Recent Updates:

limit break now has an increase of 2 wounds and 2 strain threshold per rank instead of 1 wound and 1 strain

super saiyan and frieza transformation talents are now capped at 3 ranks, with the idea that, should the game continue, there would eventually be separate talents for golden frieza/ss4/ssg/ssblue etc

added the Intense Ki Training talent that allows a character to make ki control as well as a ki skill of their choice (fixed to the skill they took ranks in if they've already bought into ki) a career skill

added Parry (Improved) and Reflect (Improved) talents

altered Great Namekian Form's activation to a maneuver but deactivation is also a maneuver.

Added in a session xp chart for up to 5 players as an xlsx document. All you have to do is put in the values and it will calculate the session xp total per player based on the method described in the special rules document (5xp/2hrs of play plus 1xp per round of encounter participation, additional values per special effects or narrative reasons).

Also posted in a new document specific to the wish limitations of the Dragon Balls. It's meant to be customized to your game. I polled my players for ideas beyond just my own and then secretly rolled 1d2 online to determine yes/no for certain wishes. If there were any that needed clarification because they could otherwise break the game, I made them into a "Yes, and..." and went on to explain specifics. For instance, if Immortality can be wished for, maybe the "yes, and..." is that it's through longevity, so you could still be murdered but would otherwise live indefinitely.

The answers are kept secret for when the players first summon the eternal dragon in my game. Feel free to openly show your players or keep them secret to yourself!

My self I would probably make transformations tier 5 talents, giving humans the kio-kin (ken?) As theirs. But that's because the multiple forms things really irke me to no end despite still enjoying the series

10 hours ago, thecowley said:

My self I would probably make transformations tier 5 talents, giving humans the kio-kin (ken?) As theirs. But that's because the multiple forms things really irke me to no end despite still enjoying the series

Transformations are tier 5 talents. Kaioken is something I hadn't fully figured out how to represent yet. I was considering an extreme boost in ability that only lasts a round at the first rank but consumes wounds instead of strain.

Before I go into any details I should explain a few things first. The session was originally planned to have me as the GM with 3 players, but 1 of the players was sick and couldn't make it. So we only had 2 players and all of them were physically at the table. We generally only do in person games. This was our first time actually using Genesys for something; I'm the only person whom has read the core book, but one of my 2 players has played the Star Wars RPG quite a bit (as well as I have). The other player has only played 3 one-session adventures using the Star Wars RPG. So our table has a pretty even mix of people familiar with the dice and people unfamiliar with it.

The session ran very well, much better than I expected. All of my players had a blast and want to continue playing in further sessions with the characters they've made. The only thing that slowed down our game was using the magic rules from Genesys because this was all of our first time actually using the rules in a session; as apposed to just reading about them in the book. One of the players also had a bit of a hard time interpreting what to do with her advantage, but the more we played the faster and easier things got for everybody. The unique mechanics you wrote for the setting @GroggyGolem were very easy for my players and I to pick up. I think you've done a wonderful job translating the core ideas of Dragonball into game mechanics. There was little to no confusion about how each of the different talents and mechanics worked and we picked it up very quickly. It also helped that I had some iconic DBZ music played over the speaker and had a good lineup of specific tracks. It really helped everyone get into the mood. None of my players ended up spending any of their experience during the session; mostly because we were so involved in what was going on I think they forgot. I also centered this session on a World Martial Arts tournament, but I had the players roll for all of their fights rather than just solve them narratively. This was mostly to help everyone get comfortable rolling dice and help them get into their characters.

Before I get into the actual story of what happened I did have a few questions about some of the mechanics that came up during our game. The first is about the Power Up talent; if you take one of the tier 5 Talents that modifies how Power Up works then does it stop you from using Power Up unmodified? Primarily does that mean you can no longer spend X Strain for a damage boost? The second question was about using the scouter; it references making a skill check but doesn't say what that skill check is. We defaulted to perception. Other than that this is what happened in our session...

