TWIST - Transdimensional Wizards Investigating SpaceTime

You don’t know magic? Don’t worry, anyone can learn, and we need your help at TWIST asap! TWIST chapters are vanishing from multiple realities, the stars are going out, and a time-traveling memetic plague is spreading in multiversal hive cities. Track down clues through distant galaxies, alternate timelines, and parallel planes to uncover … something???

Getting Started

TWIST is a roleplaying game for 2 or more players. One player is the Game Master (GM), and is in charge of describing the scene and setting. The rest of the players act as Characters (PCs).

Rules for Player Characters

Concept- Come up with a few sentences to describe your character. Are they an office worker, an alien wizard, a time-traveling robot, etc. What are their goals? Where are they from? Who are their allies and enemies?

Action - If you want to do something challenging, propose it to the GM. The GM will then share the proposed action’s Risk and Reward severities. You can either proceed to roll for the action using the below rules, do nothing, or propose a different action. If you roll for the action, the GM will tell you the resulting Reward if you succeed or Risk if you fail. Example Actions include solving riddles, researching lore, lifting heavy objects, fighting enemies, or battling other wizards.

Rolling - Roll 2d6. Then roll additional d6 based on the criteria below. If you roll a 5 or 6 on at least one die, you succeed.

• Roll additional 2d6 if your Concept would be relevant. If you are unsure if your concept would be relevant, ask the GM.
• Roll additional 2d6 for each spell cast as part of this action. For example, you may want to simultaneously cast Conjure Armor and Control Plasma while disabling a fusion reactor. There is no limit to how many spells you can use.

Risk & Reward - Risks and rewards are the consequences of Actions. Risks represent the dangers of a failed Action, while rewards are the benefits of a successful one. Risks and Rewards can have severities of Low, Medium, or High. Players know the severity of their Risks & Rewards before rolling, but the GM only tells them the actual outcomes after the roll. A mouse attempting to bite a Kaiju would be an example of a Low Reward but a High risk. Success would only annoy the Kaiju, while failure risks certain death. Conversely, a mouse-wizard casting Destroy Kaiju on a Kaiju from a safe distance would have a Low Risk and a High reward.

Combat and Opposed Actions - When two or more PCs or NPCs have conflicting objectives, they engage in an opposed Action. An opposed Action works like a normal Action, but instead of success occurring when a 5 or 6 is rolled, success is determined by whoever has the highest total roll. The winner gets their Reward while the losers suffer their Risks. In a tie nothing happens.

Exploration and Mystery Stuff

Exploration - Visiting new worlds/eras grows your magic. The 1st time you travel to a new locale, the GM can describe it in several sentences. You can learn 1 new spell that uses nouns from the GM’s description plus any verb from the verb list.

Clues - Once per session, you can ask the GM for a clue. The GM will then give you a hint towards a Mystery or Discovery.

Mysteries and Discoveries - Unraveling enigmas is the greatest way to improve your wizardry. When you make a Discovery or solve a Mystery, you can learn 1 new spell using any of the words on the nouns and verbs list.

Spell Stuff and Word Lists

To learn a spell, pick a verb from below. Fill each _ with one noun. Example spells include Repair Spaceships and Change Plasma to Furniture. Players start knowing one spell of their choice.

Adding New Words - PCs and GMs are encouraged to add new words to the lists below to mix it up. In general, words should not be significantly more generic or vague than the example worlds.

Known Words - The unique set of nouns and verbs in Spells known by your character.

Countering - You can Counter other wizards’ spells. When engaging in an Opposed Action with another wizard, you get a 1d6 bonus for each spell your opponent is using if at least two of the words in the spell are Known Words.

Dispelling - You can Dispel a previous spell’s effect(s) with an Action, provided at least two of the words in the spell are Known Words. For example, if somebody casts Change Kaiju to Glass, you could return the Kaiju to their original form.

Verbs

• Repair _ - Repairs Nouns, heals injuries, removes illnesses and ailments
• Conjure _ - Make new Nouns. Conjured Nouns are permanent and cannot be dispelled
• Destroy _ - Nouns, including Conjured Nouns, are destroyed. This cannot be dispelled
• Change _ to _ - Change Nouns to other Nouns
• Control _ - Manipulate and/or command Nouns
• Sense _ - Detect, scry on, and/or commune with distant or hard to find Nouns
• Obscure _- Hide Nouns from senses, technology, and/or magic
• Prohibit _ - Nouns of your choice cannot approach, inhabit, or touch targets or regions
• Teleport _ - Teleport anything to locales with Nouns, or teleport Nouns to/from anywhere/when

Nouns - Portals, Plasma, Steel, Fear, Computers, Spirits, Trees, Citric Acid, Vampires, Music, Mammals, Acceleration, Thoughts, Radiation, Hypercubes, Geodesics, Glass, Furniture, Spaceships, Rocks, Dinosaurs, Ammunition, Armor, Jellyfish, Tachyons, Contingencies, Poetry, Kaiju, Ki, Memes