Lowlife

Lowlife is a toolkit for old-school RPGs about delving into tunnels, trenches, and mines.

Inside, you'll find:

• Systems and consequences for caving, climbing, and tunneling. All the horrible ways you might explore—and die—down in the dark.
• Procedures for generating cave networks or making existing dungeons denser and more interconnected. If you want your underground spaces to be even more dangerous and maze-like, these tools are for you.
• Hazards, challenges, and dangers of the underground. From firedamp to the gutter lung, there are all manner of threats beneath the surface.
• Flora, fauna, and fungi of the rugged hills and caves. 20-odd monsters, plants, and mushrooms that you can add to your game.
• Items, both commonplace and rare, to use in the tunnels. Items like dynamite, air bladders, miner's nosebags, and singing holler-hammers.
• Bits of worldbuilding and aesthetic scattered throughout. Enough to help you catch the vibes, but nothing overwhelming or lore-demanding. 

Speaking of vibes, here's a playlist I made to help you get in the mood:

Lowlife is broadly compatible with any old-school RPG system. If your game features d20s, the six common stats, and a lot of backpacking, it'll fit in with no issues. If your system is a little more fringe, it might take a bit of hacking to get it all to work smoothly, but Lowlife includes guidelines and suggestions for hacking, too.

If you need a ready adventure to use these rules with, there's a pamphlet dungeon available here: Beneath Harlowe House.

36 pages, 8.5" x 5.5", three colors. Plaintext files included with download. Audio files available upon request (since it's like 1gb and itch doesn't like huge file sizes).

Physical copies are available at Spear Witch.