Restricted

FIELD GUIDE
TO
FEVER SWAMP

Imperium

A CONVERSION for
Liminal Horror
Prepared under the direction of:
Josh Domanski

Restricted
 FIELD GUIDE TO
FEVER SWAMP
PREPARED BY: Josh Domanski

Fever Swamp is a production by the

Melsonian Arts Council. This guide
is an independent work, meant to
supplement the original work, not
supplant it. The original creative
team include the following:

WRITING: Luke Gearing

ILLUSTRATIONS: Andrew Walter
EDITING & DEVELOPMENT: Jarrett Crader
LAYOUT & DEVELOPMENT: Christian Kessler

Go buy that book.

Special thanks to Jason Tocci and

Yochai Gal. Their conversion guides
for Agents of the ODD and Cairn
served as the basis this document
was built upon.

Field Guide to Fever Swamp is an independent production by

Josh Domanski and is not affiliated with Goblin Archives
LLC. It is published under the Liminal Horror Third Party
License. Liminal Horror is copyright by Goblin Archives LLC.
1
INTRODUCTION
ORIGINS: INTO THE SWAMP:
The journey to Fever Welcome to Fever Swamp, a
Swamp began with a fetid, forsaken place that
publication known as The no one in their right mind
Undercroft, first published would enter.
in 2014 by the Melsonian
Arts Council, who are now Fever Swamp is a hex
best known for Troika! and crawl module filled with
its various supplements. undead, strange creatures,
Undercroft is a series of and loosely organized
zines that collects a factions that are far
variety of content for “good removed from the societies
editions of Dungeons & of the greater world. The
Dragons and most of its module is geared towards
derivatives”, with many grim fantasy and written to
early issues featuring be run with your retroclone
contributions from a budding of choice.
blogger named Luke Gearing. So why Liminal Horror?
As Melsonia continued to First and foremost, Fever
release Undercroft issues, Swamp is already based in
they had also begun work on horror, touching on many of
their first Kickstarter the themes present in LH.
project, Crypts of It’s also primarily a
Indormancy, which “wilderness” setting, which
successfully funded in means there isn’t a focus on
October of 2016 to a technology, making a swap to
resounding 700% of the a contemporary period fairly
original funding goal. straightforward. However,
Melsonia would follow up most importantly, it’s a
with another project the setting that causes
following year known as characters to change, which
Fever Swamp, written by very much leans into the
Undercroft contributor Luke type of character
Gearing and featuring development that the system
illustrations by Andrew encourages.
Walter. The module was met
with similar funding success
and would go on to receive a The following document is
Judge’s Choice Award at the a guide for running your own
2018 ENNIE Awards. modern adventures in the
setting, giving advice on
Following the success of changes, character creation,
the project, Luke Gearing Fallout, and creature stats.
would go on to write a You will need a copy of
number of prominent Fever Swamp to properly run
publications, including the adventure. This is meant
Behind Closed Doors, as an aid and does not
Gradient Descent, The Isle, supplant the original text.
and Wolves Upon the Coast.

