LOWLIFE SOLO RULES OVERVIEW
2 months ago
– Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 11:53:15 AM
Solo roleplaying has the ability to be a transformative medium of exploration. It can be a kind of fantasy jazz that encourages improvisation & even syncopation (synchronicity) over the old fantasy tropes that keep this thing grounded. This update covers the method for converting party adventures for solo (Würstmeister-less) play. SO-LOW play introduces a method for creating freeform, self-generating solo adventures that reveal themselves as they go along. It is an undeniable truth that assembling a consistent gaming group is the most difficult obstacle to this hobby today, which is exactly why solo gaming has flourished. It’s not the local church-mums or concerned parents, people don’t want to commit. To engage in grit, grime & gristle of LowLife on your own, you must remember that this game is ruthless & unpredictable. The solo engine isn't just a neutral referee; it actively enforces the tone & pushes the player into the muck. Playing LowLife solo is a solitary act of occult transformation. Much like the hermetic philosophers who recognized that the observer & the universe are deeply intertwined, you must occupy both the microcosm of the character & the macrocosm of Bödengärd. To play solo, you must be your own Würstmeister. This means you alone carry the responsibility of describing the world, inventing dialogue & applying the mechanics to maintain immersion.
FUCK AROUND & FIND OUT In solo play, players can sometimes freeze up, overthinking their next move because there is no GM forcing the action. You must overcome your hesitant tendencies & embrace the adventure, savor the unknown.
THE WORLD WANTS TO BE EXPLORED: The solo player earns more experience specifically by engaging with unknown, dangerous, or gross elements of the world. If they poke a throbbing fungal mass, pick a fight with a heavily armed mercenary, or try to jury-rig a broken piece of tech, they mark XP - even if they fail the roll.
FAILING FORWARD IS MANDATORY: The game never stalls out. Something always happens. A table of consequences ensures that a failed attempt always changes the situation. You didn't just fail to pick the lock; you broke your tools, alerted a patrol, or triggered a trap that alters the environment.
RUDIMENTARY RESOLUTION The internal engine of LowLife relies on the Ask, Answer, Test loop. When playing alone, you must have your internal Würstmeister execute all three steps.
ASK: You, as the player, declare your character's intent.
ANSWER: You immediately shift to the Würstmeister perspective to set the stakes, the scene & the difficulty. This is the most dangerous step for a solo player. You must remain fair, just & logical. It is incredibly easy to confuse keeping yourself (the player) happy with serving the gritty, objective truth of the narrative. You must allow your character to suffer if the logic of the world dictates it. You must learn to enjoy fate.
TEST: Roll a standard d20, attempting to roll less than or equal to your target number. A natural 1 remains a critical success, hitting the target number exactly is a success with complications & a natural 20 is a catastrophic fumble.
EXPLORING THE IN BETWEEN LowLife relies heavily on open-world exploration, a sandbox state referred to as the "In Between". Because you lack a Würstmeister to surprise you, you must lean heavily on systematic randomization.
LIVE THE CHAOS: In solo play, the narrative is driven by you & populated by a series of charts that dictate what is actively happening in the world. You cannot control the outcome; you must embrace this endless stream of randomness and channel it into the story.
SUPPORTING CAST (NPC) GENERATION: When the dice dictate that you encounter an entity, do not rely on your own biases. Roll on the Central Casting oracles, rolling multiple times to create a multifaceted & contradictory character.
DEFINING MOTIVES: Immediately assign the Supporting Cast an Intent & a Faction to quickly frame their behavior & interests.
ZOOMING IN The cities & subterranean snarls of Bödengard are just as, if not more important than the characters that inhabit the world. Each location is a living, breathing, stinking organism. Because of this, there are Oracles devoted to expanding & exploring the cities & the dungeons. The Oracle determines the types of buildings found in the habitations, what is kept in them.
I LOVE LIVING IN THE CITY: Bigger cities get more rolls on the STREET LIFE Oracle. Some, like Bruttelbürg keep going, you never stop exploring. Other towns have a small number of buildings worth your time.
MAZES & MONSTERS: Dungeons are a catch-all term that encompasses confusing crypts created to keep things hidden or hinder them from escaping, sewers that keep the waste moving away from the city & more. These present a series of Characters, Objects & Happenings in an enclosed network of passages & compartments.
