Designer Diary: Blended to Deceive: Designing the Agents of Agency
When we set out to design Agency, we wanted to create an intuitive blend of theme and mechanics. We wanted the feel and realism of the spy novels and movies we love so much, but we wanted the Spheres to mean something. How to make that happen? A unique combination of the spheres would build a unique type of agent. You see, not every spy is a “James Bond” protogee. In fact, there are many different varieties of agents involved in the world of espionage.
Espionage, in the real world, is messy, ambiguous, and deeply human. Every operative is shaped not only by their training, but by the way they see the world, and how they solve problems. Some are great in the field. Some are masterful in the boardrooms and hallways. Some are stealthy in the shadows. Some, just in your face! To capture that variety, we needed more than flavor roles. We needed a design DNA that tied story, mechanics, and player psychology together.
That DNA came to life in the five spheres of espionage.
The Five Spheres: Foundations of Spycraft
To bring order to the chaos of spycraft, we broke different aspects of espionage down into five distinct spheres. Each is a philosophy, a toolkit, and a lens through which operatives understand their mission, and the skills they bring to the table. They are:
Infrastructure (Yellow): Resources, logistics, adaptation, support.
Incursion (Red): Aggression, force, direct confrontation.
Infiltration (Purple): Stealth, sabotage, secrecy.
Intelligence (Blue): Information, analysis, prediction.
Influence (Green): Persuasion, politics, manipulation.
Every faction, every mission, and every agent in Agency is defined by these spheres. They aren’t just ideas, they’re identities. Just as importantly, the absence of a sphere matters. A faction without Incursion can’t rely on brute force. One without Intelligence must move boldly without knowing all the angles. These gaps are as defining as the strengths.
Five Spheres, One Identity
From these five foundations, we asked a design question: What happens when you combine several spheres into a single operative identity?
The answer became our ten agent archetypes. Each agent type blends three different spheres, either through adjacent philosophies or a sharp contrast against an opposing one. This structure gave us an elegant lattice: ten roles, each distinct in both mechanical playstyle and thematic personality, and fashioned by a creative combination of three spheres.
This wasn’t just a math problem. It became a narrative. We thought about real-world operatives: What kind of spy thrives when you mix stealth with brute force? How does a manipulator work when they have no muscle to back them up? These “what ifs” became the heartbeat of the game and helped us choose the 10 agent roles that matched philosophically, thematically and mechanically with our 5 spheres.
The Ten Agent Roles
Enforcer (Infrastructure · Incursion · Infiltration)
The hammer in the shadows. Force applied surgically, vanishing before the smoke clears.Prowler (Incursion · Infiltration · Intelligence)
The hunter. Silent, watchful, striking from nowhere.Imposter (Infiltration · Intelligence · Influence)
The chameleon. A master of masks, turning deception into a weapon.Delegate (Infrastructure · Intelligence · Influence)
The strategist. Plans every move, with allies and resources at the ready.Officer (Infrastructure · Incursion · Influence)
The commander. Authority backed by muscle, keeping allies aligned.Inspector (Infrastructure · Incursion · Intelligence)
The analyst. Cold, relentless, following leads to their inevitable end.Saboteur (Incursion · Infiltration · Influence)
The chaos agent. Breaks systems from within, leaving distrust in their wake.Informant (Infrastructure · Infiltration · Intelligence)
The mole. Embedded in plain sight, turning everyday spaces into intel caches.Troubleshooter (Incursion · Intelligence · Influence)
The jack-of-all-trades. Quick-thinking, pragmatic, spontaneous, never without a plan B (or C).Provocateur (Infrastructure · Infiltration · Influence)
The whisper in the dark. Manipulates perception and lets others pull the trigger.
Each archetype isn’t just a character. It’s a mindset. A worldview. But one emerging from the careful blend of the three spheres, and the absence of the two it is missing, to create a unique yet distinctly recognizable agent to populate our world.
Why Only Ten?
We tested dozens of possible combinations. But ten struck the right balance: elegant, playable, and rich in theme. More than that, these ten archetypes map the ideological spectrum of the espionage universe. They feel distinct at the table, not only in what they do, but in how they think. Oh, and it is also the number of possible combinations of 3 different spheres out of a pool of 5.
The agents you recruit shape your deck, your missions, and your identity as a player. Choosing an archetype isn’t about min-maxing stats. It’s about choosing a philosophy of espionage.
Playing with Identity
One of the most rewarding moments in playtesting Agency has been watching players find their “home sphere,” that style of play that just clicks with them. Some gravitate to the cold calculation of an Inspector. Others thrive on the chaos of a Saboteur. Most importantly, these different agent types allow us to create interesting and engaging stories that our players will have a role in shaping, with their gameplay and decisionmaking.
What Kind of Spy Are You?
So we leave you with the question: What kind of operative will you become?
Do you rely on information or intimidation? Do you work in the shadows or in the open? Are you an Imposter hiding in plain sight, or a Troubleshooter who thrives in crisis?
In Agency, there’s no single best answer. Only the identity that gets the job done.
Want to dive deeper? Join our playtest and jump into the Discord server to discuss your favorite agent types, share stories from the field, and help us refine the world we’re building together.