iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 01/10/2026

On the Randomworlds discord q-and-a channel talking Kiss My Axe. www.tinyurl.com/randomworlds...

Cover for the TTRPG Kiss My Axe II: Thirteen Warriors & an Angel of Death, which shows a warrior with a warrior held across his shoulders and another held loosely at his side. He’s standing bare-chested, his back to the viewer, looking through a forest in winter. Is that the setting sun shading the show red, or are we looking at the aftermath of a bloody battle?

🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 30/09/2026

This week is @joshuakitz.bsky.social annual site-wide 20% off sale. It ends Sunday Oct 4th. You want some sweet, sweet SEP goodies? You know what to do! composedreamgames.com/marketplace/...

Composed Dream Games Marketplace Blackmoor Week advertisement, with all products 20% off.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 20/09/2026

My family D&D game forced a reconsideration of my usual GM-ing style. I’m mostly an improv GM, and that style of GM-ing is supported by the kinds of games I design but also in the games I usually run. D&D requires a certain amount of planning, yes, but the issue was more than that. 1/

A mysterious gate from which light escapes around its edges at the end of a paved hallway in an otherwise rough dungeon, with two torches lighting the way.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 13/09/2026

While Intervention—the cyberpunk TTRPG I’m working on now—is nearing completion, there are a few components that are still evolving. One of those is Stress—the Hit Point system for Intervention. This is where verisimilitude and functional design collided for me. 1/

A woman in street gear with a biohazard symbol on her toque and wearing a respirator looks off camera. Her background is blurred, with points of light suggesting it is somewhere urban. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 09/09/2026

I’m not going to tell you about my character. I’m going to tell you about my campaign! The campaign I am calling “Paper Chasers” has the PCs as ‘retrieval experts,’ who are hunting down ancient texts and artifacts for the archmage Silence Frost. /1

A wizard stands before a broken tower, their staff seeming to draw power from a source at the tower’s top. Around the tower, reality seems to warp.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 09/09/2026

If you see this, post a not quite STAR TREK.

Leonard Nimoy as William Bell in the TV series Fringe, in a laboratory with John Noble’s Walter Bishop

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 08/09/2026

The beta playtest for Intervention is reaching its conclusion. The basic mechanics have proved functional & robust. Now it’s fine-tuning a few aspects to get them just right. But I think it’s going to work & I am kind of proud of myself. This the most complex system I’ve built from the ground up 1/

On a night brightly illuminated by a nearly full moon, a cyborg still attached to umbilical cables leaps out of a skyscraper window into the unknown.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 02/09/2026

Over on my website, I've got some posts about the games I'm running. This week, I'm talking about the first adventure, what I was trying to do, and how I tried to do it. The first step of the family D&D 5E campaign started with a terrified village and a missing child. 1/?

A dark rider bearing a long-bladed lance on an equally dark horse, with shadows trailing in its wake, rides up a hill with a spike skull at its pinnacle. The horse’s hooves leaves fire and the lance sparks lightning. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 01/09/2026

If the two Task Dice—the player’s and the GM’s—are the same, that is a Critical Success in Riggers. If the player’s Task Die result is too poor, that can be a critical failure. A Critical Success not only means the PC wins, but it means their superpower expands—they learn to use it in a new way.

A figure creates a translucent sphere with arcing electricity that has what looks like a gravitational effect on the structures around it, crumbling them. The broken remains seem to orbit the sphere. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 31/08/2026

Skill Tests & Skill Trials are two ways that Resistance: Earth tries to put skills on a more equal footing with combat. Skill Tests are like flow charts of challenges. A Skill Trial is the same, but with consequences—usually some kind of penalty that can later be expunged.

Parent and child look out on urban ruins in the winter, as snow falls from the sky to coat everything in a blanket of stained white. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 30/08/2026

While most of that PC’s “stats” in the Intervention TTRPG are defined, two fields allow the player to be creative. Concept is the elevator pitch for the character and Focus is that at which the character is the best in the world. Both have mechanical application but are essentially narrative.

The image focuses on a skyscraper in a near future night, with fog leaving the city around it indistinct. The buildings are barren gray and black monstrosities with red and neon lights cutting through the fog. Image by “neirfy”

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 29/08/2026

Not sick of each other yet, so the family is playing some Dominion

Cards from the game Dominion on a very funky tablecloth as the family plays

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 29/08/2026

End of a great family camping trip to Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary. Going to miss waking up and having coffee with this view.