STRUCTURING SOLO ADVENTURES Without a Würstmeister guiding you through their narrative or a pre-written adventure, you need an Oracle to tell you yes, no, but, maybe, & an engine to generate immediate, localized goals.
MISSION FRAMEWORKS: Use the provided Mission themes to give your character immediate direction. Because you are acting alone, missions like scavenging for resources, uncovering neighborhood secrets, or smuggling contraband through hostile territory provide excellent, low-prep focal points.
EMERGENT STORYTELLING: These individual missions act as localized elements within the broader, overarching structure of your character's Adventure. Allow the consequences of one mission - such as the Heat you accumulate, the Factions you disrespect & the Degeneracy you gain or lose - to naturally dictate what mission you must undertake next.
RUMORS AS HOOKS: The player starts with a handful of half-true rumors. They choose a rumor to investigate, which gives them a specific goal, but the solo engine continuously throws obstacles in their way, forcing them to adapt and survive rather than just follow a linear path.
A reminder that these are the initial, unrefined concepts going in to the solo game. Now is probably the best time to lend your voice to what sounds good, what sounds bad, what you'd like to see, etc. I am interested in pushing the boundaries of solo play!
x SEAN
RETURN TO FANTASY
2 months ago
– Sun, Apr 26, 2026 at 09:20:48 AM
I was struck the other day about how there is a massive Role Playing renaissance happening right now & there is no unified voice for it. Just a lot of scattered voices online. I decided to bring those disparate elements together. I talked with Katie about starting a new magazine & she rightfully pointed out that doing a project like this right would take over our lives & do I actually want to devote myself to a publishing project like that again? (For those that don’t know, we published PORK magazine covering Rock&Roll, Weirdo Art & Bad Ideas from 2011 to 2018. The magazine provided a big tent for these things to be united by.) The easy answer was no, the number of personal projects I’ve got piling up & ideas that need to be explored in the future keep on growing. So I had the idea of Die Wurst expanding into that role. In that way, I’m doing the opposite of Dragon & White Dwarf, going from being wholly devoted to DUNGEON DEGENERATES to expanding our content to fantasy gaming in general. Katie gave me the go ahead so here we are. I’m opening up Die Wurst so that about half of it is dedicated to other works of fantasy gaming & the other half is dedicated to DUNGEON DEGENERATES. But first I need to establish a vision.
RETURN TO FANTASY
Fantasy, when done right is an act of channeling something raw, mythic, buried deep in everyone’s psyche. It is not a mere genre, but a meeting with something primal that is inside all of us. It resounds.
The desire for escape is a constant & natural part of life & therefore we should seek to benefit the audience & the audience should seek out fantasy that conceals useful life lessons, common patterns in life or historical narratives that are suppressed or unheard. We should uncover & seek that which exposes.
The works should allow the audience to see the world anew, restoring a sense of wonder by presenting familiar things in an unfamiliar light, provide a legitimate means of escaping the hardships of reality, offering solace & respite & delivering joy through meaningful change.
Fantasy should be built off of ideas from the real world & provide insights into the machinations of that reality. The intent is that a more comprehensive understanding of the world can come about through the use of these Fantastic & Escapist pursuits.
The works form a triangular relationship between the source, the channeler & the audience. The work falls flat if these parties aren’t respected & understood.
The channeling of material should be understood as sacred & not hindered by the boardroom & shareholders.
The channeler must understand themself as an imperfect tool that needs constant improvement, like a spring that can get overgrown with weeds. Thus, more & better ways of bringing things from the Source & documenting them for the audience must be used, always.
Fantasy has been divided into numerous genres over the years. Science Fiction & Horror were birthed from it. People want to create more & more specific genres until the new confine is thoroughly explored & then they move on to something new. They leave the genres discarded in their wake until enough time passes by & the ideas seem fresh again. I encourage genre destruction & an attempt to just create, without too much attention to the increasingly nichefied attempts people make in this world. Make it good is the rule, don’t worry about the grotto it fits into.