Our first main character for the episode was Chise ; a highly energetic teenage human covered in flamboyant pink fighting attire. Her primary focus was on using Ki Heal to manipulate the strength of her opponents and deal out devastating Energy Attacks. The other was a quiet and stoic Namekian named Flute ; with his focus on hand to hand combat with some minor ability in Ki Heal. The happened to meet at the 6th World Martial Arts Tournament, where the prize was Ƶ5,000 and the 5-star Dragon Ball. Flute was mainly in it for the prize money. The money would be invaluable to help him get his life on Earth set after being exiled from Namek. Chise was more interested in the Dragon Ball. She has no idea what she would want to wish for; she just really wants to collect them and see if the legends are true. The 32 Fighters piled into the pavilion each having their own reason for entering the tournament. (It was about here that I started playing the DBZ Budokai 3 Tournament music). To help sort out the roster each contestant had to take a shot at the punching machine, and based on the results it would determine the initial rankings (and odds for those that like to gamble). Flute had brought his scouter with him and was using this opportunity to gauge what his competition would look like. One of the first people to use the machine was last year's champion, a namekian by the name of Trombon . He seemed to throw down the gauntlet when he punched the machine and it read out a massive score of 500! Flute followed next and got a respectable score of 350 . Chise followed shortly after but got a fairly disappointing score of only 125, which caused some ridicule from the other fighters. Although she may have been slightly distracted the whole time. Chise is a bit of a "fangirl" when it comes to famous martial artists. She had a bit of a hard time focusing throughout the tournament. But with everyone scored the roster was set.

The first few matches seemed to go by quickly with Flute being the first main character to take the arena. He managed to end his first encounter almost instantly when he reacted faster than his opponent. He bull rushed the enemy and knocked them straight out of the ring with his signature Viper Fang Style . Chise went up shortly after and did not fair quite as well as Flute . She managed to defeat her opponent by dive bombing him from the air with a fist full of ki, but not before her alien opponent almost threw her out of the ring after grappling her with his tail. When it came down to the last 16 that's where the stand outs really started to make themselves known. Both Chise and Flute took notice of 2 fighters in particular. The first was a Saiyan by name of Articho ; he squared off against last year's winner Trombon . The fight was neck and neck and it looked like Articho was set to lose when he took a direct blast from Trombon's signature attack; Wolf Fang Special Cannon . But just as the announced was about to call the match Articho crawled to his feet yelling about saiyan pride and how when a saiyan gets knocked down they only get stronger. In a burst of ki energy that engulfed his body his wounds began to heal. Trombon was shocked and had no energy left to fight the rejuvenated Articho . The second fighter to catch big attention as a Frieza Alien by the name of Citron . He was pitted against last year's finalist Undi . Unfortunately Undi stood no chance against Citron's Destructo Ball . Chise & Flute knew that these 2 would be the ones to watch. Especially after Articho broke Flute's scouter after exceeding a power level of 9000! Unfortunately when Chise's next match came up she was shoved out of the ring and lost while Flute managed to make it into the next round. Soon it came down to the final 8. The arena was under construction after the last few matches and the fighters took this time to get to know their competition a little better. Chise seemed to make quick friends with Citron over a bonding experience. This experience involved making fun of the brooding saiyan Articho sitting in the corner. This was followed by Articho losing his cool and transforming into a gigantic Monkey and wreaking havoc on the pavilion. Both Chise and Flute were no match for the saiyan in this form and were quickly knocked unconscious.

They woke up in the tournament hospital some time later where Citron explained that Articho scared off or KO'd the other fighters; he also disqualified himself in the process. Once the arena was done being repaired the final match would take place. Citron vs. Flute . The fight lasted for 6 minutes (6 rounds) with each giving their all. Both of them held nothing back and Citron even revealed his final form. The fight wasn't looking good for Flute at first; both fighters were matching blows but Citron's ki mastery was giving him a slight edge. Citron used his signature Mirrage Barrier to surround Flute in identical clones. This gave him a massive edge and opened up Flute to a fight ending attack. Citron powered up all of his remaining ki and unleashed it into his ultimate technique Super Explosive Kamikaze Attack . 3 massive rings of energy zipped towards Flute and it looked like this would be the end of him. But Flute had been biding his time, saving most of his energy for defense. He managed to dodge the attack by only a few inches and quickly got into his Viper Fang Stance . With Citron heavily weakened after that attack he used his overwhelming strength to engage and stick his fingers directly into Citron's neck nerves. This gave him just enough leeway to deliver the round ending blow. A powerful punch directly into the gut. This sent Citron to the ground and won Flute the 6th World Martial Arts Tournament.

