Triangle Agency Is Anti-Trad

Have you heard about Triangle Agency? This fascinating TTRPG riffs on Control, Paranoia, and The SCP Foundation to make an urban fantasy RPG about working for a mysterious organization which captures and destroys anomalies that threaten existence. The game is brilliantly written, with a cheeky corporate wit à la Severance throughout the text, and multiple argumentative narrative voices that present different visions of the same world. The game is also, in a way I find really fascinating, anti-trad.

For those who aren't familiar, a "trad" game is a TTRPG like GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, or Dungeons & Dragons. It tends to be a big book with lots of stats, a traditional GM/player dynamic, and a design approach for long-term campaigns sculpted to the whims of the GM.

I come from a "story game" background, which has a very different approach to what a TTRPG looks like. This isn't good or bad, but neutral – different games for different folks. I'm used to seeing games that are extremely uninterested in trad-style designs (stat-less, GM-less, built for one-shots, etc.), but I don't think I've ever seen a game that actively works against the core assumptions of trad design.

Triangle Agency is a big book with a lot of stats. I think some people approached it looking for Delta Green and were surprised when they realized it actually gives the GM very little power. It has no "rolling for stats," and characters will by default fail at anything risky without the intervention of a special power. It's built for long campaigns, but those campaigns twist and weave as different perspectives vie for control of the game. It's a fascinating object!

I don't want to make anti-trad games, but I think one of the best ways to learn how to design something in the trad mindset is to learn from how others reject it. If you like GURPS, you'll probably dislike Triangle Agency a lot, but as a game designer it helps me grow my craft by learning how to hold love in my heart for both.

-- Jay Dragon