Who's Who and What's What 
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Who's Who and What's What |
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Card Notes |
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Rage Rulebook |
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If there's one thing the big ol' Web has no shortage of, it's Rage rulebooks. Five Rings' version is official (always a plus), and it's got the most recent rules; but it doesn't have the pictures, and the color scheme was clearly chosen by someone who was way too deep into this whole angst thing. Eric Steele's version is a visual extravaganza (especially if you've got the font for it), but it's got the older rules, and it's kinda hard to search for things (since it's carved up into umpteen pages). The version here has the most recent rules, as well as the card pictures and such; but it may take a while to load. Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances.
Table of Contents |
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Beneath the light of a pale moon, a group of Garou gather. As their kin war upon each other in the blighted town of Las Vegas, this small handful has put its hatred aside... for the moment. The Garou recognize that the Wyrm is turning them against each other, so they shall turn first upon the Wyrm. The Storm Eater, buried over a century before in this area, is growing in power once again. Desperate to stop its evil wiles, the Garou step into the Umbra and move backwards in time, to the 1880s. There they watch and learn, hoping for some clue. "How did our ancestors bury the Storm Eater before, and how can we prevent it from ever rising again?" Through the Umbra, they watch the shadows of their past lives. They see tumbleweeds roll on a blistering wind through a moot of leather-clad humans and dust-beaten wolves. They gather just as their modern descendants have done. They gather to fight the Wyrm. And a single question hangs in the air: "When will y'all Rage?" |
Rage is a trading card game in which you play the leader of a pack of werewolves seeking to destroy the evil of the Wyrm and whip your enemies into submission. Your enemies may be from a different Tribe or even a rival pack; infighting is all-too-common as packs struggle for dominance.
As your pack's leader, you have several pack members in play at the start of the game. These are your main forces. You also have a Sept deck and a Combat deck. Your Sept deck holds the various resources to which your pack may have access: Allies, Equipment, ritual magic, and other stuff. Your Combat deck has all of the nasty moves and tricks your pack knows; you'll use it when one of your characters gets into a fight.
You win when your pack gains enough Renown that other packs acknowledge you as the alpha pack of the Garou Nation, and you, as the leader of your pack, can lead them against the Wyrm.
Don't be intimidated by the size of these rules; the game is very easy to learn and play. First, separate your cards by type and compare them against the examples that follow. Then skim through the rules to get yourself familiar with them. Grab your cards, set up for a game, and bash it out! Refer to the rules as you need to.
I wanted to take this space to talk to you about the history of Rage. Rage was originally published in 1995, and to this day it is still played by fans all over the globe. The original Rage was a fantastic game that captured the tooth-and-claw feel of White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse property. Many of the elements of the classic Rage game were revolutionary and have stood up extremely well over the passing of time.
A little over a year ago, FRPG held a meeting to decide what licenses to go after for a TCG. The only product to get more than one vote was Rage. We loved the game, we loved the property, it just made sense. After nogotiating a deal with White Wolf, we started to look at the game and tried to find ways to improve it. TCG design has become a much more advanced science since the release of Rage, and we wanted to take advantage of those design advances while preserving the concepts that made Rage such a cool game to begin with.
If you were a player of the old Rage, you will relish in the newness of this classic. The rules have been changed, but the flavor and feel is still true blue Rage. If you're new to Rage, you are about to discover what us old timers have known for years; that Rage was and is one of the coolest TCG's ever made.
Finally, special thanks to all the playtesters--you are the best!
--Luke Peterschmidt
Lead Developer, Rage relaunch
Rage is based on Werewolf: The Apocalypse(tm) by White Wolf Game Studio, Inc. The protagonists of this game are werewolves, known as the Garou. Their society has existed outside human civilization for tens of thousands of years, defending the physical and spirit worlds alike from the depredations of humanity and the insidious corruption of the Wyrm. They are creatures of deep wisdom often overcome by great anger; they are man and beast, spirit and flesh, all in one body. They war amongst themselves all too often, but if their world is to have a future, the Garou need to unite against a much greater threat than each other.
The world of Werewolf is the world of the Apocalypse; the end is not coming, it is here. Now. Gaia--the Earth--is doomed, and the fault lies with its guardians, the Garou. They have failed in their sworn purpose to keep the Wyrm at bay. The Wyrm rises once again to consume Gaia, and the Garou are slowly but surely losing their eons-old battle. The Garou may struggle to slow the approaching doom or revel as best they can in the last days, but they cannot forget that it is the Apocalypse, and that doom is, at last, at hand.
Indeed, many Garou have given up, betrayed their kin, and joined the enemy in treacherous alliance. Nonetheless, these werewolves, so stained with evil, may still become heroes of uncommon valor and virtue. The characters in Werewolf are expected to be heroes--they must care about what they have become and about what they may soon be. And then they have to do something about it.
Their duty now is to teach, to fight, to overcome... to Rage.
