Dragon Ball Parallels

Dragon Ball Parallels
The tabletop roleplaying game for friends who want to scream a whole bunch.
Written and Designed by Jonathan Reeves
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, fan-made homage to the Dragon Ball franchise. It is not associated with Funimation,
Toei Animation, Shueisha, or Akira Toriyama. It claims no ownership or rights to the source material. It is not to be
sold or distributed in exchange for money. Please support the official products.
Dragon Ball Parallels is currently undergoing a public playtest, meaning that you can
help in the development of this game by taking part. Play this system with your regular
gaming group, your friends, or even some strangers if you’re feeling adventurous
enough. Report your findings back to the designer using this feedback form. Have fun!
Introduction
How to Play
Example of Play
Common Moves
Basic Moves
Blast
Charge Up
Clash
Evade Danger
Give Energy
Influence Another
Investigate the Area
Protect Another
Special Moves
Beam Battle
Death
Self-Sacrifice
Training Session
Playbooks
Android
Arcosian
Earthling
Kai
Majin
Namekian
Oni
Saiyan
Martial Arts
Redefining Techniques
Tags
Techniques
A Map of the Cosmos
Groups and Factions
Training Areas
Dragon Balls
The Narrator
Narrator Moves
Making Moves
How to “Fail Forward”
Minions
Villains
Destruction
Experience
Setting Up Your First Session
Tiers of Play
Planning Your Saga
Global Tier Sagas
The Doll Saga
The Sprout Saga
The Time Patrol Saga
The Vandalu Saga
Cosmic Tier Sagas

The Bad Moon Saga
The Darkula Saga
The Popinjays Saga
Divine Tier Sagas
The ? Saga
Timelines
Quick Timeline Ideas
Capsulepunk Future
The Demon Wizard War
Planet Diablo
The Shattered Universe
The Spirit Tree
Universe 13
Introduction
Everyone knows the story. Boy meets girl, girl shoots boy, they team up to find seven magical
balls that can grant you any wish you desire, boy turns out to be a space alien and now he’s
fighting gods and monsters every week. It’s a classic, one you’re probably going to be familiar
with if you’ve picked up this book. But here’s the great part: now you can be the one fighting all
those gods and monsters!
This is the world of Dragon Ball, possibly one of the most well-known works of action and
adventure ever published, and still every bit as popular today as it was thirty years ago. During
this time it has inspired countless people to create their own works and tell their own stories.
This happens to be one of those loving tributes. A game of fighting, friendship, and alternate
timelines. This is Dragon Ball Parallels.
You are the heroes who stand between the innocent and the wicked, who stand between the
cosmos and destruction, who put their strength and skills to the test in amazing fights that
determine the fate of everyone and everything. You are Saiyans, Namekians, Earthlings,
Androids, and more. Are you ready to step up to the challenge?
How to Play
This book is going to teach you how to play Dragon Ball Parallels. If you’re going to be the
Narrator (also known as the GM, DM, or Storyteller in other games), you’re going to need to
read the whole thing from start to finish. If you’re a player, just this section will do for now —
most of what you need to remember will be contained within your character sheet. But don’t be
afraid to read through when you need to refresh yourself on the basics.
Setting Up
To play Dragon Ball Parallels, you’ll need yourself and your friends. A group of five or six is
usually best. One person must be the Narrator, and everyone else will be the players, taking the
role of the characters in the game. As you play, the players say what their characters are saying,
thinking, or doing. The Narrator describes everything else in the world.
You can play a single session, or string together multiple sessions into an ongoing adventure.
Multiple sessions following the same plot make a saga. Be sure to plan accordingly if you wish
to play through a whole saga (or two!), perhaps setting aside a night of the week to play. Each
session will usually be a few hours, and you’ll be able to start playing right away in the first
session.
You may need to print some materials. Before you start, print off the following:
▶ Several copies of the basic and special moves.

▶ At least one copy of each playbook.
▶ Several copies of the martial arts techniques.
▶ One copy of the Narrator moves.
Be sure to also bring pens and pencils to write with, some scrap paper for notes, and some
six-sided dice. You will need at least two, but having dice for each player is better. Borrow from
any board games you have to hand if you need to.
You will also need some tokens. You can use pennies or paperclips if you wish. Try not to use
candy, because of the temptation to eat it.
What It’s Like
Playing Dragon Ball Parallels is all about being the heroes of a world that’s constantly in peril
from danger and evil. Think of it like a conservation between the Narrator and the players — the
Narrator tells the players what the characters will see and experience in the world around them,
and the players say what their characters are thinking, feeling, and doing.
Like any conversation, there are no “turns” or “rounds” to think about, no rules for who gets to
talk next. Things should flow naturally as the characters react to what the Narrator says. Make
sure you spend as much time listening as you do talking, and build on what the others are
saying to make the best of it. There is no solitary protagonist of Dragon Ball Parallels, it’s a
group effort where everyone should be contributing.
Sometimes the conversation will trigger a move — something that’ll require the dice to be
rolled to see what happens. For that moment, everything will hinge on the result of the dice.
That tension and excitement, of not knowing what will happen, is what makes this a role-playing
game, and not just role-playing.
As you play your characters, they’ll gain experience from their adventures and develop as
heroes and martial artists. They’ll explore the world, travel to different places, and face new
challenges. You’ll discover how they feel about each other, and what drives them. When you it’s
time to train, you’ll be able to have them learn new martial arts techniques and develop their
unique skills, achieving new levels of power.
You can play Dragon Ball Parallels with the same group, session to session, over many sagas
to watch your characters change and grow together. You can play it as a self-contained game is
a single session, too. Whichever you choose, the rules are here to guide you and help you
create an amazing story.
Attributes
A character’s attributes are what define them as a fighter. They measure a character’s abilities
in certain areas, giving you a number called a modifier. An attribute modifier can be anywhere
between -2 and +2. When a move tells you to roll plus an attribute, you use the associated
modifier. There are five attributes in total:
Strike Stamina Energy Insight Temper
☐ Weak -1 ☐ Tired -1 ☐ Drained -1 ☐ Puzzled -1 ☐ Unhinged -1
Each attribute also has a related complication, an associated negative. When you gain a
complication, check the box. You will take -1 to that attribute’s modifier until you lose the
complication.
▶ Strike is a character’s capacity for physical aggression and movement. When you need
to punch, throw, or otherwise use your limbs in some way, this is what you will be using. A
character with good Strike will have a strong arm. Strike’s complication is Weak, when you are
lacking in muscle power.
▶ Stamina is a character’s reserves of endurance, their tolerance for pain, and how long
they can keep going. When you need to do something exhausting or downright tedious, this is
what you will be using. A character with good Stamina will have excellent staying power.
Stamina’s complication is Tired, when you are reaching your limit.
▶ Energy is a character’s ki level, the fuel they use to do all those amazing feats such as
flying, energy waves and blasts, and special techniques. When you need to do something
superhuman, this is what you will be using. A character with good Energy will be able to unleash
spectacular ki blasts. Energy’s complication is Drained, when you have used up your reserves.
▶ Insight is a character’s cunning and thinking power. When you need to use your brain
instead of your fists, or take a moment to calculate the odds, this is what you will be using. A
character with good Insight will be very astute and resourceful. Insight’s complication is
Puzzled, when you are distracted or preoccupied.
▶ Temper is a character’s state of mind, their personality and spirit. When you need to
deal with others, keep your rage in check, or unleash it entirely, this is what you will be using. A
character with good Temper will be cool and collected under pressure. Temper’s complication is
Unhinged, when you have snapped and lost control.
When you make a character, you must assign values to your attributes. These values are what
get added to (or subtracted from) the rolls you make during the game. Assign the following
values to your attributes in any way you want: +2, +1, +1, +0, -1.
Making Moves
The most basic unit of rules in Dragon Ball Parallels is the move. A move looks like this:
When you are faced with an incoming bad situation, roll +Stamina. On a 10+, you
dodge out of the way and remain unharmed. On a 7–9, you don’t quite make it and have to
pick a compromise.
Moves are rules that tell you when they trigger, and what effect they have. A move depends on
a fictional action, and has a fictional effect. “Fictional” means the action and effect come from
the world of the characters. In the move above, the trigger is “when you are faced with an
incoming bad situation.” The effect is what follows: a roll of the dice is made, and different
results based on the outcome of that roll.
When a player describes their character doing something that triggers a move, that move
happens and its rules apply. If the move requires a roll, its description will tell you what modifier
to apply, and how to read the result.
A character can’t take the fictional action that triggers a move without that move occurring. For
example, if Harriet tells the Narrator that her character dodges a demon’s frantic sword-slashing
attack, she makes the Evade Danger move because its trigger is “when you are faced with an
incoming bad situation”. Harriet can’t just describe her character dodging without making the
Evade Danger move, and she can’t make the Evade Danger move without facing an incoming
bad situation. The moves and the fiction go hand-in-hand.
Everyone at the table should listen for when moves apply. If it’s ever unclear if a move has
been triggered, everyone should work together to clarify what’s happening. Ask questions until
everyone sees the situation the same way, and then either roll the dice or not as the situation
requires.
The Narrator also has moves, but they work differently. More on that in the Narrator’s section
later on.
Moves and Dice
Many moves include the phrase “roll +x” where “x” is one of your character’s attribute modifiers,
such as +Energy. That “roll” always means that you roll two six-sided dice and add their results
to the value of the modifier. Some moves will allow you to add another value to the roll, on top of
(or occasionally, instead of) an attribute modifier.
I’m making a move that asks me to roll +Strike, and my Strike modifier is +2. I rolled two
six-sided dice, and got a two and a three. I add those numbers together with my Strike
modifier, meaning my total is seven.
The results always fall into three basic categories. A total of 10 or higher (written as 10+) is
the best outcome. A total of 7, 8, or 9 (written as 7–9) is still a success, but it comes with
compromises or cost. A 6 or lower (written as 6-) is not a success, but you get a point of
experience.
Each move will tell you what happens on a 10+ and a 7–9. They won’t usually say what
happens on a 6-, as that’s often up to the Narrator, but you will always get a point of experience.
Besides a character’s attribute modifier, there are other bonuses (and penalties) to rolls.
Sometimes a move will say to take +1 forward, which means that the next roll gets an extra +1.
Make sure to note who is getting the +1 forward, it might not be the player making the roll, but
one of their allies.
Another bonus is +1 ongoing. An ongoing bonus only applies under certain circumstances,
such as while a character is transformed or performing a particular action.
These bonuses also exist as penalties (-1 ongoing and -1 forward) and can even be larger if
necessary, such as +2 forward. They also combine with each other: getting +1 forward while
also having +1 ongoing gives a total bonus of +2 to the next roll.
The bonus to rolls has a cap of +7, meaning that you will never be able to roll with a higher
bonus than that no matter how many bonuses or benefits you might have. In a similar way,
penalties cap out at -2, meaning the lowest you can ever possibly roll is a zero.
Bonds
Bonds are what make you a group of friends and not just a random assortment of people.
They’re the feelings, thoughts, and shared history that tie you together. You will always have at
least one bond, and you’ll often have more.
Each bond is a simple statement that relates your character to another player character. Your
playbook will give you a few to start with, but you are free to make up your own. At the end of
each session, you may choose to resolve one bond. Both you and the other player must agree
that the bond no longer applies, and it is erased. You both get a point of experience.
A bond is resolved when it no longer describes how your character relates to that person. If
you owed them a debt, but now that debt has been repaid, the bond has been resolved. If you
considered them your rival but now think of them as your best friend, the bond has been
resolved. Any time you look at a bond and think “that’s just not how it is anymore” then the bond
is at a good place to resolve.
When you have resolved a bond, feel free to create a new bond, even with the same
character. Perhaps you have progressed from friendship to romance, or lost respect for them
after an act of cowardice. You don’t get experience for making a new bond, but you get the
chance to resolve it in the future.
Power
Power is a measure of how much energy any given character is at that point in time, and is
measured in tokens. Characters will gain Power through some actions, and have to spend it to
do other actions. Most techniques require Power to be spent. You will always see the word
Power bolded like this, as it is very important.
At the beginning of a fight, every character receives a starting amount of Power, referred to as
their Initial Power. During the fight they can gain more, but after a fight ends they must
relinquish all their tokens back to the central pool.
Try to have at least twenty tokens per player in the game, including the Narrator, to make sure
that everyone will have enough Power to spend throughout every fight (this is Dragon Ball,
remember). If you don’t have that many, consider having multiple types of token: one type
representing 1 Power, and one type representing 5 Power.
Damage
Damage is a measure of how likely a character is to die, denoted by the amount of
crosshatching, blood trickles and strategically torn clothing about their person. It is a six-point
scale beginning at zero and going all the way to maximum.
0 1 2 3 4 Maximum
Track the damage your character has taken with a token, pencil mark, paper clip, or any other
way you can easily change, because it will change a lot. Every time you take a hit, you step up
your damage. Sometimes you will be able to step down your damage. If you take a hit when at
maximum damage, you will die (see Death, below).
Death
Death is, unlike many other games, not the end of your character’s journey. It can be the
beginning of a whole new chapter, in fact. It is also far from permanent. With multiple ways to
come back to life, death is more like a business trip than anything else, especially if you plan to
take advantage of all the training opportunities the afterlife has to offer.
The afterlife is called Other World and it takes up half of the entire universe, whichever
universe you’re currently in. It has its own particular cosmology, with planets and so forth, just all
a little different to the Living World. When a character dies, they end up in Other World with
their physical body intact. No missing limbs, no gaping chest wounds. If you didn’t have pants at
the time of your death, pants will be provided, free of charge. The only addition will be a shiny
halo above your head to indicate your status as the deceased. Not everybody gets to keep their
body, it’s a privilege for only the most heroic and noble of souls.
While in Other World, characters can continue to train, have adventures, and generally do
everything they did in life. They do not even need to be dead to go to Other World, and they
technically don’t even need to be alive to leave again. But the dead coming back to the Living
World upsets the cosmic order, so they will get in trouble if it’s not officially sanctioned. The
strongest power in all of existence is the divine bureaucracy. Meddle with it at your peril.
When a character is brought back to life, by wish or other means, they will pop back into
existence in the Living World. If available, they will re-occupy their old body, which will be
restored to full vitality. Nobody comes back from the dead all gross and decomposing.
Character Change
In the world of Dragon Ball Parallels, everyone changes, and not just when undergoing a
transformation. As the characters go on adventures, they will gain experience, which lets them
gain new abilities and martial arts techniques. This will let them take on bigger and more
dangerous adventures.
Advancing your character is both prescriptive and descriptive. Prescriptive means that when a
player changes their character sheet, the character changes in the fiction. Descriptive means
that when the character changes in the fiction, the player should change the character sheet to
match.
This isn’t simply an excuse to take away abilities, or to gain more. Don’t view it as some sort of
dodge around the rules. It’s just the given way that characters can develop into complex
individuals.
Android 9, an android who seeks to achieve spiritual enlightenment

