THE BASICS
I actually think most of the standard character creation in Fate
There have been many attempts at custom Dragon Ball style
games in the past. Most of these systems were messy and convoluted.
Partly because of the dramatic increases in power that were hard to
represent in systems with hard dice numbers.
It wasn't till I really began to play FATE Core and FATE Accelerated
that I realized a more narrative heavy system actually lends well to the
concept despite so much of the theme focusing around conflict and
combat.
Frankly there aren't a lot of changes that need to be made to the
existing FATE system to get this to work. In this case I'm suggesting the
more abstract FATE Accelerated with the approaches since Skills in FATE
Core don't seem nearly as needed.
The other beautiful thing about the FATE
system is that loss really doesn't have to
mean death. Getting
“Taken Out” or even
“Conceding” happens a
lot in the various Dragon
Ball series.
So lets go through what
extras and dials need to be
adjusted to make FAE
work for Dragon Ball
FATE!
SPECIES STUNTS
There are Human, Namekian, Saiyan, Frost Demons, Androids
Accelerated really doesn't need to be changed much. Just follow the
usual:
• Refresh of 3 to start.
• Normal amount of Aspects (High Concept, Trouble and one or
more others). You will probably want to incorporate your species
(or whatever you are) into your high concept.
• Create or choose a stunt.
• Physical and Mental stress tracks of 3
• Approaches as normal. Choose one at Good (+3), two at Fair (+2),
two at Average (+1), and one at Mediocre (+0).
Ignore the descriptive words for the “ladder”. Everything you do
is going to far surpass anything a normal mortal human could do that
using the ladder words is just downright silly at this point.
EXTRA ACTION
In fate, during a conflict each character normally receives 1 action
and the ability to traverse 1 zone for free. Due to the complexity of
powering up, moving and transformation, it's suggested in this to give
each character the ability to take two actions and be able to traverse 1
zone for free.
BASIC STUNTS
A big part of the Dragon Ball universe are techniques. This is
basically what your stunts are used for. Whether it's to perform your
special beam cannon, Kaio-ken, Time Skip technique, etc.. You'll probably
want to be creative and unique with these so work with your GM to
figure out specifics.
Just follow the normal guidelines for Stunt creation. Remember
that powerful stunts that do something special other than just a +2 in a
special situation or approach swap will probably need to be powered by
a FATE Point or Power Points (see Power section).
and the countless other species, creations and entities that exist in the
Dragon Ball Verse.
If you watch all the series and movies you'll see that the sheer
number of possibilities feels endless. With specialties of species,
modifications, experiments, alternate timeline stuff, mystical elements
and so much more.
Making specific modifications for species would be a mistake.
However, it is nice to know you are unique both in ability (stunts) and
personality (aspects).
Since you've probably already added parts about your species in
one or more aspects you'll want a stunt to represent your species. So
this is where I suggest each character start with a 2nd free stunt that has
to be specifically tailored to your species. Once again be creative but
work with your GM to figure this out. Here are a couple of examples I
was thinking of in my game:
NAMEKIAN REGENERATION
Once on your turn as your action you can utilize the natural
regenerative properties of the people of Namek to erase a physical
consequence of your choice. Even restoring whole limbs! This costs
you 1 Fate Point to activate.
SAIYAN POWER
One of the things Saiyan's are really known for. No matter how badly
you beat them down, they always come back stronger than ever. If you
are “Taken Out” in a fight. The next time your stress tracks are restored
(even if it means returning you to the same conflict) you automatically
increase one Power Limit! This can only happen once per scene unless
the GM says otherwise.
TRANSFORMATION STUNTS
As your character grows in power they may take a
Transformation Stunt whenever they have a chance to take a
new stunt. It is up to the GM whether this is allowed from
character creation or not. I personally prefer to have the
players discover it as they progress.
No matter their name, Transformations
come in a chain. The simplest of which
increases a character's temporary
Power Limit by +3. Each
transformation in the chain after that
increase the character's Power Limit
by an additional +2 temporarily. It takes
one of your actions to transform in a
conflict for every stage of your transformation
chain unless you spend 1 Fate Point. If you spend 1 Fate Point
when Transforming you can choose to instantly transform to
any point along your Transformation chain and instantly gain 2
Power Points.
When transforming it only increases your Power Limit, not
your current Power Points. You still may want to spend an action
Powering Up after transforming.
