A World of Rage
A World of Rage is a werewolf sourcebook set during the Year of Revelations that updates and brings together all the miscellaneous setting information that’s appeared in numerous supplements. Broken up into five chapters, each one covers, more or less, a separate land mass.
Each section has a bit of history on the area. Most of this material reflects not a real deep understanding of historical events, but of how history might have played itself out in the World of Darkness. Things are grim and getting grimmer but for the most part, there is hope and the seeds of hope. Each section details not only the Garou that make their home there, but also the other changing breeds. While examples of important characters are provided for most locals, no gaming stats are listed. Just as important for the GM, the foes of the shapechangers are given some snippets as well. In most cases, Pentex is one of the obvious foes, but there are many hidden and sleeping legendary monsters just awaiting to wake once again.
Chapter One is the Americas and covers Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America. For Central America, as with other large land masses, it breaks down details into individual countries. For example, Belize, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, among others, are covered here. While the amount of information is light, it is enough to give the GM some idea as to the strength of the Garou and the Wyrm within these confines.
Chapter Two Eurasia, covers Europe, and Russia. One of the interesting things about this section is the detailed account of the shape changers battle against Baba Yaga, as told from their perspective. This gives the GM enough detail that if he wanted to wing his own version of Nights of Prophecy, that he could do so with a Werewolf twist. Details on the Caerns are actually provided with game mechanics here as well which is a nice change of pace from the rest of the book.
Chapter Three, Africa and the Middle East covers Africa, which is broken down into different areas. The Middle East is an interesting read in light of more recent events and might provide the GM with some shaky ground work on which to pit his Werewolves into.
Chapter Four is India and Asia is similar to the section on Russia in that it has a shape changer perspective from another Vampire source, this time, the Week of Nightmares where an elder vampire rampaged across the land and was finally killed. GMs interested in adapting this section from Time of Thin Blood, should have an easier time if they read this section. In addition, it could provide the GM with some interesting alternatives to add Kuei-jin to his campaign if a little spice is necessary.
Chapter Five is Australia and the South Seas and includes information on New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and Antartica. As with the other sections, adventure seeds are liberally strewn throughout this section. For example, the Thing Under the Ice, the closing section for the book, provides the GM with a nice campaign setup if he wishes his group to battle a creature that took epic sacrifice to overcome, while those looking to more modern trends can fight cloned werewolves that aren’t quite right.
Like most role playing books, World of Rage is done in a two column format. Quotes, both from history and the World of Darkness, break up the text in the book. Full page illustrations break up the chapters and line drawings grace the pages to break up text. Most of the pictures are of high quality and this book won’t disappoint those who’ve enjoyed the art of Werewolf. The real lack in terms of art though, is maps. When doing a sourcebook on the world, some maps of where the Caerns are, as well as major strongholds of both mortal and supernatural creatures would be a nice thing to have.
There are some things that would’ve been nice to have in this book. The first is an index. A book this large covering so many diverse subjects needs an index. The second is more game mechanic based stats. While I appreciate White Wolf not reprinting any game mechanics or stats in this book, there are some new elements that might’ve been pushed off to the side.
Because the Werewolf line is always changing, the value of this book may vary by the time you buy it. For example, this product was done for the Year of Revelations but two years have already passed since then so some of the material, such as the perfect metis pup, may not have the impact that they once did. If you’re into knowing what other parts of the world are doing from a shapechanger point of view, this book will guide you with lots of great ideas, but few game mechanics. If you’re looking for a detail breakdown with maps and specific information, this book isn’t for you.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)