Hi there

[Kai Wren]

Hi!

I''m working on a RPG based upon the anime Dragonball Z, hardly a concept which has met with a lot of support in my local area, so I figured I'd try and find some comments on it online- is this the kind of thing which would interest anyone here? Or am I wasting my time?

[TonyLB]

I like DragonBall Z.  What are you planning to do with it?

[Kai Wren]

When I feel I've finished it, I intend to find somewhere to distribute it online, I've got a basic setting, but I haven't incoperated it into the rules as of yet- beyond a vague description of the races.

[TonyLB]

No, I mean ... what do you intend to do, in your game, with Dragonball Z?  Like ... here I am, interested in hearing about your game and what you want it to achieve ... can you elaborate?

[Kai Wren]

I want to translate the fast pace and feel of Dragonball Z into a roleplaying game, I want to provide a structure for people to be able to play long term and one-off adventures in the universe of Dragonball Z, without losing the feel of the original show- I want the system to be as smooth as possible, to be as speedy as possible, and to avoid getting bogged down with hundreds of dice and figures.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  FYI, R. Talsorian Games has the license for this. And has published a game. It is based on Fuzion and is not scaled, so the more powerful characters have Strengths of like 10,000 and 10,000,00...
  I am not sure if DBZ is something you can release as a genre game. I feel like DBZ is unique in that regard. I don't think you canmake a setting that is DBZ-like without being an obvious ripoff.
  Not trying to rain on your parade, but point out that you might be doing all thus work just to make a netbook that might be overlooked.

[Kai Wren]

I know about the official game... it sucks, really, really badly. Stupid rules needing huge amounts of dice means that too much time is spent adding up numbers and not enough on the action.

I don't intend to release it as anything but a netbook... but my hope is that if its a halfway decent system, more people will actually find it.

[Eric Bennett]

Well, he could always expand out from pure DBZ, and take a more "shonen comics" approach to it? After all, how many of these elements appear in just about every friggin' Shonen Jump manga?

A hero with a hidden power
An antagonist with power equal to or greater than the hero who is eventually overcome and reforms/works with the hero.
Some kind of tournament, be it over go, martial arts, or whatever.
Page-turning (and burning) action scenes
Crazy over-the-top (insert comic's gimmick here) effects

I imagine broadening it out would make for a game that nobody had the trademark on.

P.S: And hey, if worse comes to worse, you could always make Yu-gi-Oh! Season One: The story-telling game of setting people on fire.

[Kai Wren]

Hahaha...

Well, the setting I've got is pretty far removed from the original DBZ world, if I wanted to, I could change all the attack names and alien race names and still have a pretty fun, workable system...

If you want to see the setting idea I've got, I could post that up I guess?

[Eric Bennett]

Well, the setting I've got is pretty far removed from the original DBZ world, if I wanted to, I could change all the attack names and alien race names and still have a pretty fun, workable system...

There you go. I would definitely be interested in giving that a read-through. Crazy world-destroying nostalgic kung fu can't go wrong. ^.~

[Kai Wren]