Looking out over the St. Lawrence Seaway from the north, with a view of Whalen Park in NY state.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 29/08/2026

As PCs advance in Resistance: Earth, they can move through three levels of classes, from the Basic, to the Advanced, to the Specialized. A PC starting as a Strong Hero can move to Combat Hero, and then Boxer or Gunslinger. There are optimal choices, but one can also mix and match.

A lithe figure in rain gear and wearing a respirator-mask, sits amid urban ruins, rain streaming down, everything tinged with yellow. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 27/08/2026

Damage in Riggers is based on the PC’s Trait die. Characters have three traits: physical, mental, and social. A Challenge will be based on one of those Traits. Whomever’s Task Die is lowest in a Test rolls the corresponding Trait Die and the result is the Stress they inflict.

A scientist stands before their massive warrior robot in a colossal laboratory, the roof of which seems to disappear in the distance. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 26/08/2026

As a PC accumulates Stress in Riggers—whether that is physical, mental, or social—they face increasing penalties in the form of a Penalty Die of improving value that is provided to the Challenge in a Test. Damaged Challenges also provide the PC with a Penalty Die.

A cloaked figure whose face is hidden within the depths of the hood stands amid the fiery devastation of what may have been buildings but is now merely broken and burnt wood frames. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 26/08/2026

The system in Resistance: Earth is a mix of 5E and d20 Modern, meaning it has AC, hit points, and classes. Players are rolling a d20, adding modifiers, and trying to beat a target number. Players of D&D will find the game very intuitive. Its class system and its Talents are a bit different.

Two figures stand amongst the machinery and equipment of a foundry, with fire and even molten metal in the background. One stands precariously on a pipe, a sword in each hand. The other is manifesting energy around their hands, looking up at the other from a gantry. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 25/08/2026

All conflict—a fight, hacking, debate, or even trying to impress the crowd with your performance—uses the same system in Intervention. There’s no special role for combat or weapons. Firearms are Gear that is used with the Shooting Skill just like an optical implant is used with Awareness.

Riding a futuristic motorcycle in the rain- and neon-drenched night of a cyberpunk city—dressed in leathers and padding, a helmet to hide their face. Image by Makdi Adi

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 25/08/2026

Stress in the Intervention TTRPG includes both Being (Mental and Social) and Body (Physical). Success in a Test inflicts Stress equal to level + Gear bonus. Some Gear is gear in a mechanical sense but not a narrative. Raconteur is Rank 3 Gear for when the PC’s trying to influence or impress.

A rock band in the back alley of a neon-drenched night in the cyberpunk city. Image by “imaginariumphoto”

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 24/08/2026

In Riggers, players gain dice from their PC’s Skills, Drivers, and Power. The GM’s dice come from the Challenge. Using a Fortune Point, the player and GM can add a complication die from the setting or the Challenge. Roll the dice. Pick one Task Die. Lowest die wins, with ties going to the player.

A mysterious figure with glowing eyes sits on the stairs of a monument in the night, with the city in the far background. Around the figure’s outstretched hands flitter glowing simulacra of birds. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 23/08/2026

The premise of Resistance: Earth is that while the planet has been conquered by aliens, they rule through proxies. Most of the status quo that existed before the invasion remains as the façade of the government. The PCs are fighting for freedom against an authoritarian state. But this is fiction.

Flares launched around the smoking ruins of Paris, with a collapsed Eiffel Tower dominating the centre of the image. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 22/08/2026

All SEP games provide the player with extensive narrative control. These are cooperative games that don’t function if the team aren’t working together. It also means that the GM needs to be pretty good at improvisational story-building. fraserronald.itch.io

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 22/08/2026

Intervention (my WIP) is roll-low, with improving ability represented by lower-dice. Each PC has Traits (Physical, Mental, Social) and then Skills. Each provides a die. Roll, add, and try to beat a Target Number. Damage is based on level and gear. Gear is based on the PC’s Role.

A cyborg leaps out of a skyscraper window with shattered glass following in their wake. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 19/08/2026

My work in progress is a far more robust system than I usually build, and it exists solely as a challenge to myself. Having said that, it’s turning out pretty good. It’s in beta testing right now and doing good. I’m calling it Intervention. I’ve been working on it for about two years.