Example; The Saiyan warrior known as Rutabega has a
current Power Limit of 3. But he also has the stunts for SSJ-1 (Super
Saiyan), SSJ-2 and SSJ-3. He knows If he goes SSJ-1 he can increase his
Power Limit to 6 (Base of 3, +3 for the first transformation) and get a
significant advantage. However if he spends a Fate Point he can
transform from his regular form straight into SSJ-3 to increase his Power
Limit to a whopping 10 instantly (Base of 3, +3+2+2) and still have an
action left over to begin powering up.
POWER
To represent the sheer scale of power differences from your
regular person to a god that can destroy a planet with a thought. We
need some form of scale to represent that. This is where we introduce
three new Extras to the game. Power Level, Power Limits and Power
Points. We also introduce a new Action Type. Powering Up.
POWER LEVEL
Power level is the large gap between entities in the Dragon Ball
universe. All common people start at a Power Level of Zero. All Player's
start at a Power Level of 1 (or higher if the GM says so). This doesn't
directly transfer to Scouter Power Levels presented in Dragon Ball Z
which were largely dropped from use after the initial fight with
Vegeta and Nappa anyways.
These Power Levels are more of a way to create an
abstract limit on who you could conceivably hold a conflict
against and survive or win.
• Lower Power Level: Anyone with a Power Level
below you is insignificant in power compared to
your own. For every Power Below you they are, you receive a +10
to any roll you make against them during conflicts and in direct
contests unless it's social or mental in nature. Thus it's still
possible for someone of a Power Level below you to hurt you,
but it may involve Transformations, lots of Advantages and
Powering Up.
• Equal Power Level: This is where the real fight comes in. The
playing field is balanced and the fights can be bitter and tough.
• Higher Power Level: This may be too tough for you since anyone
with a Higher Power Level gets that +10 bonus against you per
Power Level! Plan very carefully when challenging such an
opponent.
POWER LIMIT
Each Power Level is basically split into 10 sub-levels. This
represents your limit when “Powering Up” (See Powering Up below).
This only applies to entities with a Power Level of 1 or higher. Common
folk don't have any sort of ability to “Power Up”.
Although you can start each conflict at the awesome ability of
your current Power Level. You still have more room to charge up and
grow. During the conflict you can attempt to power up on your turn to a
maximum of your Power Limit.
Suggested starting Power Limit of PC's is 3. If anything were to
permanently increase your Power Limit score to 11 or higher it would
instead reset your Power Limit to 1 but increase your Power Level by 1.
Basically this means you have jumped up a whole new category of
awesome power and no longer need to power up to attain it.
If you have a way to temporarily increase your Power Limit (such
as a Transformation Stunt), this can increase your Power Limit past 10,
but does not increase your actual Power Level. You still have to keep
yourself powered up to retain those high levels of power.
POWER POINTS
Power Points are just the name for how much you have charged
up towards your power limit. You always start a new scene or conflict
with your Point Points at 0 (Zero) and can charge them up to the
maximum of your Power Limit.
When you're in an epic Dragon Ball style battle. Attacking,
defending, creating an advantage, etc.. Can all benefit from your existing
power. When doing a physical action other than Powering Up, you can
spend any number of Power Points and gain +2 to the roll for each Power
Point you spend. Unlike a Fate Point you do not need to invoke an Aspect
for this and the Power Points can stack on each other. You can of course
still add invoked aspects, stunt bonuses, boosts, etc.. on top of these
Power Points. Power Points (like Fate Points) do not need to be spent
before the roll and can be added afterwards at any point during the
action as long as it has not be completely resolved.
You can also spend power to instantly react with superhuman
speed. You can interrupt an action that is about to happen with an extra
action of your own by spending 3 power points. These power points do
not add any bonuses, they merely grant you that extra action.
POWERING UP
You can spend an
action to Power Up.
Powering up simply
increases your current
number of Power Points
by 1. You can not exceed
your current Power Limit
although there may be stunts
or circumstances that temporarily
raises your Power Limit.
POWER EXAMPLE
The Saiyan warrior Rutabega is a powerful warrior that has
landed on Earth from Beyond the Stars. His Power Level is 3,
Power Limit is 5 and he currently has the stunt to go Super
Saiyan 1.
