Revised Review: Nerd Rage Games – War Rage


Product Name: War Rage
Publisher: Nerd Rage Games
Author: Richard Green, Nicholas Huth, BJ Lewis, Zachariah Stevenovich
System: Rage Series
Setting: War Rage
Series:
Theme: Modern Action, Modern Warfare, Naval Combat, Aerial Combat
Type: Core
Link: http://nerdragegames.webs.com/

War Rage is the Modern Action core module for the Rage Series. As part of the recent “reboot”, War Rage has been not only revised but drastically expanded upon. The core mechanics have not deviated from their solid design but a whole new world has been opened up with the system, literally. There are some new core mechanics added, but the majority of the reboot is an enhancement and revision. This review is to highlight the additions to the content and note the ratings considering the product’s revisions. You can read the standard review here.

CHARACTER CREATION

Character creation has been expanded with the addition of a few new professions. This is a solid addition to War Rage as the original version was fairly limited in its options. Not much else has changed here besides the layout and presentation.

VEHICLE COMBAT

Armored vehicles are a big part of (or potentially a big part of) the War Rage setting. A new section has been created dedicated to creating the mechanics for vehicular combat (this includes land and air). These new mechanics include engine damage, hit-location charts, critical hits, and critical fumbles. These mechanics also a brief look at movement and weapon sight.

SHIP COMBAT

Along with armored vehicle combat comes ship combat (naval vessels). A full section has been created to bring about mechanics for ship combat. These new mechanics include ramming, weapon range, weapon damage, firing arcs, submarines and critical hits and fumbles.

NAVAL VESSELS

The naval vessels section has been significantly expanded and revised. The revisions are primarily layout and presentation while the listing of naval vessels is much longer than before giving a whole-world look at possible ships. This section also includes full mechanics for new vessel construction.

ATMOSPHERIC AIRCRAFT

The atmospheric aircraft section has been slightly expanded and revised. The revisions are primarily layout and presentation. This section also includes full mechanics for new aircraft construction.

GM TOOLS

Some new Game Master tools have been created to aid in adventure construction. Although I find it odd that there are tools for “treasure” in a Modern Warfare setting. These tools help to quickly build War Rage adventures given a few adventure seeds.

ADVERSARIES

The original edition did not contain a list of adversaries. The reboot has an adversary listing included with various NPCs and mammals. The list is fairly short and extremely mundane.

OVERALL

The War Rage Reboot is more of an expansion and enhancement than it is a revision (except for the layout and presentation). While the content looks better and the overall publication is more appealing, the core mechanics have been left completely unchanged with new combat mechanics being introduced. There are lots more options for vehicles and vehicular combat sticking to that original modern warfare feel of the system.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 7 out of 10
The new layout and presentation is a significant improvement over the original edition. The sections could still use better definition and a few items here and there can be cleaned up, but overall the publication looks much better. One thing I find odd is that a lot of the illustrations have been removed from the different vehicle sections which would really improve the publications visual appeal.

Mechanics: 6 out of 10
War Rage is very much a modern warfare system and the new mechanics presented simply stick to that premises. While there are new mechanics dealing with vehicular combat, the system feels more like a tabletop war game than a role-playing game.

Desire to Play: 8 out of 10
For those looking for massive warfare with naval and aerial combat, War Rage will most likely not let down. However, if you’re looking for more adventure, these types of games may be harder to create. But this rating is not based on what the setting does not do but rather what it does do well. And if you’re into naval combat war games, War Rage will make an RPG experience out of some fantastic, epic campaigns.

Overall: 7 out of 10
The War Rage reboot is a good layout revision with some additional warfare mechanics. It has the feel of creating an RPG of a tabletop war game with lots of options for massive combats. Those looking for an epic representation of modern action, or looking to relive recent war events, then War Rage could be a great setting to use. With the backing of some of the simple Rage Series mechanics, game-play should be quite interesting.

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