2
 MODERNITY
SETTING THE SCENE: together a budget for a
Phase 1 Environmental
Deep in the Southern Assessment to determine the
States lies a fetid, potential impact and
miserable swamp. A poorly subsequent cleanup
maintained road will take requirements. After a fierce
you as far as Clink, a small round of bidding, Omega
town right at the outer edge Environmental were granted
of the untamed wilderness. the contract for the initial
The community there is work.
insular, but enough hunters
and tourists come through to Omega put together a
keep what little outside survey expedition to head
economy they have slowly deep into the swamp,
crawling. establish a base camp in the
old Spanish fort, locate the
While there are a few Wasser Koeing, and conduct
outliers, you’ll find that the assessment. The field
even the locals don’t effort was lead by Garret
venture out too deep or stay Hemmer and supported by a
too long in the swamp. While small survey crew of
the place has a formal name, scientists and engineers.
the locals have taken to
calling it the Fever Swamp, It’s been 48 hours since
due to the illness that Garret missed his check in.
spreads there. Worse than Omega management are sure
that are the strange rumors it’s just tech issues, so a
that come out of the place, second team has been
which include everything organized to head into the
from ghosts to cryptids. swamp, find Garret and his
crew, and most importantly,
This is a place only the recover the data that has
desperate or otherwise been collected.
ignorant come to.
MODERN CONCERNS:
THE CALL TO ADVENTURE:
There’s not much in this
During the last hurricane adventure that contemporary
season, a particularly nasty tech will ultimately solve.
storm ended up blowing an However, the remote location
oil tanker, the Wasser means cell phone service
Koeing, into the swamp, would be intermittent at
taking its crew with it. Up best and the swamp is so
to this point, the exact densely packed that
location of the vessel has motorized boats would still
been difficult to determine move slowly. Clink only has
due to the thickness of the middling supplies and there
foliage and detritus from are few places that are
the storm. actually safe, so
With the potential for an Investigators will need to
environmental disaster rely on their wits and what
looming, the Department of they brought in with them.
Environmental Protect put
3
 Mechanics
WHAT ABOUT THE DOOM MOVEMENT ON THE MAP:
CLOCK?: The original intent for
In Liminal Horror, the the module is 18 mile hexes,
Doom Clock is used to with travel restricted to
present a series of rising one hex per day on boat and
stakes that occur if the impossible on foot. This
Investigators do not works well with the resource
directly interfere, which management that is inherent
helps maintain tension and to the Old-School systems,
spur action. In the case of but Liminal Horror isn’t
this module, that’s not particularly concerned with
quite necessary. The swamp that type of granularity, so
is an awful place and no one some changes are warranted.
should want to stay there Personally, I’d recommend
for the long term. Simply shrinking the scale down a
completing your objectives bit to 6 mile hexes with the
and getting out alive will ability to travel 6 per day
be enough of a struggle. in a motorized boat, 4 in a
However, the key to this boat with oars, and 2 on
module is the Corpse Pile foot. Adjust as needed to
(FS p.25), the writhing, account for exploration and
hex-sized mass of flesh that encounters. If the
roves around the map. While Investigators do nothing but
it can be avoided by a travel, they can make it
mobile group, sooner or across the swamp in about a
later, if the party only day with a fast boat, but
focuses on their primary will have to spend the night
objective, the Corpse Pile before returning to Clink.
will find its way to Clink. The should help account for
From there, it will spread modern boats and equipment,
outward into the Southern but still should drive home
States. slow movement and give ample
exposure to the dangers
present in the swamp.
Ultimately, this reduces
size of the swamp to that of
a small national park, but
this should help keep the
scope of your adventures
contained and allow you to
keep the pace moving and the
tension up. Adjust as needed
to fit your own game worlds.

4
 Locations
Many of the locations in the module can slot seamlessly into a
modern setting, but below are recommendations for updating a
handful to be better suited. In general, focus on the mystery of
the setting. There are many things here that cater to fantasy, but
eldritch horror can be evoked simply through tone and not
revealing your hand too early.

CLINK (1): DESTROYED TOWER (14):

