Run of the Litter is a dark, choice-driven fantasy narrative focused on survival, power, and the fragile bond between an outcast and a stolen gryphon hatchling. Told entirely through text, the game belongs firmly in the tradition of serious interactive fiction, where imagination and consequence matter more than visuals or mechanics.

Authored by Kelly Sandoval, the story spans more than 150,000 words of branching narrative shaped by player choice. You begin as a thrall—property, not citizen—living under the rule of the gryphon elite in the Empire of Vaengrea, a society where power is inherited through wings, fire, and bloodline.

The ruling class, known as the gryphon keepers, control law, borders, and warfare through their bonded gryphons. As a lowborn laborer, you are forbidden from ever raising one—until you discover a discarded egg, the runt of the litter, pushed from the nest and left to die. Stealing it is an act of treason that sets the entire story in motion.

Raising the young gryphon becomes the emotional core of the narrative. You must decide whether to shape it through kindness, fear, obedience, or ruthless discipline. These choices determine not only the gryphon’s abilities and temperament, but also how it views loyalty, power, and mercy in a world that shows none.

The wider world is no less dangerous. A deadly gryphon plague spreads through Vaengrea, while fire-breathing wyrms invade from the north, threatening both the empire and gryphonkind itself. Political collapse, war, and rebellion loom as your private struggle turns into a public reckoning.

True to the choice-based interactive fiction genre, Run of the Litter offers deep role-playing freedom. You can define your character’s gender and orientation, pursue dangerous romances, rise within the gryphon hierarchy, or lead fellow thralls toward open revolt. There are no “correct” paths—only consequences that compound over time.

Designed for readers who value morally complex fantasy and long-form storytelling, Run of the Litter is a meditation on nurture versus control, power versus compassion, and what it means to protect something vulnerable in a system built to crush the weak. The fate of your gryphon—and the future of Vaengrea—will reflect every choice you make.