Triangle Agency, Paranormal Investigation TTRPG

Printing Complete! T-Shirts & Mugs! PAX Unplugged Booth!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 01, 2024 at 08:56:40 AM

Triangle Agency Printing Complete!

Above picture is a sample from the print run that was sent to my house for inspection. Everything looks amazing, and I'm so proud of what we've created. You're going to love these cool books!!! 

The rest of the print run has been loaded onto three boats (landing in the US, UK, and Australia) and will take about a month to arrive in each of those places. Then our fulfillment partners in those regions will fulfill as soon as they can, which will be a little different for each region. Trying to coordinate a simultaneous release date is a near-impossible thing for indies like us, so I appreciate your patience if you see folks in other areas get their copies first.

Check out my quick flip through video of the core rulebook here! I'll hopefully be doing some more in-depth videos when I get time.

Barring any surprises, I believe everyone will have their copy in hand by the end of November. If your card was unable to be charged successfully, or you have not filled out your survey or paid for shipping, you will not receive your copy. I've been re-trying cards every Monday and the percentage of y'all who this applies to is really small, but it's worth making sure you paid shipping in the past few weeks.

Weird Old Warehouse Update

If you've been following our Discord or Twitter, you know the Agency was getting upset with me for not answering their emails about something. I had no clue what this meant at the time and had to go looking.

Turns out I'd agreed in our original contract to help the Agency get rid of a bunch of old stuff from the '80s. (I honestly did not look at the contract very closely but hopefully this is the last weird problem I missed!) They sent a ton of stuff to a warehouse near me, and I've been sorting through it all weekend.

Most of it is trash. Old scraps of paper, broken office supplies, stuff I can just throw away. But I found a few interesting things. First off, this old memo:

The House Edge Update? I think?

Obviously, for me, a little weird to see our company name mentioned almost forty years before it was created. Even weirder to see direct orders to destroy FIST and stop publishing House Edge; we distributed FIST to backers and are working on House Edge under the Agency's orders! 

We're on contract, made a promise to y'all, and I'm not sure the Agency even remembers this. No one's said anything to me directly, and I found this memo with three hundred other copies in a box. So maybe they got it all figured out.

THE HOUSE EDGE will probably be ready for testing in its simplest version in December. It's a FIST module in the Triangle Agency game world, but B. Everett Dutton has been pretty tight-lipped about what's going on in there. If this old memo is related then it's already told me more than she has.

The other stuff I found is a little more fun. A bunch of weird old shirts and mugs!

Old Branded Agency Stuff

I'm still working through the warehouse and will let y'all know if I find anything else interesting, but there's a ton of old merchandise from before a Triangle Agency rebrand that I thought you'd might like. We're getting it put up in our store ASAP.

First off, these old t-shirts! They're super soft ringer tees. Light and breathable, basically perfect condition considering how old they are. Sizing seems pretty normal except that they're all pretty long. Good for tall people, tucking in, or pajamas. 

Next up are these mugs! They're ceramic mugs in the "arno" style (I did a deep dive on this after finding these, you should look up the design work of Joe Colombo. The original mug style this is based on was featured in the movie Aliens!)

I have a ton of these to get rid of, so we're selling them on pre-order through our online store. 

T-Shirts are $25 and mugs are $15, but if you order them together they're only $33! Currently these are only really available in the US. You can technically order them internationally, but I don't recommend it. Shipping is very expensive right now and adds up fast, even just to Canada. If we get interest from our international distributors for this stuff, we'll work to give y'all a chance, too.

Pre-orders will remain open through the end of October. They'll be shipped separately from the books, and probably arrive a few weeks after. There are no guarantees you can get one after this period. After that, we'll only have whatever remains after Pax Unplugged. 

Which brings me to...

We'll be at Pax Unplugged!

We're running a booth at Pax Unplugged, the first weekend of December! You can come meet a few of us from the creative team on the floor at Pax, selling copies to new people and carrying some goodies y'all might like, too. I hope you'll come say hi!

Some things we expect to have there:

• A cool new 8x8 backdrop featuring a never-before-seen art piece by Kodasea
• Copies of all our games & materials (except the Playwalled Dice)
• Shirts
• Mugs
• Art prints of art from the book in very limited quantities. See the picture below for our full planned stock!

If you're the kind of person who appreciates a book signature, Sean and I will be around to sign your copies. Also Michael Shillingburg and Ben Mansky, who are responsible for a lot of your favorite design & layout in the books! 

