As we're just about a week out from the launch of the storybook, steampunk game of Twisted, Demented Games has offered a look at the stats on the character cards. We've all been anxious to see how the game plays, and they thought it best to first show us the break down of the character stats. In this instance, we'll be taking a look at Launcelot with the Servants of the Engine.

Generally, the higher the number score, the stronger the statistic.

• Points (number in top left): A measure of the Character’s relative power, and how many points you will need to "spend" to include them in your company. A casual game of Twisted might have an allotment of 200 points to spend per side, so Launcelot – at 49 points – is quite an expensive Character to take in your company!
• Speed (Spd): The Character’s movement, speed, and reaction time. This number determines the distance (in inches) a model may move, and influences some other events or checks during the game.
• Strength (Str): The Character’s physical strength. The number value is added to close combat weapon damage dealt, and for various physical tasks such as breaking open doors. It is also used when attempting to avoid the effect of certain Alchemantic Invocations.
• Finesse (Fin): The Character’s nimbleness and skill. This is used when interacting with devices or trying to unlock doors or chests. Finesse is also used when attempting to avoid the effect of certain Alchemantic Invocations.
• Attack (Att): These two numbers represent the Character’s ability in combat. The first number represents the Close Combat attack score, the second number is the Ranged Combat attack score.
• Defence (Def): These two numbers represent the Character’s ability to avoid attacks. The first number represents the Close Combat defence score, the second number is the Ranged Combat defence score.
• Armour (Arm): The Character’s armour or toughness: how hard they are to wound or injure. This figure is subtracted from damage taken against the Character in most circumstances.
• Alchemancy (Alc): The Character’s talent at harnessing the powers of the elements to bring forth various effects. Alchemancy in Twisted is akin to "magic". As you can see from his card, Launcelot has no ability in this area.
• Life: How much damage the Character can take before they are eliminated from the game. The boxes below each represent 1 point of Life. These boxes can be crossed off as the game progresses (starting at the top left), in order to keep track of the Character’s remaining Life. When the remaining Life reaches the red boxes, the Character becomes Wounded, meaning all statistic scores (with the exception of Armour) drop by 2. But all hope is not lost: some Alchemantic Invocations can be used to heal a Character and restore lost Life points!
• Weapons: This area details what weapons the Character is carrying. All weapons list a damage score: this is the amount of damage caused by a weapon when a successful strike is made. In the case of Launcelot, his sword does D8+3 damage plus his Strength of 6. If anything should affect his Strength, such as being wounded, then the Strength bonus will change accordingly.

In addition to damage, ranged weapons also list distance penalties split into bands (short/medium/long range). Generally the further the shot taken, the harder it is to hit. Launcelot’s rifle, "The Lance", shows a range of 6(0) / 9(-3) / 15(-5), meaning a penalty of 0 at short range (up to 6 inches), a penalty of -3 at medium range (6-9 inches), and a penalty of -5 at long range between 9 and 15 inches, the maximum range for the weapon is double this at 30 inches but the penalty will remain at -5.

Any special effects a weapon may have are noted here too and the details of their effect is summarised on the rear of the card.

• Special Abilities (bottom right of card)

Any special abilities possessed by the Character are shown here. You will note that the Special Abilities are noted with both green and red headings: red Passive Abilities don't use Actions, but are either constantly active or are triggered by the use of another Action.

These Special Abilities are summarised on the rear of the card and the rulebook will contain longer explanations and examples where necessary.

Are you counting down the days to the Twisted launch?