Design Doc

Designing with the Seasons

Can you design a horror game in summer? Are worldbuilding games just for the spring? We settle a years-long debate about how much shorter days, cold fingers, sweaty July,

Where the Rules Go

Game design isn’t just about making good rules—it’s about making them in the right place. In our latest dungeon-delving RPG, we’ve tried to keep the fighting simple and i

A Cozy Little Game Design Retreat

Hannah and Evan talk about balancing work and play during a creative retreat. Three days surrounded by trees and friends yielded a heap of proofreading, some reluctant ga

Imperfect Inspiration (Re-Air)

It would seem like creative inspiration should come from favorite films, classic works of art, and the world’s best novels. But sometimes, it can be hard to draw inspirat

The Tyranny of Dice

What do the sequences (3-4-5-6), (5-2-5-2), and (1-1-1-1) have in common? They’re all random dice rolls! Sometimes randomness seems random, but more often than you’d expe

How to Not Make a Sequel

Hannah and Evan tackle the question of reprinting versus redesigning an older game, Noirlandia. It’s a game that still sells well after all these years, but there are man

How to Beat a Beta

Hannah and Evan talk about the next steps involved in releasing a new draft of the Escape from Wonderland beta. The sprint to publish a public version of the rules involv

Announcement: Escape from Wonderland Public Beta

A quick announcement episode to let everyone know that the Escape from Wonderland beta rules are live. This is a draft of the game rules, publicly available for anyone to

Planning a Public Playtest (with Josh Yearsley)

Hannah sits down with rules editor and game designer Josh Yearsley (Root, Arcs) for a conversation about public playtesting. After more than a decade of editing rulebooks

Short Break Announcement

We're taking a short break to focus on finishing a game. See you back soon! Links Turtlebun Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/ajP36nzPb2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.pa

Dying on the First Turn

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 Thri

Rapid Design: Snowhere Special

Hannah and Evan sit down for a rapid design session for Escape from Wonderland. In 30 minutes, they design an entirely new snow-themed park zone, complete with a gun-wiel

No Wrong Way to Eat a Pear

While Evan's away, Hannah reflects on the announcement that Hampshire College, an unconventional school founded in the 1970s, is closing its doors. It was flawed, idealis

How to Do Two Things at Once

We've always struggled to juggle multiple projects at a time. Right now, finishing the design on Escape from Wonderland is the top priority. But we don't want to set asid

Queuing for Canoeing

How many generations does it take to get into a canoe-making class? In this episode we go on a quest to redesign a queue system for a local craft school and quickly find

Trapped in the Liminal Zone

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

Fatigue

In this episode, we talk fatigue. Is fatigue something to conquer, or is it a warning sign on the way to a physical and emotional crash? Evan is tired, but we’ve got stra

The Path to a Question

Game design questions can be longer and more complex than their answers. In this episode, we initially set out to do a live-design session tackling an issue from our late

Who Designs the Game?

Who designs the game? Is it the players, who make decisions in real time at the table? The GM, who’s at the ready to suggest ideas or dole out consequences? Or the design

A Year of Movies

Hannah watched 51 movies in 2025. Not all of them were helpful for game design, but there was inspiration to be found everywhere—in the form of left-behind robots, edgy e