Our booth number will be U4232.

Thank you so much!

We're coming up on the finish line of the bulk of this campaign now, and I can't wait to see the game in your hands. Our bonus games are coming along in outstanding, exciting ways that I am thrilled to share with you soon, as well.

Let me know if you have any questions or need any support with your order, and please keep sharing stories online of your time playing! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading every one. 

More soon,

Caleb

Full text of the Warehouse Print-Out for Legibility:

TRIANGLE AGENCY

ALL TIMES BULLETIN

CONCERNING THE CONTINUING EVENTS OF JUNE 6 1984

OBSOLETE VAULT OV-6684 AKA <<PYRAMID CASINO>> REMAINS UNDER ASSAULT BETWEEN HOURS 1800 AND 2359.

ASSAILANT USING ANOMALOUS <<SEALED TIME EVENT>> TO RESIST TYPICAL VAULT LOCATION ADJUSTMENT PROTOCOL. OV-6684 CONFIRMED DISCONTINUED AFTER THIS PERIOD AND RETROACTIVELY PRIOR TO THIS PERIOD VIA HISTORICAL REVISION. THESE EVENTS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO INTERFERE WITH THE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT ON JUNE 7.

CONFIRMED ASSAILANTS - RELATIONSHIP UNKNOWN:

> ANOMALY CODE M-8036 AKA <<THRESHOLD>>

> |||||||||||||| CODES <<7EMPLE>> X <<NOBODY>> X <<LAMPLIGH7>> X OTHERS

> DISORGANIZED TERRORIST GROUP FROM CAUSALLY IRRELEVANT BORDER REALITIES

IMMEDIATE DIRECTIVE 1: ALL COPIES PHYSICAL AND ELECTRONIC OF TABLETOP ROLE-PLAYING GAME <<FIST>> BE DESTROYED ON SIGHT. NARRATIVE IMPORT DIRECTED TOWARDS THESE BORDER REALITIES IS EMPOWERING TERRORISTS.

IMMEDIATE DIRECTIVE 2: PREVENT PUBLICATION OF TABLETOP ROLE-PLAYING ADVENTURE <<THE HOUSE EDGE>> EXPECTED IN OUR TIMELINE DECEMBER 2024. IF HAUNTED TABLE CANNOT BE INTERCEPTED IN TIME SIMPLY IGNORE IT AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW ANY AGENT-CONNECTED TABLE-SELVES TO READ OR PLAY.

IMMEDIATE DIRECTIVE 3: AGENTS FROM ALL TIME PERIODS REQUESTED TO REPORT FOR OVER/UNDERTIME DUTY TO ASSIST IN REPELLING ASSAILANTS. THE LOOPING NATURE OF THIS SEALED TIME EVENT MEANS THE ENEMY IS ENDLESS, AND WE MUST BE ENDLESS AS WELL.

IF THIS WORK PLACES YOU ON THE CLOCK PRIOR TO THE TIME OF YOUR HIRING NOTE WE WILL BE UNABLE TO COMPENSATE YOU DUE TO THE LOSS OF PERSONNEL RECORDS THAT WILL OCCUR ON JANUARY 1 2000.

REMINDER: Shipping/Add-Ons Charged Via Backerkit on September 16th!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 10:55:59 AM

Cards will be charged in 3 days on Monday, September 16th

This update is a reminder that cards will be charged shipping on Monday. If you haven't already, I recommend everyone check their Backerkit (via the link in your original email to the survey) and prepare for your shipping charges.

If you see any errors or need any additional information, please let me know! Best is through a private message here on Kickstarter or an email to [email protected]!

For more information on expected timeline, check the last update! I can't wait to get these books to you.

More soon,

Caleb

Manufacturing Timeline - The Home Stretch! Cards Charged for Shipping September 16th
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 27, 2024 at 07:21:11 AM

Books are Printing! 

Greetings, Agents! Books are currently printing full steam ahead at our manufacturer in China, Asia-Pacific Offset. Most important headline: CARDS WILL BE CHARGED FOR SHIPPING AND ADD-ONS ON SEPTEMBER 16TH. Plenty of time to prepare, but I want to give you lots of heads up.

I'll be going over the whole timeline in detail but first I want to mention a game you should check out while it's funding!!

Our Vault editor is releasing a game: PLASMODICS!