t is several hundred years after the legendary fighters known as Goku and Vegeta destroyed the evil creature Majin Buu, their triumphs and pains are forgotten, none now live who remember them...
For, just a few short decades after the fall of Majin Buu and earth started to rebuild its culture and strength, an advance group of five Saiyajin warriors landed on the planet, and demanded to speak to the leader.
They were an envoy from an old Saiyajin outpost on the far reaches of the galaxy, long forgotten by everyone, they had been shocked by Frieza's treachery, and even more so when they learned that he too was just one member of a multi-galaxy spanning empire.
They went into overdrive building arms and training their people to fight back against the Icerian empire, and as the last of their people, they started to spread to other planets, populating them and building up a small empire of their own.
However, with the destruction of Frieza and his father and brother, the Icerian empire were alerted to a particularly nasty thorn in their side- Earth, reasoning that any place to shelter such amazing powers must be an incredible threat.
And so the empire mobilized, sending a few crack teams to dispatch of the problem, imagine their surprise when, by the time they reached the edge of the correct galaxy (one they had overlooked pretty much, after all, Frieza had pretty much dominated it) They met a full Saiyajin fleet ready to meet them, the battle was intense, with many losses suffered on both sides, until the Empire radioed in for more help... and then the Saiyajins were forced to beat a hasty retreat.
Over the next few years, whole planets were raized in the vicious combat between the two sides, neither willing to give an inch more than they absolutely had to, eventually, however, the Saiyajin forces could only do so much, and thus they had come to Earth to plead for help.
The humans agreed instantly, terrified by the very memory of the Creature- Majin Buu- that many still remembered at the time, they built up forces and sent as much aid as they could, but Humans- most of them being useful only in technological combat- could not do much against the ki-wielding forces of the Icerian empire.
That was when the Nameks stepped in.
Honoring pacts that they had made with Earth when they were given a new planet, the Namekians swore aid to Earth and the Saiyajins, training the Humans to be Ki-aware and to fight properly.
And so the war for the galaxy raged on, and on, and on... decades passed, and no conclusion could be reached, it looked like the resources the Icerians had to draw on were literally limitless, and the combined forces of the Saiyajins, Nameks and Humans could only do so much in the face of such strength... eventually, even Earth- the human home world- was destroyed by their wrath, leaving the Humans a nomadic and scattered race, until they again settled on the planet now known as Last Hope.

But all was not lost, for a great Human scientist again came upon the secrets first discovered by the great Dr. Gero, namely the creation of biodroids and and androids. This time, supposedly, without will or personality.

Using these great warriors, the Icerian empire was forced into one distant corner of the galaxy, they couldn't be driven out completely, but the main force were isolated and controlled... until the uprising.

Amazingly, androids and biodroids could not be created that had -no- personality, and in the great Uprising against their masters, they ran rampant, and eventually came to carve out their own world, again on the far reaches of the galaxy, where they reside to this day, hating all flesh-based life forms, still bitter after all these years for the humiliation and torment that they experienced.

And yet... out there in the vastness of the universe, a dark power is brewing, the androids have been silent so very long, the Icers too... is there some other agenda going on here? Why have humanities greatest enemies let them regroup for so long?

[billvolk]

This is I game I want to play when it's finished, but setting alone won't give the game the whole feel of the show. Here are some aspects of the show that I think ought to be incorporated in the rules:
Battles in the show are almost always one-on-one. Two characters fight while everyone else just stands there and watches. Even if the outcome of the battle is gravely important, allies don't just join in and sucker-punch the villain while the hero is fighting him. Why? If players don't have an incentive to act in this way, they're going to do the logical thing and gang up on one enemy at a time.
Dragonball Z all about POWER! The main topics of conversation among characters are how POWERful they are, how POWERful their enemies are, unlocking more POWER in themselves, and the POWER arms race that never ends. The greatest fighter in the world in one season would be useless in the next season if he didn't gain more POWER like everybody else. The heroes can always become a little more POWERful; there's always more toothpaste left in the metaphorical tube of POWER! Any kind of power cap in the game would strongly go against the flavor of the show.
All the important characters go through several different forms or appearances. This is to keep the umpteen-episode-long battles interesting.
Just like Western superheroes, nobody ever stays dead in Dragonball Z.

[Larry L.]

Bill,

Now you're talking! Yeah, if the rules give you an incentive to fight elaborate one-on-one duels instead of the usual party melee, that's getting the right spirit.

I also can't help but think that a setting so flagrantly obsessed with numercial power values should be a gamist thing, with emphasis on building a kick-ass character.

Kai,

I think ultimately you will need to totally divorce the setting from DBZ. The IP holders have been known to send Cease & Desist letters to fan creators. You can probably conceive of a psychic warriors of the cosmos thing of your own that is better anyway.