Cover of the playtest edition of Intervention, a cyberpunk dystopia TTRPG. The cover has a woman—mostly in shadow but with a couple of prominent indications of cyber-enhancements—looking out over a city of massive skyscrapers draped in neon light as the sun rises. . . or perhaps as it sets. Image by Dmytro Vietrov. Cover design by Fraser Ronald

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 18/08/2026

Characters in League of Misfits have narrative Qualities—allowing creative freedom—and set Skills—the definitions and uses of which are prescribed by the rules. In a Test, the player chooses two dice from the Hand. The difference between result and target indicates the type of success or failure.

A modern-day vigilante crouching in front of a car at night, illuminated by the car’s headlights. The vigilante aims her suppressed assault rifle at the villains offscreen. Image by Fernando Cortés.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 17/08/2026

Each PC in Starship Commandos has a specific type of tactical support harness—their power armour. Each type has a purpose, like command & control, close air support, or ISR. They also have a secondary function—like air defence. The armour is a part of the character, providing dice for the Hand.

Soldier in power armour extending their personal sidearm. Image by Jesse-lee Lang.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 16/08/2026

For task resolution in Sword’s Edge, a PC needs to get Momentum, which means they are dominating the interaction. If you don’t have Momentum, you are reacting, not acting. A PC can only use one Trait Quality to get it. If they use any other Quality, it can’t be used to modify the following action.

Futuristic soldiers in full armour patrol a broken city with their weapons ready. Image by Kostic Dusan.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 15/08/2026

League of Misfits is a system that of course reflects inspirations from all the games I’ve played, but was built from the ground up to provide a kind of pulpy, action feel. Usually, the threat to a PC is minimal, but can get dialled up as the climax approaches.

A cyborg bristling with weaponry is firing on a man running along a wall armed only with a sword. Image by Tithi Luadthong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 14/08/2026

For task resolution in Starship Commandos, the active character must roll under the reactive characters lowest die to succeed. Players assemble a Hand (dice pool) but choose one die to represent the action. A die represents accumulated Stress, and is used as a penalty in Tests.

A marine in powered armour in an alien desert. Image by “algolonline.”

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 13/08/2026

In Sword’s Edge, player characters are built on Qualities—narrative descriptors which might be a word of a phrase. You can write a paragraph describing your character and mine that for the character’s Qualities. When a Quality applies to an action, it provides a bonus.

A uniformed soldier with some kind of communication device calls out during a battle from the ruins of a building. Image by “zoomteam.”

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 05/08/2026

The challenges PCs will face in The Wall are the factions of the city they occupy. That includes the other Occupiers, the Elite, and the Dispossessed. In different cities, these will be rated differently, but usually it’s the Dispossessed who are the biggest problem.

The tiled rooftops of the medieval town of Murten with mountains visible in the far distance. Image by Andrea Tammaschke

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 04/08/2026

In the Centurion TTRPG, you don’t need to beat the enemy’s defences right away. You can apply Conditions—narrative descriptors that impose penalties. Put enough Conditions on the toughest enemy and they aren’t so tough any longer.

A legionary of the Principate-era looks down into a valley in the highlands of Germania. Image by "serpeblu"

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 01/08/2026

While Centurion’s subtitle is Legionaries of Rome, the PCs aren’t normal legionaries. This isn’t a game about standing in formation and fighting set-piece battles. The PCs are the scouts, spies, and other specialists the legions use to gain an advantage over the enemies of Rome.

A Roman centurion of the Principate--arrows embedded in his shield and in the ground around him--points at the enemy. Art by Eric Quigley.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 29/07/2026

The system for Centurion: Legionaries of Rome could certainly be used for other genres and conceits, but it was developed because the strategic use of dice—building a proper hand of dice, which will be different for every enemy—really fit the concept of the Roman legions specifically in my mind.

Three legionaries—including a signifier with the century’s standard, look out onto a mountainous landscape. Image by “serpeblu.”

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 27/07/2026

There are no dice in The Wall. Instead, you have a bag of tokens from which you draw when your character engages in a Resolution. Your character provides Success Tokens. The Challenge provides the Threat Tokens. Draw enough Success before a Threat, and your character succeeds.

Monochromatic image of a musketeer before a renaissance-era fortification with a tower. Based on an image by "maxxyustas"

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 26/07/2026

In Centurion, you have a pool of d6s based on your character stats. Those d6 can be used to build bigger dice, but a good result on a d6 can still allow you to beat a bigger die. You need to be strategic about how to use your dice—just as a legate must be strategic in how they use their troops.