This isn't a game I'm involved with directly, but designer Will Jobst was critical to the creation of our book of missions and, if you like Triangle Agency, I think you'll find plenty to like in the light-weight and full-of-juice TTRPG Plasmodics, which hit its goal last weekend! One of our goals as a game company is to keep boosting our collaborators in all they do, so I hope you'll check this game out (and keep Will paid and full of The Gamer's Joy so we can get them to edit more stuff for Triangle Agency!!!) 

"Plasmodics is the tabletop roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic, gonzo sci-fi, where (sorta) humans, (kinda) animals, (mostly) robots, and (definitely) aliens join hand-in-mutated-hand. It's lightweight, freaky, and gorgeous." Or so they say. But don't take their word for it when you can take my word for it!

The campaign is only going to be a couple weeks long total, so hop in ASAP. Kinda weird to have that much orange on a Triangle Agency update, huh? Anyway back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Triangle Agency Current Timeline

Okay, here is what our schedule looks like right now, and some details around that.

• August 13: Printing Full Steam Ahead Began 
  • This took a little longer than we expected because of the proofing process, but it meant we fixed several things that really dramatically improved the whole book. Physical printing has a lot of quirks (especially where color is concerned) and so we needed to analyze and edit design & illustration across the covers, box, and interior in many spots. After the first round we got a second set of proofs, which took time to print & deliver to us and then had a few more small necessary fixes for the fixes! 
• Mid-September: Printing Advances Arrive
  • Sometime Mid-September I'll get a sample box of the print copies as they'll be sent to y'all. I'll be taking tons of pictures and probably a video or two once these are ready!
• September 16th: CARDS CHARGED, ADDRESSES LOCKED FOR SHIPPING AND ADD-ONS 
  • We'll be charging cards on September 16th. Orders are already locked. If there are any adjustments to shipping because of unforeseen global events I'll let you know, and if they happen within the last week I'll extend the deadline an additional week. (I don't expect this to happen.)
  • Right now, you can still change your address by going into Backerkit through your account or the original survey email. On this day, addresses will be locked for our October-November shipping and any other changes will have to happen through fulfillment center-specific methods.
  • If you pre-ordered through our website, your cards have already been charged shipping. 
• September 23rd: Printing Complete
  • All the books will be printed and loaded onto three ships coming from China: One heading for the US, one for the UK, and one for Australia. 
• Late October: Books Arrive at Fulfillment Centers
  • The space between the last bullet point and this one is where we run into the most variables. It's the ocean out there. Each boat will take a different amount of time to get to the fulfillment center, and each fulfillment center will take a different amount of time to ship books out based on their schedules. 
  • In the UK and EU, we're fulfilling with GamesQuest.
  • In Australia, we're fulfilling with Aetherworks.
  • In the US and rest-of-world, we're fulfilling with CRWN.
• End of October to November: Books Arrive to You!
  • This is later than our original estimate, and while I don't love delivering that news, I want to stress that these delays happened for the sake of the product, not from mistakes. Our additional time spent on design, layout, analyzing product proofs and perfecting everything we could mean the game is significantly better from this slight delay. I've done my best to make sure you got everything as soon as we could give it along the way, and I appreciate the support you've all given during this process.
  • There is no way around different regions getting their books at slightly different times. I know it can feel frustrating seeing people in other parts of the world getting their books while you're waiting, but doing global same-day release is not something we are capable of organizing at our scale. Thanks for your patience and know I'm doing everything I can.
  • Right now, you can still change your address by going into Backerkit through your account or the original survey email. On this day, addresses will be locked for our October-November shipping and any other changes will have to happen through fulfillment center-specific methods.

