Twists are an important part of the SCRPG but it feels like many folks misinterpret what their role is. Because they have negative effects on a character and often come up by rolling low on an Overcome action, they get seen as a punishment to be actively avoided whenever you can.
This is unfortunate because twists give both the players and the GM an opportunity to be creative and come up with situationally appropriate twists. Yes, they'll frequently harm or handicap a PC in some way but they can also introduce story elements, provide an opening for narrative tricks like cutscenes, flashbacks or foreshadowing. I'd contend that twists are better regarded as a cost levied for a benefit than a punishment for failure. And there are a lot of potential benefits. Let's take a look at those.
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Things you can do by taking a minor twist:
-Take a Risky basic action, allowing you add a bonus effect to the action (p.19).
-Use an ability one zone earlier than normal, eg a Red action while in the Yellow zone (p.19).
-Succeed at an Overcome when you roll a result from 4-7 (p.25).
-When creating a mod with a Boost or Hinder action, let that mod last for two uses rather than one (p.26).
-Hit the deck when Attacked, using a Reaction to immediately take a basic Defend action affecting yourself (p.29).
-As a cost for using Emergency Change (p. 91).
-As an option to avoid taking damage when using Emergency Switch (p. 96), Push Your Limits (p. 106) or Unload (p. 109).
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Things you can do by taking a Major Twist:
-Succeed at an Overcome when you roll a result from 1-3 (p.25).
-Use Final Wrath (p.108, 109, 110).
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As you can see, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of very useful options if you're adamant about not taking twists. There are lists of suggested generic twists on page 30 so you can get an idea what kind of impact taking one will have, but that's just listing a few possibilities. Your Principles offer more options to choose from even when you're not using their abilities, and anyone at the table is always free to suggest unique twists based on the current situation. The GM has final say about what effect to apply, but this is ultimately a collaborative game where maximizing everyone's fun is the goal.
It's also a creative game, which makes it important not to use the same twist effect too often. You don't want players to develop an expectation that (say) buying an extra use for the mod they're creating will always cost them Mid die damage, for ex. Twists are a cost, but not a fixed cost. They're always negotiable and should be situationally appropriate.
To emphasize one thing from the rulebook (p. 30 again) it's vital that the effect of a twist doesn't negate an optional Overcome success. If the player was Overcoming a challenge that would advance the scene tracker if it wasn't solved, don't choose "advance the scene tracker by 1" as a twist.
You should also be careful about other twists directly negating whatever they're paying for. For ex, if a player takes a twist to hit the deck to avoid taking damage, don't choose to have them take Mid die damage as a penalty. Hinder them with Max instead, or separate them from the group as they dodge into a new location, or have a hero with Principle of Strength break something important as they hurl themselves out of the way.
That's even more important with major twists where the cost of an effect is much higher. Majors are rare, and should be a big moment in the story. Their effects often last to the end of a session rather than the scene, and narrative effects could last much longer. If anything I think the rulebook example of a major twist (p. 167) underplays their potential impact, and the player there is losing their (in-character) voice for the rest of the session. If a minor twist is "Spider-Man's web-shooter runs dry" then a major twist is Aunt May getting shot and mortally wounded. A player that uses Final Wrath in a tremendous effort to drop a villain before they escape shouldn't suffer a twist that lets the enemy get away automatically even if their damage fails to drop them. Make the villain earn their escape on their turn.
Positive Twists
There's one other type of "twist" (although the rules don't call it that) that deserves mention. When you roll a 12+ result on an Overcome you get what my table calls a positive twist a bonus on top of succeeding with the overcome. They talk about some possible benefits in the book (p. 25) but the general principle of inverting minor twist effects so they harm or hinder a villain instead of the hero works pretty well. They don't have to be purely mechanical either. Narrative effects that make it easier to foil whatever scheme is going on or provide definite leads on a mystery are fine rewards too. You might even find a way to invert the twists of the PC's principles here, eg the Strength guy breaks something important to the baddies during the Overcome. Much like other twists, variety and fitting the situation are important here.
Villainous Twists
Finally, don't forget that villains, lieutenants and minions can take Overcome actions too. Lieutenants and minions don't generate twists the way heroes do (p. 156). Most villains will try to use their Mastery (if they have one) to automatically succeed rather than rolling an Overcome normally, but when they do roll they succeed or fail normally. They never take major twists (opting to fail instead) and have a set of additional minor twist suggestions unique to them (p. 154).
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