# Triangulating an Agency and Ascending to Management tags: #thoughts #game/rpg/msg #game/rpg/inspectres Once in a while, someone will ask a legitimately clear and important question: why do you not own this particular game? Why isn't it in your library? In this particular instance, I can point at someone else's work which explains it in great detail. Quinn's Quest reviewed **[Triangle Agency](https://shop.hauntedtable.games)** and did a far better job of explaining why I don't own it than I have.  I think it's absolutely necessary for you to watch that entire video, all hour of it, because as much as when I disagree with Quinn, it's pretty serious disagreement, it doesn't happen very often, and usually he at least puts his finger on things that reflect a serious understanding of the games he talks about. But I'll sum it up in as pithy and succinct a way as I possibly can: **Triangle Agency** is a game which is not written to be played. It's written to be read, laughed at, and then put aside. Because while it's not unplayable, it's not intended to be played. Compare and contrast this with **[Paranoia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_%28role-playing_game%29)** in all of its myriad editions, which, no matter what you think about its very classic and traditional gameplay loop in certain ways,[^1] is a game that not only is hilarious to read but is very much intended to be experienced through play in a literal and direct way. In both games, you are immersed in a vast and complicated conspiratorial environment which is beyond your control. The paranatural is omnipresent in **Paranoia**. Being a mutant is treason, and everyone's a mutant. Being in a secret society is treason, and everyone is in a secret society. In **Triangle Agency**, you are an anomaly working for an *"agency"* tasked with policing reality-deviant anomalies. You have a complicated life outside of the agency when actually interacting with people is considered erosive to reality and against the corporate mandate. The world and reality is full of secrets, many of which are directly in opposition to one another. And yet, in pretty much every case, at every level, **Paranoia** is superior to **Triangle Agency**, both in presentation and execution. Though you could argue that **Triangle Agency** has the upper hand in the actual physical presentation of representing itself as an actual corporate document, whereas **Paranoia** presents itself as a rulebook, a technical document for the GM to run and play the game. Immediately, this highlights the problem with **TA** and explains why **Paranoia** is better. But I'm not going to come here and tell you to run out and pick up **Paranoia** instead of **Triangle Agency** if the underlying idea excites you. No, I'm going to suggest something entirely different—a game that you may not have heard of, but which does everything **Triangle Agency** says that it's trying to do, but does it better, more simply, more directly, more clearly, and in a way that is intended to be actually playable. I'm talking about **[[MSG™]]**.[^2] ![[MSGtm (cover).jpg|200]] For a slightly more complete rundown of its mechanics, what it does, and the difference between the two available editions, check out [[MSG™|the link here on Grim Tokens for all of that information]]. The short version is that it is a diceless game in which you are literally a brand influencer working for a mega-meta-corporation brand. Everything you're doing presents a moral quandary in which you have to decide how much of yourself to give up to accomplish your aims, and where the petty corporate drama and personal drama between all of your characters provides yet another resource that you can bring to bear. While technically not GM-less, the position of GM (the Company) rotates around the table and gameplay ends when everybody has had a shot at being the company. Have I mentioned that this might be the most cyberpunk game you've ever played? I include the literal game of **[[Cyberpunk (RPG)|Cyberpunk]]** in that list because it very well might be. Yet, it's simultaneously 15 minutes in the future, 100 years in the future, and five minutes ago, which is a sign that it is really good, well-assembled science fiction. If Triangle Agency sounds like something you would be interested in, but you really want a game you can actually bring to the table and play, go pick up **MSG™**. You'll enjoy it, you'll actually get to play it, and you might revisit it more than once. > [!info] Sidebar: **InSpectres** > If this is the sort of thing you like, but you want to kind of sidestep the sci-fi overtones of **MSG™**, then you might be interested in checking out **[[InSpectres]]**. It's a game that will broadly remind you of **[[Ghostbusters]]** and reality television right there on the tabletop. > > Are you going to love it? Odds are pretty good, yes. > > Is it better than **Triangle Agency**? Also yes. [^1]: It feels extremely weird to refer to **Paranoia** as a game possessing a traditional game loop, yet it is very traditional in its oppositional GM/player relationship, the parceling of information to both, and the idea that the players have their characters go out and do things at the direction of higher powers. The brilliance of **Paranoia** is how it immediately subverts 30% to 70% of that while still remaining a very classic game loop. [^2]: Yes, the trademark symbol is right there in the name. They even hang a really big lampshade on it right there in the text. ![[MSGtmtm silly.png]]