Let me first start off by saying that this review was a long time coming. I should have reviewed it months ago, but did not, for various reasons. Either way, there has been a new wrinkle to my fandom of White Wolf products. I now freelance for the Vampire line. Of course, this book is for Werewolf and I read the book with as much abjectivity as possible- I think it is appropriate to make sure everyone that reads the following review know of this caveat.
Either way, on to the review.
Rage Across Egypt is another book in a long series of "Rage Across X" books for Werewolf. Usually these setting books detail a region of the world that is of particular interest to the Garou. This book, as the title implies, is no different.
Egypt is the ancestral homeland of the Silent Striders and the focus of one of the most long-running Vampire-Werewolf wars on record. Long ago, Set (the Vampire) banished the Silent Striders from Egypt. The curse (as it is called) made it so that any Strider that stayed within the environs of Egypt be plagued by intense nightmares and daydreams- making it all but impossible to ever relax in Egypt. Moreover, regaining Gnosis for the Striders while in and around Egypt has been exceedingly difficult. For these reasons and more, the Striders despise the Vampire of Egypt, with a particular hatred towards the Followers of Set.
Years go by and the Striders are too few and too spread across the world to really mount an effective campaign to retake their homeland. Rage Across Egypt aims to change the static nature of this war.
The book itself is standard fare from White Wolf. The cover is done by none other than Ron Spencer himself. For my money, there is absolutely no better artists associated with Werewolf. He understands the differences in the Tribes, creates dynamic and interesting pictures, and has established himself as one of the higher industry standards. I really appreciate getting a Werewolf bookm with Mr Spencer's work on the front, and the pic for Rage Across Egypt is exceptionally good... to avoid going into too much detail, a Silent Strider and female companion are battling it out with Snake-like fomori guys.
The interior artwork varies from forgettable to average. None of the work inside really ever jumped out at me, but neither did it really detract from my enjoyment of the book. I will admit though, the full page artpieces thatdivide the chapters are some of the least interesting pics...
Beyond the art the book is layed out in a format that anyone familiar with a White Wolf book will recognize. The book breaks down as follows:
Prelude: "How Nephthys Lost Her Soul" A Legends of the Garou story about Nephthys. It is a nice primer and emphasizes the role she played in the fateful curse of the Silent Striders.
Introduction: "The Setting Sun" standard fare
Chapter 1: "Ancient Land" History of the Egypt region, primarily from a Garou perspective. A decent amount of info on the ancient persiods, stuff like the war of rage and the war between Horus and Set. Then we skip a few millenia and jump to 1952 and get into the recent history of the Garou in the region.
Like I mentioned above, the ancient tales revolving around Nephthys I found particular interesting. She had a hand in creating Set's Curse, making the actual process of the curse a nicely complicated affair (FWIW: I enjoy machiavellian plots)
Chapter 2: "Up From the Sands" Mundane information on Egypt. Mostly the kind of stuff you can find in a Fodor's or good atlas. Still, it is nice to have a detailed history compiled so your research time is reduced. There are a few sidenotes and comments about how history has changed the Garou of the area- especially concerning the environment. Additionally, this section also includes information on the local Caerns and the interaction with the Egyptian Umbra- which is interesting reading and probably the most engaging part of the section.
Chapter 3: "Wolves of the Desert" Non-player character write-ups. You get two or three characters per tribe, including the Stargazers and excluding the Wendigo (there are no Wendigo found in Egypt). As might be expected, there is an emphasis on the Bone Gnawers and Silent Striders.
Chapter 4: "Storytelling in Egypt" Here is the real meat-and-potatos of the book. This section details the secrets of the Egyptian Garou as well as some of the fera and other enizens of the World of Darkness. I hesitate to go into too much depth in this section for fear of getting flamed for spoiling the book. That being said...
Sufficed to say that the Bone Gnawer camp called the Eaters of the Dead are in large numbers in Egypt. There are also some issues with the Ratkin (and to a lesser extent, the other fera) in the area. Besides some interesting poltlines, you also get a couple of new rites as well as some discussion of Set's Curse.
Chapter 5: "Children of Apep" Here is the chapter on the bad guys of Egypt. There is some information on Pentex (via Endron Oil) and the Black Spiral Dancers- and to a lesser extent, on the Mages, Ratkin and Vampires of the region.
Appendix 1: "Cat and Crocodile" This chapter details the bastet and the mokole of the region. Considering the prominet role each species plays in the mythology of Egypt, it is nice to see a extra information on these two fera. Also, the relationship between the garou of Egypt and the fera is on the increase, especially with the death of Black Claw.
However, it is here that some more detail would have been especially appreciated. Do not get me wrong, i am not usually a big fan of the fera, but the growing alliance between wolf:crocodile:cat is emphasized a number of times throughout the book- and to only get one example of each seems to me a bit lacking. I would really have enjoyed a bit of history or more information on current goals and practices of the Bastet and the Mokole of Egypt.
Appendix 2: "Spirits of the Land" A nice lost of regional spirits and banes. Nothing terribly striking though.
And that, in a nutshell, is the book.
Overall Rage Across Egypt is an okay book. One of my problems with this book, and indeed, the enire series of "Rage Across X" is the redundancy of the legends and history sections. I'll be honest, chapter 2 bored me to tears until I got to the Caern and Umbra stuff (which is only about 1/3 of the section). I feel between legends and more formal history (chapter 1 and 2) we get a lot of the same information- and that room could best be used somewhere else.
Other issues- You really need Cairo by Night to get the full use of this book. Mind you, some of the plotlines in Chapter 4 are interesting and very appropriate to the Garou, but they are sub-polts. The big plot, the taking back of Egypt and the coming conflict with the Vampires is only highlighted in Chapter 3 (through the character write-ups). There really needs to be more information on this conflict- more than just they general desires and goals of the particularly influential npcs.
Now, where does Cairo By Night come into this whole morass? The thing is that there is a crucial piece of Methusaleh information that is detailed in the Vampire book and only alluded to in Rage Across Egypt. The success or failure of the war, as well as the explanation of a few of the minor plotlines all can trace back to the "big Vampire secret" that a reader of this book only gets glimpses. This is really annoying. Yes, I accept that you do not want to reprint info, but sometimes such a reprint is handy. Just like we geta reprint of general history information we can all find online or in the library, we should also get the answers to the major secrets and plotlines that affect the particular book.
Another minor quibble, and also more directed to the line than the book in particular, is that the Stargazers still feel like a part of the Garou nation. They were supposed to have left some time ago, but they are included with the rest of the Tribes and treated no differently than when they were full members. You get the same treatment in Rage Across Egypt.
The good? Well, there is the coming war plotline. I am a sucker for Vampire-Werewolf wars and this one seems to make a good deal of canonical sense- plus it is a long time coming. There is no resolution to the war, merely the prelude to it, but it is still treated with a nice sense of urgency in some parts of the book.
I also was particularly pleased with the treatment of the Egyptian Umbra. From the new spirtis to the details of the Umbral region, there is a comfortable synthesis of popular Egyptian myth and the cosmology of Werewolf.
Other than the above, the book is pretty standard. Regarding the garou, there is lots of information and npcs regarding the Silent Striders and Bone Gnawers. If you like the ratkin, there is also a nice focus on them. Generally, if you like fera/Garou stories then this setting will be quite accomodating. And of course, if you dig stories that highlight the animosity between Vampire and Werewolf then you will enjoy this book.
Oh yeah, if you like Egypt this may be a good buy as well.
In the end though, there is nothin here that is Earthshaking or particularly rivoting. This is a good book with a few flaws. Take it or leave it as you see fit.
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