Some of the fan reaction following the Azrael announcement of support for Rage, including responses by Azrael alpha Allen Divers (aka Cybertreader) and Stones River Septmates Howls-Like-Chinook, Fenris Lorsrai, and Dances With Shadows.
Here's your short list of facts, though (dig into the emails below for more details):
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 09:23:30 CDT From: Matthew Burack (mrburack@hotmail.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: Re: rageinfo Digest for 27 Jul 2000 >**************************** >PRESS RELEASE: JULY 27, 2000 >**************************** > >AZRAEL PRODUCTIONS TO SUPPORT CARD GAMES BASED ON WHITE WOLF's WEREWOLF: >THE APOCALYPSE This is one of the best and biggest pieces of info we've heard in a long time! Way to go, and big thanks to everyone at Azrael who made it happen! That said, it's good news but . . . What does this mean for all the work Matt Farney and I, among others, have done? Azrael will be taking over the tournament sanctioning and ranking? Will we lose our newly-granted right to make "official" cards as tournament prizes? Etc. Did Azrael get the rights to the games, or just the rights to support the games? Will they be printing expansions, etc? I presume the Garou Nation will be an official organization again, so what will the benefits of membership be? Do those of us that were already GN members still have membership, or does FRPG's "buy out" (Anyone get the full package yet?) mean we have to resub? What exactly is Azrael's plan, how do we, the active Garou Nation Members fit into it, and when can we expect to see some tangible effects. How can we help, and what can we do to make our voices heard in the new process?
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 12:44:07 -0400 From: Hida Okami (alphagarou@lycos.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: Re: rageinfo Digest for 27 Jul 2000 On Fri, 28 Jul 2000 09:23:30 Matthew Burack wrote: >What does this mean for all the work Matt Farney and I, among others, have done? Azrael will be taking over the tournament sanctioning and ranking? Will we lose our newly-granted right to make "official" cards as tournament prizes? Etc. Well, I'm not the spokesperson or anything like that, but as Alan, Dances, and Fenris are currently unavailable for comment, I'll try to answer this. I think I *can* safely answer that Azrael realizes that the fans are what keeps the game alive, and I think you will see Azrael working more closely with the fans than any previous company that's done Rage. I'm not privy to any specifics, but you can be sure that the fans will play a greater role than ever. >Did Azrael get the rights to the games, or just the rights to support the games? Will they be printing expansions, etc? No word on expansions, but to the best of my understanding, Azrael has taken over support of WWRage and RALV. I think everyone agrres that there isn't going to be a "third Rage", rather we want to keep the two already great games alive. >I presume the Garou Nation will be an official organization again, so what will the benefits of membership be? Again, no word yet on this. Just in my own opinion, I think a well-run fan club will go a long way to keeping the game strong and healthy. Allen, when you read this, I would be glad to serve as the coordinator for a new Garou Nation, if you decide to revive it (and I think it would be a great idea). >What exactly is Azrael's plan, how do we, the active Garou Nation Members fit into it, and when can we expect to see some tangible effects. Allen is away for the weekend, and Dances' computer is currently on the fritz, so we'll have to wait for Allen's return for any official word on any of this. Suffice to say that yes, there *is* a plan, it is going forward, and I think the fans will play a bigger role than ever. >How can we help, and what can we do to make our voices heard in the new process? I'm asking myself the same thing, working to find my role in this new endeavor. The list will always be the best forum for making your voice heard, but if you have a particular talent or experience that you can lend to Rage, let Allen know. I'll be honest with all of you. I was in the depths of Harano - I gave everything I could to this game, and it apparently wasn't enough. I had expectations that were unfulfilled, I wasn't given what I needed to do what I could, and it all got very discouraging. Allen pulled me out of that Harano and gave me something to care about and look forward to. I see good things on the road ahead. Regards, Shaun Scott aka Howls-Like-Chinook Stones River Sept
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 18:41:59 -0500 From: Allen Divers (allen@azraelproductions.