A small town at the end of a The crumbling remains of an
poorly maintained road that old Spanish fort,
serves as the gateway into haphazardly converted into a
the swamp. There’s power and base camp by the Omega crew.
modern amenities, but the
houses here are simple and Inside the tower, a thick
adapted to suit the black mold coats both the
environment. While the stone walls and Omega
community is insular and hardware. Garret Hemmer is
runs mostly on a barter here, infected by the mold
system, Clink is dependent as well.
on hunters and tourists to The Omega computers contain
bring in outside cash. background data on the area,
Extreme markups on goods and but not much newly collected
services to outsiders can information. However, the
certainly be expected. Some coordinates of the Wasser
local establishments Koenig can be found.
include:
WASSER KOENIG (6):
▶ Maynard’s: A shabby bar
with a handful of rooms A rusted fuel tanker, half
for rent. submerged, slowly leaking
beads of black liquid that
▶ Clink Tackle: A bait stain the surrounding swamp.
shop, hardware store, and The vessel’s departed crew
pawn shop. Rentals for can be found on-board.
canoes, motored jon
boats, or an airboat. Nearby, the bow of Omega’s
▶ Nature’s Bounty: A co-op. survey boat can be seen
Offers mostly fish and poking out of the water. The
alligator meat. bodies of the Omega crew can
be found in the submerged
▶ Clink Clinic: An under- cab, as well as the field
equipped urgent care computers where their data
facility. is stored.
Use the written NPCs as The crew of both vessels
proprietors of these have been claimed by the
establishments. The basics curse that snakes out of the
of the cults can also be Ur-Corpse Ruin. If
used, but details will need disturbed, they will
to be updated. I would also reanimate, but will not
recommend bumping up the wander far from their
population of Clink a bit to respective vessels.
increase its importance.
5
 Locations
FALLEN MONASTERY (13): GATORS VS CROCS:
The ruins of an old Spanish As a general note, there are
church. Surprisingly, many a number of references to
of the stained glass windows crocodiles in the module.
are still intact. The Whether or not crocs should
basement and catacombs of be used is entirely
the church are filled with dependent on where you place
the Fungus Colony that this swamp in your world, as
spawned the mold infecting they inhabit tropical
the Destroyed Tower (14). regions predominantly in
With proper tools and time, Africa and Asia. If you use
a cure to the infection the Southern United States
plaguing Garret Hemmer can as a basis, as is implied in
be synthesized from the main this document, replace all
body of the fungus. instances of crocodiles with
alligators.
The former occupants of the
Failed Settlement (12) can
be found here. They sought
refuge in the church after
fleeing their homes. They’ve
become infected by the
Fungus Colony and will
fiercely protect their new
home.

6
 CHARACTERS
Below is an alternative character creation process that can be
used in lieu of the standard Character Generation method specified
in Liminal Horror (LH p.6-11). The intent is to ground the
characters more directly in the setting, though supplementing with
additional info from Liminal Horror is encouraged.

ABILITIES: STARTING GEAR:

Roll 3d6 for your ability Each Background provides a set
scores. Any two of theses of unique items. Investigators
results may be swapped: also begin with a smartphone
• Strength (STR): Physicality, (camera, flashlight, etc.), a
brawn, toughness. few days worth of rations, and
• Dexterity (DEX): Speed, 6d20 cash.
sneaking, precision.
• Control (CTRL): Willpower, If creating custom Backgrounds,
charm, weird. use the Starting Gear tables in
Liminal Horror (LH p.10).

Roll 1d6 for Hit Protection THE PARTY:

(HP).
If beginning the adventure with
fresh Investigators, reflect on
CHARACTER DETAILS: the Background of each party
To determine an Investigator's member and determine why they
Background, either choose from joined together as a group. Did
those on the following page, or they just happen to arrive in
randomize by rolling 1d10 and Clink on the same day? Is there
use the corresponding result. some common goal they share?
Are they linked to any of the
These Backgrounds are meant to missing Omega employees? When
link the Investigators to the in doubt, a simple motivation
setting and allow for quicker can be a contract with Omega to
character creation. They find their crew.
provide a glimpse into their
life before the adventure For additional inspiration,
begins and give clues to consult the Party Questions and
potential personal motivations. Bonds tables in Liminal Horror
Players may also work with the (LH p.11).
GM to create their own custom
Background.

Age: Choose or roll 2d10+20.

Look: Choose a style of
clothing or look.
Name: What’s your character’s
name?

