After a long dry spell, Allen Divers of Azrael Productions lets us know where the fate of Rage is these days. More info surfaces as he responds to enquiring fans.

Date:  Mon, 08 Jan 2001 21:07:42 -0000
From:  Allen Divers (allen@azraelproductions.com)
To:  rageinfo@egroups.com
Subject:  [Rage] State of Things

      
    Hi Everyone,

    Well, its been over two months since our last update, so what's going
    on?

    A lot really.  Azrael Productions has been looking for financial
    support to bring back Rage.  Our initial set of investors backed out
    on us, so we've been scrabbling to find a new set.  We have a
    potential set of new investors, but with a stipulation.  They are
    only willing to put money into the printing of a Rage set based on
    the original White Wolf version.

    In many ways, this is good, but it does limit what we want to do with
    the games.  So, I want to hear your opinion.  Is some Rage better
    than none at all?

    Talk to me :-)

    thanks,

    Allen Divers

Date:  Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:24:00 -0600
From:  Allen Divers (allen@azraelproductions.com)
To:  rageinfo@egroups.com
Subject:  RE: [Rage] State of Things

    > >A lot really.  Azrael Productions has been looking for financial
    > >support to bring back Rage.  Our initial set of investors backed out
    > >on us, so we've been scrabbling to find a new set.  We have a
    > >potential set of new investors, but with a stipulation.  They are
    > >only willing to put money into the printing of a Rage set based on
    > >the original White Wolf version.
    >
    > Interesting.  What reasons did they give?

    I'm still getting them to go into the reasons why.  My original plan was to
    work it so that we were printing 1 set for each game at the same time.  The
    thought behind that was saving money by doing 1 big print job (you save
    money for printing in bulk).
    >
    > >In many ways, this is good, but it does limit what we want to do with
    > >the games.  So, I want to hear your opinion.  Is some Rage better
    > >than none at all?
    >
    > Yes (but I figure you already knew my opinion :)

    hehe.. I figured as much there :-)

    thanks,

    Allen

Date:  Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:33:37 -0600
From:  Allen Divers (allen@azraelproductions.com)
To:  rageinfo@egroups.com
Subject:  RE: [Rage] State of Things

    > >We have a potential set of new investors, but with a
    > stipulation.  They are only willing to put money into the
    > printing of a Rage set based on the original White Wolf version.
    >
    > Well, it's not the "best" case, but perhaps there is a
    > possibility of finding another investor to cover the FRPG Rage?
    >
    I'm looking.  Also, recent business dealings with Wizards has tied up some
    of Azrael's funding.  I'm trying to work around this as best I can.

    > >So, I want to hear your opinion.  Is some Rage better than
    > none at all?
    >
    > I say "yes".  However, we do run the risk of repeating FRPG's
    > big mistake, and shooting ourselves in the foot.  When they
    > changed the rules without providing the promised compatibility,
    > they alienated some of the old school.  I'm concerned we may
    > inadvertently do the same thing to the folks who prefer the
    > latter game.

    That is a serious concern.  It basically broke down like this: From a
    business stand point, neither version of Rage is profitable to print.  In
    all probability whoever invests in it would be lucky to break even.  So, the
    idea of doing one big printing by doing both sets of Rage at the same time,
    we can save money printing.  Thus maximizing our money for both versions of
    the game.

    Beyond printing, there are other money concerns (packaging, shipping,
    storing and so on).  Of all the game genre's out there, CCG's are probably
    at the top of the list for upfront expense.  We had hoped to help defer much
    of those costs with the online version of the game.  Unfortunately those
    rights are tied up with the Werewolf Computer Game.  We've been looking at
    other ways to help defer the costs, including the Garou Nation.  Now, the
    problem with that is, how many players would put money into our version of
    the Garou Nation based on our word that we'll be putting that money towards
    printing.  Not very many I would imagine.  You guys want product, not
    promises.

    > All things considered, one game is better than none at all.
    > However, that game needs to be able to sell.  If we know it
    > will do that, then all is well.

    Again, neither game has the audience right now to focus on one or the other.
    What I and Bobby have seen is two very distinct camps.  One which plays and
    will only buy Rage, and others that play and only buy RALV.  There are a few
    that play both and would buy both, but unfortunately they do not exist in
    the numbers needed to keep them alive.

    > I'll be honest.  Of the two, I prefer RALV.  It's the game my
    > wife and son play.  But if WWRage were resurrected, I'd happily
    > teach that to them, too!

    hehe.. good to know.  Thanks!

    Allen