Triangle Agency

Last updated

Triangle Agency
Cover of RPG Triangle Agency.png
Designers Caleb Zane Huett and Sean Ireland
PublishersHaunted Table Games
Publication2024
Genres tabletop role-playing game, horror

Triangle Agency is a satirical horror tabletop role-playing game about employees at a secretive and oppressive corporation. It has a metatextual instruction book written in the style of a company handbook. Triangle Agency was designed by Caleb Zane Huett and Sean Ireland. Haunted Table Games published it in 2024 after raising $379,602 on Kickstarter. [1] [2] Triangle Agency was inspired by the video game Control, the book House of Leaves, the movie The Matrix, and the TV show The X-Files. [2] [3]

Contents

Gameplay

TriangleAgency is designed for campaigns of 10–15 sessions. [3] The player characters are Resonants, people who have bonded with supernatural entities called Anomalies. To create characters, players select strange abilities granted by their Anomalies, as well as their jobs at the corporation and interpersonal relationships that allow players to introduce NPCs. The session structure is based on procedural dramas. [2] [4]

The goal of the game is to eliminate evidence of Anomalies. [3] The dice system uses 6d4 with success on 3. Failures give the gamemaster chaos points for adding complications. [2]

Literary style

The designers call the game's genre "corporate horror." The book uses a metatextual literary style in which the fictional corporation refers to the game itself as the company's creation. The instruction book has multiple unreliable narrators. According to the book, the players are actually employees at the corporation and hallucinating their real lives. [1] These elements were influenced by House of Leaves and The Matrix. [2] [3]

Reception

Rowan Zeoli for Polygon called Triangle Agency "the best game I've ever read" [1] writing:

The punchline-per-page ratio is astronomical. Woven into every paragraph is some comedic dissection of the ways corporations ask their employees to sacrifice their lives for the good of the company. [...] At every opportunity the physical text of Triangle Agency works to evoke the absurd horror of working under late-stage capitalism, while never letting its lofty concept run away with its playability. [1]

Aaron Boehm for Bloody Disgusting praised the GM materials and game mechanics, writing:

From top to bottom, Triangle Agency is a special game. It gives you the tools to build compelling and multilayered characters while encouraging creative problem solving over direct confrontation, and all within one of the most thematically consistent and compelling rulebooks I’ve seen in quite some time. [4]

Samantha Nelson for Polygon named Triangle Agency as one of the best new tabletop RPG books of 2024, calling it "One of the funniest TTRPG rulebooks out there" and writing that "The focus on how will affects reality also makes it one of the better manifestations of collaborative storytelling." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamemaster</span> Facilitator role in role-playing games

A gamemaster is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. The act performed by a gamemaster is sometimes referred to as "gamemastering" or simply "GM-ing."

World of Darkness is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Changeling: The Dreaming, along with off-shoots based on these. The series ended in 2004, and the reboot Chronicles of Darkness was launched the same year with a new line of games. In 2011, the original series was brought back, and the two have since been published concurrently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diceless role-playing game</span> Role-playing game mechanic

A diceless role-playing game is a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) which is not based on chance because it does not use randomizers to determine the outcome of events. The style of game is known as "diceless" because most TTRPGs use dice as a randomizer. However, some games use other randomizers such as playing cards instead of dice, and these are not considered "diceless."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabletop role-playing game</span> Form of role-playing game using speech

A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually involving randomization. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise, and their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

Monster of the Week (MOTW) is an urban fantasy-horror tabletop role-playing game developed by Michael Sands. It was first published in 2012, and a revised edition was published by Evil Hat Productions in 2015, who have since published the game and its supplemental materials. The game was inspired by villain of the week television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and The X-Files.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Design framework for tabletop role-playing games

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role-playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other indie role-playing games.

<i>Blades in the Dark</i> Fantasy tabletop role-playing game

Blades in the Dark is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game by John Harper, set in a fictional city of Doskvol, inspired by Victorian London and Gothic fiction. The game was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2015 and published at the start of 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actual play</span> Podcast or web show genre

Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gamemaster, and out-of-character engagements such as dice rolls and discussion of game mechanics. The genre emerged in the early 2000s and became more popular throughout the decade, particularly with the 2015 debut of Critical Role, an actual play webseries featuring professional voice actors.

<i>City of Mist</i> Tabletop role-playing game

City of Mist is an urban fantasy neo-noir detective tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed by Amít Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities.