X SEAN
CHALLENGES (RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLES)
2 months ago
– Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 12:26:43 PM
Challenges are great. I love taking on challenges. Luckily, life keeps on sending more challenges down the pipe. Never a dull moment. I was originally going to call these random encounter tables, “Mishaps”. However, I was thinking about how part of my own mental transformation has been to look at all potential problems as challenges. Not as something to avoid, but as something to conquer. So in this, I decided that these random encounters should be called Challenges instead of Mishaps. My favorite definition of challenge is “something that requires thought & skill for resolution”. Even though some of these Challenges are more for flavor, most are things to be overcome.
WORLD’S END CHALLENGES (Roll 2d6) The World’s End follows the eastern cliffs of Bödengärd. It is a primordial domain dominated by the Grossereptil (lumbering, reptilian monsters) & volatile volcanism.
2. An enormous Grossereptil is crossing slowly in front of you. You can tell by its slow movement & placid disposition that it is a vegetarian & has no interest in you & doesn’t see the gang as any kind of threat.
3. You can feel the heat & smell burning vegetation, the grasslands are on fire! You cough, it is difficult to breathe through this smog. Movement is halved until you leave the burn area. The burn area takes up this hex & it spreads to the connecting ones on a roll of ten or under.
4. The sky is blackened with birds, but they don’t land. As you watch them, a pack of (2d6) Snikkereptil: carnivorous, ravenous, bipedal dinosaurs attack from the side, catching you off guard.
5. You have a feeling that you are being watched. The bushes alongside the road rustle, there are (1d6) lightly dressed in geometric garb & carrying spears (Solarians) watching you. Scanning the horizon you see a group of (2d4) humanoids covered in robes & head coverings (Ka-Sen) on Camels watching you through a telescope. A pack of (2d6) small pterodactyls swoop down & attack. An older sunburnt man with thinning hair, glasses & wearing only the skimpiest cut-off shorts approaches. He introduces himself as Brother Wacholder, he has a crazed look in his eyes. The sun (or moon if it is night) is particularly intense today. However, there is nothing out of the ordinary.
6. A patrol of (1d6) Ka-Sen reptilians covered from head to toe in colorful robes, armed with rifles & riding Camels come down the road. They approach cautiously but only attack if assailed.
7. A group of (4d4) Solarian people wearing little at all, led by an elaborately dressed priest slowly walk along the path. The priest is accompanied by an enormous man, who is shaved & geometrically tattoo’d from head to toe. He seems dull & narcotized & carries a club. Four of the Solarians are carrying a dead Grossereptil that is bound to a pole on their shoulders. They stop to size you up. The men not carrying their prize reach for their bows.
8. An intense, warm wind envelops the area, kicking up dust. It feels like earthquake weather. Other than that, it is unusually quiet. Suddenly, the ground rumbles & bolts, knocking everyone to the ground. Finally after what feels like an eternity the trees stop swaying, the earthquake has ceased. A large fissure has opened up in front of the Gang, blocking the road.
9. You hear a monotonous, high-pitched whir. The sound is followed by one of the flying machines of the Ka-Sen. The vehicle has no obvious means of propulsion, it just seems to drift through the sky. This vehicle doesn’t attack, it is patrolling the area.
10. A massive shadow crosses over the road & hearing an accompanying squawk from above you see that it belongs to an enormous circling, pterodactyl. It is hunting & amazingly hasn’t noticed you yet, it’s probably a good idea to hide.
11. The road starts to be overgrown with weeds & then disappears entirely. You find yourself having to head through the grass if you want to go further.
12. A volcano in the near distance is erupting. Burning rock strikes the land before you. The road is blocked with a river of lava.
MAN’S RUIN CHALLENGES (Roll 2d6) To the northeast are the overgrown grounds known as Man’s Ruin. Man’s Ruin was once a thriving theocracy, but was overcome by moldy decay long ago. This lack of civilization allowed for entropy to escalate & a mycological super-consciousness developed.
2. The jungle animal sounds have stopped, it is too quiet. With a successful PER test you notice that (d6) people in the unmistakable, body-covering, outfits of the Fungal Folk are watching you. They shoot the Gang with blow-guns (darts are defeated by plate or leather armor, but aren’t stopped by mail, they do no damage but contain a powerful paralysing poison that doesn’t allow a saving throw). Sedated, they take the Gang to their village.
