It's time to learn more about the world of Twisted and The Engine...

The Engine is a mysterious, ancient entity that attempts to control and influence the world of Twisted. Some scholars posit that it has always been; others suggest it is the creation of a civilisation that ruled the world many aeons ago.

One thing is sure, however: the Engine has power to effect great change in the world. It has an intellect both selfish and capricious. Its designs are difficult to discern: at times the Engine can appear to favour those who work against it, only to reveal an overarching plan which sees them fall to ruin at a later date.

Knowledge of the Engine remained lost for millennia, until a musty tome in the Great Library of London was discovered alluding to a hidden power. Scholars raced to uncover a series of linked texts revealing the mysteries of Alchemancy – a kind of steampunk magic that draws on the latent power of the Engine itself to invoke strange and powerful effects.

The latest discovery is the existence of the Engine Nodes: secret access points to the Engine’s power hidden beneath major cities and landmarks throughout the world, used by the Engine to spread its influence. Now competing factions rush to discover and exploit the power of these hidden Nodes!

Feygin and the Dickensians stumbled across one of these Nodes buried deep beneath the sewers of London. Their attempt to abuse the Node caused an explosion of raw Engine power which wrought great and ruinous changes among the Dickensians, their bodies and minds warping into steampunk form. But more importantly, it alerted the Engine to the fact that it has been discovered!

The Engine has now summoned its Servants in an attempt to prevent further intrusion into its secrets. But what it could not foresee is that the influence of the Node has brought the Dickensians great power and influence of their own...

So how does this Engine impact the game of of Twisted? Demented Games has created the Engine of Twisted to be an integral part of the game that neither player ever has full control of, and yet it heavily influences the way things play out within the game. This is accomplished through 2 different mechanisms in the game, the Favour of the Engine and the Eye of the Engine/Tempt Fate cards.

One of the parties in the game will always hold the Favour of the Engine, however this is a very fickle thing and can change at a moment's notice! The Engine's favour offers certain bonuses:

• The Engine's Blessing offers a reroll.
• The Engine's Aid allows a player to draw 2 Eye of the Engine cards and choose which to keep.
• The Engine's Intervention allows any tie in rolls to be resulted in favor of those holding the Engine's Favour.

The flip side of this is how easily you can fall out of the Engine's Favour:

• A Failed Reroll will cost you the Engine's Favour.
• If you Tempt Fate Once Too Often, by drawing an Eye of the Engine card with a red Engine Icon, you lose the Engine's Favour.
• If the Engine's Eye is Elsewhere, you lose the Engine's Favour- when this Eye of the Engine card is played by your opponent, your efforts are immediately nullified.

The Eye of The Engine cards effect each turn of the game according to the effects listed on the card. Each player draws one card at the start of each turn, unless they hold the Engine's Favour, in which case they can draw 2 and choose which to keep.

What do you think of this interesting Engine's "twist" in the game?