Upon landing on Earth he encounters two
warriors. One is an accomplished martial artist named
Rumbo, that has little mastery over his ki and is
still a Power Level 1. Rutabega is 2 Power
Levels higher than him and instantly receives a
massive +20 to all checks made against Rumbo
even before any other bonuses for
Approaches, Stunts, Advantages, etc..
Rumbo is so weak that the GM determines that
Rutabega can just instantly take Rumbo out of the
scene at his leisure (or even just ignore him completely
if he wishes).
The other defender of Earth is Android 1138 that
was created with a Power Level also of 3 and a Power Limit of
3. So at the beginning of the conflict Android 1138 and Rutabega are
fairly evenly matched at the same power level and both starting with
Power Points of 0 (zero) at the beginning of the conflict.
Rutabega goes first in the conflict. He knows he'll need an edge in
this fight so the first thing he does is transform into a Super Saiyan and
begin to powerup. He doesn't want a chance this could go badly so
Rutabega spends 1 Fate Point to transform.
He only has one transformation stage so this provides no benefit
for options, but it does instantly grab him 2 Power Points. He then
spends his second action to continue to power up. This means Rutabega
is now sitting at a Power Limit of 8 and current Power Points of 3 out of
8.
Android 1138 knows that if he attacks now he'll already be at a
severe disadvantage and so also begins to power up bringing his Power
Points up to a total of 2 out of his limit of 3. He's already close to his limit
and the fight has barely begun.
This should be interesting. Lets hope Android 1138 has friends!
FLIGHT
This is another adjustable dial depending on your game. It's
suggested that you tie flight to one of three things.
• Everyone PC can fly. No requirements necessary for PC's.
• Flight requires a Stunt. You can force it so that
PC's need to actually train themselves to fly.
• Flight requires a certain Power Level. Maybe
you don't want to start to see flight till the
PC's have attained a Power Level of 2.
Choose one of these options when determining
whether the PC's know how to fly at all, or when they
gain this option. It's the Dragon Ball Universe, they'll know
how to fly eventually. It's just up to the GM to determine
when and how.
POWER BLASTS
When you get right down to it, most of the blasts,
whether they have fancy names or effects, are mechanically very
similar. Kamehame was just a big blast that Goku could pump a lot of
power into. Special Beam Cannon was a powerful beam that just took
Piccolo a long time to Power Up for so that he'd have the Power Points
to actually put into it (since he didn't have the raw power of Goku or
Vegeta).
So for the majority of power blasts, it's really simple enough for a
player to say something like, “I'm doing my special Kamehameha!”, but
not actually need a stunt for it. It's suggested to make make a list of your
special blast or move names.
It's only if there is a special effect that aren't covered by “Create
an Advantage”, you might require a stunt for it. Something like, “Solar
Flare”, which causes a blinding effect on the opponent is really just a,
“Create an Advantage” action. “Galactic Donut”, would be similar as a
create an advantage.
Once again follow the suggested guidelines for stunts. You may want the
special blasts to cost additional Power Points or Fate Points to activate.
Here are a few examples of some of the special effects as stunts that I
think sound pretty fair:
DESTRUCTO DISC (1PP or 1FP)
The fine cutting edge of this energy disc is such that unless you can
completely block it, it can do some devastating and very legal cutting
damage.
If you manage to succeed with an attack with your Destructo Disc the
defender must reduce the damage using Consequences first before
they can use Physical Stress. If the defender can't reduce any damage
with Consequences then they are Taken Out even if they had Physical
Stress boxes remaining.
SCATTER SHOT (1PP or 1FP)
Charging energy from each hand you swing your arms apart and launch
multiple energy spheres against opponents at once.
A single attack can be aimed at multiple opponents. You can only do
this if your final attack roll was of a +2 or higher. You split the amount
rolled between the number of targets you wish to attack. This does not
have to be split evenly and you can decide how much of the bonuses
each blasts receives but there must be a minimum of +1 given to the
blast.
After that step each blast then receives a +2 bonus and is treated
separate for the purposes of invoking aspects, adding Power Points,
etc..
CONCLUSION
The rest of it is just being creative with Aspects and Stunts just
like the majority of Fate. Aside from certain special powers you may
want to be fueled by Power Points and/or Fate Points, there's no real
detailed magic system in the Dragon Ball Universe that is normally dealt
with.
Have fun with it and be creative. Hopefully the Power system and
a few tweaks with stunts are all that's really needed to play Dragon Ball
FATE!