The Fungal Folk village is made up of bulbous houses that appear to have be organic, like enormous puffballs. They are similar in texture to the knobbly body covers the villagers wear. After you all recover from the poison, the village elder meets with you. The village elder is an old crone, she sits & lectures you about the importance of harmony with the fungus.
3. Vines, trees & ferns increasingly cover the road. Soon the trail is gone & you find yourself in thick jungle.
4. At the side of the road is an old, worn stone shrine of a somewhat human-looking figure with bulbous eyes & a head that is cracking open with beautiful squiggly things erupting from it.
5. Massive, conical forms have grown in the path, upon closer inspection it appears that they are a kind of fungus. If anyone can identify these as Breadfungus, they know that these organisms are delicious & nutritious but they must be cooked to release their toxins.
6. The trees, road, everything here is coated with a pinkish spore-bearing blossoming. You can barely understand the forest underneath the fungal film. As you progress you enter ruins, the clearly man-made geometric forms disguised by the mycelial subjugation.
7. You pass through a musty cloud of spores, coughing. You must take a CON test or… (d6)
The victims are Blinded for 15 minutes. They suffer -6 PER & their combat actions are halved while the spores obscure their vision.
The victims have a powerful urge to head out into the middle of the forest & find a hidden temple.
The victims feel something popping in their mind & they enter a manic state. They become Wired Up, gaining a +4 bonus to physical tests but suffering an equal penalty to INT & PER.
The spores settle in open wounds a powerful, terrible uncomfortable feeling takes over. The victim cannot regain Will through recovery & faces death if they do not rest & recover at least half their Will immediately.
Victims enter a private world of pulsating, undulating fantasy. These spores make the victim useless for a (fail distance from test)hours) while they experience powerful revelations about hidden cosmic worlds.
Victims begin to sprout fungal gardens from their skin. Over time, this leads to permanent physical mutation & a goofy mental state (7 INT) as the fungus takes over their cognitive functions. Victims will not be allowed into civilized habitations for fear of spreading the blight.
9. A mob of (2d6) white furred ape-men (Fleischaffe) with prominent fangs come bounding out of the woods with tremendous enthusiasm, using their long arms to run on all fours. They stop about thirty feet down the road & menace you. You notice that they are armed with nets & clubs.
10. A calm, feminine voice is heard clearly in everyone’s mind… “What are you doing here?” You feel it probing your heads for intention. Players must make MRL tests to conceal anything from the probe. If the probe determines any intention that threatens the forest & its mycological matrix, (d6) Mushroom Men are summoned to the area. They come stumbling through the woods, waving their arms with eyes glowing red.
11. You hear the buzzing of massive wings as a blundering, Bumblefly the size of a carriage bounces down the road towards you.
BUMBLEFLY
Bumbleflys are massive flies that have a symbiotic relationship with the fungus. They are very clumsy &... bumbling. Their flying is so frantic & labored that it is loud, created by an exaggerated buzzing sound of their wings. They fly, poorly, crashing around, bouncing along the ground.
TYPE: Insect INTENT: Intrusive/Opportunistic FACTIONS: Fungal WILL: 15 STRENGTH: 8 INTELLIGENCE: 3 AGILITY: 5 PERCEPTION: 6 CONSTITUTION: 16 MAGIC: 6 MORALE: 16 SHAPE: Insect ARMOR: 2 Carapace ATTACK: Bite (2d6) & distract players if they fail a MRL test. Being distracted means you aren’t able to give things your attention. The distance from your MRL roll indicates your level of distraction. 1-2. Minor -2 3-4. Medium -3 5-6. Very -4 7- Extreme -5 ACTIONS: 2 WEALTH: 1/1
12. The air is filled with a sweet, funky-smelling smoke. As you turn the corner you find a small man, sitting cross-legged on a colorful blanket, his eyes are bloodshot & watering & his face seems more gravitationally burdened than his age usually is. The man has an enormous hookah & invites you to sit & smoke with him. If you do… With some coughing you settle into the moment & soon you feel time & space dripping away. You become acutely aware of your thoughts. Your characters feel their personal missions amplified & feel driven to pursue them immediately.
HINTERLAND CHALLENGES (Roll 2d6) The Hinterland is an icebound, mountainous region teeming with territorial Trolls & antagonistic, Alpine people. Too inhospitable to warrant civilizing, it is inhabited by hard-drinking, independent, suspicious types who aren’t used to anyone setting foot in their territory.