A legate of the Roman legions during the Principate plans a campaign over a map table with three of his centurions, including an officer of the auxilia. Art by Eric Quigley https://quigleyer.artstation.com/.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 25/07/2026

Gaming wise, it's a heck of a week. Playtest of Intervention—cyberpunk genre WIP—last Thursday night. Closing out Saxon Shore—a Sword's Edge game set in high fantasy Arthurian Britain—with one of the last sessions tonight. Family D&D 5E tomorrow afternoon and playing in Daggerheart at night.

The cover for Intervention: Tomorrow's Yesterday, a cyberpunk TTRPG that is currently playtesting. A woman looks out onto a futuristic skyline. Art by Tithi Luadthong

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 23/07/2026

Starting another playtest session for Intervention (cyberpunk) at Level One in Ottawa’s market.

Table at the game pub with food and RPG stuff in the background.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 22/07/2026

You’ve got to get Momentum when you’re in a Test with an opponent in Kiss My Axe—my Viking TTRPG. If you’ve got Momentum, you are controlling the conflict, meaning you can avoid harm even if you fail. But fail too bad, and Momentum will pass—here comes the pain!

A warrior in the longhouse with her hand on the pommel of her sword. Image by Yurii Seleznov.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 20/07/2026

Characters in Kiss My Axe—a Viking TTRPG—are built on the kinds of terms or phrases you would use in conversation to describe them, but they also have possessions. If you’ve got a family heirloom sword, include it as a Possession and then it can help you win the fight.

A scarred swordsman in armour with his hand on his sword and the other on his helmet that sits beside him, stares at you over the fire. Graphic by Andrey Kiselev

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 19/07/2026

Four cops. One hundred criminals. Countless broken bones. In Lawless Heaven—an adventure for Sword’s Edge inspired by South Korean action cinema—the characters face off against a gang involved in heroin smuggling in South Korea’s industrial heartland. fraserronald.itch.io/lawless-heaven

The cover for the Sword's Edge TTRPG adventure "Lawless Heaven," which shows an image of Ulsan, South Korea at night.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 17/07/2026

Characters in Sword Noir can be really strong, but only in a niche. Your PC won’t be good at everything, but they’ll be really good in their niche. But every now and then, they’ll meet their match—usually near the climax of the story—and that won’t be pretty.

Three characters--one with sword and pistol, one with a pepperbox rifle, and one with two swords--stand in front of a renaissance-era building, facing off against thugs, with the thug's torches reflected in the window.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 16/07/2026

Kiss My Axe—a Viking TTRPG—doesn’t ignore the aspects of the Vikings that most of us would find abhorrent. Still, we’re 21st century people playing a 10th century raider. We probably don’t want to be abhorrent. The game focuses on the heroic version of the Viking, one that we appreciate today.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 15/07/2026

Sword Noir—the TTRPG of hardboiled sword & sorcery—has got magic, but its not flashy and its not fast. It’s powerful but slow and carries a cost. Sometimes that’s your life and sometimes it’s your mental health—sometimes it’s your free will. Nothing in the mean streets of Sword Noir is free.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 14/07/2026

Kiss My Axe is built on the Sword’s Edge backbone, but the character’s mechanical expression comes directly from the Viking worldview—as related by Dr. Neil Price especially in Children of Ash and Elm. Characters have Shape (hamr), Self (hugr), Soul (fylgja), and Fate (hamingja).

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 14/07/2026

The Drivers that motivate player characters in F#ck ‘Em Up—the TTRPG about f#cking up the status quo—are shared by the group. Your character is part of a team who share motivations. You can prioritize differently, but you’re working together toward common goals. Stay together and stay strong.

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 14/07/2026

The Kiss My Axe second edition ashcan raises money to improve the product without a crowd-funding campaign. The first target is indexing the book. Second is editing and proofing. The third is original art. The ashcan’s got none of these things. . . but it has Viking action!

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 13/07/2026

Have you got time? I've got games. fraserronald.itch.io

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🍁 Fraser @swordsedgepublishing.ca · 13/07/2026

Sword Noir is hardboiled sword & sorcery, and that means characters like Conan or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser can find themselves in the plots from The Maltese Falcon, the Long Goodbye, or L.A. Confidential. Walking the mean streets where there’s no real law, only power and guile.

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