Saaruk: The Rite of Flame

Current File: First 5 chapters + character sheets! Revised draft.

Saaruk: The Rite of Flame is a narrative-focused, rules-light tabletop RPG about survival, transformation, and the dreaming of a dying Earth. 

You could describe it as a "tabletop LARP" that you can use as a storytelling tool without any rules at all.

You play as Saaruk—half-human saurian predators, born of ancient flame and instinct, who awaken in a world abandoned by mankind. You aren't monsters or genetically engineered freaks, but gestalts of humans and dinosaurs woven together.

• Undergo the Rite of Flame and leave your humanity behind. Build your Saaruk identity as an extension of yourself, or an avatar of science fantasy.

• Explore a Lost World of living jungles, sleeping ruins, and prehistoric beasts. Hunt, track, dance, and defend.

• Survive not through conquest, but through instinct, memory, and unity with your primal pack. Live the world through inhuman senses.

• Confront the Ash-Eyed, the remnants of the fallen human world who fear what you have become. 

Saaruk is made for players who enjoy:

• Transformation stories. Did you watch Jurassic Park as a kid and daydream about being a dinosaur? Experience what that's like as an adult with your friends.

• Post-humanist science fiction and science fantasy, and ideas about deep ecology and instinct.

• Roleplaying with heavy narrative and immersion. Includes guidance on how to play these inhuman characters within the world.

• Light mechanics but detailed worldbuilding. Experience the jungle through exploration, or as a tribal "slice of life." 

• Lost World and dinosaur-themed survival. You are thousands of miles from civilization... but it was your choice to come here.

• Anthropomorphic characters. The Saaruk are half-human, half-dinosaur hybrids.

WARNING: Saaruk: The Rite of Flame is meant for mature audiences. Some mature themes could emerge during roleplaying. Consider this to be a "soft R-rated" game. There is no explicit artwork in the book.

Book Details:

• PDF format. 100% free download.

• 60+ pages of lore, rules, and setting so far, aiming for 90 pages across 7 chapters for both players and the GM to use. 

• Rich chapter introduction illustrations. I'm slowly replacing AI generated placeholders as artists finish their work. All art costs are coming out of my own pocket.

Credits:

Created by: fenrirsmoon
Art by: sylviatei, phrannd, and souvillaine