Additional Details:
Further tables are provided in
Liminal Horror, including:
• Ideologies & Beliefs
(LH p.8).
• Traits: Physique, Face,
Speech, Virtues, Flaws, and
Misfortunes (LH p.9).
7
BACKGROUNDS
FIELD TEAM LEAD CLIMATE SCIENTIST
While you’d much rather be You’re not really the expert
leading a team of other they need, but this
Omega employees, the most situation provides an
qualified are the ones opportunity that the models
currently lost, so these alone simply can’t.
folk will have to do. Take: Dated maps, testing
Take: Corporate credit card, kit, hand auger (d6).
small camera drone (1hr
battery), medkit. BYLINE
While The Ecologist
PRODIGAL CHILD periodical has always
It’s been years since you purchased your photos,
escaped the swamp, but they’ve been… less than
you’ve been clawed back. enthusiastic about your
This is not the home you articles. This one they
remember. won’t ignore.
Take: Transfiguration Worm Take: DSLR camera, small LED
(p.9), contact in Clink. panel light, waterproof
notebook.
GEOMATIC ENGINEER
Omega has made it clear that DEPT OF ENVIR PROTECTION
the survey data is very While Omega’s safety record
important to their ongoing was impeccable, this will be
contract, and someone has to the last time a contractor
be there to extract and is sent out in the field
interpret it. without direct oversight.
Take: Fiberglass survey rod Take: Safety knife (d6),
(with tip), rugged laptop, permethrin treated clothes,
handheld GPS. safety vest.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM GATOR CHARTER
Missing people, government Clink a weird place, but
oversight, strange rumors? it’s a great launch point
There’s something deeper and city folk pay good money
going on here, and you’re for a taste of the hunt.
going to find out what. Take: Airboat, compound bow
Take: GPS tracker, covert w/ bottle reel (d6), 12
camera, paperwhite tablet. bowfishing arrows.
CRYPTID HUNTER CORPORATE ESPIONAGE
Rumors surround the swamp, If Omega’s crew is truly
the most tantalizing being lost, having the data they
those involving the strange collected will certainly
creatures said to live give your company a leg up
there. This time you’ll find on bidding for the contract.
definitive proof. Take: HDD duplicator, lock-
Take: Thermal camera, bear picking kit, palm pistol
mace (d6 blast, targets (d6).
DEX), ghillie suit.
8
 FALLOUT
In the general sense, Stress in Liminal Horror is a representation
of the toll encounters with various horrors have on a character,
and Fallout represents that individual physically changing as a
result. For Fever Swamp, a slight change is warranted.
There’s a disease out in the swamp, the namesake of the wretched
place. Fallout is a representation of the symptoms of the disease
and Stress is the vector in which it is spread. Unlike standard
Fallout, some of these can be “cured” through medicine and rest.
However, once a character has taken on 4 Fallout, their HP is
reduced to 0. If that individual dies while in this state, their
body will rise shortly after and join the ranks of the Sodded
Dead.

D12 FALLOUT
1 Splitting Headache: The pounding is distracted. + 1 Stability.
Skin-Moss: A verdant moss takes root in your skin. It provides
2 some protection from the elements, but must be kept moist. +1
Armor.
Powerful Fever: You are quite delirious, but it’s almost
3 calming in the face of terror. Roll d4 and add it to your CTRL
(max 18).
No Appetite: The very act of eating is a chore, as if your
4 body refuses sustenance. You can go twice as long without food
before becoming Deprived.
Earworms: They’ve burrowed deep, but whisper strange
5 prophecies of events soon to happen. Once per session you can
reroll any Save or Damage dice.
Leech Chewed: They feast upon you, but you can feel your
6 heartbeat quicken and blood flow freer within your veins. Roll
d4 and add it to your DEX (max 18).
Transfiguration Worm: Burrowed into the flesh of the spine.
7 Roll randomly for one Benefit on the Transfiguration Host
tables (FS p.18). Interpret as needed.
Rotte Touched: Your connection to this place deepens. You can
8 make a CTRL Save to subtly shift currents and bend trees in
your favor.
Mangrove Seeded: Sharp roots sprout from your skin. They can
9 act as a d8 weapon.
Scumboggled: Your skin takes on a green hue and gills sprout
10 from your neck, allowing you to breathe underwater. Comes with
an insatiable craving for cheese.
Spirit Sickness: Your very soul begins to rot from your body,
11 weakening your connection to the mortal plane. Pain takes on
less meaning. Roll d6 and add it to your HP.
12 Legacy Fallout: Roll on the Liminal Horror Fallout Table (this
can be taken multiple times per character).

