Random Teleport (/rtp) on Your Minecraft Server: Without Plugins and With EssentialsX

Without plugins: /spreadplayers

Minecraft has a command that spreads players over an area: spreadplayers. Its form is spreadplayers <x> <z> <spread distance> <max range> <respect teams> <targets>. For example, from the console: spreadplayers 0 0 0 3000 false Steve sends Steve to a random point less than 3000 blocks from the centre of the map (0, 0), always on solid ground.

The spread distance is the minimum distance between the players you move at once (with just one, use 0), and the max range is how far they can land, in blocks from the centre: the area is a square, not a circle. The range has to be bigger than the spread distance. «respect teams» is false unless you use /team teams and want each team to land together (true).

It won't drop anyone on lava, fire or water: it looks for solid ground. What it doesn't check is whether another player's base is there; if that matters to you, use a plugin that respects land claims.

For everyone at once, when starting a new world: spreadplayers 0 0 200 3000 false @a spreads them out at least 200 blocks from each other.

In the Nether you have to give it a maximum height, or it drops you on top of the bedrock roof: execute in minecraft:the_nether run spreadplayers 0 0 0 1000 under 120 false Steve. With execute in, it takes the player to that dimension even if they're in the overworld.

A «random trip» button at spawn

If you don't want to install anything but do want players to use it themselves, put a command block with a button at spawn. First, make command blocks work: since 1.21.9 it's a rule, gamerule command_blocks_work true (before, it was enable-command-block in server.properties).

1. Get the block

   As an op, in creative: /give @s command_block.

2. Type the command

   Place it and type inside spreadplayers 0 0 0 3000 false @p. @p is the nearest player: the one who just pressed the button.

3. Add a button

   A button on the block (or a pressure plate in front of it). Every press sends you somewhere different.

4. Protect the area

   Make sure nobody can break the block or change the command: only ops in creative can edit command blocks, but the button can be removed if spawn isn't protected.

With EssentialsX: /tpr

If you already use EssentialsX (homes, /tpa, /spawn), it has its own random teleport: /tpr (it also answers to /tprandom). You don't need another plugin, and by default it avoids landing in oceans and rivers (the excluded-biomes list in plugins/Essentials/tpr.yml).

Before letting anyone use it, give it a radius. Out of the box, the maximum radius is half the world border, which by default is almost 30 million blocks: the first /tpr can send someone somewhere nobody will ever visit and force the server to generate new terrain on every use.

/settpr takes the world name first. In Paper's overworld, which is called world: /settpr world center (standing where you want the centre, for example spawn), /settpr world minrange 300 so nobody lands on top of spawn, and /settpr world maxrange 3000 for the limit. It's all saved in tpr.yml.

Permission: regular players need essentials.tpr. With LuckPerms, from the panel console: lp group default permission set essentials.tpr true. How to install EssentialsX and the rest of the permissions are in the EssentialsX guide.

Stopping abuse: cooldown and cost

In EssentialsX's config.yml, command-cooldowns sets a wait per command. For one /tpr every 10 minutes, add the line tpr: 600 (in seconds) under command-cooldowns. If you use the EssentialsX economy, command-costs charges per use: tpr: 100 takes 100 in-game money each time.

teleport-delay makes you stand still for a few seconds before going (if you move or get hit, it's cancelled): it stops /tpr being used to escape a fight. It affects every EssentialsX teleport, not just the random one.

And so new players spawn at a random spot without typing anything: with the EssentialsX Spawn module, set random-spawn-location: "world" in config.yml (the name you used in /settpr). random-respawn-location does the same on death.

Keeping it lag-free

Every trip to a spot nobody has visited makes the server generate those chunks on the spot, and that's one of the heaviest CPU loads on a Minecraft server. A few aren't noticeable; ten players pressing the button in a row with a huge radius are.

What fixes it: a sensible radius (2000 to 5000 blocks is plenty for a group of friends), a world border a little bigger than that radius (/worldborder set 12000 leaves the map as a 12.000-block square around the centre) and pregenerating that area with Chunky before opening, so the terrain already exists. How to pregenerate, how long it takes and how much disk it uses are in the Chunky guide.

If you use the world border, keep the /tpr radius below half the border: otherwise the teleport may try spots outside it and fail.

On NapNodes

Minecraft servers come with Paper, so both ways work: commands are typed in the panel's Console, EssentialsX and LuckPerms are installed from Mods & plugins, and tpr.yml and config.yml are edited in Files (plugins/Essentials folder). Before changing anything important, make a backup in Backups.

It works on the free server too; just keep in mind its disk is small, so pregenerate a modest radius.

Frequently asked questions