There are four basic categories of cards: Tribe cards, Garou cards, Sept cards, and Combat cards. You also have a reference card. Each card holds all the required information to use it in the game.
Your Tribe card looks like the card pictured on the back of the deck box; it tells you which tribe your pack is from.
The sept draw number tells how many cards you draw during the Sept Draw Phase. Your tribe fury determined the order you play in a turn.
All cards also have a text area towards the bottom. This text area tells you about the card. For your tribe card, the text area grants your pack the abilities of your parent tribe.
Garou are character cards, your forces. Renown is the character's fame. Rage is their combat ability; Gnosis their spiritual power. Health is how touch they are. Keywords give information about the character, and the text box 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 not, the character is a deformed metis creature. The type indicator tells you what sort of creature this is. This may be a word (Ally, Enemy) or an abbreviation that tells the character's breed (e.g., "Lu" stands for a lupus breed werewolf).
Sept cards all have "Sept" on the back.
Allies, Enemies, and Victims are also characters. Allies become members of your pack, while Enemies and Victims are placed in the Hunting Grounds for you to hunt down and kill.
Gifts, shown here, are cards that strengthen your characters. They are special skills the character learns from a spirit, and are essential to your Garou's survival. The Gnosis cost tells how much of your chracter's Gnosis capacity the card uses. The text box tells you what it does, and a few gifts use the keyword area at the card bottom.
Characters may never have two copies of the same Gift card. Unless stated otherwise, only Garou may have Gifts.
Rites are cards that represent mystical activities your characters perform. Most do not take effect immediately; you must wait a few turns before they are finished.
Rites must be brought into play attached to a certain character, and require that the character have enough Gnosis free to perform the Rite. When a Rite is completed, detach it from your character and leave it, separate, in your staging area.
Rites have a Gnosis cost, because they take concentration.
The text box tells you what the Rite does, and the paw print icon shows you how long it takes to complete the Rite.
Equipment cards are gear. They have a Gnosis cost, keywords, and a text box. Characters may never have two copies of the same Equipment card.
Attached cards may be placed in a "T" around a character. Beginning players should have the text box of the Gift and Equipment cards visible; advanced players may wish to show the art. By arranging the cards as shown, this title and Gnosis cost of all cards is visible.
Totems are cards that remain in play for a long time (you hope). They represent a sort of 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 both help and restrict your activities. You may never have more than one Totem in play at a time.
Totems have only a text box.
Events are cards that do not stay in play longer than one turn. You must choose one pack member to 'play' each Event card you play during a turn.
Many events are resolved immediately. Others have a lasting effect; these have the words "Long Event" in their keyword area. As usual, the Event's effects are in its text box.
You may 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 a turn, as long as a different target is chosen each time.
Moots represent motions or issues that are voted on during the turn. You must choose one Garou from your pack to call each Moot card you play during a turn. That character must be a Garou, and must vote for that Moot to pass during the Resolution Phase.
A Garou can only call one Moot per turn.
As you might expect by now, Moots also have keywords and a text box.
These all have the word "Combat" on the back. There are two types.
Combat Events look more or less like Event cards, but appear in your combat deck. They are cards that can change the course of a fight.
Combat Actions are the strikes, blocks, and other maneuvers your characters use to win a fight.
The moon icons are used during deck building. Damage is how much pain they inflict, and block is how much damage they protect against. The Rage cost is how much of your character's energy the action uses.
Combat cards also have a card type, keywords and a text box.
Choose the Renown level for the game. 20 Renown is an average game. If you want a short game, start at 15 Renown; for long games, choose 25 Renown.
Choose your Tribe card. Once tribes are chosen, players sit clockwise in the order of their tribe's fury (found on the Tribe card). If two players have tied fury, decide the order of those two players randomly. The player that wins the tie is considered to have a higher tribe fury than the other for the rest of the game.
Next choose your starting Garou. You may choose members of your tribe, tribe friendly Garou, and members of cohort tribes. The total Renown of your starting Garou cannot be greater than the Renown level of the game. Garou from cohort tribes cost extra Renown as given on your Tribe card. You may not have more than one copy of any Garou (although, as with tribes, more than one player may have a given Garou).
Choose the cards for your Sept deck. You must have at least 30 cards total, and no more than 3 of any card.
Building your Combat deck is a little more tricky. You must have at least 20 cards in your deck, and no more than 2 of any card. Furthermore, you must have an equal number of new moon and full moon cards in your Combat deck.
The center of the table is the Hunting Grounds. Enemies and Victims go here, waiting to be killed, and your alphas go here when they're on the hunt.
Your staging area is in front of you. Here you keep your characters, decks, discard piles, and Victory Pile. Your discards and Victory Pile are open for examination by all players. Players may not change the order of cards in discard or Victory Piles.