through martial arts, has been studying under the wise Namekian,
Master Escar. After spending months on improving his focus, he has
gained great patience and wisdom. He can now Meditate like a
Namekian.
Vianda the Saiyan has suffered the greatest indignity her people can
take in combat: someone has cut off her tail. Without her tail, she can
no longer adopt her Legendary Form, the mighty Oozaru. But this might
prompt her to seek to achieve new heights and become a Super
Saiyan.
Descriptive changes will only happen when the character has clearly gained access to, or lost,
an ability. It’s not up to any one player to decide what happens — if you think a character
qualifies for a new ability, discuss it as a group.
Martial Arts Techniques
As well as their innate abilities that come from their particular playbook, all characters have their
skill in the martial arts. Since this is Dragon Ball Parallels, this includes energy blasts and
transformations in addition to the more traditional punching and kicking. When it comes to
martial arts, moves are referred to as “techniques” to distinguish them from the basic and
advanced moves your character gets.
When your character knows a martial arts technique, they can use it in fights as long as they
can meet the Power cost of it. The bigger and more destructive the technique, the higher the
cost. Certain techniques will let you boost them by spending additional Power. The way each
technique works is explained by their description, and the tags they have.
If a character already knows a technique, it should be safe to assume they can teach it to
others. But new, unknown techniques may require special training from a master. For instance,
Goku had to travel to Other World to learn the Kaio-ken and the Spirit Bomb from King Kai. This
is not strictly necessary, as characters in Dragon Ball have always been smart enough to create
their own techniques, but could provide an additional level of fun and adventure.
Training Sessions
When the final fight between good and evil has ended, the clash that will settle the fate of the
galaxy is all over, or the grand tournament has a victor, there’s only one thing for the characters
to do: train for the next battle. A training session is when players exchange their experience
points for new moves and martial arts techniques, while their characters put in the sweat and
effort in the fiction.
Training sessions are still part of the fiction, and are not instantaneous — time will still pass,
meaning that declaring you are spending a year in training means a year will pass as you do so.
Whether or not you wish to play out the training is up to how all the players feel about it. A
simple “you spend the next year training” is fine, if everyone is eager to get to the next fight.
During training, characters will overcome their limits and reinforce their friendships with one
another. They may train in amazing ways in fantastical locations, whether that’s going all-out in
sparring bouts with their rival, or struggling to survive in a hostile environment.
The world of Dragon Ball has shown a number of interesting places to train, such as the
Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where a year passes within a single day, and the ever-popular
gravity chamber, where characters can subject themselves to doing push-ups under conditions
that would liquify a normal person. There are also many masters with great wisdom and
powerful techniques they can impart.
A training session ends when all the players have made their decisions on what new abilities
and techniques they have developed in that time. How it ends within the fiction is up to the
Narrator — it may end naturally, or even interrupted by the arrival of a new threat.
See the Training Session move in the Basic Moves section below for further details.
Friends
Friends, family, and good-natured rivals are always around in the world of Dragon Ball, ready to
lend a hand or just be there to make you smile. They can be scientists, teachers, parents, comic
relief, or all of the above. As you go on your adventures, you’re going to meet up with people
who will be willing to stick by you and do their best to support you.
Remember that even if your friends aren’t martial artists with super powers, they can still do
their best to save the world alongside you. They may have abilities you don’t have, like being
able to build time machines, rally the population of the entire planet, or drive a car.
Enemies
Over the course of your adventures, you’re going to face enemies. They might be strong,
perhaps even stronger than you are now, but it’s always down to you to put an end to the threats
they cause. Work together with your allies to triumph over evil.
Some enemies are minions, in service to some greater evil. They can be killer robots, alien
troopers, screeching monsters, or anything else that turns up in large numbers to be sent flying
by your incredible attacks. Since they are rarely comparable to your strength, they will try and
weigh you down with numbers, or by threatening innocent bystanders.
Other enemies are villains, and they are dangerous to everyone. They have power and
techniques at their disposal. Freeza, Cell, Buu — these are the big threats that will test your
skills as a martial artist, and your resolve as a hero. While minions can be thrashed without
much effort, a villain is only going to be defeated by something truly spectacular after an
amazing struggle.
Dragon Balls
It would not be the world of Dragon Ball without the Dragon Balls, and the various problems and
solutions they create. Collecting a full set and making a wish or three is iconic, and it’s
something you can do in Dragon Ball Parallels.
Remember that even though this is no monkey’s paw scenario, and your wish will be granted
in good faith, there are still limits to the powers of the eternal dragon. Some things are
impossible, or at least require a bigger dragon on call. Just remember that the Super Dragon
Balls are planet-sized and scattered across not one, but two universes. Collecting those is going
to require a lot more than just a Dragon Radar.
Bringing friends, and the innocent victims of world-shattering conflicts, back to life is the
bread-and-butter of summoning the eternal dragon. That is, at least for the forces of good.
Villains and monsters will always be after the most sinister of wishes: immortality, world
domination, and so forth. Every evil wish made is one that delays restoring a friend to life.
Example of Play
I’m the Narrator of a game with Abigail (playing Tato the Saiyan), Evan (playing Matcha the
Earthling), Hazel (playing Android 23), and Jesse (playing Yao the Oni). After a training session
at the Lookout, the Guardian of Earth informed them all that the world is once again in peril. The
group has gathered up on the top of the Capsule Corp. building, looking out over West City. A
massive flying saucer is descending out of the clouds, casting a shadow over the entire
downtown area.
Now that I have described the situation, the game continues as a conversation, with them
having the opportunity to react and act on what I’ve told them. To prompt them along, I ask:
“What do you do?”
Hazel always likes taking the initiative, so she’s got an idea the moment I finish speaking. “I’m
going to hit this spaceship with my strongest attack!”
“Do you have the Power for that?” I ask. She looks down at her small pile of tokens and
frowns.
“All right, then I’m going to charge up instead.” She rolls the dice, which show 4 and 2. With
her Energy of +2, that makes a result of 8. “I bunch up my fists and start yelling real loud,
drawing on my artificial power core to give me the energy I need! That’s going to be three
tokens, plus an extra two, right?”
“Sure, but you’ll have to spend time on it.” I point out. “Meanwhile, what’s everyone else
doing?”
“I’ll check out what the ship’s doing. I mean, it could be friendly, right?” Evan likes playing up
the fact his character, Matcha, is a hopeless optimist.
“Investigating the area, then? That’s a +Insight roll,” I say. The dice show 1 and 1, and his
Insight of +1 isn’t going to help with that.
“Well, give yourself a point of experience. But you still get to ask one question,” I say. Evan
adds the experience to his sheet, and ponders what to ask.
“Can I sense any huge power levels in there?”
I know exactly who’s in there, so I nod. “You can feel at least three power levels equivalent to
you and your friends, and one power level that’s even bigger.”
“Charge faster,” Jesse says to Hazel in a stage whisper. But since Evan rolled 6-, I’m not done
yet. I get to respond with a move of my own. Time to bring out the minions.
“The central hangar bay doors of the flying saucer open up, and hundreds of armoured
troopers fly out, wildly firing ray guns into the city below. It looks like they’re going to totally
destroy the place if left unchecked. What now?”
“I’m going in, club swinging,” says Jesse. His character, Yao, is an oni from Other World, and
armed with a particularly hefty spiked club.
“Are you using a technique?” I ask.
“Nah, I’ll save my Power for now. These small fry aren’t worth it.”
“Then you’re going in for a Clash, roll +Strike for me.”
His roll gets him 4 and 4, and with his Strike of +2, that’s a 10. He checks over his options,
and picks the one he likes best.
“I’ll knock them back and interrupt what they’re doing, by scattering them with some big
swings of my club. I can hit a whole group of them all at once, right?”
Since the minions are probably all clumped up in formation, I decide that it’s fine for Yao to
have hit several of them with just one attack.
“Sure. Looks like that’s gotten their attention, though. They don’t look like they were expecting
resistance. Tato, what are you doing?”
I mention Abigail’s character directly because she hasn’t said anything yet. Keeping everyone
part of the conversation is important, although it’s not just down to the Narrator to do so.
“Those soldiers came out of the mothership, right?” Abigail asks. I nod. “Are the doors still
open?”
That’s a good question, and I hadn’t thought about it, but since Abigail looks like she has
something in mind if they are, I nod again.
“I’m going to fly inside,” she says.
“But I want to Galick Gun this thing!” Hazel says. “Blowing up a flying saucer has been on list
of things to do since we started.”
“We can all feel those big power signatures, right? We know there’s someone in there worth
fighting, so I’m going to find ‘em and fight ‘em.”
It’s a bold plan, and pretty typical for Abigail’s hot-headed young Saiyan warrior. But I can’t let
it be that easy for her.
“As you approach the open hangar bay doors, another soldier descends from within. You can
tell right away that this guy isn’t one of the rank-and-file troopers getting swatted about by Yao.
He’s bigger, his armour is different, and he’s cracking his knuckles with a sound like a sack of
walnuts being fed into a woodchipper. What are you going to do?”
Abigail’s eyes light up immediately. “I’m gonna punch him.”
Common Moves
The common moves are available to every player character. They fall into two categories,
basic and special. Basic moves are those that are used frequently throughout the game, and
special moves are more situational and happen under specific circumstances.
All player characters have all the basic and special moves. Each player character will also
have moves from their playbook, as well as martial arts techniques.
Each move is presented here with its name, then the rules of the move.
Basic Moves
Blast
When you unleash a ki projectile, roll +Energy. On a 7–9, it was kind of weak and only
serves to attract your target’s attention. On a 10+, pick one of the following:
● It’s powerful enough to make them wince. Deal damage.
● It explodes right in their face, briefly disorientating them. The target is interrupted
in whatever they were doing, and loses sight of everything for a moment.
● You gain some momentum in your battle. Take +1 forward.
Narrator: Doctor Bulgogi taps the remote in a menacing manner, wagging his finger.
“You forget, I’m the one holding all the cards here!”
Android 23: Darn that guy… I’ve got my +1 forward from earlier, so I’m going to risk hitting
him with a little ki blast.
Narrator: You’ve got good Energy, let’s see how it plays out.
Android 23: Nice! That’s a 12. I’m going to try and knock the remote from his hand and
steal it in the ensuing chaos.
Narrator: Your ki blast doesn’t hurt him, but it does faze him, making him drop the
remote. Your reflexes are quicker than the doctor’s and you manage to scoop
it up before he can recover it himself. But what are you going to do now?
Charge Up
When you tap into your ki reserves, say how you’re gathering that energy. If you do it…
● … by feeling your life force flow, roll +Energy.
● … through raw emotional power, roll +Temper.
On a 10+, you gain 7 Power. On a 7–9, you gain 5 Power. On a 6-, you can choose to
gain 2 Power. If you do, take -1 forward.
If you take your sweet time about it, spending at least a minute yelling and posing,
give yourself additional Power equal to your Energy. However, you cannot Evade Danger
if you are attacked during this.
Narrator: Alien invaders fall to your punches one after the other, but there’s just so many
of them that it doesn’t feel like you’re putting a dent in their numbers. That big,
imposing flying saucer is still hovering above the city, too.
Matcha: Looks like I’m running low on ki, so I’ll plant my feet and let out a powerful
battlecry as I charge up. Tato, you’re gonna cover me while I do this, right?
Tato: They’ll have to go through me to get to you, buddy.
Matcha: I’ve rolled a 10, and with my +2 Energy that’s… 9 Power total.
Narrator: Looks like you’ll need it, too, because the flying saucer is opening up.
Someone is coming out, and you can sense their immense power even as it
rattles windows and sends crackles of energy coursing through the air...
———
Yao: That last technique has me completely dry. I’m going to charge up with all the
rage I can muster.
Narrator: So you’re rolling +Temper for that, right?
Yao: Power from anger is what I do. Two and four isn’t great, but it’s an 8 with my
+2 Temper. That gives me 5 Power.
Narrator: You could take time for a little extra, you know.
Yao: If I had more time, sure. I need a quick boost right now, or did you forget I’m
fighting for my life here?
Clash
When you engage an enemy in melee, roll +Strike. On a 7–9, you get up close to your
target and begin exchanging blows so fast it’s like there’s only four frames of animation,
forcing them to focus entirely on you. On a 10+, pick one of the following:
● You land a devastating blow that they can’t block in time. Deal damage.
● You slip behind them and get them in a powerful lock that restricts their movement,
giving someone else an opening to exploit. The next attack against the target
cannot be blocked or avoided.
● You deliver a powerful hit that sends them hurtling back. The target is interrupted
in whatever they were doing, and forcefully moved from their current position.
Yao: This guy’s really getting on my nerves now! I’m charging in with the intent on
planting my iron club squarely in his smug face!
Narrator: Roll +Strike and see where that gets you.
Yao: That’s an 8… guess we’re locked in combat for a bit. But that means his
attention’s solely on me, right?
Android 23: Yao, you’re singing my song. Keep him right there while I charge my Galick
Gun.
———
Narrator: The mad scientist starts slamming buttons and turning dials on his control
console. “You’ll all see, my machine will turn this whole world into a cinder!”
Tato: Let’s see him stand up to a dive kick! I’m leaping at him with both feet aimed at
his head, and rolling +Strike! That’s a 13!
Narrator: What’s your dive kick going to do, then?
Tato: I’m sending him flying so he’ll stop pushing those buttons. I like this planet too
much to see it burned up!
Narrator: Doctor Bulgogi lets out a squawk, his arms flailing as he soars across the room
and slams into a huge monitor, cracking the screen. “No! You clumsy oaf! You
can’t stand in my way, not when my experiments are almost complete!”
Evade Danger
When you are faced with an incoming bad situation, say how you’re avoiding it. If you
do it…
● … with speed and agility, roll +Stamina.
● … by out-thinking the problem, roll +Insight.
On a 10+, you dodge out of the way and remain unharmed. On a 7–9, you don’t quite
make it and have to pick a compromise:
● It seems you took it dead-on, but it was only your afterimage. However that burst of
speed took energy. Spend 4 Power.
● You take advantage of the situation to catch your opponent off-guard. Take
damage, but gain +1 forward.
On a 6-, you take a hit.
Narrator: The gigantic robot pivots and seems to focus its attention on you, Aircon. It lifts
up its sword and brings it swinging round at you, aiming to swat you like a bug
with the blade.
Aircon: Oh please, it’ll never catch me with such a clumsy attack. I could fly rings
around this oversized tin can, and I just might. I’ve got more than enough
speed to avoid this attack.
Narrator: Want to bet on that? Since that’s relying on speed, rather than smarts, you’ll
have to roll +Stamina.
Aircon: I rolled a 9… close, but not what I was hoping for. I suppose I’ll spend the
Power cost and let it slice my afterimage.
Narrator: That overconfidence will be the death of you someday, but not today. The
robot’s attack cleaves through your wavering afterimage, but your real body is
long gone. Confused, it begins to scan the area...
Give Energy
When you place your hands on an ally, you can choose to give them Power from your
pool. If you do, mark yourself as Drained.
Matcha: I have a plan, but it’s going to require more Power than I currently have.
Anyone willing to lend a hand.
Tato: Sure, here’s everything I can spare. I’m saving this last 5 for emergencies,
though.
Narrator: Tato, you place your hands on Matcha’s shoulder and transfer your energy to
him. Remember to mark yourself as being Drained.
Tato: Yeah, I know. Knock ‘em dead, Matcha.
Matcha: Awesome! Although this will probably end up killing me as well…

