Homebrew Game - The Ongoing Struggle

Hey folks, it's time for another blog post.  So I'm once again tucking into another semester of college work, namely Math 60, CAS 111 Wordpress, and CAS 101 (next week).  But with it comes a slog to my video game playing and a bit more of my working on my other side projects.  I have been working on my Dragon Ball RPG some more and with this next draft revision I think that I've managed to work through some of the problems I was having before.

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Now for my disclaimer...

All rules, information pertaining to the game and its rules/method of play/etc. are my own intellectual property.  I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball Super and this is in no way an official RPG, and therein is unofficial.  Any mention of the aforementioned property is apart of a fan based creation that has no ties/connection of Funimation, Toei Animation, Akira Toriyama, or any other holders/controllers of the Dragon Ball property.

No permission is given, concerning the information I may note of my work, to others who may wish to utilize the rules I have created for their own work.
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Currently I'm working out power builds.  Namely you get to build your powers.  Each power will have a specific setup, and will have some similar, and some different add-ons to customize it.  Combat wise, the attack powers come in two types, Normal and Superior.  The main difference is the dice you roll.  Normal attacks roll d6's, while Superior attacks roll d8's.  Normal attacks can have a minimum damage die amount of 1d6.  Superior attacks however have a higher minimum number of dice that are required.

Now each power will have "Add-Ons" that enhance on the power in some way.  It is through these add-on's that you create more unique powers.  So let's say that you want your character to unleash a barrage of high speed punches like Vegeta or Goku.  This would be a power.  Need to pluck bullets out of the air, or slap ki blasts aside, that's also a power.

Aside from the difficulties of trying to build a structure for how these powers would work, add-ons were the next step for things.  Other powers may not have the array of add-ons as the combat based powers, but they will also have some add-ons.  Part of the build process is figuring out how to make a power ki, magic, or psionic in nature.  In all it comes down to what you choose for the skill roll.  The skill chosen for the power will alter its cost in some way.  Ki is the cheapest, while Psionic is much more expensive.  However there are other things that can further change this.  If the power is inherent, then you're not going to have a skill roll - it's always on (typically).  Then there is the matter of the power actually being a piece of equipment like a sword, or Saiyan armor.

So far the builds for powers are working well.  They are limited, but still open and fairly flexible.  I've made powers and skills work as best I can so that they function in a way one would imagine they would.  With the progress of powers I've also come up with some thoughts on transformations, and in turn character racial traits.  Transformations can't be like powers, their powerful and provide a significant advantage, as such this has to be reflected in the transformation.

One of the rules that will be incorporated is one called "Magnitude".  This is typically an increase in the dice, static score, or other effect in a way.  For example, if you roll your dice and would normally get 4 dice damage for what you rolled, magnitude increases inherent to the power may see 1 or more additional dice added to this depending on what you roll.  And this is where transformations will come into play.  These will increase the dice type of attacks, thus reflecting the increase in power.  And yes, once you hit that dice type ceiling there will be rules for what comes next.

Now world destruction, or the threat there of will not be something I want built as a power.  Typically a world/universe/reality destroying event is apart of an over all narrative.  Goku could destroy the boundaries of realities with his power, or he could destroy entire galaxies - but he doesn't.  This is mainly due to how the character is, but it's also due to not using his power for that purpose.  Mechanically for a game the level of power for this is outlandish.  As such when a world is destroyed by a single individual it comes down to the story.  But to give that option to the character requires special circumstances that will be built into the game.  This option is likely going to be via a finishing move that involves one of the characters many existing special attacks.

Thus an attack like the Spirit Bomb could be based off a normal special attack, but with out the special, "story altering", use it would function differently.  Think of it like this, when Goku tried to use the Spirit Bomb on Vegeta you could think that he attempted to use the story altering method, but either lacked the full ability to do so at the time, or it was countered and thus the power had to be used at its basic level.  Now the Spirit Bomb used on Majin Buu however made use of this to its fullest.

How I'll make this work is not something I have decided upon as of yet.  The same is to be said for transformations and the godly levels of power that Goku and others face in the Dragon Ball Super series.

At least it's all coming together now in this initial outline.  Powers may take me a week or so to finish depending on my available time.  After that it's on to character races.


In the meantime, thanks everyone for your readership.  My blog, at this time, has hit over 13,400 views!  Thank you for your support.

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Until next time folks!