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: Azrael Answers >AZRAEL PRODUCTIONS TO SUPPORT CARD GAMES BASED ON WHITE > WOLF's WEREWOLF: > >THE APOCALYPSE > > This is one of the best and biggest pieces of info we've > heard in a long > time! Way to go, and big thanks to everyone at Azrael who > made it happen! Thanks :-) The big one to thank though is Dances With Shadows. He's the one that pitched the initial idea to me about supporting Rage. > That said, it's good news but . . . > What does this mean for all the work Matt Farney and I, among > others, have > done? Azrael will be taking over the tournament sanctioning > and ranking? We're not here to override the efforts of those of you on this list, and those in the community that have gone out of your way to keep Rage alive. In fact, we're looking at building off of what a lot of you have done, giving proper credit where due. Matt Farney has been part of the revision process and we have asked him to stay on as the netrep for RALV. What Matt didn't know was our plan to support both games as separate games. We kept that under wraps in case of problems on getting to support both. > Will we lose our newly-granted right to make "official" cards > as tournament prizes? Etc. This will change. And I'll get more into how this will change in the next week. We're still dealing with a few loose ends as we gather the materials from White Wolf and Wizards. > Did Azrael get the rights to the games, or just the rights to > support the games? Will they be printing expansions, etc? Our current licensing states Azrael Productions has the right to promote and support both versions of the Rage card game. We will be responsible for all previous expansions. We have reserved the right to print the expansions. Now, the reason we have reserved it and not outright purchased it is simple... money. All of you on this list saw Steve Wieck's answers to why its not viable to print Rage. We've got a lot of trust to build back up in the community and with the distributors and retailers that will carry and sell and eventually buy new product. We do have the right to create promotional cards, so we're looking at creating small promo sets. > I presume the Garou Nation will be an official organization > again, so what will the benefits of membership be? Do those of us that were > already GN members still have membership, or does FRPG's "buy out" > (Anyone get the full package yet?) mean we have to resub? > What exactly is Azrael's plan, how do we, the active Garou > Nation Members fit into it, and when can we expect to see some tangible > effects. It is our intention to continue the Garou Nation. We're still working on the exact details on memberships, benefits and so on. Because many on this list still feel burned on joining and getting no benefits, we're treading very carefully on how we handle this. > How can we help, and what can we do to make our voices heard > in the new process? How you all can help is simple. Tell us what you want and let us know when things aren't quite right. We're looking for strong feedback. I'll be upfront and say this. I'm not going to make you any promises. I'm also going to tell you, I'm willing to hear what you have to say. Dances and I have already begun the process of building our plan. In the next week, we'll be letting you know more of what's going on. I'm planning to write a monthly column on Azrael-Online (blatant plug) on the process as we rebuild. I'll be monitoring the various list serves listening for feedback. Our website will also continue to grow as we add support items. I'm currently on the road, and checking email from a laptop, so I'll try to answer questions as quickly as I can. thanks, Allen
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 18:53:30 -0500 From: Allen Divers (allen@azraelproductions.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: RE: rageinfo Digest for 27 Jul 2000 > >What does this mean for all the work Matt Farney and I, > among others, have done? Azrael will be taking over the > tournament sanctioning and ranking? Will we lose our > newly-granted right to make "official" cards as tournament > prizes? Etc. > > Well, I'm not the spokesperson or anything like that, but as > Alan, Dances, and Fenris are currently unavailable for > comment, I'll try to answer this. I think I *can* safely > answer that Azrael realizes that the fans are what keeps the > game alive, and I think you will see Azrael working more > closely with the fans than any previous company that's done > Rage. I'm not privy to any specifics, but you can be sure > that the fans will play a greater role than ever. > Our goal is to keep the community active in the development of RALV. This includes the reward of storyline cards and the inclusion of major tournament winners in future expansions. I'm a big fan of storyline related games and the influence potential from the player's that actual play the game. > >Did Azrael get the rights to the games, or just the rights > to support the games? Will they be printing expansions, etc? > > No word on expansions, but to the best of my understanding, > Azrael has taken over support of WWRage and RALV. I think > everyone agrres that there isn't going to be a "third Rage", > rather we want to keep the two already great games alive. > The eventual goal will be to print new expansions for both flavors of Rage. And to reiterate, no 3rd edition, no conversion and no combination of the two games. We do have plans to have unofficial conversion documents for fun non-sanctioned tournaments, but we plan to carry both games to their full potentials. > >I presume the Garou Nation will be an official organization > again, so what will the benefits of membership be? > > Again, no word yet on this. Just in my own opinion, I think > a well-run fan club will go a long way to keeping the game > strong and healthy. Allen, when you read this, I would be > glad to serve as the coordinator for a new Garou Nation, if > you decide to revive it (and I think it would be a great idea). > hehe... we'll talk :-) > >What exactly is Azrael's plan, how do we, the active Garou > Nation Members fit into it, and when can we expect to see > some tangible effects. > > Allen is away for the weekend, and Dances' computer is > currently on the fritz, so we'll have to wait for