Influence Another
When you try to manipulate, convince, or otherwise persuade someone, say how
you’re approaching them. If you do it…
● … by appealing to them, roll +Insight. On a 10+, they will be willing to accept your
line of thinking, but require a gesture of good faith on your behalf. On a 7–9, they
are much less trusting, and want some solid proof that you will make it worth their
while.
● … through threats, roll +Temper. On a 10+, they are reluctant to start violence with
you, and will do as you say as long as no violence comes to pass. On a 7–9, they
will only accept what you have to say if you are willing back up your threats with
action.
Narrator: The screen flashes up with the words “enter password”. It looks like you won’t
be able to progress any further without logging in.
Yao: We need that data on the fighters in this tournament or we’ll never figure out
who the imposter is. I’m gonna go looking for someone who might know
something.
Narrator: There’s a guy in a white coat outside in the corridor, presumably one of the
technicians. He’s trying to get a snack out of the vending machine. “Hey, did
you just come out of the control room? Participants aren’t supposed to be back
there.”
Yao: I sidle up to him, drape my arm around his shoulder, give him a roguish smile,
and pour on the charm offensive. “Buddy, pal, friend… you’re gonna want to
tell us the password for this here computer system, or I’m going to twist you
into a pretzel.”
Narrator: That sounds like threats to me. Roll +Temper.
Yao: Well… yeah, I guess that’s technically a threat. But hey, it’s what I’m good at. I
rolled a 12.
Narrator: You are an incredibly effectively scary fellow. The technician weighs his
options for a moment, and then blurts out what you want to know. “The
password is worldchampion, all one word, no capital letters.”
Investigate the Area
When you examine an area or situation, roll +Insight. You need to spend a moment
assessing things. On a 10+, ask the Narrator three questions from the list below. On a
7–9, ask one. Either way, take +1 forward when acting on the answers. On a 6-, you can
ask one question, but don’t take anything when acting on the answers.
● What looks out of place or suspicious?
● Is there a way through?
● Are there innocent bystanders around here?
● What appears to be the biggest threat?
● Is it obvious what happened here?
● What looks useful, valuable, or unique?
Narrator: The penthouse suite is deserted, with no sign of the world champion, even
though he promised he’d be here.
Matcha: I’m going to take a look around and see what I can find here. That’s +Insight,
right?
Narrator: That’s correct.
Matcha: I got an 11, so… three questions. First off, what looks out of place or
suspicious?
Narrator: There’s an open bottle of champagne lying on the floor next to a broken glass,
as if it was dropped there mid-pour.
Matcha: All right, cool. Is it obvious what happened here?
Narrator: Not really, if there had been a struggle things would look different. It’s almost
as if the world champion just vanished into thin air.
Matcha: Last question… what looks useful, valuable, or unique?
Narrator: Interesting! You recognise the champ’s signature lucky underwear that he’s
mentioned many times before, laid on on the bed in preparation for his
upcoming bout. Now, who have you met recently who has a nose good enough
to track across star systems?
Matcha: Oh boy… I’m going to find a stick or something first, because I’m not touching
those things with my bare hands.
Protect Another
When you put yourself in danger to protect someone or something, roll +Stamina. On
a 7–9, they are fine but you take a hit. On a 10+, you block correctly and neither of you
take a hit, but you must spend 2 Power. If you cannot spend 2 Power, you take a hit.
Narrator: The alien tyrant lifts both hands up, and they begin to glow with energy. “Say
goodbye to your precious planet, insects! Magnum Crasher!” He forms a
colossal sphere of green energy, and throws it straight down.
Tato: Oh boy… here goes nothing. I’m gonna fly in and put myself in between the
energy ball and the planet.
Narrator: Roll +Stamina.
Tato: That’s a 7… this is really going to sting. I put my hands up and let out a primal
scream as I catch it.
Narrator: You are pushed back, so far back that your feet reach the ground and sink in,
shattering it into a crater as the pressure builds. But you get the best of it and
throw it back up into the air, sending it off into space to explode high above the
atmosphere. However, you’ve been pretty badly scorched by it. This was a
planet-destroying move after all. Step up your damage.
Sense Ki
When you sense out life energy, roll +Insight. If you are familiar with who you are
searching for, take +1. On a 7–9, you know the location of the ki signature and can follow
it. On a 10+, you can also pick one of the following:
● You can tell if the ki signature is familiar.
● You can determine whether or not it is stronger than you.
● You have a rough idea of what the owner of the ki is doing right now.
Android 23: There’s no way that someone like that could hide a power level that large. Let’s
sniff out our wayward time traveller.
Narrator: You’re sensing ki?
Android 23: Darn right I am. Only got an 8, even though I know exactly who I’m looking for.
At least I know where he is, right?
Narrator: You let your unclouded mind seek out Epoch’s power level, and you can feel
him on the other side of the planet, somewhere in… West City, it seems like.
Android 23: Oh, he’ll be in for a surprise. I’ll use Instant Transmission and drop by
unannounced...
———
Narrator: The last of the troopers collapses at your feet, soundly defeated. Looks like
you’ve protected the people of this village, at least for now.
Aircon: An army always has a commander, and I’m betting they’re stronger than these
grunts. So I’ll scour the area for any significant ki... that means I’m sensing ki,
right?
Narrator: Correct. It’s a +Insight roll.
Aircon: Good thing I’m so smart, that’s an 11. So… let’s start with location.
Narrator: To the northeast you can feel a large power, not too far away, about a ten
minute flight for you.
Aircon: Northeast? That’s the forest we were warned about. In that case, I think I’ll
discern if they’re familiar or not.
Narrator: You’re absolutely positive that it’s General Rust again. She’s back, with a new
force, but why?
Special Moves
Beam Battle
When you respond to a beam technique with a beam technique, you enter a beam
battle. The two beams meet together, and the one with more Power behind it wins. If your
beam has less Power, you can add more from your pool. An ally can also contribute their
own beam to the battle, in which case you add together the total Power spent. Whoever
loses the beam battle takes a hit.
Narrator: The mysterious masked fighter draws his hands back in a stance that’s all too
familiar to you. His distorted, metallic voice begins the chant. “Ka… me…”
Yao: Oh heck. Well, two can play at that game. I’m going to mirror his stance and do
the exact same. I’m spending an extra 5 Power to make it a Super Technique,
which means I rolled an 11. We’ll see who has the strongest technique here!
“Ka… me…”
Narrator: “Ha… me… ha!” He lets a brilliant lance of bright blue energy fly, and you
respond with the same a moment later. The two beams collide in a spectacular
flash, and you feel like they’re evenly matched.
Yao: Darn it, he’s good! I’m going to go all-out. I have 4 Power left, let’s see him
match that!
Narrator: For a moment you get the upper hand, but he responds with a surge of his
own, and you can feel your energy slipping.
Yao: I’m tapped… I can’t match that.
Android 23: You won’t have to, my friend, because the cavalry is here! I’m spending 6
Power to lend a hand. “Galick Gun… fire!”
Narrator: Your two beams combine, and the mysterious masked fighter’s kamehameha
beam slows… then reverses direction. He can’t stand up to your combined
strength!
Death
When you take a hit while at maximum damage, you die. Roll +Stamina. On a 10+, you
can use one final technique, ignoring the Power cost entirely, as if you had rolled 10+ for
it. On a 7–9, you last long enough to say a few words to anyone close enough to listen. On
a 6-, you kick the bucket immediately. Once dead, you appear in Other World with a
golden ring above your head denoting your status as one of the deceased. You also gain 1
experience every time you die.
While dead, you can explore Other World in a similar fashion to the Living World, except
for certain areas which may be off-limits. You cannot leave Other World without permission
from the divine bureaucracy. If you try, your body fades away and reappears back in Other
World at the spot where you left.
If your deceased status is revoked, through an act of the divine bureaucracy, a wish from
an eternal dragon, or some other method, you lose the golden ring and return to life in
Other World, at which point you are free to leave.
Narrator: You could not dodge the crackling energy spike, and it slams against your
chest with force, sending you reeling back. The Shark King laughs, his fin
wobbling. “Die, surface-dweller!”
Aircon: Oof, and me at maximum damage… looks like I’m a goner.
Narrator: But not for too long, hopefully. Roll +Stamina, would you?
Aircon: Oho, today’s my lucky day. That’s a 10, and I’m going to go for Death Bullet. If
I’m going down, I’m taking this jerk with me. With my last breath I take aim with
one shaking finger, and send out a laser-like beam of pure doom.
Narrator: The laughter falters, and the Shark King looks down to see the smoking hole in
his torso… right in the same spot his Frenzy Torpedo hit you. “You… you…!”
His last words go unspoken as he sinks to his knees and collapses.
Self-Sacrifice
When you choose to detonate yourself to harm your opponent, roll +Stamina. On a
10+, you go out in a spectacular explosion that deals damage to everyone in the area, and
you die. On a 7–9, pick a single target you are close to, then deal damage, and you die.
On a 6-, you can choose to either forget the whole thing and simply lose all your Power, or
go ahead and blow yourself up anyway, and you die.
Once dead, you appear in Other World as per the Death move above, and gain 1
experience for dying, even though it was your own fault.
Narrator: “Fools! How dare you stand between me and immortality! I’ll have that wish if I
have to summon every despicable demon my book contains!” Minler
screeches, clutching his oversized grimoire close to his chest.
Android 23: Guys, I’m blowin’ myself up.
Tato: Could you not, though?
Android 23: You’re just mad because it always works. Let’s go! Power core to overload!
Megaton warhead engaged! Better stand back, because I rolled a 10!
Narrator: Your body is enveloped in a blinding white light, and you erupt into a
mushroom cloud ten miles high. As the dust slowly starts to clear, it becomes
apparent that all the demons, and their summoner, are gone. But are they
gone for good? Everyone step up your damage.
Android 23: Hah! Eat it, wizard!
Tato: You’re lucky we have the Dragon Balls right here, you lunatic.
Training Session
When everyone wishes to get stronger and there’s no immediate threat, it’s time for a
training session. You can ask the Narrator if there is anywhere you can go for special
training.
During a training session, you can also spar with your allies, using your techniques on
each other. However, there might be other opponents for you to engage. Treat sparring
like a normal fight, except that you cannot die, even if you take a hit at maximum damage.
You may also spend your experience on obtaining new moves and techniques during a
training session. This is the only time you may do so, unless a move says otherwise.
A training session ends when everyone agrees they have gotten stronger.
Tato: If we’ve got time to spare, I think it’s time we did some training. But I don’t think
the ol’ gravity chamber is going to cut it this time.
Narrator: The Guardian overhears you, and tells you that there’s an ancient temple high
in the Circle Mountains, where you may find the Chamber of the Moonlight
Lantern. The shadows it casts would be your every equal in fighting prowess,
the ultimate test of skill.
Android 23: I’m up for that. I’ve been thinking I’d like to upgrade my systems and maybe
integrate some new fighting data. I wouldn’t wreck the place too much if I was
learning the Hellzone Grenade, would I?
Narrator: Probably not, there’s some seriously powerful magic at work. Tato, what are
you doing to get stronger?
Tato: I’m going to try to unlock the mighty power of the Super Saiyan, and since I
have the experience for it, the Spirit Bomb technique. Those could have come
in handy in our last fight.
Playbooks
When you want to make your character, you have to pick a playbook to follow. Each playbook
is a collection of moves themed around a particular people or species from the Dragon Ball
setting, moves that combine to give a unique approach to fighting and exploring the world.
There are nine total playbooks, based off the key iconic characters of the original series,
including Saiyan, Earthling, and Namekian.
Each playbook begins with two starting moves which are considered to be the essential
abilities, such as the Saiyan’s ability to transform into an Oozaru or Super Saiyan, and the
Namekian’s ability to regenerate damage. They also have ten advanced moves which can be
obtained through spending experience, which is gained during play. When you first make a
character, they will typically not begin with any advanced moves.
In addition to these moves, your playbook will tell you how much Power you start with when a
fight begins, and lists some potential bonds that you can have with other characters. It will also
prompt you to choose a look from several options — such as “Determined Eyes” or “Wild Hair”
— that lets you quickly decide on your character’s appearance. However you do not have to use
them if you already have a particular image in mind for your character.
Android
What exactly is an android? Robot, cyborg, genetically modified organism? Yes, all of that.
Sometimes all three at once. The science of cybernetics is a complicated one, understood by
few. But oh, what a magnificently productive few they are. Or were. A lot of them are dead now,
although that’s not stopping the ones who transplanted their brains into android bodies, or built a
supercomputer to continue their obsessive work.
Androids vary from creator to creator, especially seeing how some of these creators might be
aliens with weird ideas about anatomy, but they have a few things in common. They’re at least
partially mechanical, possess vast internal energy reserves, and are durable and long-lasting.
The whole “no soul” thing gets thrown around a lot, too, but that’s just a convenient lie we tell
certain people when they want to wish back an android designed solely to murder their dad.
Seriously, Gohan, no.
You are an android, whatever that means for you. Maybe Doctor Gero decided that strength in
numbers was what would finally finish off Goku. Maybe Bulma got tired of being left out of the
action and turned herself into a cyborg. Maybe you’re one of those weird space robots. The
choice is yours.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Stamina + 3.
Names
Pick your favourite number and then put “Android” in front of it. That’s your name now.
Look
Choose one for each:
● Calculating Eyes, Determined Eyes, or Mechanical Eyes.
● Bald, Braided Hair, or Distinctive Hat.
● Leather Jacket, Battle Armour, or Denim Vest.
● Broad-Shouldered, Lithe Body, or Chubby Body.
Starting Moves
You begin play with all of the following:
Infinite Energy Drive

