To Change

I did a flip through of the physical edition! The VOD is on YouTube. 

I'm absolutely going to run this for some players, and this is extremely pogchamp! Congratulations to usducktape, Ewen, and friends for developing such a great system! Thank you very, very much!

To Change is a tarot-based TTRPG about transformation.

It's not objectively about good transformation, or about bad transformation, or transformation that aligns with or against your ideal form. It's simply about being changed.

The PDF is 212 pages with clean, readable text, hyperlinks, bookmarks, and a lot of detailed, provocative art. As a note, provocative isn't being used here to mean that it's dark, just that it confronts you. There's *absolutely* intense body horror here, and also whatever the opposite of that is, and also a lot of the gray area in between.

Mechanically, probably the best way I can describe To Change is that each player character is made up of one big interlocking health track.

You have physical power and resistance stats, and mental power and resistance and stats, but every point of your stats can be damaged and changed and if enough damage and change happens your transformation is irreversible.

When skill checks come up, players draw tarot cards and pick from them. Picking a card resolves the check according to the game's unique text for that card---which is a really novel skill system and leads to a lot of unique outcomes. However, when you pick a card, you remove it from play, so over time players whittle away at their good options until it's just undesirable cards that are left.

Again, 'undesirable' might not be the right descriptor depending on how you view serious and sudden physical and mental change. It's possible to play scenarios where your change is good and uplifting, and it's possible to play scenarios where your change is horrific and fundamentally negates the core truths of your being.

Basically, this system can run Teen Wolf and also Dead Space.

In terms of player resources, To Change does have built in safety tools, and it specifically has extra tech for handling transgender narratives. It also flags its scenarios up front with a number representing the intensity of the change---although the scenarios are sort of formatted in an odd way, so you'll typically have to read them to get more context for what they contain.

Still, the simplicity of its system and the tightness of the mechanical loop makes it a breeze to GM---so if you're new to ttrpgs but really like the transformation theme, you'll have an easy time here.

If you're a veteran GM and want to fiddle with the system, there are built in tools for adjusting gameplay to fit different scenarios.

And plus there's an optional journaling mode for solo play.

Really, this game puts a lot of work into meeting its players halfway. It's not hard to use, but a lot of how you engage with it will depend on whether and how you click with the theme.

Overall, if I had to describe To Change in a phrase, it would be "instant cult classic." To Change is *very much* its own thing, and whether or not you like it will probably depend on your level of comfort with telling stories that radically physically and mentally change the characters within them. I don't know of any other TTRPGs that are quite like this, and if anything I've said here sounds interesting, you should check it out.

Nice work on the release! Everything looks amazing, can't wait to dig into it further.

Congratulations on the release. It was a pleasant surprise to see it this morning. Wish you all the best.

Congrats on the release! This was super fun to stream with y'all all those months ago during crowdfunding, I'm super glad it's come to fruition! Can't wait to play this with some of my best friends.