Allen's > return for any official word on any of this. Suffice to say > that yes, there *is* a plan, it is going forward, and I think > the fans will play a bigger role than ever. > When will you see tangible effects? Hopefully as soon as possible. > >How can we help, and what can we do to make our voices heard > in the new process? > > I'm asking myself the same thing, working to find my role in > this new endeavor. The list will always be the best forum > for making your voice heard, but if you have a particular > talent or experience that you can lend to Rage, let Allen know. > > I'll be honest with all of you. I was in the depths of > Harano - I gave everything I could to this game, and it > apparently wasn't enough. I had expectations that were > unfulfilled, I wasn't given what I needed to do what I could, > and it all got very discouraging. Allen pulled me out of > that Harano and gave me something to care about and look > forward to. I see good things on the road ahead. > And we're hoping to keep that feeling going. thanks! Allen
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 11:37:05 -0400 From: Fenris Lorsrai (fenris42@juno.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: Re: rageinfo Digest for 27 Jul 2000 > > winners in future expansions. I'm a big fan of > > storyline related games and > > the influence potential from the player's that > > actual play the game. > > yes yes yes yes yes!!! would anyone who ran a storyline tournament PLEASE, PLEASE contact Me, dances, Allen or Howls-Like-Chinook with the info on it? if possible we'd like to honor FRPG promises for storyline tournaments, but they don't appear to have kept very good record of it. if you ran an officially sanctioned storyline tourney, please turn in the info of when it was and what the story was. > > When will you see tangible effects? Hopefully as > > soon as possible. > > uhm, "ASAP"...does that mean before the end of this > year, or wait till after new years (just personal > curiousity as to when my wallet loses weight)? Well the new Azrael Rage page has gone up, which is DAMN sight faster than the updates for any of the previous official rage pages. Not quite tangible, but certainly a step in the right direction. The design team has been arguing back and forth about how to demonstrate that there is progress going on despite the lack of actual physical cards. Ideas have ranged from a weekly solicititation of fan input on certain design issues (along the lines of "change this or leave it alone" in the reprint) to Allen's behind the scenes on Rage design article. Physical cards will be awhile coming as this requires pouring over the existing cards to clean up all the errata we can find AND pouring over the unprinted material and deciding what to do with it. For more immediate effects, expect new versions of the rules books for both games with words cleaned up and clarifications made as necessary. Any planned mechanics changes will probably make it into the revision of the rules books so people can try them out BEFORE the new cards hit print and make their voices heard as to whether we just confused the issue, don't like the new mechanic, or think it would work just a little bit better "this way". Talk is still going on about what to do about Garou Nation. At last check, we were trying to acquire the membership lists from FRPG so we could send a letter of invitation to all the old members. As to what GN members get, the talks just as varied. All sorts of ideas have been flying from the standard t-shirts to nifty GN patches (stick 'em anywhere and no sizing required) to god knows what next. First things first, get the names. Tournament support is also up in the air as the ranking structure needs to be hammered out as well as how to handle prize support and storyline tournies. No changes will be made to the esisting structure until AFTER GenCon. People have been working too hard on decks for that tourney to go changing the rules and suport structure now. As to the subject of what can fans do to support the game, please, please, please, turn your attention to your long neglected webpages and clean them up. As part of the stuff I was doing for my site (look for my fan site next week) I did a websearch for all the extant sites I could find and far too many of them have broken links, missing pages, java scripts that jam, missing graphics, you name it. If you have a site, please clean it up and update it. Azrael's kind of hewing and hawing about whether to link to many of the fan site because they are in such poor condition that they seem in danger of imminent collapse! There are notable exceptions that are well maintained, but all too many are MIA or on their last legs. Take pride in the maintenence of your bawn! Fenris Lorsrai