With a trading card game (TCG, or "collectible card game"--CCG), you collect individual cards like, say, baseball cards. There are already almost 300 cards in print for Rage, with another 250 or so coming out in this three-month installment. This deck is a set of about thirty distinct cards. You can get additional cards by buying different starter decks and by buying Gnosis packs (booster packs), which hold eight cards each.
But unlike baseball cards, you can play games with these cards! As you collect more cards, you'll be able to build your own deck, customizing its strengths to suit your plan for victory. Many people think deck-building is the most enjoyable part of TCGs.
Once you have a strong deck, consider entering tournament play at a convention or game store. Some tournaments will even have an effect on the Rage story. That's right--a continuing story will unfold through each Rage release, and no one knows how it will end.
Las Vegas. A neon blight upon the fair face of Gaia. The Garou gathered here to fight the Wyrm, but instead they fought each other.
Shadow Lord Killian Quicktalker brought word to the Get of Fenris that the Wyrm had corrupted the Wendigo caern. The Get launched an attack, but the Wendigo met them at Hoover Dam, and Marta threw Stillwater Packmother into the dam's generators.
As the Get reeled from the loss, the Red Talons began to hunt openly in Las Vegas, going so far as to attack the staff at the Ragnarok Hotel and Casino, owned by the Get. The Bone Gnawers fought back, and the war spread.
Finally, as the duplicity of the Shadow Lords was revealed, the Silent Striders stepped in. Natasha Moon Chaser gathered beta Garou to enter the Umbra and watch their past lives. "Our ancestors fought the Storm Eater before. It fell but did not die. Perhaps we can learn from their failure. Perhaps we can learn how to kill it for all time..."
(Click on any card for a larger view of the card.)
There are four basic categories of cards: Tribe cards, Garou cards, Sept cards, and Combat cards. You also have a reference card to help you play the game. Each card holds all the information you need to know to use it.
Your Tribe card looks like the card pictured on the back of the deck box; it name's your pack's Tribe, if it has one. On the back, the card describes a little about your pack's part in the story and your closest allies..
The Sept Draw number tells how many cards you should have in your hand after completing the Sept Draw Phase. Your Tribe Fury determines the order you play in a turn.
Each card also have a text area, usually towards the bottom. This text area tells you about the special things your Tribe can do. For your Tribe card, the text area grants your pack the abilities of your parent Tribe.
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Garou are character cards; these are your main forces. Renown (1) is the character's fame. Rage (2) is its combat ability, Gnosis (3) its spiritual power. Health (4) is how many wounds it can take. Keywords (5) give information about the character, and the text box (6) tells you its special abilities. Some character cards are two-sided; these are Garou you can have in play at the start of the game. If the two sides are different, one is the base Breed of the character, the other is the Crinos beast-human combat form; if the two sides are identical, the character is a deformed Metis creature. The type indicator (7) tells you the character's type. This may be a word (such as "Ally" or "Enemy") or an abbreviation of the character's breed. For example, "Lu" stands for a lupus breed werewolf, "Ho" stands for Homid, and "Mt" stands for Metis. Finally, some character cards include a paw print icon (8). This is used when the character is regenerating from injury. |
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Sept cards all have "Sept" on the back. Ally, Enemy, and Victim Sept cards are also characters. Allies become members of your pack, while Enemies and Victims are placed in the Hunting Grounds for all players to hunt down and kill. Gifts, shown here, strengthen your characters. Characters learn these skills from Spirits, and they are essential to your Garou's survival. The Gnosis cost (1) tells how much of your character's Gnosis capacity the card uses. The text box (3) tells you what the Gift does, and a few Gifts have keywords (2) at the card bottom. You always place a Gift under a character and use it from there. Play Gifts containing the words "Pre-Combat:" under Garou as you would with other Gift cards, not as you would play Combat Event cards. A character may never have two copies of the same Gift card attached at the same time. Unless stated otherwise, only Garou can have Gifts. |
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Rites are Sept cards that represent mystical activities your Garou perform. Most do not take effect immediately; you must wait a few turns before they are finished. A Rite must be brought into play attached to a shapeshifter unless it indicates otherwise. A Rite requires that the shapeshifter performing it has enough Gnosis free to perform it. When a Rite is completed, detach it from your shapeshifter and leave it, separate, in your Staging Area. Each Rite has a Gnosis cost (1), because it takes concentration. The text box (2) tells you what the Rite does, and the paw print icon (3) determines how long it takes to complete the Rite. |
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Equipment cards are gear, weapons, etc. Each has a Gnosis cost (1), a text box (3), and (perhaps) keywords (2). A character can never have two copies of an Equipment card attached. Place Equipment cards under characters. Play Equipment cards containing the words "Pre-Combat:" like other Equipment cards, not like Combat Event cards. |
![[Card positioning chart]](images/gift-equip-position.gif) |