Other Updates and On-The-Way Things

• We have a table at PAX Unplugged! We'll be getting product with just enough time to run a booth with the game at PAX. I'm not sure if we'll be running games yet, but several members of the team will be there to say hi, sign books, and maybe sell a few...new things??
• Improved Digital Versions are in progress. I've hired someone to help us make the game compatible with screen readers, legible to more types of vision, and to put together a solid text version for easy reference. I don't have an exact timeline on when it will be done, but I'm hoping we have all of that by the end of the year.
• Triangle Agency: Architect is in development by Alfred Valley! The core loop is designed now and I think it's looking awesome. There's a ton left to do, but as soon as we have even a playable demo version I'll share it with all of y'all!
• The House Edge is still in development, but will likely take longer than expected. B. Everett Dutton over at Claymore has been hard at work fulfilling the FIST Kickstarter, and they've hit a few speedbumps that have slowed things down. I'm working on some potential alternate bonuses we can provide if this project is delayed dramatically.
• The Remaining Crossovers from the Stabilize All Realities Jam last year are in progress, by me and others! I don't want to say much about them because I'm selfishly excited about getting to surprise y'all with the details once they're done.
• The Future of Triangle Agency is forming as we speak! I've been having meetings and doing early design planning for some amazing projects I'm hoping you'll hear about by next summer. It's worth saying, though, that now is a great time to share what could best help your game of Triangle Agency. Especially those of you who have been running campaigns. What's missing for you? What could make the game easier, bigger, more fun, more enticing? I'll admit I have some pretty strong answers to these questions myself, but if you're secretly hoping for something I want to hear about it.
• Our older website is busted. The shop is fine but the hauntedtable.games site is acting up because Squarespace bought Google Domains. This means some of our old website forwarding to places like our Discord is acting up. Hopefully we'll have this resolved soon but it is annoying and I wish we weren't dealing with it! It's more likely we'll do a whole website redesign sometime soon.

Thank you!

Only a few (very intense, physically challenging, most important) steps to go before you have the books. And then Triangle Agency will be completely real! If you have the time and would like to show your support, try these:

• Leave a 5-star review or comment on Triangle Agency's Itch page!
• Post your opinions about the game online! 
• Play the game!!! Try a campaign for yourself!
• Support the game's team in their other endeavors (like Plasmodics!)

Otherwise, reach out here or to [email protected] if you have any questions. I'm around almost all the time running support while I prep for the next phase of Haunted Table's journey. This has been an amazing experience all around, and I can't wait for the future.

You'll hear from me again with a warning before we charge cards. Until then, keep working hard!

-Caleb

Proof Unboxing + Editing, Files Updated to 1.02
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 16, 2024 at 08:36:41 AM

Hello, Agents!

Today's another short update. Our wet proofs came in! Check out the video below where I unbox them and show off how things are looking. 

If you're checking out this page and you aren't a backer, you can pre-order physical copies on our website and get digital copies on itch.io. (If you're in the UK/EU or Australia/NZ, I don't recommend you order physical copies at this moment. We're working on it!) 

If you have questions: comment here, email [email protected], or join our Discord.

Proof Fixes

I've spent the last week working on these proofs alongside Ryan Kingdom & Michael Shillingburg. In case you're curious, here are the kinds of things we're fixing:

• Everything printed darker than we expected! We were working in CMYK, but the actual prints made everything dark enough that details are getting lost in a few places. We've brightened up things like the Agent's outfit on the front cover, the whole Vault front cover, one of the endpapers, and some details on the box.
• Internal printing edits: We printed full resolution versions of what we expect to be "problem pages," and did indeed find some problems. Blues printing more purple, light text on dark backgrounds getting fuzzy, that kind of thing. Most of these fixes came down to color changes, font changes, or bolding! 
• Fixing textures: we have embossing and foil on our covers, and there are tiny tweaks we needed to make (mostly embossing more things) to make the covers feel "finished." 
• Normal Briefcase Box Illustration Alignment: The box is made up of 8 different files whose measurements and orientation in relation to each other are not easy to estimate. For example, the fake "locks" and "handle" were upside-down, with their shadows pointed in the wrong direction! Ryan has redrawn a few pieces to fix these issues.
• Dice Box Text Alignment: Had to rotate the logo in one place, basically.
• Checking Bar Codes: I took them all to my local bookstore to make sure they were scannable. They were!
• A small printer mistake: Our endpapers were flipped onto the wrong sides. Honestly this is the only error our printers have made throughout this process, though, and I'm really grateful for them. If you're interested in working with a larger printer for games/books, I definitely recommend Asia Pacific Offset.
• Text proofreading: I've also been using this time to read the books again and catch any small text errors I can find. Thanks to this work in combination with our community posting bug reports, the final printed books are going to be way cleaner than they would have been if we'd rushed through this process!

We're getting a second set of wet proofs to check these fixes. It's a little expensive on our end, and it pushes us back another week or so on physical printing, but these will be on your bookshelf forever. We want to make sure they're as close to perfect as we can get. 

Triangle Agency 1.02 Update

Speaking of that proofreading pass, the documents for the Triangle Agency game have been updated to 1.02 on itch.io and our website. If you are a backer and have trouble downloading the update from itch.io, go back to your original email from itch and download from there. 

I also recommend you connect those downloads to your account so you can access the page at any time!

