
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
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