Deadman Mode

Deadman mode is a new game mode announced for release in October 2015. It was announced in a developer blog post on 10 June 2015.It was described by Mod Mat K as "Deadman isn't an alternative Old School, it is a different way to play Old School" (29 minute mark of twitcast 9 July 2015)

The regularly scheduled Old School Dev Twitcast on 9 July started by answering a number of questions about Deadman Mode. After these questions were addressed the Poll to add Deadman Mode went live. The poll was closed in 15 July 2015. It passed with 79% of "Yes" votes.

Not much is currently known about this mode, aside from the following:

Deadman mode is expected to mirror Old School mode as far as map and quests are concerned.

Same login but different stats
While originally the Deadman mode was going to need a new account it has been changed (as of July 8th, 2015) that you can play Deadman with any members account. Just as RS3 and old school players can use same account, Deadman will add a third access to a "start new" character for Deadman mode.

Thus one members account can use all three modes
 * RS3
 * OSRS
 * Deadman

Members only

 * Deadman mode will have a members only option. (OSRS and RS3 can both be played F2P also)

Bonds

 * Bonds can be used to make the account members. (any mode can use a bond for membership).
 * The Jmods are looking into a way that bonds can be given to an offline account so the trade doesn't need to be standing next to each other.

PK-Marks
It should be noted that anyone can attack anyone else, a 126 can attack a level 3 but will have to weigh the consequences since the risk / reward would be very high.
 * PvP is active everywhere. Players need not venture into the Wilderness to attack another player openly.
 * Initiating combat with an unmarked player outside of the Wilderness will "death-mark" you.
 * Initiating combat with an unmarked player inside the Wilderness will "skull" you.
 * A player loses "death-marked" status on death. A player loses "skulled" status after 30 minutes.
 * Attacking a player who is "skulled" or "death-marked" will NOT mark you, meaning you can freely hunt outlaws.

Skulling in abyss
The skull in the abyss was questioned but since the skull can be avoided wearing an enchanted diamond bracelet (Abyssal bracelet) as you are teleported into the abyss  then no change will be done.

Items Lost on Death

 * A Bank key is dropped whenever a player dies. The killer can use it to access the victim's bank, and take whatever items they wish. The key disappears after 30 minutes and whatever was left inside the victim's bank disappears forever.
 * A victim will always lose their entire bank upon death, even if the killer doesn't take anything from it.
 * You may be able to insure certain items so they can’t be stolen when you are killed; however if you die when wearing them, or if they are in your inventory, they will automatically drop on the floor anyway.
 * stack of coins WILL NOT be able to be saved... other item stacks may or may not be able to save a stack, it will need to be polled as how the community wants to handle the insured items (Mod Matt K).

XP Differences

 * Whenever someone dies, they lose 50% of their XP. Players can protect up to 5 skills at a time, and they won't lose any experience in those skills upon death; however, only 2 at most can be combat skills.
 * Whenever a "skulled" or "death-marked" player dies, they lose 75% of their XP, they can only protect up to 3 skills on death, and only 1 of them can be a combat skill.
 * You will receive five times the XP that you normally would.
 * quest rewards will NOT be 5x exp (Matt K 29:15 July 9th 2015)

Safe-Zones

 * Towns and villages will be "Semi-Safe" zones. Any player who enters these safe zones when "skulled" or "death-marked" will be attacked on sight by high level guards (equivalent to level 126 PK'ers).
 * The safe zones already have guarded gates. (this implies that not all towns/villages will be safe)
 * Not all Banks, bank chests, bank deposits are guarenteed to be safe.
 * Guards that protect safe-zones will have full access to all three combat styles, and special attacks. This means that they can "tele-block", ice barrage, and special attack with dark-bows, godswords, etc.

Minigames
Minigames will be looked at on a case by case basis. since the experience is 5x then having them be safe is too offsetting. The Jmods will look into adding hazards  but preventing PvP,  or at least discouraging PvP in the mini games.

It was postulated that if a game is completely safe then either that mini game should be disabled in deadman mode or it should be tweaked so it becomes dangerous to justify the 5x exp.

The example they talked about on July 9th 2015:

Pest Control
The main island will be safe area but in the actual game you can die.

If allowing PvP in the game then the first attacker will get marked and become a target of everyone who isn't marked thus discouraging people from attacking PvP while the game is running

All of the discussion about Pest Control was of the "we need to look closer" variety.

Barbarian Assault
It is dangerous throughout the game, so if someone starts attacking their teammates it needs to be checked, whether you abort the game or something else happens. (the idea of attacking ones own team mates did get a laugh from Mod Kieren)

Player Speculation (Non-confirmed information)

 * Mule Accounts may be used for wealth hoarding and may require game changes to counter.
 * Dragon/zamorakian spears/hastae may be used by clans to push targeted players into towns and may require game changes to counter.
 * Every area should be single player except wilderness and a few areas to prevent clans from dominating.