Full patch notes for 1.02 are here, but it's mostly typos and small errors. If you haven't downloaded since launch I really recommend doing so (not the least of which because we figured out how to get the files MUCH smaller.) I'm going over The Vault thoroughly this week as well. 

Architect & The House Edge Update

It's been a while, so in case you've forgotten: Architect is our upcoming solo game in the Triangle Agency setting created by Alfred Valley, and The House Edge is a crossover FIST module created by B. Everett Dutton (the creator of FIST!)

Alfred Valley has turned in a first draft overview of Architect's rules, which I will be moving on to as soon as the books are finally for real 100% printing. House Edge is still in early development, but is in progress as well! The FIST Kickstarter did really well last year, and has kept B pretty busy.

I don't have a strict timeline for these bonus games. Our philosophy has been (and remains) that releasing something up to our quality standard is more important than moving fast. I'm not rushing either creator because these games are bonuses and we also just now released a giant core game! 

My guess, though, is that you'll see at least an early version of both by the end of this year. And their development will give me something to talk about while we wait for the books to print and ship!

EU/UK Backers: VAT/Tax Update

I think we've finally set the taxes and shipping at the correct rate for everyone. Take a look at your Backerkit (through your original survey email) and let me know if you notice anything strange. I think most of you will be pleasantly surprised with the fixes!

And Finally: Tell Your Friends!

If you're enjoying your time reading or playing the game, let people know! Our digital launch is going great, but we aren't currently spending any money on advertising. Your help growing the game's community is super appreciated. Every order increases the resources we have available for game support and future projects! (We already have a few things percolating...)

And as a reminder, Triangle Agency's third party publishing license is on our itch.io page. We'd love to see more folks creating their own Missions, Anomalies, and ARC pieces!

As always, let me know if you have questions. I'm back to proofreading!

More soon,

Caleb

Quick First Week Update, FAQ, & Some Community-Made Tools!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 02, 2024 at 09:28:08 AM

Hello, Agents!

We've had an amazing week!! I've loved seeing all the new players, excited readers, and incredible game reports. This update is for a few small headlines:

File Updates

On itch.io and our website, the files for Triangle Agency & The Vault received an update last night. We got the file size down to about 1/3 of what it was before, and fixed a bunch of small typos and clarity issues found by readers this week. Both are labeled version 1.01 on Itch! I appreciate y'all's patience as I improve distribution.

Don't Read on Google Drive on Android Phone

This is a really annoying bug where in this single place one of our primary fonts completely changes. We're working on it but the best fix right now is to open it with something else! No paid PDF app required, any other free one you have access to should do fine. (Unless you see this pop up in another place, and let me know.)

Character Sheet Options

On our itch.io page, you can find form-fillable versions of our character organization sheets now! We worked with community member Winry Winters to get these set up for you. They're very straightforward but let you use Michael Shillingburg's great designs on your computer!

For something more robust, I recommend https://tinyurl.com/TriangleVTT, which was created by a few members of our Discord! I know they're in active testing right now, especially for the inclusion of new Playwalled content, so join us on Discord if you have any helpful feedback. And if you like what they've done, consider leaving them a tip! This isn't an official creation of ours, but they've done a really amazing job in such a short time.

Schedule Triscendent Tier Games

The first game are starting next week! If you are one of the people who hasn't scheduled a game and it's because of the timing, let me know what your situation is and we can figure it out together! Check your email and spam for the notifications about it, and if you can't find it email me at [email protected]!

Other FAQ

• Will you be providing alternative versions for the harder-to-read pages? Yes! This year we'll be creating a text-only version that's clean and easy to read. Many parts of the book are a little harder to read on purpose, but we know "hard to read" can quickly become "impossible to read" for some folks. And the text-only version will have the added benefit of being easy to reference!
• Will you be adding bookmarks, table of contents links, and screen reader compatibility? Yes! That will also be coming this year. I don't have exact dates right now but our goal is to have all of this stuff completed, at the latest, by the time the physical release is available. Some of the simpler stuff will be done much sooner.
• What's the status of Architect/Three's Company/House Edge? All still in progress! Our goal for these is also by the end of this year. I'm as excited to work on them as you are to see them!
• What's the status of VAT tax charges? This is a multi-hour (and potentially multi-day) math and data entry job I haven't had time for with my bill-paying job and the game release! It's coming. You won't be charged until you're told. We have multiple months before that charge.

That's all! Thanks again, and let me know if you need anything. 

Caleb