Triangle Agency

by Caleb Zane Huett, Sean Ireland

Triangle Agency is a tabletop role-playing game in a present-day setting about wielding enormous, reality-warping power, navigating bureaucratic red tape, and juggling your everyday responsibilities.

Player characters work at the Triangle Agency, an international corporation with influence in every industry. As Field Agents, players investigate and capture supernatural Anomalies that threaten the lives and comfort of normal citizens.

Designed for campaigns of 10-30 missions or high energy one-shots, our brand new game system creates seamless transitions between chilling horror, wacky comedy, and the emotional truth of trying to survive in a world with no right answers.

Here's some of what to expect in this 300 page, fully-illustrated game book:

Learn about the mysterious Triangle Agency and your role in advancing its mission in the Field Agent Manual, featuring basic game rules, story guidelines, setting details, and important regulatory information for compliance with Agency standards and practices.
Action and conflict builds naturally with our all-new Stability/Chaos rule system, where every roll creates Chaos for Anomalies to spend on powerful effects and obstacles.
Build your Agent character by selecting their ARC! Each player selects three pieces representing your Agent's Anomaly, Reality, and Competency, creating up to 729 starting combinations and a completely personal set of abilities as they grow and change.
Receive advice from the Agency on how your GM can prepare and run missions using the General Manager's Toolkit, including examples of interesting Anomalies and ways to bring your Agency Branch to life!
Finally, as your characters grow in power and prestige, peer behind the Playwall to access hidden powers, items, and hidden details of Triangle Agency’s story. Inspired by legacy board games, the Playwalled Documents provide countless hours of discovery and surprise, accessible only by playing the game.

Genres: Role Playing Games

302 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2024

About the author

Caleb Zane Huett is a playwright, undercover reindeer, and independent bookseller at Avid Bookshop. He's a graduate of the University of Georgia and currently lives in Athens, Georgia where he plays a lot of video games.

Reviews

[Zoe Ysabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably nonsense to anyone who hasn't read this book, but I'm just typing up what's in my book journal:

I love everything about this ttrpg, it has so much flavor, style, and I was impressed by how many new ideas it introduced! I love the way the D4 system functions, it feels very fresh and on-brand. The chaos mechanics also seem more fun/easier for the GM because they're given clear options for anomaly behavior rather than needed to brainstorm all of it. It also makes the GM feel like an alternate version of a player as well like when they have to spend chaos for anomalies to do things.

These are the MVPs of each category for me. Commendations for each!
- Anomaly: Manifold (Super fun moves, great style)
- Anomaly Skill: Site Visit (Dream) (I don't really know how it's super useful but the idea of it is so sick. The fail state rules too.)
- Reality: Newborn (2nd place: Creature) (Obviously. I love being a little weirdo.)
- Competency: Hotline (2nd place: Reception) (I love the commendation behaviors so much)
- Requisition: Rubber Duck (It's so on-theme, and I love how it messes with possibility. I want one.)(2nd place Dracula's grave because that's also so sick)

Anyone who likes TTRPGs will absolutely love this, and I highly encourage you check it out for yourself!

I don't think I have enough for a whole review so I'm lumping The Vault (pre-written mission book) MVP list in here:

- Best art: Weird Dog, Murder at Gruntley Manor (The vibes!!! they're just so perfect!!!)
- Best mission: Hollow Suit, Murder at Gruntley Manor
(Hollow suit: The anomaly concept is so effective in being scary, a threat, and also potentially a figure to have empathy for. The main NPC too is so!! I love him, I love this mission, I want to run it so bad.)
(Gruntley Manor: I think it shows off the best of the mechanics and flavor of Triangle Agency. Similarly to Hollow Suit, the anomaly is a very developed character that is both a danger and a figure of sympathy. If I was an agent, I'd certainly let them go, they're doing good work out there!)

[Richard Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a D&D superfan of six years, it’s rare for an alternative to truly excite me. I’ve known of many systems, but none ever tempted me to put D&D on pause until I stumbled upon Triangle Agency by pure chance. While browsing a game shop on a recent holiday abroad, I found it misplaced on the D&D shelf, and its Control-esque aesthetic instantly hooked me. Aesthetic matters a lot to me, and this chance encounter felt like fate or even divine intervention.

Then I actually read it... and wow! A rulebook making me smile and laugh like a kid on Christmas was not something I expected. It’s brilliantly written, full of jokes and character, and has sparked my imagination for countless future games with friends that have the potential to last years. After five years of D&D, discovering this has been genuinely invigorating.

[Jesper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an extremely well-written, funny, and perplexing work of fiction. However, I have not yet been able to determine to what extend it actually constitutes a playable *game* (as it claims to be). There are three separate narrators in this book that are each trying to convince me that their way of playing the game is the correct one. Just by reading the book in full I got assigned 101 demerits before even creating a character, but maybe getting demerits is a good thing? There's an ability that will permanently curse one of my d8's so I need to advertise Wet Mouth Chewing Gum & Dietary Supplement when I roll a 5 with it, even when playing another game?! Also my access to the Frozen Yoghurt Room got revoked. I'm looking forward to find out whether this "game" can actually be played.

[Mason Witko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating meta narrative woven into a charming aesthetic and interesting ruleset.

[Ashley Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

[4.5/5.0] A Great Book!

I can't opine on the system, nor do I think I'm really capable of running something like this. The theme, surrealism, and frequent subversion of expectation is a ton to imagine myself wrangling... but purely as a book, this is joyous.

Reading it front-to-back is (no spoilers) a frequently-surprising delight. Corporate nihilism, the illusion of choice, and the crushing realization of your utter lack of importance will repeatedly bonk you in the head until the book turns itself upside down and breaks all the 'rules' in Section 2. Being a Gamemaster in this system sounds like a heavily-structured, frequently nightmarish slog... but the treats it gives you along the way are well-worth the read.

I can't run this thing. But I can appreciate it in isolation. And in isolation, it's well-deserving of an Ennie.