A Past Life is a Sept card that represents a Garou channeling the spirit and presence of a famous ancestor. Such a card is played attached to the Garou, who must meet its requirements. This Garou is known as the Channeler. Place attached cards in a "T" around a character. Beginning players should keep the text of Gift and Equipment cards visible; advanced players may wish to show the art. If you arrange the cards as shown, the title and Gnosis cost of all cards is visible. |
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Totems are Sept cards that remain in play for a long time (you hope). A Totem represents a spiritual centerpoint of your pack, kind of like a military unit's colors or a nation's flag. While they help your pack, they also require the honor and deference of your pack members. Totems are placed in your Staging Area with your pack, and they both help and restrict your activities. You can never have more than one Totem in play at a time. Each Totem has only a text area (1) |
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Events are Sept cards that represent actions, strange occurrences, and chance events. An Event does not stay in play longer than one turn. Many Events are resolved and discarded immediately. Others have a lasting effect; these have the words "Long Event" in their keyword areas (1). A Long Event stays in play for the rest of the turn in which it is played or until discarded, whichever comes first. As with other card types, an Event's effects are in its text box (2). You must choose one pack memeber to 'play' each Event card you play during a turn. You can never target a character or player with a given Event twice in a turn; however, a character can play a given Event more than once per turn, as long as a different target is chosen each time. |
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Moots are Sept cards that represent motions or issues that are voted on during the turn. As you might expect by now, a Moot also has keywords (1) and a text box (2). You must choose one Garou from your pack to call each Moot you play. That character must be a Garou and must vote for that Moot to pass during the Resolution Phase. Each Garou can only call one Moot per turn. |
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Battlefields are Sept cards that represent important areas over which characters fight. They have guardians of their own and bestow benefits upon the packs that control them. Each Battlefield has Renown (1), which is awarded to whichever pack conquers and reclaims it. This Renown is added to the player's Victory Pile total. Battlefields have indigenous guardians. The guardians' keywords and stats are given on each card. (2) The Battlefield itself also has keywords (3) and a text box (4) that describes the benefits it gives. See the Battlefields section for full rules. |
These all have the word "Combat" on the back. There are two types: Combat Event cards and Combat Actions.
Combat Event cards look more or less like Event cards, but appear in your combat deck. They can change the course of fights. Some Sept cards contain the words "Pre-Combat:"; these work like Combat Event cards, but you play them on characters as you would any other Sept cards (see "Sept Cards").
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Combat Actions (shown here) are the strikes, blocks, and other maneuvers your characters use to win fights. The Rage cost (4) is how much of your character's energy the action uses. Damage (2) is how much injury the card inflicts, and Block (3) is how much damage it protects against. The moon icon (1) is used when building your deck. Each Combat card also has a card type (5), keywords (6) and a text box (7). |
To set up a game, you must prepare the table and know the areas of play.
Choose the game's Renown level--the amount of Renown a player must score (by killing Enemies, Garou, or Spirits, reclaiming Battlefields, etc.) to win. 20 Renown is an average game. 15 Renown is a short game; 25 is a long one.
Players choose their Tribe and pack cards and sit clockwise by highest to lowest Tribe Fury (found on the card). If two players have the same Fury, decide their order randomly. The player that wins the tie has the higher Fury for the entire game.
Next, choose your starting
shapeshifters. You can choose
members of your Tribe, Garou that have the Tribe Friendly trait
for your Tribe, members of cohort Tribes (as listed on the back
of Tribe cards), and alternate shapeshifters. The total Renown of
your starting shapeshifters cannot exceed the game's Renown
level. Garou from cohort Tribes cost extra Renown, as given on
your Tribe card. You cannot use Garou who are not either from
your Tribe or cohorts of your Tribe. You
must use more total Renown in Garou from your own Tribe than you
use in Garou from any single cohort Tribe. ![[RULING]](images/ruling.gif){kind=small}
You cannot have more than one copy of any Garou (although, as with
Tribes, two or more players can have the same Garou). Place your starting
Garou in your Staging Area with the Breed (non-Crinos) side face-up.
Choose your Sept cards. You must have at least thirty cards and no more than three of any card.
Choose your Combat cards. Your Combat deck must have at least twenty cards and no more than two copies of any card. It must also have equal numbers of new- and full-moon Combat cards.
Shuffle your decks and have an opponent cut them.
Put a marker on the '7' spot of the Umbral Chart, which you can remove from the center spread of this rulebook.
![[Play area picture]](images/play-area.gif) |
Areas of PlayThe center of the table is the Hunting Grounds, the location of all combats. Enemies and Victims are placed here and remain until they are killed. Your alphas go here to hunt. Your Staging Area is in front of you. Here you keep your characters, decks, discard piles, and Victory Pile. Players can examine your discard piles and Victory Pile at any time; they cannot change the order of the cards. |
The following ground rules are essential to playing the game.
