What would it take to make a GOOD Dragon Ball Z RPG?

[Alzrius]

...I mean besides "fights that take several hours to resolve," "lots of screaming," and "OVER NINE THOUSAND rules"?

In all seriousness, why is it that making an RPG out of one of (if not the most) popular anime ever - one that still has new material being released - is such a tall order? Insofar as I know, it's only been attempted once, and that didn't turn out very well (I know because I own a copy of that game).

So to all armchair game-designers on this board, why do you think that is?

My personal theory is that it's primarily due to the incredible range of power that such a system would have to cover. Most RPGs tend to stick to a relatively small scale in terms of how much power characters gain from when they're created to when they need to be retired. Indeed, the d20 System tends to have one of the larger ranges among RPGs that I've seen, and most people agree that the "math tends to break down" as you approach 20th level. Given that Dragon Ball (across the entire series) tends to start out with characters that are only slightly stronger than ordinary humans, to being able to shatter planets in one blow at the lower end of the power spectrum, to being literal gods with so much power that the only practical comparison is against other gods...that's a lot to ask of a set of mechanics.

What do you think?

EDIT: And I just noticed what this brought my post-count up to. Sparking!

 

[Razjah]

At first thought I think the Feng Shui RPG would work. The system is based on Hong Kong action flicks, but using the ninja, martial artist, and old master archetypes with the various kung fu schticks could let you make a group and give them plenty of enemies to fight. This however would match Dragon Ball better where a small group is up against the Red Ribbon Army. DBZ had a lot more fights against one super powerful foe or a small group of very powerful enemies.

So I think Mutants and Masterminds would be your best bet. I'm only familiar with the second edition, so I'll use that for my example. M&M 2e doesn't have levels like most d20 games, the characters aren't expected to level up frequently. But allowing that isn't too upsetting. Set the power level to 3-5 to start. Then after some Red Ribbon Army bashing go up to levels 7-10. This lets you take down Frieza by having one character level up to the next tier earlier. For Cell saga go closer to 15, dealing with the androids provides the progression.

The best part about M&M? The power levels let you model the jumps in power better than a typical leveling system. Moving up a level doesn't give a huge a jump in power as finally reaching super sayan. Also the powers allow for characters to all fight well, but to have different powers for signature moves.

Other than that... I'm not sure what system could model it well.

 

[Hand of Evil]

BESM should work

 

[Hyper-Man]

HERO would work.

Here is some fan made stuff by the same guy who has written the soon to be released Fantasy Hero Complete.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Mutants and Masterminds is also an option to consider.

 

[Kaodi]

I think the main problem is that Saiyans are OP, .

 

[JEB]

Another vote here for Mutants & Masterminds. Specifically 2nd Edition, since its Mecha and Manga sourcebook included some attempts to handle DBZ-type characters. And the core system does have some numbers for planetary-level fights, although they'd have to go above Power Level 20 for sure...

Another system to consider would be Shonen Final Burst, which is specifically designed to handle shonen anime like DBZ. Never read it myself, though, so I dunno how well it handles stuff at the planet-cracking scale.

 

[Jhaelen]

What would it take to make a GOOD Dragon Ball Z RPG?

Picking a different license to base the RPG on? (sorry, couldn't resist...)