Place your starting Garou cards in your staging area with the breed (non-Crinos) side face up. Shuffle your decks, and allow your opponents to cut them.
Card text overrides printed rules. Except: A single player may never control both Hunter and Prey (see Combat).
A card that modifies another card (such as a Gift) has no effect until the Phase after the one in which it was payed. Similarly, you may only use Main actions or Combat Events on a card if it was already in play at the start of the phase.
Garou may not have negative Rage. If an effect causes a Garou to lose more Rage than it has, it is reduced to 0 Rage.
If two cards have timing conflicts, both cards take effect if possible, in the order played. If 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 one that does the same. Dave's card, played first, takes effect first, and his alpha action is moved to the start of the order. Then Sarah's card does the same thing, so the order for alpha actions ends up Sarah, then Dave, then everybody else. If both players had played cards that let them take an action "before anybody else", Dave's card would be canceled, and Sarah's would take effect.
Some Sept cards (Gifts, Equipment, and Rites) must be attached to a character. To do this, place the card beneath and to the side fo the character. The title and card text should be visible (experienced players may display the art instead).
Most attached cards have a Gnosis cost; they "take up space", if you will. The total Gnosis cost of all attached cards may not exceed the character's total Gnosis (as modified by cards and effects). If a character's total Gnosis is reduced below the total Gnosis cost of all attached cards, all attached cards are discarded. On the other hand, if a character loses an attached card, the Gnosis it required is freed, and the character may take on new cards.
Some attached cards have other requirements, as well, noted by the foldfaced word "Requires" in the text area. The character must have traits matching the card's requirements. The only oddity is Breed; even if your shapeshifter is stuck in Crinos, you may attach cards whose only requirement is that the character be of a certain breed (the abbreviation for the character's breed is found in the upper left-hand corner of the card).
Once a card is attached to a character, it remains attached. Cards may not be moved without card effects. Also, if a character loses whatever traits the given card required, that card remains attached to the character anyway.
Cards that aren't attached to a character may have requirements, too (e.g., Allies, and Events). To play these, you must have a character in your pack that matches the card's requirements (even if regenerating).
Some combat cards have the word "Benefit:" on them.Any combatant may play these, but if played by a character that does not meet the requirements that follow in parentheses, the text box is treated as empty, and any "X" is 1.
Discards always go to the owner's pile.
You may be forced to discard cards from either your hand or your deck. If the type of discard is not specified, it always comes from your hand.
Many effects require a player to discard all Combat cards of a certain Rage cost; "Discard all Rage 1 cards" for example. If, later in that combat, a player draws a card of the sort that was discarded, that card must be shown to all players.
There is no effect for having no cards in your Sept deck. If you have no Sept deck, effects that force you to discard from your deck are automatically fulfilled. However, you cannot perform an effect in which you voluntarily discard a card from your Sept deck.
You may not discard a card in play without use of a game rule or effect.
A card with a "xxx" keyword is a "xxx" card, and is affected by things that refer to "xxx" cards. Any action by a "xxx" card is a "xxx" action. Thus, an action of 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 would also be a character card, a Garou card, and a homid card (if that were her breed).
Each turn of RAGE goes through the following phases, in order:
Each of the phases is explained here. Details on certain activities can be found in the appropriate sections.
All non-active Rites and regenerating Garou advance one 90° turn clockwise. Remove all wounds from regenerating Garou that just turned right side up. A Rite does not advance if the Garou performing the Rite entered a combat or the Hunting Grounds at any time during the last turn. Rites that turn right side up are detached from the Garou, placed in your staging area, and are active.
All players draw from their Sept deck until the number of cards in their hand equals the sept draw number given on their Tribe card. If a player has more cards in his hand than his tribe's sept draw number, he must discard cards from his hand until it equals his sept draw number.
If a player has no cards left in her Sept deck, that player draws no cards. If all players have no cards remaining in their Sept deck, the Renown level of the game drops by one, permanently (this effect is cumulative 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 moving clockwise around the table, each player makes one play in turn. There are four plays you may take during this phase.
Set a pack member to regenerate.
Rotate a wounded character so the paw print is upward. Characters
without paw prints may not regenerate. Once you make a play other
than setting a character to regenerate, you may not set any
further 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 enhance your pack; they are not characters. A pack may only have one Totem in play at a time.
Victims and Enemies are played in the Hunting Grounds, where they can be hunted by any player.
Events are played on the table, and discarded when their effect is complete. Choose one of your characters to perform each Event when it is played. A player or character may not be targeted by a given Event more than once a turn.
Moots are played on a Garou, and are a motion for a vote amongst the Garou community. The Garou on whom the Moot is played "calls" the moot. A Garou may only call one Moot per turn. Moots are not resolved immediately; they are voted on in the Resolution Phase.