Card text overrides printed rules, and later rules versions override earlier versions. Exception: A player can never control both Hunter and Prey simultaneously (see Combat).
You can only use a Main action or Combat event on a card (Gift, Ally, etc.) if it was in play at the start of the Phase.
Characters cannot have negative Rage. If an effect causes a character to lose more Rage than it has, it is reduced to 0 Rage.
Unless a card states otherwise, always reshuffle your deck after you search it for any reason.
If two cards have timing conflicts, both cards take effect, in the order played. If this is not possible, the card played last takes effect. For example, Dave plays a card that gives him the first alpha action, and later Sarah plays the exact same card. Dave's card, played first, takes effect first, so he can now take his alpha action first. Then Sarah's card does the same, so the order for alpha actions is Sarah, then Dave, then everyone else. If both cards had let the players act "before anybody else", Dave's card would have been canceled and Sarah's would have taken effect.
The three subsections below describe the use of attached, independent, and Combat cards.
Many Sept cards (e.g., Gifts, Equipment, and Rites) must attach to characters. To attach a card, place it beneath the character..
An attached card has a Gnosis cost; this is the Gnosis 'space' it needs. The total Gnosis cost of all attached cards cannot exceed the character's Gnosis (as modified by cards and effects). If a character's total Gnosis drops below the total Gnosis cost of its attached cards, discard all attached cards. If a character loses an attached card, the Gnosis it required is freed and the character can take on new cards.
Some attached cards have additional requirements,, noted by the word "Requires:" in the text area. A character must fulfill the requirements to attach such a card, with the exception of Breed; even if your shapeshifter is stuck in Crinos form, you can attach a card whose only requirement is that the character be of a certain Breed. (The abbreviation for the character's Breed is found in the top left corner of the card).
A Spirit Ally can only attach Gifts, and only if the Gifts require the Tribe required by the Spirit. For example, if you have an Aluminum Spirit that requires Bone Gnawers, it can take any Gift that requires a Bone Gnawer. The Gift must require "Bone Gnawer," not "Garou."
Once attached to a character, cards remain attached. Cards cannot be moved unless card effects require it. If a character loses whatever traits a given attached card required, that card remains attached to the character anyway.
Some cards that do not attach to characters (e.g., Allies, Totems) can have requirements. To play one, you must have a character that fulfills the requirements. (Regenerating characters count.)
Some combat cards contain the word "Benefit:". Any combatant can play these, but if one is played by a character that does not meet the requirements in parentheses, the text box is treated as empty and any "X" is considered a "1".
You cannot discard a card in play except through a game rule or effect. Discards go to the owner's pile. You can be forced to discard from either your hand or your deck. If the type of discard is not specified, it always comes from your hand. When discarding from a deck, discard off the top.
Many effects, such as "Discard all Rage 1 cards," require a player to discard all Combat cards of a certain Rage cost. If, later in that combat, a player draws a card of the sort that was discarded, that card must be shown to all players immediately.
There is no penalty for having no cards in your Sept deck or hand. Effects that make you discard from your deck or hand, respectively, are automatically fulfilled; however, you cannot use an effect in which you voluntarily discard a card from your Sept deck or hand (respectively).
A card with an "xxx" keyword is an "xxx" card and is affected by things that refer to "xxx" cards. Any action taken or granted by an "xxx" card is an "xxx" action. Example: An action on a Wendigo Crinos Female Garou is a Wendigo action, a Crinos action, and a Female action.
Keywords also apply to card types. The above card is a Garou card, a character card, and a Homid card (if that were the character's Breed).
Each turn of RAGE goes through the phases below, in order. Each Phase is explained in detail in the following sections.
All non-active Rites and regenerating characters advance one 90-degree turn clockwise. Remove all wounds from regenerating characters that just turned right-side up.
A Rite does not advance if the shapeshifter performing it entered a combat or the Hunting Grounds at any time during the last turn. A Rite that turns right-side up detaches from its shapeshifter, is placed in your Staging Area, and becomes active.
Each player draws from his Sept deck until the number of cards in his hand equals the Sept Draw number on his Tribe card. If a player has more cards than his Tribe's Sept Draw, he must discard down to his Sept Draw number.
If a player has no cards in her Sept deck, that player draws no cards. If no players can draw cards during the Start of Turn Phase, the Renown level of the game drops by one, permanently. This effect accumulates from turn to turn.
During the Main Phase, players place cards into play, take actions with their characters, etc. Starting with the player with the highest Tribe Fury and going clockwise around the table, each player makes one play in turn. You can make one of these four plays:
Set a pack member to regenerate.
Rotate a wounded character so the paw print is upward. Characters
without paw prints cannot regenerate. Once you make a play other
than setting a character to regenerate, you cannot set any more
characters to regenerate this turn.
Play a card from your Sept hand.
How this is handled depends on the type of sept card. You must
meet a card's requirements to put it into play.
Allies are added to your Staging Area.
