Rage (card game)

The Rage CCG is based on Werewolf: The Apocalypse. It converts the setting of the roleplaying game into a collectable card game.

Rage was originally published by White Wolf in 1995. It had five sets, Limited/Unlimited (sometimes called Basic, or the base set), Umbra, Wyrm, War of the Amazon, and Legacy of the Tribes. The first three sets can still be found on ebay for reasonable prices.

Rage was discontinued after Legacy of the Tribes when White dissolved their entire card division. Arcadia: the Wyld Hunt (based on Changeling: The Dreaming) was also effected by this.

Rage was then sold to Five Rings Publishing Group, who completely redesigned the game, keeping only the setting and the card backs the same. While this introduced new players to the game, it also alienated many old players as the original cards were completely incompatable with the new rules. They had been lead to believe there would be 90% compatability between the old cards and the new game. There was 0% compatability.

Five Rings Publishing was then bought by Wizards of the Coast, the makers of Magic: the Gathering, who had also recently bought out TSR (makers of Dungeons & Dragons). Wizards was then in turn bought out by Hasbro, who was more familiar with making toys like Mr. Potato Head than handling collectable card games.

Most of the CCGs that Hasbro acquired in its take over were discontinued, including both Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (VTES) and Rage. White Wolf began publishing Vampire : The Eternal Struggle again.

Rage sat in limbo while a company called Azrael Productions tried to acquire the licence to publish BOTH versions of Rage. The deal ultimately fell through but the two games both got a slight name change during that time. The first incarnation came to be known as Rage: Apocalypse. The second version came to be known as Rage: Tribal War. Azrael also started playtesting cards for both games.

When the deal with Azrael fell through, they waived rights to the cards that had been in development, returning intellectual rights to the playtesters. This left the playtesters free to produce fan made sets once it was cleared with White Wolf. All the fan made cards are fully illustrated and legal for use in tournaments.

Rage: Apocalypse now had four fan made sets: Intermezzo, Periphery, Gauntlet, and Coda. As of October 2005, there are two additional sets in development.

Rage: Tribal War has two finished sets: Web of Deceit and Christmas Present '04. A Third set called "Soemthing Old, Something New" will be released at the end of 2005.

In addition to the fan made cards, Rage has enjoyed new life as an online game. CCG Workshop developed an online player called the Gatling Engine to play CCGs online. Rage was one of the early games adapted to thArce player. White Wolf later licensed CCG Workshop to produce an online version of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Arcadia: The Wyld Hunt has also been licensed to CCG Workshop to develop an online version.

LINKS
 * River Von Offical Rage homepage. All six fan made Rage sets are available for download, for free, in PDF format.
 * CCG Workshop Play Rage, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, and (eventually) Arcadia the Wyld Hunt online