After the fanfare had died down some Chise, Citron, and Articho met with Flute afterwards. While Flute's fight was going on Articho confronted Chise and apologized for causing such trouble. He explained that he needed to win the Dragon Ball to help fulfill a promise to an old friend. Over the course of the fight Chise and Articho formed some sort of "friendship." Citron also had an interest in the Dragon Balls and expressed that he heard the dragon grants multiple wishes. The group came together and agreed to split the wishes if they all work together to find the remaining Dragon Balls. So their journey began...

For anybody curious this was the roster for our tournament. I had way too much fun coming up with all these DBZ inspired names. The players are in bold and major npc's in italics .

Flute - Namekian

Tofoo - Male Human

Polara - Alien

Chapz - Male human

Trombon - Namekian

Yogu - Male Human

Glew - Female Human

Saxofo - Namekian

Sisso - Female Human

Cello - Namekian

Sumdi - Female Human

Articho - Male Saiyan

Pudden - Male Human

Sopran - Namekian

Corna - Female Human

Citron - Alien

Lingee - Female Human

Cucumb - Female Saiyan

Cadabra - Alien

Rayne - Male Human

Prinro - Male Human

Guav - Alien

Kitchy - Female human

Naife - Female Human

Sno - Female Human

Waine - Male Human

Korn - Female Saiyan

Chise - Hannah

Delnoo - Male human

Undi - Female human

Soufa - Female Human

6 hours ago, Noahjam325 said:

Before I get into the actual story of what happened I did have a few questions about some of the mechanics that came up during our game. The first is about the Power Up talent; if you take one of the tier 5 Talents that modifies how Power Up works then does it stop you from using Power Up unmodified? Primarily does that mean you can no longer spend X Strain for a damage boost? The second question was about using the scouter; it references making a skill check but doesn't say what that skill check is. We defaulted to perception. Other than that this is what happened in our session...

Your first session sounds really fun! It seems you tested out some talents even my players and I haven't gotten to yet, as they all spent the majority of their XP on characteristics since the Genesys version of Dedication is "once-per-characteristic". Obviously my players put the majority of XP in Brawn and whichever characteristic they use with their Ki skill. I like the names for the special techniques and the like! The goofy names are suuuuper fun, probably one of my favorite things about running DB so far is just how whacky it is.

Power Up talent works fine on its own. Each of the unique transformations allows a player to use that to alter the Power Up talent in some way but doesn't replace it entirely. One can still power up without revealing their final form. You may still spend X Strain for a damage boost, in fact I intend to make it clearer that you are allowed to still Power Up on subsequent rounds to gain the damage boost. I'll put in something like this

" You may Power Up on subsequent turns to gain the damage boost based on the strain you spend, however keep in mind the base effects of +1 Damage, Soak & Defense do not stack with themselves."

The Scouter breaking effect is on any Triumph/Despair relevant to the scene, kind of like a sup'ed up version of the Sunder effect that just instantly destroys a Scouter.

Also side note, what kind of species is a Hannah? I haven't heard of that one and I've been trying to absorb massive amounts of Dragon Ball lore recently.

Hahahaha, oops. That was the players name. It should say Human .

Thanks for the clarification; that's what we assumed but it never hurts to ask. The correction you wrote up clearly explains that. I was also very excited my players decided to have 4's instead of 5's in their characteristics. They were very interested in playing with the talents.

1 hour ago, Noahjam325 said:

Hahahaha, oops. That was the players name. It should say Human .

Thanks for the clarification; that's what we assumed but it never hurts to ask. The correction you wrote up clearly explains that. I was also very excited my players decided to have 4's instead of 5's in their characteristics. They were very interested in playing with the talents.

We went with 4's as well since they could get dedication later on but that meant none of them were able to acquire a tier 4 talent right away, having brought 2 characteristics up to rank 4. Did your players get into any Brawl/Energy Clashes?