Totems are also added to your Staging Area. Totems are not considered characters. A pack can only have one Totem in play at a time.
Victims and Enemies are played in the Hunting Grounds. They can be hunted by any player. If an Enemy card has the keyword "Umbra," it starts in the Umbra and, if forced out of the Umbra, returns to the Umbra immediately after combat (see "The Umbra").
Events are played, then discarded when their effects are complete. Choose one of your characters to perform each Event as you play it. A player or character cannot be targeted by the same Event more than once per turn.
Moots are played on, or "called by" Garou. A Moot requires a vote in the Garou community. A Garou can call one Moot per turn. Moots are not resolved immediately; Garou vote on them in the Resolution Phase.
Gifts and Equipment are attached to characters. A character attaching such a card must meet the card's requirements. These cards 'fill up' some of a character's available Gnosis.
Rites attach to shapeshifters. Like Gifts and Equipment, they require Gnosis. Each Rite has a paw print on one side. Play a Rite adjacent to and below the shapeshifter performing it, with the paw-print side upward. (This turns most Rites upside-down.) Such a Rite is "in progress." It becomes "active" when it is right-side up. Once the Rite is active, it no longer uses Gnosis; detach the card and leave it in play in your Staging Area. Once active, a Rite stays in play even if the shapeshifter who conducted it is killed. A shapeshifter can only have one Rite in progress at a time.
Use a Main action on a card.
A Main action is an ability on a Gift,
piece of Equipment, face-up side of a character, etc., labeled
"Main:" in the text box. To use a Main
action, you must have put its card into play before the start of
the Phase. You can only use each Main action on a card once per
Phase unless otherwise stated. Playing a Sept card, setting a
character to regenerate, and passing are not considered Main
actions; they are simply plays you can make during this Phase.
Pass and do nothing.
You can still take a Main action later in the phase, if no other
players pass as long as all other players do
not pass. When everyone passes sequentially, the Main Phase
ends.
All players play Moot Events, vote on Moots, and pick their pack's alphas for the turn. A Moot Event is an Event card with "Moot Event" as its keyword. These cards say when they can be played, and players play them in clockwise order, starting with the player who called the Moot. As in the Main Phase, players play one Moot Event at a time until everyone passes consecutively.
Players vote on Moots in the order that the Moots were played. Some Moots target characters or players; those targets are not declared until right before players vote on such a Moot.
Only Garou can vote; Spirits, Allies, and alternate shapeshifters cannot. Regenerating Garou cannot vote. Each Garou has votes equal to its Renown and can only vote on one Moot per turn.
Voting for a Moot starts with the Garou who called the Moot. This Garou must vote for the Moot, if possible. Thus, the Garou usually cannot vote on another Moot this turn.
The chance to vote moves clockwise around the table. When a player has an option to vote, she must do one of the following:
Players that pass can no longer vote on the current Moot. Voting on each Moot continues until all players pass. If there are more votes for a Moot than against it, it passes and takes effect. If there are more votes against, or if votes are tied, the Moot fails and is discarded. Once a vote is finished, players vote on the next Moot.
Once all Moots are completed, players pick their alphas. Start with the player to the left of the last player to play a card and pass (the same person both plays the last card and passes last) during the Main Phase, and go clockwise. Each player picks a pack member as his pack's alpha and places it in the Hunting Grounds. As you pick your alpha, you can shift it into Crinos form, if applicable, by discarding a Sept card from either your hand or the top of your Sept deck.
Players must pick alphas. If effects eliminate all of a player's choices, that player still chooses an alpha, ignoring all effects (except wounds).
If you have no characters, you are removed from the game. Other players still get Renown for your cards, credited to their Victory Piles. You can still win the game: if all players are removed in this way, the player with the most Renown in her Victory Pile wins.
During this Phase, alphas make kills.
Each alpha gets one alpha action. The alpha with the highest Renown goes first; other players follow in order of Renown. If Renown is tied, the alpha with the higher Tribe Fury goes first. There are four alpha actions:
Attack a character in the Hunting Grounds.
This cannot be refused; combat begins. If a pack member kills a
character (i.e., causes wounds equal to or greater than the
character's Health if the character cannot flip to Crinos form or
has already flipped), the character goes to the Victory Pile of
its killer's pack. If an Enemy or a Victim is in a combat,
someone other than the alpha's player fights as the Enemy or
Victim. In this case, the other players decide which of them will
fight; if they can't agree, decide randomly. Generally, the
player with the least to gain from the combat should defend for
the Enemy or Victim. If an Enemy or Victim kills a character, the
character is removed from the game and no one scores its Renown.
Challenge a pack member in a Staging Area.
The challenged player can refuse at no penalty. If the player
accepts the challenge, her challenged pack member enters the
Hunting Grounds. The challenged player can shift her character to
Crinos form by discarding a Sept card from either her hand or the
top of her Sept deck. Fight a combat. After combat, the
challenged pack member stays in the Hunting Grounds but does not
get an alpha action. If a character dies in combat, it goes to
the Victory Pile of its killer's pack or, if killed by a Victim
or Enemy, is removed from play.
