Rage is an out-of-print collectible card game originally published by White Wolf in May 1995 based on the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The game is based around packs of werewolves battling each other and various evil monsters while trying to save the world.
Product information
White Wolf
Rage had five sets of cards: Limited/Unlimited Umbra Wyrm War of the Amazon Legacy of the Tribes
The game was discontinued by White Wolf after Legacy of the Tribes. Three months later, Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG) obtained a license from White Wolf to publish a new version.
The initial release consisted of over 300 cards sold in 60-card starter decks and 12-card booster packs.
The first expansion set was called Umbra, with its 90 cards sold in 12-card booster packs.
Five Rings
Freelance game designer Luke Peterschmidt, who had previously been lead designer at FRPG, was contracted to design a new version of the game for FRPG. It had the same card backs and set in the same world, but with completely different mechanics making it incompatible with the first version of the game. The second version of the game had seven card sets.
The first six sets, which were numbered and released monthly, were Get of Fenris, Wendigo, Bone Gnawers, Red Talon, Silent Striders, and Shadow Lords. They were known as Phase 1 through 6. Each 80-card set was sold in 60-card starter decks and 15-card booster packs. The final set, Equinox, combined three of the smaller numbered sets (7-9) into one larger set.
Various producers
FRPG was bought out by Wizards of the Coast (the makers of Magic: The Gathering), who were in turn bought out by Hasbro. Hasbro discontinued many of the games it had acquired in the take over, including Rage. The license for the game lapsed back to White Wolf.
Azrael Productions, who produced an online magazine, acquired permission from White Wolf to provide tournament support for both versions of Rage. However, Azrael was unable to acquire the license to bring Rage back into print. While under Azrael's care, there were two notable developments. The first version of Rage came to be called "Rage: Apocalypse" and the second version "Rage: Tribal War" so people would not be confused as to which version people were talking about.
Azrael Productions also assembled a group of dedicated fans to start designing new cards for the game. They started playtesting these cards before Azrael eventually abandoned the project. Azrael gave up rights to the partially tested cards, leaving the path clear for the playtesters to produce fan-made sets of cards.
The first set of these fan made cards, Intermezzo, was released in 2003. A total of five fan made sets for Rage: Apocalypse (Intermezzo, Periphery, Gauntlet, and Coda. They are collectively known as the New England Block. War Council is the fifth set and starts the Ahadi block.) and two for Tribal War (Web of Deceit and Christmas Present '04) have been released since then. The cards are hosted on the official Rage site, River Von, but are considered legitimate by White Wolf and are allowed in regular tournaments and for use in online play. They are not hosted on the main White Wolf server due to copyright issues with the artwork.
Online play
Rage was available for online play for several years via the gatlingEngine, produced by CCG Workshop. They had a licensing agreement with White Wolf allowing them to develop online versions of White Wolf's CCG properties (Rage, Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, and Arcadia: the Wyld Hunt). That platform is now defunct.
Due to complex legal issues, only Rage: Apocalypse is available for online play. Hasbro retains some partial rights to Rage: Tribal War and was unwilling to license it to CCG Workshop.
While Rage is currently out of print, it can be played online using a program called LackeyCCG. Instructions on how to get started are at the Rage website. It runs on both PC and Mac and includes all printed cards, all fan sets and sets in playtesting.
Changes since online play began
A major rules overhaul for Rage's rules was released in March 2006. The update clarified many card interactions and converted rulings about individual cards to global rulings. There was an additional update (Rage's Least Wanted) that errata'd the 18 most broken cards in the game and introduced new rules for Past Lives that returned them to play.