2. The ground trembles, you hear a distant rolling rumble. There is a terrible whoosh & far-off trees crack as a wave of snow hurtles downwards towards the road. You must take shelter & wait for the avalanche to pass. Your gang manages to hide but in emerging you see that the powder has pulverized & enveloped everything around you, including the road.
3. The road is blocked by numerous felled trees. As you regroup to find out how to pass, several boulders hurtle past your gang, narrowly missing. You discover that a pair of shaggy Trolls is hurling them.
4. You hear many howls that curdle your blood. (3d6) grey wolves come bounding out of the woods, skidding to a stop on the road in front of you. They have crazed eyes, their tongues hang out of their mouths & they lick their sharp teeth. The wolf's ribs are exposed & their pelts are unkempt. they walk towards you slowly, being led by a wolf that is almost twice the size of the others & as deranged & scraggly looking as all of them put together.
5. Something smells delicious! An herbal mix draws you towards a booth where a small group of nicely dressed, outgoing men & women are bundled up & serving hot drinks by the side of the road. Anyone from the area immediately recognizes this as a chance to get the Alpine Cure-All Ziegola, created by the Ziege Court. A lady at the table gestures you over & immediately goes into her pitch about “For just one Gold, you get a delicious drink made from 13 Alpine herbs brewed into hot wine that decimates all troubles associated with mountaineering.” She offers you a sample. If you accept it, the drink tastes incredible, invigorating. Stopping at the booth, sitting at the table & chairs & drinking the cure-all, allows full recovery from all status conditions & Will depletion. However it takes an hour to fully relax & feel the effects of the drink.
6. A stiff figure stands in the middle of the road. Upon closer examination you find that it is a frozen pilgrim: A corpse perfectly preserved in ice. If you search the poor bastard you find…. (roll d6) A pouch full of (4d6) Gold Pieces! A flask of the Ziegola cure-all (described above). He is wearing a mail shirt. He is carrying a small sack full of beef jerky. He is carrying a sack full of animal pelts. Some lint, twigs & small rocks in his pockets.
A Barrel-Hound with half-lidded eyes, slowly plods up the road towards you. You identify it as an Alpine-Molossus: a gigantic dog with a keg on its collar. It pauses to let you access a drink from its cask which contains an herbal Schnapps which you find invigorating!
A procession of (2d4) hairy monsters with horns & howling faces lumbers down the road towards you making a cacophony of terrible noises. As they get closer it is clear that they are men wearing full costumes of devils. They wear goat bells & carry chains & birch branch lashes.
A yodelling cry echoes throughout the mountains. If you Yodel back, Svenson, the Alpine Guide, meets you on the road. He wears shorts even though it is lightly snowing. He is unnaturally upbeat. He says he knows the area well & for 10 GP will aid you in getting to the next city.
10. The sky darkens as you enter a heavy storm. The hair on your body starts to rise as multiple lightning bolts strike the woods near you. Old trees & dry underbrush burst into flame.
11. An enormous rock comes bounding down the mountain, it strikes the least lucky character & kills them if they don’t spend a Luck point.
12. You pass a stone monastery by the side of the road. Unspeaking monks remind you that these are probably members of the Silent Brotherhood. Monks who have taken a vow of silence. You can rest at the monastery if you want (one week to regain all Will & negate any temporary states but you must be completely quiet or be kicked out).
CUTTHROAT COAST CHALLENGES (Roll 2d6) To the southwest is the Cutthroat Coast. This land of beautiful beaches & rotten towers was once a part of the Würstreich. Over time, as the church & state developed into separate entities, the Cutthroat Coast fell under the control of its own sect of the religion free from the Imperial concerns of the Würstreich. Not knowing how to organize an Empire, the land was quickly captured by pirates. Pirates that prayed & preyed.
2. You come across three worn, stone statues. They were probably supposed to be men making the “hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing” gestures long ago. Someone with local knowledge will identify them as traitors to the True Way (the offshoot of the Holy Order which dominates the Cutthroat Coast). The tradition is that passers by are supposed to take out their frustrations on the statues, the traitors names have been long forgotten, but they still get punished daily.