You have an artificial reactor inside your body that provides you with energy,
meaning you can never be at 0 Power. If you have spent all your Power, you immediately
gain 3 Power. If you are Drained, at maximum damage, or your reactor has been
damaged, you immediately gain 1 Power instead.
Primary Function
You were built for a singular purpose and that is not only what drives you, but also what
determines your abilities. Pick a primary function from the following:
☐ Mobile Fortress: You were built as a stoic defender, able to take punishment that
would render others inoperable. When you have taken damage, you can spend 3
Power to step down your damage and take -1 forward instead. If you are at
maximum damage, this cost increases to 5 Power.
☐ Reject: Things did not go according to plan when you were made, and you were
thrown out like yesterday’s trash. You’ve had to rely on your adaptability and
self-repair to survive all this time. You do not have to be in a training session to
exchange experience for new moves and techniques, but they will always cost an
additional 1 experience.
☐ Seek & Destroy: You were made to hunt down and exterminate specific individuals
who wronged your creator in some way. When you designate a target for
destruction, speak their name (or basic description) aloud. You take +1 ongoing
against them, and -1 ongoing against anyone else. This effect lasts until your target
is destroyed, or until the start of your next training session when you can reboot.
Bonds
Fill in the name of one of your allies in at least one:
It is now my directive to protect __________ from harm.
I admire __________ for their efficient use of maximum violence.
__________ will never understand me, they are too ruled by emotion.
Engaging romantic subroutines. Target: __________.
My databanks are full of information on __________, but they can still surprise me.
Advanced Moves
During training sessions, you can spend 3 experience to gain a new ability from the following:
Battle Mode
You have a number of hidden chainguns, missile launchers, and other such devices
hidden throughout your chassis. When you use a technique with the weapon tag, your
whole body is considered a weapon.
Detection Array
When you investigate the area, you can ask 1 additional question from the list, even if
you roll 6-.
Energy Drain
You have energy-draining technology installed in your system. You can do the following:
● When you are holding an opponent, you can roll +Strike to try and steal some
energy. On a 10+, you gain 5 Power and remain holding them. On a 7–9, they
break free from your grasp, and you only gain 3 Power.
● When you are hit with a beam attack, you can roll +Strike to try to intercept it. On
a 10+, you will take no damage from the attack and gain 5 Power. On a 7–9, you
will take damage from the attack, but still gain 5 Power.
Fusion Reactor
Your Infinite Energy Drive now provides you with 5 Power, as long as you are not
Drained, at maximum damage, or your reactor is damaged. Your Initial Power increases
by +2.
My Life Before
You weren’t always an android, you were turned into one. Take one advanced move from
another playbook.
Newfound Purpose
By going beyond your programming and opening up your heart, you have unlocked
something inside of yourself that was not part of your original design. When you act to
protect others, take +1 forward.
Perfect Form
Through a series of flawless upgrades, you have attained a form that functions perfectly,
the pinnacle of your intended development. Pick an additional Primary Function.
Processing Overpower
When you interface with a computer or machine, roll +Insight. On a 10+, pick two. On
a 7–9, pick one.
● It takes only a couple of seconds.
● It breaks beyond all repair.
● It does exactly what you want it to with no mistakes.
● Nobody can tell what you did.
Rocket Punch!
When you use a technique that involves punching, you can swap the melee tag for the
projectile tag. If you do, you can spend an additional 2 Power on that move to take +1.
The Terminated
When you are dead, you can choose to spend 1 experience and re-activate in another
body in a safe and hidden location. Roll +Insight. On a 10+, pick one. On a 7–9, pick two.
On a 6-, pick all three.
● This model chassis is severely outdated compared to your previous one. Take -1
ongoing until after your next training session ends, when you have undertaken the
necessary upgrades.
● The data transfer was incomplete! You are missing vital data files. Pick one
technique you know. You cannot use it until after your next training session ends,
when you have re-uploaded the data.
● Your internal reactor has damaged components. Your Infinite Energy Drive move
will only provide you with 1 Power. This lasts until after your next training session
ends, when you have installed the replacement parts.
Arcosian
Also known as “Freeza’s Race”, because you only need to produce one hyper-genocidal
galactic dictator and people will seriously never let it go. But the Arcosians are not all
planet-exploding real estate moguls, and most aren’t even that evil. Still a little evil, but mostly in
the snide, passive-aggressive kind of way. They do all love having lots of different forms,
though.
The Arcosian homeworld is cold, dark, and desolate, with next to no atmosphere. It’s no
wonder they turned to conquering other planets. But without Freeza to keep everyone in line,
this business model collapsed pretty quickly. Turns out you really need a sadistic mutant tyrant
at the helm.
You are not evil enough to get with that sort of business. You’re a good person at heart -
maybe not completely good, of course, you might be a little quick to resort to violence and/or
murder to solve your problems. But you’re good enough to be considered something of a hero,
and that’s what matters.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Energy + 3.
Names
Aircon, Chillax, Froze, Gelid, Glacier, Iceage, Polar, Shiver, Snowcone.
Look
● Cold Eyes, Wise Eyes, or Mischievous Eyes
● Bald, Horns, or Helmet.
● Battle Armour, Business Suit, or Naked.
● Petite Body, Stout Body, or Alien Body.
Starting Moves
This Isn’t Even My Final Form!

At any point during a fight, you can declare that this isn't even your final form, and
undergo a transformation. Try to describe your new form, how it differs from your previous
one. When you transform, pick one of the following:
● You have much more energy in this new form. Gain 5 Power.
● This form has regenerative capability. Step down your damage by
1.
● It is easier to unleash your innate potential now. Take +1 forward.
● Your transformation unleashes a chaotic energy wave. Everyone
nearby takes a hit.
Hazardous Working Environment

No environmental problem is going to bother you, short of being thrown into the sun. You
can survive anywhere: in space, in freezing temperatures, amid lava geysers, lightning
storms, typhoons, and more besides. When you would take damage from the
environment around you, you don’t.
Bonds
__________ has a ruthless nature that I admire.
It’s a good job __________ amuses me or there would be… trouble.
I consider __________ to be less of a “friend” and more of a “flunky”.
__________ is plotting something, I’m sure of it.
I might have killed __________ (or someone who looked just like them) before.
Advanced Moves
Arrogance
When someone tries to give you advice, you take +2 forward when acting against it.
Behold, My Final Form!

You’ve done it, you’ve gone through every possible transformation and achieved your final
form at long last. When you assume your final form, gain +1 ongoing until you are taken
to maximum damage. However, you cannot use This Isn’t Even My Final Form! for the
rest of the fight.
Bio-Armour
You gain a suit of bio-armour (3 uses). When you would take damage, you can spend a
use of your bio-armour instead. Spend 1 experience to buy an additional use.
How Dare You!

When you take damage, take +1 forward against whoever damaged you. If you were
taken to maximum damage, take +2 forward instead.
Thought You Were Rid of Me?

When you die, on a 12+ you can choose to transform using This Isn’t Even My Final
Form! instead. If you do, you don’t die, but you stay at maximum damage.
Unleash My Power!
When you transform using This Isn’t Even My Final Form!, you may pick two options
from the list instead.
What Marvellous Fireworks!

When you destroy a planet in order to defeat your enemy, give yourself 1 experience.
Xyber-Literate
When you interact with advanced or alien technology, take +1. If it is dangerous in
some way, take +2 instead.
You-F.O.
You have your own personal flying saucer, for travelling through the cosmos in style. It
is large enough to comfortably accommodate a small army if necessary, and outfitted with
nutrient dispensers that provide barely-edible space food that keeps you alive, but not
happy to be so.
Your flying saucer can take two hits of damage before becoming unusable. Once
unusable, any further damage will destroy your flying saucer. If it is destroyed, you can
acquire a replacement of the same make (and the same enhancements) by spending 1
experience. Your galactic insurance rates may go up significantly, however.
Your flying saucer has a powerful Engine of +1.
Choose two of the following enhancements for your flying saucer:
● It’s super fast! When you travel long distances through space, roll +Engine. On a
10+, you warp there within minutes. On a 7–9, it takes you several hours to reach
your destination. On a 6-, it takes you several days as usual.
● It has a fully-equipped medbay with 3 state-of-the-art regeneration tanks. Anyone
left in one of these tanks will lose all damage and complications, but it takes a
whole day of uninterrupted soaking.
● It’s sturdy! Your ship can now take four hits of damage before becoming unusable.
● It has a complex on-board computer that will answer questions when asked, but
only on subjects it has in its database.
● It comes equipped with a death ray (area, beam, charge, destructive). When you
fire the death ray, roll +Engine. On a 7–9, your target barely evades and is forced
into a vulnerable position. On a 10+, deal damage. Firing the death ray at a
stationary target always counts as a 10+.
● It’s got one heck of a core reactor. Gain +1 Engine, but if your ship is destroyed, it
explodes violently, and everyone in the area takes a hit.
You may take this move more than once to select an additional two enhancements for
your flying saucer each time.
You’ve Forgotten Your Place!

When you obliterate a strong opponent with a spectacular attack, pick one of the
following:
● All minions are panicked and hesitate in their actions.
● Your allies are emboldened and take +1 forward.
Earthling
A species of wide variety, and also a wide variety of species. Humans only make up the largest
demographic of the Earthlings, there are also shapeshifting pig-men, flying cats, people with
three eyes, whatever the heck Chiaotzu is, and they’re all ruled by a dog called King Furry. No,
seriously.
Though seemingly unimportant, and often dismissed, Earthlings frequently find themselves at
the centre of the universe’s key events. Ultimate evils, rampaging gods, galactic dictators, the
Planet Earth has seen ‘em all come and go. Even though it’s really easy to underestimate an
Earthling, do so at your own peril.
You are probably a human, or at least human-ish in shape, but you don’t have to be. You can
be a dog, a cat, a dinosaur, a bear, a fox, or even some sort of alligator if you desire. Whatever
you decide, you’re going to be doing your best to keep up with all the superpowered weirdos out
there.
Initial Power
Names
Chai, Frankfurt, Hoagie, Jersey, Matcha, Mojari, Paopao, Sabot, Slip.
Look
● Friendly Eyes, Hard Eyes, or Three Eyes.
● Messy Hair, Long Hair, or Bald.
● Distinguishing Scars, Leather Jacket, or Traditional Gi.
● Small Body, Muscular Body, or Animal Body.
Starting Moves
A Life of Adventure
You have led an interesting life that sets you apart from the regular population. In your
quest to learn the martial arts, you have travelled far and wide. You have a particular skill
or item that is a memento of your past journeys. Pick one of the following to be your
memento, and be sure to remember how you got it:
☐ Dragon Radar: You have a device that detects the locations of the Dragon Balls,
enabling you to collect the wish-granting orbs much more easily than others. Maybe
you have managed to find them before, or maybe you haven’t been so lucky yet.
When you check the Dragon Radar, it will tell you the approximate locations of all
nearby Dragon Balls.
☐ Flying Nimbus: You have a flying cloud that allows you to transport yourself and
one other passenger wherever you wish. You may summon it by yelling “Nimbus!”
loudly, and it will arrive within seconds. You do not have to be riding the Nimbus to
tell it where to go, but it cannot carry anyone who is not a decent person.
☐ Trained by a Master: You have been trained in the martial arts by a master, one
of great skill and wisdom. They have taught you their signature move and all the
secrets behind it. Pick one technique you know. When you make that move in
combat, you can choose to either take +1 or reduce its cost by 2 Power (to a
minimum of 1 Power).
☐ Weapon of Renown: You have a mystical weapon that you can channel ki through,
allowing you to use it in your attacks. It could be an extending staff or a legendary
sword. You have honed your skills with it over the years, and it works best when you
are doing something showy. When you make a spectacular attack with your
weapon, take +1.
I’ve Got Your Back!

When an ally makes an attack, you gain a +1 bonus that can either be spent on their
attack, or on your next attack against the same opponent.
Bonds
__________ is my bestest best friend in the whole world!
I am intimidated by __________’s power level, and also by them in general.
One of these days I’ll beat __________ in a fair fight!
I just don’t “get” __________.
I owe __________ my life — and then some.
Advanced Moves
Capsule Collector
When you need a regular everyday item (fully stocked refrigerator, hover scooter,
house), you will have a capsule for it. If the item is destroyed or lost, you gain a
replacement after the end of your next training session.
Friendly Face
When you talk with someone you’re fighting, you can ask them a question from the list
below. They must answer it truthfully, then they may ask you a question from the list (which
you must answer truthfully).
● What are you really feeling right now?
● Is there any way to end this fight peacefully?
● What do you want most?
● Who calls the shots around here?
● Where do you come from?
Give It Your All!

When you make a desperate attack against an opponent who’s much more powerful
than you, you can take +3 to that attack and put yourself to maximum damage. If you
were already at maximum damage, you die and gain 1 experience.
Hard Worker
Your Initial Power increases by +2. When you spend more than 10 Power on a
technique, gain 1 experience.
Let’s Go!
When you are the first one into the fight, take +1 forward. Anyone who follows your
lead also takes +1 forward.
My Best Friend! NOOO!