Take an "Alpha:" action.
An "Alpha:" action
is an ability on a card, labeled "Alpha:" in
the text box.
Wuss out.
The alpha does nothing.
When all alphas have taken their actions, the phase ends.
Pack members in the Hunting Grounds return to their Staging Areas. All shapeshifters flip to their Breed sides. Exception: If a shapeshifter has wounds equal to or higher than its Breed-form Health, it remains in Crinos form and cannot use any ability printed only on its Breed side. Discard all Long Event cards in play.
Play then continues with a new turn.
If, at any time, a player has cards in his Victory Pile with a total Renown equal to or greater than the Renown level of the game, that player wins. Although they have Renown, Victims are worth 0 Renown when in a player's Victory Pile unless a card indicates otherwise.
If two players both go over the Renown level, the player with the highest Renown total wins. If they are tied, play continues until one of them gains more Renown than the other (or a third player gains enough to pass them both). It is possible for a player with no characters to win the game. At game's end, return all cards to their owners.
Combat is central to RAGE, because it can weaken your foes, destroy the Wyrm, and prove your pack worthy of being the alpha pack. Combats depend on Combat cards and Rage numbers. Regardless of the number of times you enter combat, you get five cards and a full allotment of Rage each time.
There are several types of Combat cards..
Attacks do damage; they are played when you have intiative in combat.
Defense cards block damage; they are played when your opponent has initiative. They may also be played in reaction to damage.
Flexes may be played as attacks or defenses. When you play a flex as an attack, you use only the Damage number. When you play a flex as a defense, you use only the Block number.
Counterattacks damage your opponent when he has initiative, instead of blocking damage.
Combat Event cards are played between combat rounds, before combat unless otherwise indicated. Attached cards containing the words "Pre-Combat:" act like Combat Event cards, but you play them as you would an attached card and do not discard them after they take effect.
Some combat cards have Damage Effects. These must do damage to have their effects work. If no damage is done, ignore the Damage Effects.
Some combat cards have Benefits, which apply to combatants who meet the requirements in parentheses. Some cards also have Requirements. When a character doesn't meet the requirements for a card, ignore the text box and treat any "X" on the card as a "1".
Combat follows these steps:
Discard Combat cards after each combat. After any combat or the Alpha Phase is over, all characters return to their Staging Areas.
If a character takes wounds equal to or greater than its Health, it flips to Crinos form (if it can) or dies and goes to its killer's Victory Pile, if there is one. (If the killer doesn't have a Victory Pile, the killed character is removed from play.)
First, determine the Hunter and Prey. The Hunter is the alpha whose action caused this combat; the Prey is the target of the attack or accepted challenge. If an effect (like an Event) causes the combat, the effect details who is Hunter and Prey.
Second, the combatants move to the Hunting Grounds. If either comes from a Staging Area, its player can discard a Sept card from her hand or the top of her deck to flip it to Crinos form.
Third, each player draws five Combat cards from his deck. If your deck runs out, reshuffle the Combat discards to make a new deck.
Starting with the Hunter and going clockwise, play one Combat Event card or Pre-Combat event at a time. These are In, Out, or In/Out events. You can use an In event only if it is on the card of (or attached to) the Hunter or Prey. Use an Out event only if it is not in the combat. In/Out events work either way. Cards with the "Pre-Combat:" ability use it once per combat. Go to thenext step when all players pass consecutively.
Unless specified otherwise by card effects, the Hunter has initiative in the first round. In subsequent rounds, initiative goes to the player who didn't have it the previous round.
The player with initiative picks an attack card to play from her Combat hand or passes. If she passes, this combat round ends and the players play Mid-Combat events. If neither combatant attacks in a round, combat ends.
The other player chooses a defense or counterattack to play, or no card at all. A player who picks no card has a base Block number of 0.
Players reveal their Combat cards. Subtract the cards' Rage cost from the combatants' Rage. You cannot play Combat cards of higher Rage than you can afford (unless your combatant has Sustained Rage). For example, if you use all but 1 Rage, you cannot play a Rage 2 or greater card. If you run out of Rage, you cannot play cards with a Rage cost greater than 0.
If a player must play an ineligible card, treat the card as though it has a Damage or Block of 0. The combatant must still pay the Rage cost, up to all available Rage. In friendly games, the opponent can choose to have the players draw new cards and replay the round.
Some cards may have timing conflicts; in these cases, resolve the lowest-Rage-cost card first. If cards have the same Rage cost, resolve the card played by the player with initiative first.
Compare the Damage number with the Block number. If the Damage is higher than the Block, the defender takes wounds equal to the difference. Mark the wounds with counters, then apply any Damage Effects. If the Damage number is lower than the Block number, nothing happens.
