A Rasp of Sand

A Rasp of Sand is a rogue-lite adventure built on the skeleton of Knave. A Rasp of Sand is not a stand-alone product, you will need Knave or a similar system to run it.

Intended for 3-5 players and a GM.

A mighty ocean spirit's grief and anger have hung over your village for generations. Every twenty-five years your village sends one of its young to the island temple to die as a sacrifice. This generation is the first time the village has decided to send down multiple heirs as a sacrifice, with the hope that returning the Crown will help atone for your ancestor's sins. You will most assuredly fail this time, but you will learn. You will pass these memories onto your Heir, and give them a better chance. A small chance, but if you rub enough small grains of sand against a boulder eventually that boulder will crumble.

Featuring

Trades a class-like system of advancement that passes on from one Heir to the next. Your family will grow more skilled as the generations pass.

Marine Mutants the Temple mirrors ecosystems of the ocean. So the inhabitants do as well. Rasp includes forty-four new monsters, all of which have a mutation that can be passed onto your family. All without having to figure out underwater combat!!!

An Ever Shifting Temple the five Depths of the Temple change each time your Heirs dive into them. Providing new threats, traps, puzzles, and challenges.

Sand is experience, money and the consciousness of a creature in aRoS. When ingested you gain that much XP and you relive memories from the creature's life. Every time an Heir dies their Heir ingests their Sand. Reliving and gaining knowledge. You as a player get to keep your knowledge from Heir to Heir. Learn about the Depths and use that knowledge against your foes.

Treasures of the Deep that hide mysteries of their own. Learn more about the history of the world or aRoS by investigating these powerful treasures and pass them on as heirlooms.

Slurp Slugs yeah swallow some slugs.

I hope you enjoy your time in the Deep.

Reviews

"AROS is the rare sort of adventure that I would not only consider running, but that I would consider running by the book. Rarer still, AROS’ roguelite elements and its full embrace of the positives of metagaming result in it being an adventure that benefits from repeated games, even with the same group. TL;DR: I recommend AROS to any dungeon-master whose players would enjoy experiencing their own, distinct form of dungeon-mastery."
- Pedantic Wasteland

https://bonesofcontention.blogspot.com/2021/08/pedantic-wasteland-rasp-of-sand.h...

"If you’re looking for an all-in-one dungeon delve that you can play consistently with minimal prep, a Rasp of Sand is for you."
- Idle Cartulary

https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2023/10/26/bathtub-review-a-rasp-of-sand/

Community Rasp Projects

Virtual Tabletop Tools

A Tabletop Simulator Mod - by esoterik: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2245113686
A Foundry VTT Mod - by @stephenmarian0: COMING SOON

Generators

Heir Generator - by @qpop: https://qpop.itch.io/aros-heir-generator
Shifting Sands Generator - by brstf (@brstf): https://brstf.github.io/shifting-sands/