When you are dead, pick an ally you have a bond with. That ally must deeply regret your
death. If they do, they receive all your Power and take +1 ongoing until either you are no
longer dead, the fight ends, or they die.
On the Edge
When you make an attack at maximum damage, treat a result of 7–9 as a 10+.
Senzu Beans
You have a bag of senzu beans (5 uses). Whenever someone eats a senzu bean, they
lose all damage and complications immediately. Spend 1 experience to buy 3 additional
uses.
Venerable Master
Through long years of dedication and hard work, you have achieved the level of master,
spreading your teachings to those who would listen to you and follow in your steps. During
training sessions, your allies need to only spend 2 experience to learn a martial arts
technique, as long it is one you already know.
World Tour
You have led an exceptionally interesting life. Pick an additional memento from A Life
of Adventure. You may take this move more than once to select an additional memento
each time.
Kai
The kais inform everyone that they are the supreme rulers of all creation, whose knowledge and
power are unmatched. In actuality they’re more like incompetent caretakers, who are frequently
outclassed by the residents of the mortal realm they profess to protect. But there are those who
actually put the effort in and become martial artists, because martial arts is apparently the only
way to solve anything around here.
Kais come in a wide range of tasteful pastel hues, to contrast with their eclectic fashion sense
that favours puffy sleeves and mohawks. This lead many to believe that no kai really knows
what they’re doing. Don’t even mention the magical fusion earrings.
You are a kai, charged with the curation of the greater universe, and are shirking that
responsibility to go punch people in the face instead. You’re getting better results that way, so
that’s pretty great — plus with the divine bureaucracy being what it is, there’s another dozen
kais out there trying to do your job already.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Insight + 3.
Names
Aten, Bel, Dagda, Kheti, Kotha, Mardu, Mot, Nabu, Rem, Seth, Tesh, Zen.
Look
● Wide Eyes, Sly Eyes, or Sleepy Eyes.
● Mohawk, Mohawk, or Bald.
● Puffy Sleeves, Pointy Boots, or Flowing Sash.
● Thin Body, Round Body, or Small Body.
Starting Moves
Divine Ki
You have divine ki, which is much better than store brand ki. Your Power cannot be
drained or stolen from you. When you spend Power on a technique, you reduce the
specified cost down by 1 Power, to a minimum of 1 Power.
I’m King of the Worlds!

As one of the gods, even the lesser ones, you have great powers at your disposal. When
you call upon your position as a kai, spend 2 Power and pick one of the following:
● You immediately discern the location and current activities of anyone in the
universe, including Other World, so long as you know exactly who you are looking
for, and they are not masking their presence. They become immediately aware that
someone is watching them.
● You can seal an evil spirit away, trapping them within an object or place. The evil
spirit cannot have taken physical form, or be inhabiting a physical form. If the seal is
broken, the evil spirit will certainly escape. The seal cannot be broken from within,
but the evil spirit can communicate with those outside the seal.
● You communicate silently, mind-to-mind, with one other person located anywhere in
the universe. You must know where they are, and they must be willing to speak to
you.
Bonds
__________ shows great potential, and I must nurture that potential.
I have never met a mortal quite like __________ before.
__________ proves that there are errors in the divine plan.
There is much I can learn from __________ about the mortal world.
I hope nobody tells __________ that I think they’re cute.
Advanced Moves
Achievement Unlocked
During a training session, your allies need to only spend 2 experience to learn new
moves from their own playbook.
Creation, Not Destruction

When you would cause damage, you can choose to forgo that damage. One nearby ally
gains +2 forward instead.
Elder Kai
With the age of aeons comes the wisdom of aeons, including a knowledge of the mystic
arts. When you use your magic, spend 1 Power and conjure any item of your choice out
of thin air. Especially large items (like an entire castle) may require an increased Power
cost, at the Narrator’s decision.
Grand Kai
Your kai powers are greater than most. Your I’m King of the Worlds! ability now includes
the following:
● You can travel between different universes, provided you have time to focus
yourself. You can also take allies along with you, as long as they are in physical
contact. When you arrive in a different universe, the local deities are instantly aware
of your arrival.
● An ally who has died comes back to life at maximum damage. You die in their place
unless you spend 1 experience, in which case you are only taken to maximum
damage.
● You can stop an exploding planet from being destroyed, reversing the damage. The
planet must be in the state of exploding, and not having already been destroyed.
You lose access this ability until the end of your next training session.
Home Sweet Home

You have your own planet, located somewhere in Other World. You determine every
aspect of its appearance, from its size and shape, right down to its landscapes and
wildlife. You can instantly travel to this planet and back from any location in the universe,
provided you have time to focus yourself. You can also take allies along with you, as long
as they are in physical contact, at the cost of 1 Power for each ally you take. If your planet
is destroyed, you can spend 1 experience to recreate it.
Potara Earrings
You have a set of magic earrings you can share with another person, but not the
permanent kind. When you give someone an earring, roll +Insight. On a 10+, hold 8. On
a 7–9, hold 5. Both of you combine into a single entity for a limited time, called a fusion.
You can use any technique or move either of you knew before fusing. When you are told to
roll an attribute, pick the higher of the two. Every time your fusion makes a move, spend 1
hold. When you are out of hold, the fusion ends.
Restoration Magic
When you place your hands on an ally with pure intent, roll +Insight. If you are at
maximum damage, take -2. On a 10+, step down their damage by 1 for every 1 Power you
spend. On a 7–9, step down their damage by 1 for every 2 Power you spend.
Serene Nature
When a martial arts technique tells you to roll a specific attribute, you can roll
+Insight at -1 instead.
Sprite Attendant
You have a celestial sprite that acts as your constant companion and devoted servant. It
resembles a friendly-looking insect, such as a cricket or butterfly, only much larger. Sprites
are very speedy, and can travel anywhere in the Living World or Other World in a very
short amount of time. They can use this speed to deliver messages, scout out areas, and
flee from fights like the cowards they are.
Who’s the Boss

When you make a request of anyone below you in the cosmic hierarchy, not including
fellow characters, roll +Temper. On a 10+, they will do what you ask of them. On a 7–9,
the Narrator picks one:
● They will help you as best they can, but cannot abandon their current duty.
● Your request will somehow interfere in the divine order, they don’t want to risk it, and
will give you advice on what you could try instead.
● They don’t have the necessary power to do what you want, but they can help out in
a smaller way.
Majin
Once upon a time, there was a rampaging, destructive entity with the consistency of pudding
that lived only to destroy. But, you know how these things go. Millions of years later, after
absorbing some more chilled out people, befriending a local celebrity, forcefully ejecting his evil
side, and then having that evil side annihilated in a conflict that would determine the fate of the
universe, Majin Buu settled down and got married. To his own clone. Then they had several
thousand children.
Not all Majins are the descendents of Mister Buu (and Miss Buu). Due to the way magic
works, some are more like cousins or siblings. Others are just… well, who knows what they are.
Besides weird. Because they’re seriously very weird.
You are a brightly-coloured puddle of glop that takes on a humanoid form, or at least a form
that usually has two arms, two legs, and a head. A number of limbs that is more than zero most
of the time, anyway. A Majin’s origins are often mysterious, even to themselves. But you’re not
evil. Certainly not as evil as you could be, anyway.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Energy + Stamina + 1.
Names
Bim, Dumplin, Jantar, Kazaam, Klaatu, Meeska, Pocus, Xyzzy, Zam.
Look
● Childlike Eyes, Determined Eyes, Round Eyes.
● Pink Skin, Blue Skin, or Grey Skin.
● Bare-Chested, Big Cape, or Tiny Vest.
● Round Body, Hulking Body Body, or Small Body.
Starting Moves
Bouncing Back
When you generate your own Power and roll 10+, you can choose to immediately spend
all the Power you just generated on one of the following:
● Step your damage down by 1.
● Lose a complication.
● Take +1 forward to your next technique.
Super Malleable Blobber

You have a squishy, gooey consistency that lets you alter your physical form with ease.
It provides the following benefits:
● When you use a technique with the transformation tag, reduce the Power cost
by 1 Power, to a minimum of 1 Power.
● When you use a martial arts technique, you can spend an additional 1 Power to
lose the melee tag.
● When you need to squeeze through a gap of any size, you can do so by flowing
through like liquid.
● When you suck in a large amount of air, you can inflate yourself like a balloon.
Doing so will allow you to cushion incoming allies who have been sent flying, and let
them hit you instead of a nearby cliffside or mesa.
● When you attempt to impersonate someone else, roll +Insight. On a 10+, you do
so flawlessly, not counting the obvious flaw of still clearly being made of a
pudding-like substance. On a 7–9, you just can’t seem to get the details right. Voice,
face, number of limbs… something’s a little off.
Bonds
Playtime’s always fun with __________ around!
__________ is a major grumpy-guts.
Why doesn’t __________ like my jokes?
Who’s my best friend? It’s __________ of course!
__________ makes me laugh!
Advanced Moves
Appetite for Destruction

When you consume a massive amount of food, roll +Stamina. On a 10+, you satisfy
your bottomless appetite and step your damage down by 2. On a 7–9, you are a fussy
eater and step your damage down by 1.
Boom!
When you blow something up, take +1 forward. If it was a planet, take +1 ongoing until
the end of the fight instead.
Destroyer
You have embraced your destiny as a force of untold carnage and chaos, although you are
doing your best to channel it in a positive way. When you use a martial arts technique,
you can spend 1 Power to gain the destructive tag. If you do, lose the precise tag if the
technique has it.
Gloopy
You are exceptionally squishy in nature. Your Super Malleable Blobber ability now
includes the following:
● When you brace for a hit, on a 10+ you take no damage and reflect the attack back
at your attacker, or another target of your choice.
● When you are stabbed by a weapon, you can choose to absorb it. If you do absorb
a weapon, your attacker can no longer use it until they can get it back from you.
● When you grab an opponent, you can wrap around them like a snake made out of
bubblegum to completely restrict their movements. If you do, take +2. However,
while you are wrapped around them, any attack made against them will also hit you,
even with the precise tag.
High Sugar Content
When you defeat an enemy, you can choose to turn them into a piece of candy instead.
Eating candy provides 1 Power. You can hold less than 10 pieces of candy at any time
without issue. If you hold 10 or more pieces of candy, you succumb to temptation and eat
it all in one go, gaining 10 Power.
Innocence
When you are oblivious to an enemy’s ill intent, you take +1 ongoing against that
enemy until you make a move against them, or you take damage from them.
Majin Majic
When you use your magic, spend 1 Power and conjure any item of your choice out of
thin air. Especially large items (like an entire castle) may require an increased Power cost,
at the Narrator’s decision.
Naptime!
When you fall asleep in the middle of a fight, roll +Stamina. On a 7–9, hold 2 Snooze.
On a 10+, hold 4 Snooze. Spend 1 Snooze to lose a complication or step your damage
down by 1. You cannot do anything except spend Snooze while you are napping. When
you are out of Snooze, or you take damage, you wake up from your nap.
Raging Buu
When your endless cheerfulness is spoiled by something that makes you mad, take
+1 ongoing against the source of your anger until either it is destroyed, or you find
something that makes you happy again.
Super Absorbent
When you defeat a powerful enemy, you can choose to absorb them, so long as you or
your allies have not completely obliterated their physical form. If you do, check off one of
the following:
☐ You change your physical form to mimic your absorbed enemy’s. Change two of
your attributes by -1 and +1. You cannot increase any attribute to be higher than +2
in this way, or decrease any attribute to be lower than -1.
☐ You can use the enemy’s absorbed form as a battery for greater energy. Increase
your Initial Power by +2.
☐ The martial arts knowledge of the enemy you absorbed becomes available to you.
Pick a new martial arts technique from the list and add it to your repertoire.
When you have checked off all three, you must purchase this move again to clear the list.
Namekian
In all the galaxy you will never find a people more noble of spirit, more pure of heart, more
desperate to have everyone ignore the fact that they’re giant slug men who reproduce by
vomiting. Your typical Namekian is somewhere between two and twenty feet tall, bright green
with pink patches, and enjoys drinking water, wearing capes, and long walks through
uninhabited wastelands.
In most alternate timelines, Planet Namek suffered the same dreadful disaster that reduced
the population down to a literal handful. In most of those timelines, it also suffered the dreadful
disaster that was Freeza blowing it up. But there are some where Namek was never humbled,
and remained a spacefaring power. About two of them, but still they exist.
You are a Namekian who has decided to take up martial arts over the usual family business of
creating dragon balls. Whether you are from New Namek or old, one thing remains the same:
you’re an asexual slug man who was born when someone puked up an egg. Embrace that chip
on your shoulder.
Initial Power
Names
Bassoon, Calliope, Chiton, Fortissimo, Gastro, Hautboy, Maima, Schneck, Tsumuri.
Look
● Sharp Eyes, Fierce Eyes, or Knowing Eyes.
● Impetuous Youth, Experienced Adult, or Wise Elder.
● Turban, Shoulder Pads, or Big Cape.
● Tall Body, Heavy Body, or Scarred Body.
Starting Moves
I Grow Back Like Crab Grass!

When you are damaged, you can spend 3 Power and roll +Stamina. On a 7–9, step your
damage down by 1. On a 10+, either step your damage down by 2, or spend an additional
1 Power and remove a complication.
Meditation
When you spend several hours of uninterrupted personal time meditating, roll
+Insight. On a 10+, gain 5 Plan. On a 7–9, gain 3 Plan. On a 6-, gain 1 Plan. You can
spend 1 Plan to give yourself or an ally +1. You can only spend 1 Plan at a time. If you
have any remaining Plan when you choose to meditate, you lose all that Plan and take -2
to the roll.
Bonds
I've been a green dad to __________ for years now.
__________ and I share a proud warrior heritage.
I can always count on __________ to do the wrong thing for the right reasons.
__________ likes meditating too. We have a lot in common.
My eternal rival is __________ and they know it.
Advanced Moves
Avenge Me, Junior!

When you die, on a 10+ you can choose instead to spend 1 experience to spit up an egg
containing an almost-exact duplicate of yourself, and send it flying off to some remote part
of the planet. You return at the start of the next training session as a prepubescent
version of yourself, rapidly developing to maturity. If the planet blows up before you return,
you die and go to Other World as normal.
Be Prepared for Anything
When you regenerate yourself with I Grow Back Like Crab Grass!, you can spend 1
Plan instead of 3 Power.
Big Green
When you Protect Another, you and the allies you are protecting take +1 forward. If
doing this kills you, the allies you were protecting take +1 ongoing for the rest of the fight
or until you are no longer dead, and you gain 1 experience.
Clan Heraldry
You have a strong connection to one of the ancestral clans of Namek, each of which as
mysterious as they are vaguely-defined. Pick one of the following:
☐ Demon Clan: Supernatural abilities of dubious origin are part of who you are. You
gain the Majin Magic move from the Majin playbook.
☐ Dragon Clan: You are infused with unknowable, mystic energies. You gain the
Restoration Magic move from the Kai playbook.
☐ Warrior Clan: You just really love punchin’ stuff. When a technique tells you to
roll +Strike, reduce the Power cost by 2 Power, to a minimum of 1 Power.
I Can Do This! I Feel Great!