If the defender played a counterattack, both combatants take damage. Mark the damage and apply Damage Effects. If one or both combatants would die from this damage, check to see if either Combat card has the keywords "fast" or "slow." A fast card does damage before a card that isn't fast. A slow card does its damage after a card that isn't slow. Cards with the same keyword (or lack thereof) do damage simultaneously.
Some counterattacks or damage-causing defenses allow the attacker to "react to this damage." In these cases, the attacker can play an additional flex or defense card to block the new damage, paying the Rage cost as usual. If the new defense is damage-causing and allows reaction to its damage, the defender can, in turn, play another defense card, and so on. A player cannot play a counterattack when reacting.
Combat ends if:
If a shapeshifter (a character whose card has two different sides) in Breed form takes more wounds than its Health, it flips to Crinos form and combat continues. All Combat cards the player plays while the combatant is in Breed form count against the character's Crinos-form Rage.
If combat has not ended, players can play cards containing the word "Mid-Combat" or "Between Round Combat Event" one at a time, starting with the Hunter and going clockwise, until all players pass consecutively.
If a pack member killed a character, put that character in that pack's Victory Pile.
If an Enemy or Victim killed a character, remove the character from play entirely.
Any time a character is killed, put all attached cards in their owner's discard pile.
Play cards containing the word "Post-Combat" or "After Combat" one a time, going clockwise from the Hunter, until everyone passes sequentially.
Both players then discard all Combat cards whether they played them or not and return their characters to their Staging Areas after the combat (or Phase, if it is the Alpha Phase). All Rage spent in combat replenishes at the end of each combat.
Some characters have the abilities explained here.
Due to inbreeding, most Silver Fang Garou have one of these Derangements--mental instabilities that impede their normal activities:
A Garou with the Frenzy trait goes berserk if badly wounded. The damage to trigger a frenzy depends on its base Crinos or Metis Health:
| Base Health | Trigger Damage |
|---|---|
| 7+ | 3+ |
| 4-6 | 2+ |
| 1-3 | 1+ |
If a Garou takes or exceeds its Trigger Damage in wounds during a round of combat, it frenzies and draws Combat cards equal to its Frenzy number. For example, Janus, with Health 5 and Frenzy 2, might take 3 points of damage in one round. This exceeds his Trigger Damage of 2, so he frenzies and his player draws two Combat cards.
Characters with Insight have a mental advantage in combat. Before the first Combat Event, such a character's player draws additional cards equal to the character's Insight, then discards that many cards. Thus, a character with Insight: 2 lets you draw seven cards, then discard back to five.
Kailindo is the Rage characters' martial art, primarily practiced by Stargazers. Characters with the Kailindo ability have this Combat event:
Pre-Combat: For the rest of this combat, when this character uses a Combat card with a lower Rage cost than its opponent's card, this character's Rage is increased by the difference in Rage costs.
Wounds taken by a character remain until it regenerates. To set a character to regenerate, discard all attached Rites and turn the card so the paw icon faces up (this turns most cards upside-down) during the Main Phase. A character must have a paw icon and at least 1 wound at the start of the Main Phase to regenerate. Once a player makes any play other than setting a character to regenerate during the Main Phase, that player cannot set any character to regenerate for the rest of the turn.
Regenerating character have several restrictions. While regenerating, a character cannot:
A regenerating character can fight combats from Moots or other effects. If it does, turn it upright and cancel the regeneration, keeping all wounds.
Regenerating characters rotate 90 degrees clockwise each Start of Turn Phase. Once a regenerating character turns upright, remove all wounds and flip it to its Breed side, if it has one.
A character with a Sustained Rage number can always play cards
with that Rage cost or less. For example, if a character with
Sustained Rage: 2 uses up its Rage in a combat (so it has 0
available Rage), it can still use cards with Rage costs of 2 or
less. As long as the character has available Rage, such cards
still use up available Rage.
The Umbra and Battlefields are two significant locations in the Rage world.
The Umbra is a spiritual netherworld, a reflection of this world in which the intangible becomes tangible. Garou and spirits, seeing the world for what it is, can step sideways into the Umbra, and, once there, travel to different places and times. As the Wyrm grows in power and corrupts the world, the Umbra also becomes corrupt, and Garou have trouble operating. The more the Wyrm wins, the more spirits flee the area.
