Dying on the First Turn

Dying on the First Turn

From Design Doc by Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland

June 3, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

Evan and Hannah discuss their experiences from two playtests of different tabletop games, highlighting unexpected moments in gameplay.

Evan and Hannah talk about two separate playtests—Evan’s playtest of the near-complete Escape from Wonderland, and Hannah’s playtest of the just-begun Seekers of the Thrice-Lost Crown. Both games went well, but surprises lurk around every corner, and sometimes someone has to die on the first turn. Episode mentions Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2018) Links Discord:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://discord.gg/ajP36nzPb2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://turtlebun.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.ipaghost.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Episodes edited by Rob Abrazado:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://robabrazado.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get in touch Designdocpod (at) gmail (dot) com Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/turtleandbun⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/turtlebun.com⁠⁠⁠

People in this episode

Hosts: Evan Rowland, Hannah Shaffer

Topics covered

  • playtesting
  • game design
  • surprises in gameplay
  • tabletop games
  • narrative experiences

Keywords

  • playtest
  • game design
  • Escape from Wonderland
  • Seekers of the Thrice-Lost Crown
  • Lincoln in the Bardo

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Escape from Wonderland, Seekers of the Thrice-Lost Crown

Books & works: Lincoln in the Bardo

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