3. A horrible stench & the screaming of gulls proceeds a rotting whale carcass on the beach as you round the bend. You can scavenge the corpse for as much edible meat as you want or if any of the adventurers are knowledgeable about these things you can get (d4) balls of Ambergris from the whale’s stomach. Each ball weighs (d6 pounds) & they can be sold for 900 GP a pound.
4. You come across a little wooden sign by the side of the road advertising “Beachcomber Birgit’s Smuggler’s Grotto”. If you follow the sign it meanders off the path to a cave. In the hollow is presumably Brigit. She is a demanding presence, dressed garishly, with an enormous hat fitted with an even more enormous feather. Six sons who all look identical accompany her, they wear shorts, striped shirts & bandanas on their heads. They are all very helpful, even as Birgit bosses them around. The goods they sell are arranged carefully on colorful blankets.
They will haggle on items (MRL test to Haggle. If successful, the price is modified -x5% (x=roll number distance from goal). If Failed, the price is modified +x5% (x=roll number distance from goal)
Barrel of salt pork 10 gp Map of local area 25 gp Rusty Cutlass 30 gp Jar of pickled eggs 1 gp dozen Old Grog 1 gp Shark Tooth Necklace 5 gp Antique Pistol 25 gp Ammo 5 GP Bale of Tobacco 5 bits Spyglass +4 to Perception tests for Scouting/Navigation 250 gp Heavy coat (light armor) 150 gp Bone Dice 2 gp
5. A Giant Crab crosses the road in front of you, in pursuit of some easier, already dead meal no doubt. It comes back & slowly approaches, its pincers gnashing the air, the thing is the size of an elephant. The Gang can distract it with one meal worth of food per round or fight it. If defeated, it yields as much crab meat as you can carry.
GIANT CRAB
Giant Crabs are a species of crab that doesn’t stop growing. After attaining a certain size, they have no natural predators save the culinarily curious. Giant Crabs are mostly scavengers but will kill to eat when they can’t find the already dead. Giant Crabs bury themselves in the sand, close to the water where they can stay succulent.
6. The wind picks up, trees bend & sand blasts every surface. Movement is halved & ranged attacks are impossible. The storm lasts (1d12x10 minutes). There is a good chance (Luck test) you drop (Str test results distance from target) items during the storm.
7. The road disappears under a blanket of sand. You can’t see where the path picks up again.
8. A man wearing a shabby but official-looking uniform with an “inspector” badge demands a tariff. He isn’t wearing shoes. He is unarmed & will run if challenged.
9. You come across a corked bottle with a rolled up piece of paper inside. On the paper is written a maddening screed, whoever reads it must make a Morale test or be Depressed.
In the middle of the road the character with the highest perception sees a stone & picks it up. The rock is small & has a hole bored through it. If you are knowledgeable you recognize it as a Hag Stone, which the locals see as good luck. If you donate it to a shrine you gain 1 Luck.
11. A captain & his mate wander the land near the road. They hold a map & are counting out paces loudly & stumbling around. They are too engrossed in their activity to acknowledge you. The captain wears an eyepatch, but aside from that he is dressed in rags & has a moth-eaten parrot on his shoulder.
12. You hear atonal droning & then spot a line of (4d6) cloaked figures marching into the sea. Half of them reach the waters before the others notice you. Their leader (leading up the rear) points at you & lets out a skin-crawling gargle. It is then that you notice these cloaked figures have nostrils but no noses, blubberous lips, wide-apart, dull eyes & sickly skin color. They charge you, waving clubs.
PDF VERSIONS ADDED
2 months ago
– Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 11:54:39 AM
By popular request we decided to add PDF versions (for free) to the Core Rules, the Informant, Doomed Life & Hex Map. GOBLINKO has never been a "this is just the way things are done" outfit, so there are some things that are just not blaringly obvious, especially if what you are used to is some kind of normalcy. However, we decided that this was a good idea. So here it is.
Please note: we cannot edit the DIGITAL BUDDY pledge level, so if you have pledged at that level & want the Hex Map as a digital reward, please use the add-on to increase your pledge.
In exchange, we'd like for all of you to share THE LINK TO THE KICKSTARTER everywhere. Spread the LowLIfe, spread the degeneracy!
