 day timer over. Since the Renaissance server has no scheduled downtime the chances of a refresh being reverted are very minimal. However players should refresh their houses at least two times a week to make sure they never lose a house.

If you only refresh a house once a week all it takes is missing one refresh cycle and you can lose your house. My best advice is to refresh on two days of the week, every week. Monday and Friday for instance. Using this method you will never lose a house to decay.

If you find the refreshing process tedious and time consuming then consider selling some houses you no longer need. Or use the buddy system to team up with a friend to refresh each others houses during any period of inactivity.

Section 8A

Should the need arise to remove someone from your house either temporarily or permenantly there are two commands you can use.

"I Ban Thee" - This command will remove a player from your house and place them near the sign. They will no longer be able to access your house using any character on the affected account. Keep in mind this does not stop them from accessing your courtyard.

"Remove Thyself" - This command will remove someone from the house simliar to the ban command however they will be able to re-enter the house.



Notes:

• These commands do not work on friends, co-owners or owners of the house.
• Each house can contain approximately 140 ban records.
• These commands can be used against players, pets or monsters.

Section 8B

"I wish to secure this" - Co-Owners and House Owners can use this command to secure a container anywhere in their house. Once a container is targeted you will be presented with the following menu shown in the example below.

You can choose to allow the container to be accessed by the following types of players. Your selection will determine who can access the contents of this container.

• Owner Only
• Co-Owners
• Friends
• Anyone

Notes:

• Secure containers can hold 400 stones of total weight and a maximum of 125 items.
• A Secure container can only be released by the home owner.

"I wish to lock this down" - Co-owners and House Owners can use this command to lock down an item or container in a house.

Notes:

• Should you target an item the item will be locked in place and can only be adjusted by the interior decorator tool.
• Both Co-Owners and Home Owners can release a locked down item.
• A locked down container can hold 125 items and unlimited stones.
• A locked down container can be accessed by anyone in range.

Most players would recommend setting this command to a macro so you can easily bypass a table wall using the release/lockdown commands.

"I wish to release this" - To release a secure or lockdown you would use this command





Section 8C

"I wish to place a strongbox" - This command will allow a Co-Owner to place a gold box at their location. These containers can only be accessed by their owner and the house owner.

Each strongbox can hold 25 items and up to 400 stones of weight.

The owner of the container or the home owner can remove these containers by using an axe on them.