Demiplane is a company that creates digital toolsets for playing tabletop role-playing games which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The Demiplane platform's main services are game matchmaking, game hosting and licensed content via the Nexus digital toolset. Nexus provides access to digital rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and character sheets. The platform was launched in 2020; early access to Nexus launched in 2021. In June 2024, the company was acquired by the virtual tabletop (VTT) company Roll20.

<i>Bluebeards Bride</i> Gothic horror tabletop role-playing game

Bluebeard's Bride is a gothic horror tabletop role-playing game published by indie role-playing game publisher Magpie Games in 2017 that is based on the Bluebeard folktale of a young wife left alone in a castle who is tempted to open the wrong door. The game focuses on themes of misogyny and feminism.

<i>Brindlewood Bay</i> Murder mystery tabletop role-playing game

Brindlewood Bay is a murder mystery tabletop role-playing game about elderly women amateur detectives, inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H. P. Lovecraft. It was designed by Jason Cordova and was published by Gauntlet Publishing after a 2022 Kickstarter campaign raised $477,518 from 7,748 backers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liminal Horror</span> Survival horror tabletop role-playing game

Liminal Horror is a 2023 survival horror tabletop role-playing game by Goblin Archives and Josh Domanski, with art direction by Zach Hazard Vaupen. The player characters are investigators. Liminal Horror's module The Bloom was nominated for the 2024 ENNIE Awards for "Best Adventure – Long Form."

<i>Candela Obscura</i> American actual play web series and tabletop role-playing game

Candela Obscura is the name of both an American actual play web series and its spinoff tabletop role-playing game system.

Free League Publishing is a game studio and publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden, formed in 2011. The company designs and publishes tabletop role-playing games, board games, and books based on licensed properties and independent works. Their games include Alien: The Roleplaying Game, Vaesen, and Mörk Borg.

<i>Coyote & Crow</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game

Coyote & Crow is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Connor Alexander. The game was designed by a team of Native Americans from more than a dozen tribes. The game is set in an alternate future of the Americas, where thanks to a natural disaster, colonization never happened. Coyote & Crow's setting is the metropolis Cahokia, which is based on the Mississippi River. Coyote & Crow's first expansion book, Ahu Tiiko, focuses on a murder mystery in a forest village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eat the Reich</span> 2023 tabletop role-playing game

Eat the Reich is a tabletop role-playing game about heroic vampires sucking the blood of Nazis during World War II. It was designed by Grant Howitt. Players choose from a set of six predetermined characters. Eat the Reich won three Gold ENNIE Awards in 2024.

<i>Trophy RPG</i> 2022 tabletop role-playing game

Trophy RPG is a psychological horror tabletop role-playing game by Jesse Ross about doomed treasure hunters in the woods. There are two versions of the game: Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold. Trophy Dark is designed for single session play, while Trophy Gold is designed for longer campaigns. Both versions were published by Gauntlet Publishing in 2022 after a successful Kickstarter campaign raised $210,141. Trophy RPG won the silver medal for "Best Game" at the 2023 ENNIE Awards.

<i>Sleepaway</i> (game) Tabletop role-playing game

Sleepaway is a horror indie role-playing game by Jay Dragon about teenage counselors at a summer camp trying to protect misfit campers from a monster called the Lindworm that takes on the form of its victims. It has themes of trauma, LGBTQ community support, and non-binary gender exploration. Sleepaway was inspired by slasher films and the Belonging Outside Belonging game system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum.

<i>Slayers</i> (role-playing game) 2020 tabletop role-playing game

Slayers is a 2020 tabletop role-playing game by Spencer Campbell about monster-hunting in a cursed city. It won an Indie Game Developer Network award and was nominated for three ENNIE Awards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Zeoli, Rowan (6 December 2024). "Triangle Agency makes the (brief)case for buying physical books again". Polygon. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Wieland, Rob. "Walk The Halls Of Corporate Horror In Triangle Agency". Forbes. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Carter, Chase (9 June 2023). "Triangle Agency is a satirical horror RPG of paranormal investigation inspired by Control and The X-Files". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  4. 1 2 Boehm, Aaron (8 July 2024). "[Review] Supernatural TTRPG 'Triangle Agency' Shines With Deep Gameplay and Captivating Campaigns". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Samantha (12 December 2024). "The best new tabletop RPG books of 2024". Polygon. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.