The state of the Umbra is quantified in 5 levels of 5 points each. A convenient, pull-out Umbra chart in the center spread of this rulebook represents the Umbra and lists its effects. When you start the game, put a marker on the "7" spot of the Umbra chart. During the game, events and card effects cause the marker to move up and down the chart, tracking the changing state of the Umbra. If the Umbra changes by "points," move the marker up or down the corresponding number of circles. If the Umbra changes by a "level," move the marker up or down 5 points. The marker cannot move off the chart. These events affect the Umbra level:
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The Umbra moves up 1 point whenever:
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The Umbra moves down 1 point whenever:
The Umbra moves down 2 points whenever:
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When you pick your alpha, you must decide if it will enter the Umbra (or enter the real world, if it is already in the Umbra). You must discard cards from your Sept deck to send your alpha from the real world to the Umbra (or vice versa). The number of cards you must discard depends on the Umbra level and that character's Gnosis:
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For example, if the Umbra level is 4, the base amount of cards you must discard to enter the Umbra is 3. But say your alpha has 5 Gnosis. This means you only need to discard 2 cards (3 - 1) to send him to the Umbra.
Put a marker on any character who goes to the Umbra; such a character remains in the Umbra until the course of play causes it to leave.
Immediately before an alpha takes its action, you can move it to or from the Umbra by discarding additional Sept cards from your Sept deck. This last-minute cost is not reduced by the character's Gnosis. Alphas in the Umbra can only attack targets in the Umbra; alphas not in the Umbra can only attack targets that are not in the Umbra.
After Moot voting in the Resolution Phase, characters who ended the previous Alpha Phase in the Umbra can return from it for free if they wish. Garou in the Umbra cannot vote in Moots.
Humans can't go to the Umbra. You do not need to discard to send a Spirit to the Umbra when it is your alpha, but you must discard to change its location right before it takes its alpha action.
Battlefields are Sept cards and are brought into play in the Hunting Grounds just like Enemies or Victims. Paragraphs that begin with "Neutral:" on a Battlefield card take effect only when the Battlefield is in the Hunting Grounds. Paragraphs starting with "Controller:" have effects only for the player who controls the Battlefield.
An alpha can attack a Battlefield as its action, either to 'conquer' the Battlefield, thereby taking control of it, or to 'liberate' it from another player and return it to the Hunting Grounds.
When a player tries to conquer a Battlefield, any of the controlling player's characters not in the Hunting Grounds can defend it. (Such characters enter the Hunting Grounds but do not remain there after combat.) If the defender is killed, if the controlling player didn't try to defend, or if no one controls the Battlefield, move the Battlefield to the Hunting Grounds if it is not already there.
The alpha fights another combat against the Battlefield's guardian. If it kills the guardian, the attacking player gains control of the Battlefield and moves it to his Staging Area.
At the end of a turn, you can "reclaim lost lands" by putting a Battlefield that you controlled for the entire turn into your Victory Pile and scoring its Renown. Other players can no longer attack it. You can only reclaim one Battlefield per turn.
Some shapeshifters are not Garou, but other werecreatures. These cards are two-sided and have foil on one side. Treat them as Garou for the purposes of everything except Moot voting: they cannot vote on Moots.
Players can put these shapeshifters into any pack at the start of the game, paying only the base Renown cost; however, you can never start a game with more Renown of alternate shapeshifters in your pack than you have Renown of Garou from your Tribe.
The moon phase at a Garou's birth. This has a great impact on the lives of shapeshifters and defines their role in Garou society. A Garou can be any one of the following:
A shapeshifter's parentage. A (non-Metis) shapeshifter has two sides: a Breed side (such as Homid or Lupus) and a Crinos side (the wolfman battle form). A Garou can be any of one of these Breeds:
The group to which a Garou is affiliated.
Join the Garou Nation! You'll get a year of newsletters, promo cards, tournament listings, chances to vote on important moots, renown gains for participating in tournaments, and more! You can also use your Teeth (values on deck and booster packages) to get neat stuff!
Important Note: Due to a printing error, booster wrappers for the first three phases do not have the Tooth icon. Save the entire wrapper; it is worth one Tooth.
Send this form, and a check or money order for $15 per subscription ($25 outside of the U.S.) to:
Garou Nation
P.O. Box 707
Renton, WA 98057.
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Name _________________________________________ Street _________________________________________ City _________________ State ______ Zip _________ Phone (________) - ___________________________ Email address ________________________________ Declared Tribe affiliation (if any): __________________ (Y/N) List me as a member of the Nation in the next directory To pay by credit card: (Mastercard/Visa) Name ___________________ Expiration date:________ Number _______________________________: |
Original Design: Mike Tinney & Stephan Wieck
Design Team: Damian Mastrangelo, Pat Donely, Mark Hensler, Luke
Peterschmidt
Developer: Luke Peterschmidt
Graphic Design: Blake Beasley
Art Direction: Richard Thomas, Aaron Voss, Larry Snelly
Story: Luke Peterschmidt, Edward Bolme, Ryan Dancey
Rulebook: Edward Bolme, Paul Timm
Editing: Jessica Beaven
Typesetting: Paul Timm
Layout: Edward Bolme
Production: Paul Timm
WotC Production: Keith Kentop, Roger Mangelson, Hans Reifenrath,
Jefferson Shelley, Tomas Wänerstrand
Brand Management: Rich Fukutaki, Ryan Dancey, Edward Bolme
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