KB: The Legend was one of the best games I've played; so I decided to try Crossworlds (most said it was the best). Your pet dragon (runs on rage) is needed right away if you are to win, but since rage dissipates when the battle is over you to run quickly as possible to find someone to fight. There is no time to think, strategize , look for items, or just enjoy the game. So, I save the game after each battle, search for the next group I have a chance of beating, reload and run as fast as possible. It's made the game very un-fun. Am I missing something? Right now I just want to wipe the game and all the other KB games I have off my hard drive and never play another 1C game. Am I missing something?

I have played all KB games and am still playing them on and off today. I don't understand your problem.
I also don't think, that rage is that important. Allthough, success depends on your playing style, on which class you play, on the chosen difficulty level, and on the monster distribution on the map, which is a bit of luck dependent.

If you have too much trouble, choose a lower difficulty.

Also, if you want to think about your next moves whithout loosing rage, you can just pause the game.