Gifts and Equipment are attached to characters. The character must meet the card's requirements. These cards "fill up" some of a character's available Gnosis.
Rites area attached to Garou. Like Gifts and Equipment, they require available Gnosis. Each Rite has a paw print on one of the edges of the card. When you play a Rite, put it adjacent and below the Garou who is performing it, with the paw print side upward (for most cards, this turns them upside down). A Rite that is not right side up is considered "in progress". They become "active" when the card 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, the Rite stays in play even if the Garou who conducted the Rite is killed. A Garou may only have one Rite in progress at a time.
Use a Main action on a card.
Main actions are abilities on a Gift,
Equipment, face-up side of a Garou, etc., specifically labeled
"Main:" in the text box. To use a Main
action, that card must have been in play before the start of this
phase. Each Main actino on a card may only be used once per Main
Phase unless otherwise stated. Playing a Sept card, setting a
Garou to regenerate, and passign are not considered Main actions;
they are plays you can make during this phase.
Pass and do nothing.
You may still take a Main action later in the phase. When all
players pass sequentially, the Main Phase ends.
During this phase, players play Moot Events, vote on Moots, and pick their alphas for the turn.
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 the Moot is voted on.
Only Garou may vote in Moots (spirits and Allies may not), and only if they are not currently set to regenerate. Each Garou has votes equal to its Renown, and can only vote on one Moot a turn.
Voting starts with the Garou who called the Moot, who must vote for the Moot if possible. Thus, the Garou usually cannot vote on another Moot this turn.
The chance to vote then moves clockwise around the table. When a player has the option to vote, she may:
Players that pass may no longer vote on the current Moot. Voting on each Moot continues until all players have passed. If there are more votes for than against, the Moot 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.
Moot Events are Event cards with "Moot Event" as a keyword. These cards say when they can be played, and players play them in clockwise order, starting with the player who called the Moots. As in the Main phase, players play one Moot Event at a time until everyone passes consecutively.
Once all Moots are completed, players pick their alphas. Start with the player to the left of the last player to make a play during the Main Phase and go clockwise. Each player picks a pack member as their pack's alpha and places it in the Hunting Grounds. As you pick your alpha, you may 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 an alpha. If effects eliminate all of a player's choices, that player still chooses, ignoring all effects.
If you have no characters, you are removed from the game (other players still get Renown from your cards in their Victory Piles). You may still win the game. If all players are removed in this way, the player with the most Renown in his or her Victory Pile wins.
During this phase, each pack's alpha may try to kill something.
Each alpha gets one alpha action. The alpha with the highest Renown takes the first action, and other players follow in order of Renown. In case of a tie, the alpha with the highest tribe fury goes first.
There are four alpha actions.
Declare an attack on a character in the Hunting Grounds. This may not be refused; combat begins immediately.
Challenge a pack member not in the Hunting Grounds. The challenged player may refuse at no penalty. If accepted, the challenged character enters the Hunting Grounds and fights a combat with the challenging alpha. The challenged player can shift the challenged character to Crinos form by discarding a Sept card from eithe rher hand or the top of her Sept deck. Combat begins. After the combat, the challenged pack member stays in the Hunting Grounds, but does not get an alpha action.
Attack a Victim or Enemy in the Hunting Grounds. Combat begins immediately. Someone other than the alpha's player must fight as the Enemy or Victim. The other players decide amongst themselves who will fight as the Enemy; if they can't agree, decide randomly. Generally, the player with the least to gain by the Enemy's death should defend for it.
Wuss out. The alpha does nothing.
When all alphas have taken their action, the phase ends.
Pack members in the Hunting Grounds return to their staging ara. Enemies and Victims stay in the Hunting Grounds.
All Garou flip to their breed form side. If a character has taken damage equal to or higher than its breed form Health, that character remains in Crinos form, and may not use any ability printed exclusively on their breed side.
Discard all "long effect" cards in play.
Play then continues with a new turn.
If, at any time, a player has cards in his or her 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 zero Renown when in a player's Victory Pile.
If two players are both over the Renown level, the player with the highest Renown total wins. If both players are tied and above the Renown level, play continues until one of them has killed more Renown than the other (or until a third player gains enough to pass them both). It is possible for a player with no characters to win the game.
Once a player wins, return all cards to their owners.
Combat is central to a game of RAGE. This is where you weaken your foes, destroy servants of the Wyrm, and prove yourself worthy of being the alpha pack of the Garou Nation.
There are several types of combat cards: attacks, defenses, counterattacks, flexes, and combat events.
Attacks do damage; they are played when you have intiative. 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 either an attack or defense. When played as an attack, it is treated as an attack and you use only the damage number. When played as a defense, it is treated as a defense and you use only the block.
Counterattacks do damage to the combatant with initiative; they are played when your opponent has initiative. If they have both damage and block numbers, use both numbers.