Unfortunately not. I think they were more focused on what their character was doing, rather than too many extra mechanics. But i know they want to do more, so I'm hoping to schedule another session where we can try some new stuff.

So is any one running a game of this online?

Would love to play and I'm running another game already

Hey I was doing a read through on the talents, and wanted to throw out some ideas on the Super Namekian.

So it is the fusion of the show, but I'm wondering if we shouldn't go a little au here. Since it requires teir 5 already, wouldn't it be easier to drop the required npc to sacrifice themself? I find it all that it's the only racial transformation that requires what could amount too a special quest for one pc find a will fusion partner

5 hours ago, thecowley said:

Hey I was doing a read through on the talents, and wanted to throw out some ideas on the Super Namekian.

So it is the fusion of the show, but I'm wondering if we shouldn't go a little au here. Since it requires teir 5 already, wouldn't it be easier to drop the required npc to sacrifice themself? I find it all that it's the only racial transformation that requires what could amount too a special quest for one pc find a will fusion partner

Feel free to adjust the homebrew rules for your tables. What I essentially did was work with my players to change the history and goals of the species while maintaining the same status quo for how their abilities work, as much as possible. For namekians, I looked at how in the series and movies, the only ones who claim to be a super Namekian are ones who have fused. I also wanted each transformation to feel unique, just like in the IP, so I thought Namekian fusion should be a permanent boost at the loss of an npc or even another pc if they willingly go through with it.

Each transformation should be a big moment, so it could be something at the end of a quest that the player gains or you could make the initial use special but allow the character to find a willing participant easily. The AU we came up with makes earth a melting pot for the universe, so alien refugees and the like have already been there for decades. Makes it easy to find another namekian, especially when their culture wasnt nearly wiped out by a catastrophe such as what was explained in the series. Whatever works best for your table really.

1 hour ago, GroggyGolem said:

Feel free to adjust the homebrew rules for your tables. What I essentially did was work with my players to change the history and goals of the species while maintaining the same status quo for how their abilities work, as much as possible. For namekians, I looked at how in the series and movies, the only ones who claim to be a super Namekian are ones who have fused. I also wanted each transformation to feel unique, just like in the IP, so I thought Namekian fusion should be a permanent boost at the loss of an npc or even another pc if they willingly go through with it.

Each transformation should be a big moment, so it could be something at the end of a quest that the player gains or you could make the initial use special but allow the character to find a willing participant easily. The AU we came up with makes earth a melting pot for the universe, so alien refugees and the like have already been there for decades. Makes it easy to find another namekian, especially when their culture wasnt nearly wiped out by a catastrophe such as what was explained in the series. Whatever works best for your table really.

If I run it, I might bend the rules a bit.might make it interesting if it could be done with an unwilling victim. Kinda like cell.

Ran my second session a few weeks back. One player had dropped out of all my games due to life, another couldn't make it due to internet trouble. So there was just 2 players and myself, they wanted to bring an NPC along to help them so that happened (they brought the NPC that won the dragon ball last session as they all have interest in the dragon balls [per my request when they made their characters, each character wants them for their own reasons]). They fought off the red ribbon army soldiers, captured one, interrogated him to get information on their base, figured they have a dragon ball of their own and decided to travel to the base in disguise as soldiers.

Travel time would be about 3 days in vehicle, of which they acquired one, which happened to be a capsule vehicle, the first capsule they have encountered thusfar. They then encountered a couple situations they dealt with pretty well and ended in a small town that was full of strange citizens. The citizens were being ruled over by some tyrant of a towering Namekian named "Stormhammer Skullcrusher", who did indeed have a "Stormhammer" that was immediately broken by the group's NPC ally. So from then on he was just called "Skullcrusher". Group fought him and his 3 goons, the battle was tough but they managed to defeat the goons and fled before they were knocked unconscious and that's where we ended things. So in the chance that the game continues (life getting in the way), I have a recurring villain in the form of Skullcrusher, formerly known as Stormhammer Skullcrusher.

I threw in some new talents under the red text title "new talents" with the date next to it. Completely untested and subject to further tweaking, by request of my players as well as other GMs and players that run this setting for some of the more "Dragon Ball Super" types of transformations.