At any point during a fight, you can become twice your normal size, and will remain that
size until you are taken to maximum damage, or you choose to end it. While you are huge,
you take -2 ongoing to dodging or moving swiftly, you take +2 ongoing to grabbing or
pinning your opponent, and you always treat techniques as having the destructive tag.
Master Planner
When you use Meditation, you always get an additional 2 Plan, even if you roll 6-.
Mentor
When you spend Plan to give an ally +1, if you have a bond with that ally, they gain +2
instead.
Stretch Arms Long
You can stretch out your arms in a very unsettling way, letting you grab or ensnare people
at great range. When you use a martial arts technique, you can spend an additional 1
Power to lose the melee tag.
Trained in the Ancient Way

When you use a martial arts technique, you can spend an additional 1 Power to give it
the precise tag.
Weighted Training Clothes

When you remove your weighted training clothes, you immediately gain 3 Power and
take +1 ongoing to high-speed movement until you take damage.
Oni
The divine bureaucracy employs many supernatural entities to safeguard its borders, operate
quasi-magical machinery, and generally keep the place organised. Typically horned, often with
skin tone being a popular primary colour, these are the oni. The vast majority are content to be
paper-pushers and average joes, but a rare few actually put their natural talents to use learning
martial arts.
Though residents of Other World, they are not dead, and so can cross over into the Living
World whenever they wish. Assuming their passport is in order, they’ve signed the right
paperwork, and are carrying no fruits or vegetables. It’s the divine bureaucracy, after all. But
once they jump through the requisite hoops, any oni can call the Living World home. Just don’t
lose your visa.
You are an oni who has made the trek to the Living World, and wishes to fight for justice, fight
for honour, or just plain fight. You could have been anything in your former life, even a guard of
the notorious Home For Infinite Losers (formerly Hell, rebranded in 1996 for better market
appeal). What’s important is what you make of yourself now.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Stamina + Temper + 1.
Names
Annin, Enma, Gurume, Hebi, Majon, Mamba, Saike, Shula, Yao.
Look
● Fiery Eyes, Bestial Eyes, or Black Eyes.
● Mohawk, Flowing Hair, or Bald.
● Tank Top, Charcoal Robe, or Huge Horns.
● Ancient Body, Curvaceous Body, or Hulking Body.
Starting Moves
Black Iron Weapon

You have a personal weapon that is tied to your life energy. You may summon it at will,
and repair it if it breaks. The most common form is a spiked iron club, but it can be a
spear, sword, bow, or any other shape. When you make a spectacular attack with your
weapon, take +1.
Supernatural Ability
You have a supernatural ability that stems from your status as an oni. Pick one of the
following:
☐ Brute Strength: You have magnificent level of brawn that far outmatches your
physical muscles, allowing you to effortlessly lift heavy objects and win arm-wrestling
contests. When you rely solely on your strength, take +1.
☐ Magic Blood: You have natural talent in mystic powers, giving you abilities and
spells. When you use your magic, spend 1 Power and conjure any item of your
choice out of thin air. Especially large items (like an entire castle) may require an
increased Power cost, at the Narrator’s decision.
☐ Piercing Gaze: You have the ability to see past illusions of all kinds. Also, when you
focus your vision, you can see souls. A living soul shines differently to a soul of the
dead, so you can tell the difference, and you can perceive souls even through
barriers such as walls or energy fields. If you focus too long, however, you get a
severe headache.
Bonds
If ever anyone deserved to spend time in HFIL, it’s __________.
__________ is so interesting, even for a resident of the Living World.
Nothing’s better than sparring with __________ all day long.
I want to show __________ the most romantic places in Other World.
There’s nobody I trust more to have my back than __________.
Advanced Moves
Afterlife IOU
When you are dead, you can choose to spend 1 experience and cash in a favour you are
owed by the divine bureaucracy. You return to life immediately at maximum damage, but
remain in Other World.
Dark Portal
You can spend 1 experience to open a portal between the Living World and Other World,
allowing people to cross between the two worlds. One side of the portal must be where
you currently are, but the other can be at any location. Every person who crosses over, in
either direction, costs you 2 Power. The portal closes when you choose to close it, or if
you are reduced to 0 Power.
Cold Iron Weapon

When you use your personal weapon to block a beam attack, roll +Strike. On a 7–9,
you manage to deflect it away and take no damage. On a 10+, your weapon absorbs it
entirely, and you gain 3 Power.
Exclusive Club Membership

Your personal weapon is fully enchanted, allowing you to control it with thought alone,
leaving your hands free. Additionally, you can spend 1 Power to change its form into a
different weapon.
Fire Punch With Me

You have fiery ki that acts just like the real thing. Whenever you use a ki-based attack, or
Charge Up, you can choose to let it burn to anything it touches. You can also spend an
additional 1 Power on ki-based attacks to make them so hot they can melt rock and metal.
Guardian of the Other World

Take +1 against opponents who are already dead.
Life Force Siphon

When you Clash with an opponent, you gain 2 Power.
Stone Form
At any point during a fight, you can transform yourself into a living stone form, and will
remain in this form until you are either reduced to 0 Power, or you choose to end it. While
you are stone, any time you would take damage, you lose 3 Power instead. If you cannot
pay 3 Power, you lose all remaining Power and immediately transform back.
Super-Duper-Natural Ability
You are very mystical indeed. Pick an additional Supernatural Ability.
Years of Experience
When you investigate the area, take +1 and add the following questions to the list:
● Have I ever experienced or seen anything like this before?
● Are there any myths or legends this reminds me of?
Saiyan
A proud people from the planet Vegeta, ruled by King Vegeta (yes, really), the Saiyans were
happy to reduce their own attempts at civilization to rubble every full moon until they were given
the opportunity to become the most fearsome warriors in the galaxy. They were then promptly
all blown to pieces by the same person who gave them that opportunity.
Though Vegeta (the planet) was blown to pieces and the majority of the Saiyans, including
Vegeta (the king), were blown to pieces along with it, some managed to survive. It always
seems like every year there’s another bunch of Saiyans who managed to make it offworld,
showing up uninvited. Plus there’s other universes now, providing even more belligerent space
monkeys.
You may be one of these Saiyan escapees, or perhaps you’re a half-Saiyan who inherited
none of the pride but all of the ridiculous super powers. That’s up to you.
Initial Power
When a fight begins, you gain Power equal to your Strike + Temper + 1.
Names
Bergine, Daikon, Kumara, Matoto, Okra, Panpukin, Rutaba, Tato, Yam.
Look
● Dark Eyes, Piercing Eyes, or Wild Eyes.
● Spiky Hair, Huge Hair, or Bald.
● Battle Armour, Fur-Trimmed Jacket, or Pink Shirt.
● Scarred Body, Short Body, or Muscular Body.
Starting Moves
I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

When you are taken to maximum damage, you enter the zenkai state. When you lose
damage in the zenkai state, hold 1 for each step of damage lost. Spend 1 hold at any
time to:
● Take +1 to your next attack.
● Gain 4 Power.
Spending hold or losing all damage will end the zenkai state. You cannot re-enter the
zenkai state until you are taken to maximum damage again.
Legendary Form
You have the ability to transform into one of legendary forms available to the Saiyan
people. At any point during a fight, you can adopt your legendary form, and will remain
in that form until you are taken to maximum damage, or you choose to end it. Once you
are out of your legendary form, you cannot adopt that form again for the rest of that fight.
Pick one of the following forms to be your Legendary Form:
☐ Oozaru: You still have a tail, and you can unleash your inner giant monkey
automatically when looking at the full moon. You can also create a fake moon to
trigger your transformation by spending 2 Power.
When you are in the Oozaru form, you are brute force incarnate. You cannot be
stopped in your rampage by obstacles or terrain. Always treat techniques as having
the destructive tag. If you take a hit, you may roll +Stamina. On a 10+, you don’t
take damage. On a 7–9, you don’t take damage, but take -2 forward to the next time
you use this ability.
☐ Super Saiyan: You can transform into the legendary Super Saiyan, gaining golden
hair and matching aura. When you do so, you gain 4 Power. If a friend you have a
bond with dies in front of you, you will automatically transform.
When you are in the Super Saiyan form, you are an endless wellspring of energy.
Every time you generate your own Power, gain an additional 2 Power.
During a training session, you can spend 3 experience to change your choice of
Legendary Form.
Bonds
I want to fight __________ all the time!
__________ complains too much about how much I eat.
I have strange feelings about __________ that aren't to do with fighting.
__________ is almost like a Saiyan, and I almost respect that.
When I see __________, I'm reminded why we Saiyans shoot our children into space.
Advanced Moves
Defying Gravity
You are extraordinarily resilient when it comes to withstanding gravity’s pull. When you
would be affected by high gravity, you aren’t.
Fighting’s the Best!

When you face off against a strong opponent, take +1 forward against them. If you
damage that opponent, take +1 forward again.
My Pride!
When you suffer humiliation in battle, roll +Temper. On a 7–9, pick one of the following.
● You fight past your failings. Lose a complication.
● You tap into the burning shame you feel. Gain 5 Power.
On a 10+, you can also pick one of the following.
● You are determined to regain your pride. During your next training session, you only
need to spend 2 experience to learn a new martial arts technique.
● You are consumed with rage. Immediately adopt your Legendary Form, even if you
otherwise could not due to being at maximum damage or any other reason.
Push-Ups, Sit-Ups, and Plenty of Juice
You gain an additional use of Legendary Form. You still have to not be at maximum
damage to transform. You cannot transform if you are already transformed. You may take
this move more than once to add one extra additional use each time.
Saiyan Elite
Nobody matches the pride and power of the Saiyan elite, or at least that’s what you tell
yourself all the time. When you use a martial arts technique, you can spend an
additional 2 Power to lose the charge tag.
The Comeback Kid

When you enter the zenkai state, you immediately gain 2 hold.
To Go Further Beyond
When you transform into your Legendary Form, take +1 ongoing for as long as you are
transformed, but increase the Power costs of all martial arts techniques by 3 Power.
Warrior Spirit
Your Initial Power increases by +3.
What Does the Scouter Say?

When you intimidate a weaker enemy with your power, take +2 forward when
threatening them.
You’re Never Gonna Keep Me Down

Your I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again ability now includes the following:
● Lose a complication.
Martial Arts
There are many techniques, and an awful lot of them don’t seem to be all that concerned with
the values of not provoking violence, and more about exploding planets or giving people
interesting new holes in their torso.
When you have picked a playbook for your character, you get to choose five techniques that
your character knows. During training sessions, you can spend 3 experience to learn a new
martial arts technique.
Redefining Techniques
The techniques listed here are adapted from the a hand-picked selection of classic ones shown
in the Dragon Ball canon. It does not list everything, having discounted a large number of
techniques which are too similar, only differing in terms of colour and size.
However, martial artists in the Dragon Ball world have always developed their own personal
style when it comes to fighting. You, as a player, are encouraged to be creative and personalise
your characters techniques if you so desire.
As an example, Carter is playing Aircon the Arcosian, and has learned the Kamehameha
technique. As everyone knows, the Kamehameha is a brilliant blue energy wave fired from the
fighter’s cupped hands. But while Carter admires the technique and its destructive potential, he
knows that it doesn’t suit Aircon’s particular fighting style, which emphasises his alien origins.
So he renames it to the Cosmic Cannon, turning it into a wave of black void energy that
sparkles like a field of stars.
None of this changes the move itself. When Aircon uses the technique, he must still roll
+Energy, must still charge it first, and so on. None of the tags change, nor does the Power
cost. But it is now personalised for Aircon, and fits in with his other personalised techniques to
give him a space-themed collection.
If you are customising a technique, make sure you remember what the original technique is
called, so you know what to look up. You could put a single line through the original name and
write the new name above it, or put the new name in brackets after it.
Tags
All techniques have tags to describe them. Some tags have a specific effect on the rules, such
as the Power cost of a move. Other tags are purely about the fiction, like the melee tag which
describes the range your opponent needs to be at for you to attack them. Tags help you
describe your character’s actions when the moves are being used, and they give the Narrator
information about any complications that might arise.
These are all the tags that can apply to techniques.
Area: It affects a large area, allowing you to take out multiple enemies, but may also hit
allies who are too close to your target.
Beam: It is beam-based, otherwise known as an energy wave. It has long range but can
be countered or deflected by another beam.
Charge: It must be charged before use. Being hit or distracted while charging the move
interrupts it.
Combo (x): It requires x people to use. All participants must have the move.
Destructive: It wrecks the surrounding area to a serious extent, destroying the landscape
and demolishing buildings.
Melee: It involves direct punching, kicking, or grabbing. You must be at close range to
use it.
Passive: It provides a benefit to your other moves, but increases or alters the cost in
some way.
x Power: It requires x amount of Power to use.
Precise: It affects exactly one target of your choice, and only that target. There is no way
for any collateral damage, but also no way to hit multiple targets.
Projectile: It is a ball of energy that is fired or thrown. It has long range but can be
deflected or dodged.
Transformation: It alters your physical form in some way.
Weapon: It requires a weapon of some sort in order to be used properly, or to gain a
specific bonus.
Techniques
These are all the martial arts techniques available to characters in Dragon Ball Parallels.
Accel Dance
Combo (2), Passive
You and an ally who also knows this technique can perform the Accel Dance together.
When one of you makes a melee attack against a target, the other takes +2 forward
against that same target, so long as they are close by.
Big Bang Attack

7 Power, Area, Destructive, Projectile
You create a massive globe of energy that you launch like a bullet from your open palm.
Roll +Temper. On a 7–9, pick one. On a 10+, pick two.
● Deal damage.
● Lose the destructive tag.
Burning Slash
6 Power, Melee, Weapon
You use a wreath of blazing ki to enhance your strikes. If you are using a weapon, reduce
the cost by 1 Power. Roll +Strike. On a 7–9, deal damage. On a 10+, you also take +1
forward.
Death Bullet
5 Power, Precise, Projectile
You fire a slim and highly accurate laser-like projectile of pure energy. Roll +Energy. On a
10+, deal damage. On a 7–9, you can still deal damage if you spend an additional 2
Power. If this technique kills its target, you take +1 forward to attempts to intimidate.
Destructo Disc
4 Power, Projectile
You create a deadly sawblade-like energy construct that endlessly chases a specific ki
signature. Roll +Energy. On a 7–9, it never connects and just buzzes around after them
angrily in a distracting fashion, before slamming into a random cliff face. You and your
allies take +1 forward against the target. On a 10+, pick one of the following:
● The disc actually manages to connect for once. Deal damage, and the disc
dissipates.
● It’s just gonna keep on goin’, isn’t it? Take +1 ongoing against the target until you
either take damage or use another technique, at which point the disc dissipates.
Dirty Fireworks
4 Power, Melee, Precise
You grab a hapless victim and turn them into a living bomb. Roll +Temper. On a 7–9, a
minion of your choice explodes. On a 10+, you manage to hurl that minion at someone
else. Pick a second target and deal damage.
Double Technique
Passive
When you use a technique, you can spend an additional 5 Power to use the technique
against two separate targets. You take -2 when doing so.
Dragon Fist
7 Power, Charge, Melee, Precise
To charge, hold back your fist ready to strike. You charge your attack with so much ki it
assumes the form of an eternal dragon. Roll +Strike. On a 7–9, deal damage and send
your target flying. On a 10+, also gain the area and destructive tags, and take +1
forward.
Evil Containment Wave

