You can learn more about rune words on the Arreat Crater website.
You need the right patch for the formulae to work.You must first place Ral, then Ort, then finally Tal into the Socketed Item. This is because you're trying to spell the "Rune Word" correctly and you have spelled it incorrectly. You can have the correct Socketed item, correct runes and still not activate the Rune Word if you do not socket the Runes in the correct order. The Runes must be placed in the correct order.If one of the Runes is wrong you receive the bonuses of the Runes inserted but it does not become a Rune Word. The correct Runes for a formula must be used.So if you have a Mechanic's (or Jewelers item) piece of armor with 2 slots, the Stealth will not work on it because it's magical. Again, they will not work on Magic, Set, Unique or Rare items. This means that Set Items, Unique Items, or Magic Items with enough Sockets and the proper item type will not allow or convert to Rune Words. Rune Words will only work in Socketed non-magical items.It is a decent weapon for lower level Paladins. However, it is not feasible for a new player to make, as a 4-socketed War Scepter is impossible to get in Normal Difficulty. First you'll need to go to your Diablo 2 installation folder and create a Shortcut. Create your Ladder Only Rune Words ingame. Place it inside of the Excel folder that you just created.
Download Runes.txt from here or create it from here. The runes for Holy Thunder are easily obtained from the Rescue on Mount Arreat quest, and the last, Eth, is a common drop. Create Data > Global > Excel folders inside of the Diablo 2 Folder. If the formula requires a sword, the formula will not work if you use an axe or spear. Holy Thunder is the rune word Eth Ral Ort Tal for scepters in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
The benefits of using a Rune Word is that you can make the Rune Word's magical bonuses apply to any type of item allowed with the proper number of sockets. If the player puts certain combinations of Runes in the correct order into an item with exactly that number of sockets and of the correct item type, the item's name will change into a "unique" name, displayed in gold, and the item will acquire extra powers, depending on the "rune word" that was used.