Some combat cards have Damage Effects. These cards must do damage to have their effects work. If no damage is done, ignore the effect.
Some combat cards have Benefits. Benefits only apply for combatants who meet the requirements in parentheses.
Combat events are played between combat rounds, and affect the combat.
Combat follows these steps:
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 the combat is caused by an effect (an Event card, for example), the effect will determine who is Hunter and Prey.
Second, all combats happen in the Hunting Grounds. If a combatant comes directly from a pack's staging area, its player may switch it into Crinos form by discarding a Sept card either from his or her hand or the top of the deck.
Third, each player draws 5 cards from their Combat deck. If the Combat deck runs out, reshuffle the combat discards and make a new Combat deck.
Starting with the Hunter and going clockwise, players play one Combat Event at a time. Cards with Combat Events may only use those events once a combat.
Combat Events are labeled In and/or Out. In events may only be used if that card is (or is attached to) the Hunter or the Prey. Those labeled Out may only be done if that player or card is not in the current combat. Those labeled In/Out can be played in either case.
When all players pass consecutively, go to the next step.
Some cards specify who has initiative. If nothing is specified, the Hunter gets the initiative in the first round. In subsequent rounds, Initiative goes to the player who didn't have Initiative the previous round.
The player with the initiative either picks an attack Combat card or passes. If the player with initiative passes, the combat round ends; skip forward to playing Between Round Combat Events. If both combatants pass on attacks in successive rounds, combat ends.
The other player picks a defense or counterattack combat card, or else no card at all. Players who pick no card have a base block number of zero.
Simultaneously, both players reveal their picked Combat cards. Both players subtract the Rage cost of their Combat card from their combatant's Rage. Players may not play Combat cards of higher Rage than they can pay for.
If a player is forced to play an ineligible card, the card is assumed to have a damage or block number of zero. That Garou must still pay the Rage cost of the card. If the Garou does not have enough Rage, pay all available Rage. (In friendly games, if a player accidentally plays the wrong type of combat card, his opponent may choose to have both players pick new cards and replay the round.)
Some cards may have timing conflicts; if they do, resolve the lowest Rage cost combat card first. If both cards are the same Rage cost, resolve the card played by the player with the initiative first.
Compare the attack card's damage number with the defense card's block.
If the damage is higher than the block, the defender takes a number of wounds equal to the difference. Mark damage by placing markers on the wounded character, then apply damage effects.
If the block is equal or higher, 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 as a result of this damage, check to see if either combat card has the keywords "fast" or "slow". A fast card does damage before a card with no such keyword; a slow card does its damage after a card with no such keyword. Cards with the same keyword (or the same lack of a keyword) do damage simultaneously.
Some defenses or counterattacks allow the other combatant to "react to the damage". The player whose combatant is about to take the damage may choose and play an additional flex or defense card to defend against this new damage. Pay for the Rage cost of those cards as usual. A player may not play a counterattack when reacting to damage.
Combat ends if:
If a combatant takes more wounds than its breed-form health, and it can flip to Crinos form, it does so immediately, and combat continues. All Combat cards played while in the breed form count against the character's Crinos form Rage.
If combat has not ended, players may play Between Round Combat Events 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, that character is removed from play and has no more effect on the game.
Any time a character is killed, put all attached cards in their owner's discard.
Play After Combat Events one at a time, starting with the Hunter and going clockwise, until all players pass consecutively.
Both players discard all Combat cards they played or that remain in their hands. All Rage spent on Combat cards replenishes at the end of each combat.
Damage taken by a character remains on it until that character regenerates. To set a Garou (or other pack member) to regenerate during the Main phase, turn the Garou so that the paw icon on the Garou is facing up (this turns most Garou upside down).
A Garou must have at least one wound at the start of the Main Phase to be eligible to regenerate. Characters without a paw icon may not regenerate.
During the Main Phase, once a player has taken any play other than setting a Garou to regenerate, that player may not set any Garou to regenerate for the rest of the turn.
When a Garou is set to regenerate, discard any Rites attached to the Garou.
While regenerating, Garou may not:
The Garou may fight combats from Moots or other effects. If he does, turn him upright and cancel the regeneration.
Regenerating Garou rotate 90° clockwise each Start of Turn Phase. When it is again upright, remove all wounds and flip the character to its breed side.
Some shapechangers are not Garou, but other werecreatures. These are readily identified because they are two-sided cards with foil on them.
These shapechangers may be put into any pack at the start of the game, paying only the base Renown cost. However, you may never start a game with more Renown of alternate shapechangers in your pack than you have Renown of Garou from your own tribe.
Non-Garou shapechangers may not vote on Moots.
This is the moon phase under which the character was born. This has a great impact on the life of shapeshifters, and defines their role in Garou society.
This is the Garou's parentage.