10 Power, Beam, Charge, Precise
To charge, assume a wide stance and prepare yourself. When you are ready, thrust your
hands towards your intended target. Roll +Insight and step up your damage. On a 10+,
your target is caught up in a powerful vortex of energy which you control, allowing you to
direct them wherever you wish, including into an open container. Unless the container is
immediately closed and sealed with a magic talisman, however, they can still escape
under their own power. If the container is opened or destroyed, they will also escape. On a
7–9, you cannot control the vortex properly, and your target is hurled off in a random
direction.
Four Witches Technique
2 Power, Transformation
You sprout two additional arms from your back. When a technique tells you to roll +Strike,
you can choose to take +1 but increase the cost by 2 Power. Being reduced to 0 Power
will end the transformation.
Fusion Dance
2 Power, Charge, Combo (2), Melee, Transformation
You and an ally who also knows this technique can perform the Fusion Dance together.
Each roll +Stamina. On a 10+, hold 5. On a 7–9, hold 2. Both of you combine into a single
entity for a limited time, called a fusion. Your hold is shared between the two of you. You
can use any technique or move either of you knew before fusing. When you are told to roll
an attribute, pick the higher of the two. Every time your fusion makes a move or uses a
technique, spend 1 hold. When you are out of hold, the fusion ends.
Galactic Donut
4 Power, Projectile
You create solid rings of pure energy and hurl them at your opponent. Spend an additional
3 Power to gain the area tag. Roll +Energy. On a 7–9, you bind their limbs, preventing
them from attacking until they break free. On a 10+, you bind their whole body, preventing
them from moving or attacking until they break free.
Galick Gun
6 Power, Beam, Charge, Destructive
To charge, place your hands to your side, palms facing apart. You unleash a powerful and
purple energy wave. Roll +Temper. On a 7–9, pick one. On a 10+, pick three.
● Gain the area tag.
● Deal damage.
● You take +1 forward.
● Your allies take +1 forward.
Hellzone Grenade
5 Power, Area, Charge, Destructive, Projectile
To charge, fill the area with volatile energy spheres that you can then detonate on a whim.
Roll +Insight. On a 10+, hold 4. On a 7–9, hold 2. Spend an additional 3 Power to gain an
additional 2 hold. Spend 2 hold to deal damage. Spend 1 hold to force a target within the
area to move.
Instant Transmission
Passive
You have the ability to turn your body into pure energy for a moment and travel
instantaneously. You can do the following:
● When you focus on a powerful source of energy, you can spend 2 Power to
appear near to that location within a second, no matter where it is in the universe.
You have to be able to sense it clearly. For every passenger you take with you,
spend an additional 2 Power.
● When you Evade Danger, you can choose to spend 2 Power and count your roll as
a 10+.
● When you move in close to an enemy, you do it so fast they have no time to react.
You can do this while charging another attack.
Kaio-ken
Passive
So long as you are not at maximum damage, you can choose to step up your own damage
in exchange for one of the following:
● Take +1 forward on your next technique.
● Gain 5 Power.
Kamehameha
7 Power, Beam, Charge, Destructive
To charge, cup your hands together and hold them to your side, while chanting the name
of the attack. As you charge, you can spend an additional 5 Power to gain the area tag.
Roll +Energy. On a 7–9, deal damage and knock the target back. On a 10+, deal damage
and everyone takes +1 forward against your target.
Kiai!
3 Power, Area, Melee
You let out an explosive burst of ki with a powerful shout. Roll +Temper. On a 7–9, you
knock back anyone close to you, giving yourself room to move. On a 10+, you can spend
an additional 2 Power to add the destructive tag and deal damage.
Masenko
4 Power, Beam
You use a two-handed beam attack that requires no charge. Roll +Energy. On a 10+, deal
damage. On a 7–9, it forces your target to take a defensive stance. If you spend an
additional 1 Power and take -1 forward, it also deals damage.
Maximum Power Mode

1 Power, Charge, Transformation
You open your body’s natural energy flow and gain incredible power for as long as you can
channel it. While transformed, when you Charge Up you will always gain an additional 4
Power, even if you roll 6-. Also while transformed, take -2 when defending yourself or
moving quickly. Being reduced to 0 Power, or being taken to maximum damage, will end
the transformation.
Meteor Impact
6 Power, Precise, Projectile, Weapon
You imbue your weapon with ki, then hurl it at your opponent. You will lose your weapon
until you can grab it again, unless it is a projectile weapon like a bow or a gun. Roll
+Strike. On a 7–9, it strikes your target accurately. Deal damage. On a 10+, the weapon
ignites in flight and impacts with incredible force. Lose the precise tag and gain the area
and destructive tags, then deal damage.
Multi-Form
3 Power, Transformation
You divide yourself up into multiple bodies that can work in unison, at the cost of dividing
up your power. While transformed, you have four separate bodies, but any result of 10+
counts as a 7–9. Taking damage, or being reduced to 0 Power, will force your bodies back
together and end the transformation.
One Hundred Hands

4 Power, Melee
You unleash a flurry of blows so fast that it appears as if you have one hundred hands.
Roll +Strike. On a 7–9, deal damage. On a 10+, gain the area tag, then deal damage.
Psychokinesis
2 Power
You use the startling powers of your mind to affect the world around you. Roll +Insight. On
a 7–9, you can pick one of the following:
● You can read someone else’s thoughts by placing your hand on their head.
● You hold someone in place for a moment. The next attack against them takes +1.
● You levitate something relatively small, no bigger than you are.
On a 10+, you can either pick from the 7–9 list, or spend an additional 3 Power to pick one
of the following:
● You lift up a big chunk of the ground or some nearby debris and hurl it at someone.
Gain the destructive tag and deal damage.
● You freeze time for a moment and move unseen. You can use this in place of Evade
Danger to avoid taking damage.
● You transmit your thoughts to someone else nearby, and can receive their reply.
This link lasts as long as you remain focused.
Scattershot
5 Power, Destructive, Projectile
You fling hundreds of energy bullets in a general direction, hoping that at least one of them
will hit something worth hitting. Roll +Temper. On a 7–9, pick one. On a 10+, pick two.
● You get several good connections! Deal damage.
● You actually aim this time. Lose the destructive tag.
● You give it a wide spread. Gain the area tag.
Special Beam Cannon

6 Power, Beam, Charge, Precise
To charge, place your index and middle fingers together on your forehead. Roll +Energy.
On a 10+, deal damage, along with one other target of your choice. On a 7–9, deal
damage, along with one other target of the Narrator’s choice.
Solar Flare
1 Power, Area
You cause a blinding flash of light which distracts, delays, or just plain annoys anyone
looking in your direction at that moment. Roll +Energy. On a 7–9, everyone looking at you
immediately loses sight of you. On a 10+, you take +1 forward as well.
Spirit Bomb
1 Power, Area, Charge, Destructive, Projectile
To charge, lift your hands into the air and ask the universe to supply you with energy.
Everyone else at the table can give you Power from their own pools, including the
Narrator. You cannot contribute your own Power. As long as you are charging up the Spirit
Bomb, you can take no other actions. Once you are ready to throw the Spirit Bomb, count
up the Power you have accumulated and pick the corresponding effect:
● 0-4 Power: Does this thing ever work? Well, it definitely doesn’t in this case.
Nothing happens, except you put a new hole in the ground. Not even a very big
hole, either.
● 5-9 Power: It’s not quite powerful, but it’ll have to do. Now you just need to throw it
right. Roll +Strike. On a 6-, you whiff the throw entirely. On a 7–9, it grazes your
target, giving your allies +1 forward against them. On a 10+, deal damage.
● 10-24 Power: Now this is a big bomb, no way you’re missing with this. Deal
damage, and the target has no way to block or dodge.
● 25+ Power: Too big! Too big! Deal damage, the target cannot block or dodge,
everyone takes +1 forward against the target, and you take a significant chunk out
of the planet.
Super Technique
Passive
When you use a technique, you can spend an additional 5 Power to take +1 to that
technique, up to a maximum of 15 Power.
Thunder Shock
7 Power, Charge, Melee, Precise
To charge, hold out your hands with fingers spread. You focus ki into your hands, then
slam them into your opponent to send an electric shockwave through their body that turns
their ki back against them. Roll +Stamina. On a 7–9, they are stunned and unable to use
their ki for a short period of time. On a 10+, also deal damage.
Tri-Beam
6 Power, Area, Charge, Destructive
To charge, place your hands palms out, thumbs and forefingers touching to make a
triangle. Spend an additional 2 Power to focus on a target an extreme distance away. Roll
+Stamina. On a 7–9, pick one. On a 10+, pick two.
● Your target is knocked back by the powerful force of your attack.
● Your next Tri-Beam loses the charge tag.
● Deal damage.
Wolf Fang Fist

2 Power, Melee, Precise
You rush your opponent, closing the gap between the two of you. Roll +Strike. On a 10+,
you deal damage and take +1 forward. On a 7–9, you must choose between dealing
damage or taking +1 forward.
A Map of the Cosmos
There are many interesting and unique places within the greater cosmos, and chances are good
that there will be fights happening in all of them. In order for you to understand where you are,
what you might be fighting, why it’s a bad idea to blow anything up, and how it all affects you,
this is a handy guide that includes several areas of interest.
The Living World

Only half of the universe is taken up by the Living World, but that’s still enough room for entire
galaxies. It is further divided up into four quadrants: North, South, East, and West. These
quadrants are mirrored in Other World, giving each area of the Living World their own particular
slice of the afterlife.
The Living World is regulated by the presence of the God of Destruction, who is supposed to
act like a gardener weeding a plot: removing the bad growth to make room for new growth. In
practice that doesn’t always work out, as Gods of Destruction often have their own,
less-than-divine motives, not to mention a lacking work ethic.
Planet Earth
A rather famous little planet, although most of its inhabitants don’t quite know it yet, Earth has
been the nexus point of many conflicts, the origin of many of the universe’s greatest heroes,
and home to the best-tasting cuisine in the universe. No, really.
But for the most part, it is considered an out-of-the-way world that lacks in presence, sort of
like a wallflower at a party. No commercial space travel, not even an offworld colony. The
population seems to be happy just muddling along.
Planet Namek
Green skies and blue grass, you know you’re on Namek. One of them. There was an original
Namek, which was once home to a mighty civilisation before a natural disaster wiped out the
entire population save a handful of individuals. Then, after painstakingly rebuilding all of
society over the course of centuries, it was blown up by a genocidal madman called Freeza.
Now there’s a New Namek, created by a wish on the Namekian Dragon Balls, every bit as
good as the original. The grass is just as blue, the sky is just as green, and the inhabitants are
still rebuilding. They might not be back up to cities and starships just yet, but they’re as
friendly a bunch of slugmen as you’d ever want to meet.
The Other World

The other half of the universe is Other World, inhabited by the spirits of the dead, and the
divine bureaucracy, who ensure that everything runs. Not that it runs smoothly, just that it runs.
That alone is effort enough.
Much like the Living World, Other World is large enough to contain entire galaxies, although its
particular cosmology is quite different. Stars can be smaller than planets, planets can be smaller
than some buildings, and even space isn’t always a vacuum.
Though the spirits of the dead come here, they don’t always stay. Part of the afterlife is
cleansing oneself of regrets and sins, and going on to reincarnate back in the Living World,
keeping the cycle going. However, those who get to keep their physical forms, great heroes and
the like, can expect to stay longer, sometimes training their martial arts skills for thousands of
years. Because of course they’re martial artists.
Snake Way
Every quadrant of the universe has a kai, and every kai has a planet. To reach that planet from
the afterlife’s check-in station, you must run on Snake Way: a six hundred thousand mile long
path that resembles a popular legless reptile. Each of the four Snake Ways looks unique,
letting you know what part of the universe you’re in, just in case you forgot.
Snake Way is not a straight line. Much like its namesake, it twists and turns, coiling around
things, even entire realms. More than a few residents of Other World have set up their homes
along Snake Way.
Home for Infinite Losers

It was deemed that the name “Hell” sounded too cool and appealing, and might be responsible
for the growing influx of corrupt and evil souls into the afterlife. Later research showed that this
wasn’t the case, but the divine bureaucracy had already rebranded the place as the Home for
Infinite Losers, and changing the logo back would have been too expensive. Shirts had been
printed and everything.
Spirits in HFIL are subjected to strictly enforced therapy sessions to work through their
issues, and encouraged to get plenty of fresh air and exercise. No pitchforks, no brimstone,
just activity days and hobby workshops. Being taught to crochet by a teddy bear in a sweater
vest does more to curb evil tendencies than any amount of torture. However, it can take a few
decades for new arrivals to acclimate themselves, especially those who were expecting
something more hellish.
The Sacred World of the Kais

One of the perks of running the entire divine bureaucracy is prime real estate choices. The
dynasty of Supreme Kais has long resided on the Sacred World of the Kais, a paradise
world that has only ever been brought to ruin twice, both times by an out-of-control Majin Buu.
But that’s all in the past now, and it’s a lovely place to visit, except it doesn’t permit visitors. It’s
not much of a sacred world if just anyone can show up there, after all.
The Demon Realm