9
 BESTIARY
IRON SINNER: CANDLETHIEF:
14 STR, 8 DEX, 18 CTRL No stats. Vanish temporarily
9 HP, 2 ARMOR if attacked, but will return
unless pacified.
Use weapon damage as listed.
In the event 2 dice are CROCODILE:
called for, roll both and
take only the highest. If 12 STR, 8 DEX, 8 CTRL
wielded by humans, the 4 HP, 1 ARMOR
weapons are bulky and Bite (d6)
attacks impaired, but retain Critical Damage: Death Roll
their powers. (d6 damage)
CROCODILE GHOUL: DREDGER:
12 STR, 8 DEX, 8 CTRL 15 STR, 10 DEX, 12 CTRL
4 HP, 1 ARMOR 6 HP
Bite (d8) Net and Smash (d12, blast)
UR-CORPSE: DROWNING SPIRITS:
18 STR, 10 DEX, 18 CTRL 10 STR, 8 DEX, 12 CTRL
18 HP, 1 ARMOR 4 HP
Rending Claws (d12) Grapple (d4)
Critical Damage: Necrosis Beguile: Target must make a
(d8 Stress) CTRL Save or willingly slip
TREE-SPIDER: into the water.
14 STR, 11 DEX, 15 CTRL Critical Damage: Target
10 HP, 1 ARMOR pulled under water (d6
Bite (d6, targets DEX) damage)
Critical Damage: Poison (d8 GHOST OLM:
damage, targets DEX) 16 STR, 12 DEX, 16 CTRL
MAD SAPPER: 10 HP, 3 ARMOR
Does not attack
12 STR, 15 DEX, 8 CTRL
4 HP, 1 ARMOR GIANT LEECH:
Thrown Explosive (d8, blast) 12 STR, 10 DEX, 12 CTRL
REANIMATED CREW: 4 HP
Bite (d4)
8 STR, 6 DEX, 3 CTRL
4 HP, 1 ARMOR Critical Damage: Lock on,
Lunge (d4), Bite (d4 Stress) dealing d2 STR damage per
round.
HUNGER THE CROCODILE:
Leech Removal: Tear off for
16 STR, 12 DEX, 15 CTRL d6 Stress. Careful removal
10 HP, 3 ARMOR with fire or salt.
Bite (d12)
Critical Damage: Death Roll
(d8 damage)
10
 BESTIARY
GRANDFATHER ROTTE:
18 STR, 10 DEX, 18 CTRL
18 HP, 3 ARMOR
Fist (d12+d12, blast)
Critical Damage: Death
LEECH CHEWERS:
8 STR, 14 DEX, 3 CTRL
3 HP
Tear out Leech (d4 Stress)
MAN-GORE-GROVE:
16 STR, 5 DEX, 18 CTRL
1 HP PER ROOT, 1 ARMOR
Root Crush (d8, blast)
SCUMBOGGLE:
8 STR, 14 DEX, 10 CTRL
3 HP
Mangrove Spear (d6)
STILT-WALKER:
12 STR, 5 DEX, 18 CTRL
7 HP, 1 ARMOR
Spear-like legs (d8)
SWAMP SNAKE:
5 STR, 12 DEX, 5 CTRL
3 HP
Bite (d6)
Critical Damage: Poison (d6
damage, targets DEX)
TRUNK SNAKE:
15 STR, 14 DEX, 12 CTRL
8 HP
Smash (d6, blast), Bite (d4)
Critical Damage: Target
reduced to 0 DEX.
CHIEFTAIN-WIGHT:
14 STR, 10 DEX, 18 CTRL
10 HP, 1 ARMOR
Sword (d10)

11
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will
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