Trapped in the Liminal Zone

Trapped in the Liminal Zone

From Design Doc by Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland

March 18, 2026 · 55 min

About this episode

The episode discusses designing liminal zones in tabletop role-playing games.

A discussion about how to design a liminal zone in a TTRPG leaves us trapped in an in-between place. Episode mentions: r/backrooms House of Leaves (2000 - Horror novel by Mark Z. Danielewski) The Last Unicorn (1982 - Animated movie based on 1968 book by Peter S. Beagle) Ultimate Haunted House (1994 - Point-and-click video game with art by Gahan Wilson) Play it on archive.org here. Links: Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/ajP36nzPb2 Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun⁠⁠⁠⁠ Where to buy our games: 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: Hannah Shaffer, Evan Rowland

Topics covered

  • TTRPG design
  • liminal spaces
  • game design
  • horror
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • TTRPG
  • liminal zone
  • game design
  • House of Leaves
  • The Last Unicorn
  • Ultimate Haunted House

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Ultimate Haunted House

Books & works: House of Leaves, The Last Unicorn

More episodes of Design Doc

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Design Doc podcast page.