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 12:02:22 -0500 From: Rook (raven9864@mindspring.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: Re: rageinfo Digest for 27 Jul 2000 >> > winners in future expansions. I'm a big fan of >> > storyline related games and >> > the influence potential from the player's that >> > actual play the game. >> >> yes yes yes yes yes!!! > >would anyone who ran a storyline tournament PLEASE, PLEASE contact Me, >dances, Allen or Howls-Like-Chinook with the info on it? if possible >we'd like to honor FRPG promises for storyline tournaments, but they >don't appear to have kept very good record of it. if you ran an >officially sanctioned storyline tourney, please turn in the info of when >it was and what the story was. The only other sanctioned storyline tourney that I know of was Regis Wallace's affair in Pittsburgh besides the first SRC. If there were any, please send that info to me asap. > >> > When will you see tangible effects? Hopefully as >> > soon as possible. >> >> uhm, "ASAP"...does that mean before the end of this >> year, or wait till after new years (just personal >> curiousity as to when my wallet loses weight)? >Well the new Azrael Rage page has gone up, which is DAMN sight faster >than the updates for any of the previous official rage pages. Not quite >tangible, but certainly a step in the right direction. The design team >has been arguing back and forth about how to demonstrate that there is >progress going on despite the lack of actual physical cards. Ideas have >ranged from a weekly solicititation of fan input on certain design issues > (along the lines of "change this or leave it alone" in the reprint) to >Allen's behind the scenes on Rage design article. Please keep in mind, we are not looking for new mechanics, compatability/conversion stuff, card ideas, etc. *at this time*. We desire and need as much input from the fan community as possible, but we are taking things from a 'first things first" standpoint. This includes cleaning up rules, fan club organization, and tourney system standings. New stuff, with as much as possible from the fans, will come in the months ahead. >Physical cards will be awhile coming as this requires pouring over the >existing cards to clean up all the errata we can find AND pouring over >the unprinted material and deciding what to do with it. For more >immediate effects, expect new versions of the rules books for both games >with words cleaned up and clarifications made as necessary. Any planned >mechanics changes will probably make it into the revision of the rules >books so people can try them out BEFORE the new cards hit print and make >their voices heard as to whether we just confused the issue, don't like >the new mechanic, or think it would work just a little bit better "this >way". New rules books are at the top of our priority list. >Talk is still going on about what to do about Garou Nation. At last >check, we were trying to acquire the membership lists from FRPG so we >could send a letter of invitation to all the old members. As to what GN >members get, the talks just as varied. All sorts of ideas have been >flying from the standard t-shirts to nifty GN patches (stick 'em anywhere >and no sizing required) to god knows what next. First things first, get >the names. The Garou nation will indeed live on. >Tournament support is also up in the air as the ranking structure needs >to be hammered out as well as how to handle prize support and storyline >tournies. No changes will be made to the esisting structure until AFTER >GenCon. People have been working too hard on decks for that tourney to >go changing the rules and suport structure now. > >As to the subject of what can fans do to support the game, please, >please, please, turn your attention to your long neglected webpages and >clean them up. As part of the stuff I was doing for my site (look for my >fan site next week) I did a websearch for all the extant sites I could >find and far too many of them have broken links, missing pages, java >scripts that jam, missing graphics, you name it. If you have a site, >please clean it up and update it. Azrael's kind of hewing and hawing >about whether to link to many of the fan site because they are in such >poor condition that they seem in danger of imminent collapse! One of the things being discussed is the possibility of having fan-supported sites, tribal in nature, being linked to us as "official sites". This is only being discussed for now. I was involved in the previous attempt on FRPG's behalf to do soemthing along these lines before, as some of you may remember. Some efforts by fans to raise sites along this line of thinking were great, while some got good starts only to fall dry. Still further, little was shown on the list in the way of acutal opinion towards what folks were trying to do. In short, we want to know who out here would like to contribute to this idea, and has the dedication to upkeeping a site to be linked to the main site as an official tribal site. Bete sites such as Little Bear's and The Nuwisha page are considered "tribal" in this regard. Those interested, let me know. Dances With Shadows Alpha, Stones River Sept Head of Marketing, Rage CCG
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 00:14:58 -0500 From: Rook (raven9864@mindspring.com) To: rageinfo@frpg.com Subject: State of the Garou Nation Greetings, Dances here. Just wanted to formally greet all of you folks here, and say thanks for the support you all have shown Rage. Here is a little of what you can expect in the days to come: First off, bear with us. We have the rights to both games, but are not quite ready to just sling out new product. What we are shooting for first is support. new rules books, a tourney system, and a fan club are first order. We do not have deadlines for these at this time, but we are already working on them. Next, if you have any questions-just ask. I am monitoring all the lists, ours and FRPG's and will answer any questions you have to the best of my ability as soon as possible. Dances With Shadows Alpha, Stones River Sept Head of Marketing, Rage CCG Azrael Productions,http://azraelproductions.com "The time is NOW!"
Caern of the Screaming Electrons | The Screamsheets | email Lurks-Between-Bytes