Members of the divine bureaucracy who just don’t get with the program are sent to the Demon
Realm, a combination prison and garbage dump sealed away from the rest of the universe.
Here are the liars, the traitors, the embezzlers, and all the others who disrupted the order of
things. Any kai sent here becomes a makai, retaining their power but in a twisted and
corrupted form. Kaioshin, otherwise called Supreme Kais, become makaioshin, or Demon
Gods.
The Multiverse
Every universe is part of the greater multiverse, remaining separate but not completely
disconnected from each other. The precise structure of the multiverse is liable to change due to
the whims of the Omni-King, but for the moment it is comprised of twelve universes, each with
their own Living World and Other World.
Paired Universes
Each universe is paired with a counterpart, or twin, with which it shares much in common.
Certain planets, species, and even historical events can be echoed between paired universes,
although never directly copied. Nobody has a identical doppelganger in their paired universe,
but there can be individuals with a slight, uncanny resemblance to each other.
Due to the current structure of the multiverse, each pair of universes are numbered to add
up to thirteen when put together, such as 6 and 7, and 4 and 9. Previously, when there were
more universes within the multiverse, the pairs were numbered differently so they would still
all add up to the same total. Quite why this is a thing is not known, but it’s assumed that the
Omni-King likes it that way. Maybe he just has a thing for numbers.
The Oververse
The entire multiverse resides within the Oververse, a somewhat conceptual space where scale
becomes meaningless as the laws of reality bend to the power of the Omni-King. Within the
Oververse, space and time are very flexible, as much as anything else.
The Palace of All

The residence of the Omni-King, the Palace of All floats within its own bubble of existence,
inhabited by the various attendants and angels created to serve the Omni-King’s needs and
keep the multiverse running. Each of the twelve universes can be observed from here, as they
are hung like decorative globes within the Palace grounds, existing both within and outside of
this particular pocket of space and time.
The World of Void

Also outside of the multiverse is the World of Void, which separates the twelve universes
from each other. An endless expanse of pure oblivion, where energy and matter cease to be
even on a conceptual level. Only the power of the divine can create or sustain anything within
the World of Void, as it will otherwise slowly break down and be annihilated by the crushing
weight of pure nothingness.
The Chasm of Time

Much like the World of Void is an area of nothing connecting all the something in the
multiverse, the Chasm of Time is an area of timelessness that links to every moment in time,
both past and future. Particularly troublesome individuals, especially those who have sought to
interfere in history, have been exiled to this place to spend a timeless eternity ruminating on
their mistakes.
Groups and Factions
Wherever there are people, there are people banding together, for reasons both decent and
selfish. They can be allies, or they can be enemies, and that all depends on how your goals and
theirs align. Regardless, it’s entirely likely that during your adventures you will encounter groups
getting involved in whatever you’ve got yourself mixed up in.
The following are several of the groups present within the world of Dragon Ball, to show up in
your adventures, or to act as inspiration for you to come up with your own.
Cult of Zamasu
A lot of residents of Other World dislike residents of the Living World, like how you would dislike
anyone who constantly makes your job difficult. But there’s always a few individuals who take
things a bit too far, and start throwing words around like “extermination” and so on. In another
timeline, one of those few individuals dared to dream big, and successfully eliminated anything
vaguely smarter than a tree in the name of order and tranquility.
Inevitably this did not work out too well for him, and he was erased from existence. But his
ideas of universal-scale murder live on in the hearts and closed minds of other petty jerks in
Other World. During office hours they are the same as any other member of the divine
bureaucracy. But in secret, they are members of the Cult of Zamasu, dedicated to bringing
down not only the number of people in the Living World, but also a system they perceive as
corrupt.
The Divine Bureaucracy

Though life may seem chaotic at best, there is a driving force behind it all. Just not a very
competent one. It is the divine bureaucracy, which is made up of innumerable levels of
pencil-pushers and middle managers, overseeing every aspect of creation. From the Supreme
Kai sitting at the top, all the way down to the lowliest oni shovelling souls in HFIL, each and
every one does the absolute bare minimum to keep things going.
Make no mistake, this is not done out of any sort of malicious intent, although members of the
divine bureaucracy do often have a distaste for residents of the Living World, just because they
make things so complicated. No, the divine bureaucracy is just really bad at its many jobs, on
every conceivable level.
The Galactic Patrol

For hundreds of years, the cosmos has been defended by the brave individuals of the Galactic
Patrol. Wherever there is injustice, they’ll be there — unless it’s really bad. They’re just space
cops, not cut out for dealing with universe-threatening abominations. Don’t bring it up Freeza, or
the way he single-handedly thrashed their entire organisation, as that’s still a sore spot amongst
even the elites.
Even if they know their limitations, members of the Galactic Patrol still go out and do their jobs
every day, barring vacation time. They make thousands of worlds safer places to live, especially
now that a certain Arcosian tyrant is six feet under.
Planetary Trade Organisation

If your homeworld’s a wreck, and you have the necessary cash, you can hire the Planetary
Trade Organisation to help you out. These enterprising capitalists seek out worlds rich in
natural resources and beauty, then exterminate the local population with indiscriminate glee
before selling the newly-uninhabited planet off at an extortionate price.
Much like most businesses that rely on genocide, the PTO has seen better days. Since the
death of their upper management, including CEO-slash-tyrant Freeza and his immediate family,
they’ve been reduced down to a fraction of what they once were. The private armies that once
ruined worlds are now little more than roving bands of pirates, trying to regain their former glory
and turn a profit at the same time.
Red Ribbon Army

One of the mightiest private militaries on Earth, the Red Ribbon Army was a model of ruthless
efficiency, all dedicated to the singular purpose of gathering the Dragon Balls so their boss could
get a couple of feet taller. At their height (no pun intended) the RRA was larger than the actual
armed forces of Earth, but since the death of Commander Red they have lapsed into complete
obsolescence.
The RRA was staffed with experts in their fields, from master tacticians to the leading
innovators in robotics technology. After its collapse, these experts have frequently proven more
dangerous than the original Army itself ever was, especially those consumed by thoughts of
revenge. Certain aspiring fascists have been quick to use the RRA as a template for their own
attempts at organising militias, some more successful than others.
Time Breakers
People get angry about how history went all the time, but only a select few are trying to do
something about it. They are the Time Breakers, a group of criminals and miscreants from
across time and space seeking to undo the history of the universe and replace it with something
that puts them in charge.
Originally founded by the descendents of renegade kais exiled to the Demon Realm, who
were obviously somewhat unhappy about that turn of events, the Time Breakers have
undergone a number of changes and schisms. But whatever faction is in play, their objectives
are still broadly the same: alter time for personal gain, to further some twisted scheme, or just to
cause trouble.
Time Patrol
Whenever paradoxes rear their impossible heads, the Time Patrol is there to unsnarl the
timeline and set things back on track. Originally just one hapless time-traveller roped into doing
odd jobs for the Supreme Kai of Time, the organisation has grown to significant size, thanks in
no small part to the actions of the Time Breakers.
Technically a part of the divine bureaucracy, despite being mostly mortals from the Living
World, the Time Patrol is therefore not all that good at their job. Distortions in the flow of time are
fixed not so much by delicate altering of events, but just sort of showing up and punching the
problem until it goes away. But since the history of the universe hasn’t collapsed in on itself yet,
whatever works.
Training Areas
You can train basically anywhere, from a desolate wasteland to snowy mountain peak, as long
as there’s space for you to throw punches, do sit-ups, and maybe fire off a few energy waves.
However, there are some places which provide solid, tangible benefits to the training process.
Someone on your level to spar with, a master to give sage advice, and even ways to warp
space and time if you’re lucky enough.
The following are some of the locations which can be used as training areas, or as inspiration
for you to come up with your own.
The Chamber of the Moonlight Lantern

Located high in the windswept Circle Mountains is an ancient temple, a monastery of sorts that
holds a sacred order who number just a handful these days. They safeguard an artifact of great
mystical potential within a special room: the Chamber of the Moonlight Lantern. If you are true
and just in your heart, you may be granted permission to face the shadow you cast.
When the Lantern is unlit, the Chamber is none too impressive, a simple circular room with
some decorative carvings on the walls. But when the Lantern is lit, all other lights fade away,
leaving the Chamber in darkness. Somehow this darkness stretches on far past where the walls
would be, allowing anyone within to range miles away from the Lantern.
As well as this effect, the eerie blue light from the Moonlight Lantern casts a single shadow for
each occupant of the Chamber. Unlike most shadows, these are solid, three-dimensional
imitations that move independently, charmed by the magic of the Lantern. They can use every
technique that their originator knows, and are every bit as strong and as fast. Overcoming one’s
shadow self is considered one of the greatest challenges any fighter can ever hope to face.
The Ever-Changing Clockwork Colosseum

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The Forest of Terror

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Gravity Chambers
Although the Capsule Corp. versions are most well known, created using salvaged alien
technology, the concept of a Gravity Chamber is common across the cosmos. By utilising the
artificial gravity components common in most spaceships, but overcharging them to produce
hundreds of Gs worth, any martial artist can put their skills to the test in a hostile environment at
the push of a button.
While in a Gravity Chamber, the occupants will be subjected to intense physical stress. Even
the slightest movement will drain their energy as they must use ki just to support their body.
Enduring this will train the body over time to produce greater and greater quantities of ki, and
much like training with weighted clothing, it will vastly increase movement speed and reaction
times when in more normal levels of gravity.
It is not recommended for those who are not martial artists and have no way to protect their
physical forms with ki, and even then those who are just starting out with gravity training should
only try 5-times or 10-times normal gravity at first. Once they become used to it, they can ramp it
up gradually, eventually attaining heights of 100-times or even 500-times, putting their ki control
to the test.
The Hyperbolic Time Chamber

Within the Lookout, the temple-like residence of the Guardian of Earth, is a door leading to the
Hyperbolic Time Chamber, referred to in ancient scriptures as the Room of Spirit and Time.
Though it has been destroyed at least once before, it has also been rebuilt and improved.
On the other side of the door to the Chamber is a small building designed to house two
people, with a sleeping area, storeroom for food and other supplies, and a washroom for basic
hygiene. The storeroom magically replenishes itself when nobody is within the Chamber,
restocking with enough supplies for two people for a full year. Beyond that building is an infinite,
stark white void. The further you venture from the building, the more intense the conditions
become. The temperature fluctuates wildly, the gravity increases, and the air gets more difficult
to breathe.
While in the Chamber, time passes by at an accelerated rate, but only when the door is
closed. One second on the inside is equal to six minutes outside, and one day is equal to a full
year. Though there is no limit to how many people can enter the Chamber, the facilities inside
are still limited in size and scope. The storeroom will always provide the same amount of food,
for instance, and there will only ever be two beds.
Nobody can stay within the Chamber for longer than three years, or three days on the outside.
When that time elapses, the clock above the door will chime, and the door will open by itself.
The time-altering properties of the Chamber cannot work while the door is open, and neither will
the changes in gravity or temperature, rendering it an ineffective training space.
Kame House
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King Kai’s Planet

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The Pendulum Room

Also contained within the Lookout, the Pendulum Room is a nexus point of chronological
energies, but most importantly, it is not a time machine. What it can do, however, is recreate a
moment from history for the occupants, allowing them to experience times long since passed
without ever leaving the Room. Their bodies remain in place while their minds and spirits
explore what is being shown to them.
In order to use the Room, any occupants must stand within the middle of it, beneath the large
swinging pendulum from where it takes its name. Then they must close their eyes and allow the
Room to take them back to where they wish to go. The place and time must be decided upon
before taking position, or the occupants may become temporarily lost from their physical forms.
Because you are not truly travelling through time, you cannot affect the past. Any “changes”
you might make are just part of the illusion. Likewise, you cannot actually die within the Room,
as it is just a vision that cannot affect your physical form one way or another. But since it draws
in your spirit and mind, you can learn strategies and techniques.
You return from the Room’s recreation of the past when you desire to, either consciously or
subconsciously. If you die, or become hungry or tired, your body will draw you back by itself.
Otherwise, you simply need to calm your mind and focus to dismiss the illusion.
The Tenshin School Dojo

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Dragon Balls
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The Counterfeit Dragon Balls

Could non-Namekians, with no special abilities or access to an original set, somehow replicate
the power of the Dragon Balls for their own use? It turns out the answer to that question is no,
they could not. The result is the Counterfeit Dragon Balls, which may as well be used as
paperweights for all the good they do. They are roughly the same as the Earth Dragon Balls,
only upon closer inspection the stars within are mismatched sizes and, on a few, have the
wrong number of points.
What the Counterfeit Dragon Balls summon is a dragon, but not an eternal one, by the name
of Gargoom. Not a particularly imposing presence, Gargoom is about four feet tall, and just as
wide, and has a wheedling voice and mannerisms. Once summoned, Gargoom is not only
incapable of granting wishes but also refuses to return, taking advantage of the situation to eat
and nap as much as possible.
The Mozos, the alien species which created the Counterfeit Dragon Balls, now try to use them
as decoys, attempting to swap out a planet’s original and working set for these cheap imitations.
It should be noted that, since the Counterfeit set can still manage to fool Dragon Radars, the
deception might not be caught in time.
The Dark Dragon Balls

Created by a corrupt Namekian member of the Time Breakers, and empowered by Demon
Gods, the Dark Dragon Balls are a significantly potent set with unusual abilities. They are the
same size as the Earth Dragon Balls, but a dark blood red in colour, with black stars. When they
scatter, they do so across all of space and time, gravitating towards powerful evils. When they
have sought out such an evil, they can attach to it, imbuing that creature with phenomenal
demonic energies. Gathering the Dark Dragon Balls will often require defeating seven very
powerful opponents.
The eternal dragon of the Dark Dragon Balls is Yaoron, a gaunt and almost skeletal serpent
with no limbs except for two very broad and pointed wings of stretched-out skin, like a
pterodactyl’s. Comparable in size to Shenron, Yaoron is mostly silent, saying nothing when
summoned and nothing when a wish is granted, except for an echoing hiss.
The Earth Dragon Balls

Seven orange balls, each the right size to fit comfortably within a human hand, and when you
bring them all together you can summon the eternal dragon Shenron to grant you at least one
wish. Maybe two, depending on when you’re making the wish. Originally created by Kami, and
now maintained by Dende, these are the Earth Dragon Balls.
Though not possessing the strongest eternal dragon by far, the Earth Dragon Balls seem to
attract a lot of attention from those out for wishes. Perhaps due to Earth’s constant, but entirely
undeserved, reputation for being a weak pushover of a planet.
The Namekian Dragon Balls

Three times the size of the Earth Dragon Balls, and formerly with three times the wishing power,
the Namekian Dragon Balls are now technically the New Namekian Dragon Balls, having been
relocated to the very planet that they were used to create, along with the rest of the Namekian
people. Due to the particularly short calendar of both Namek and New Namek, this particular set
can be used once every 130 Earth days.
When brought together, the summoning words must be performed in the original Namekian,
which could be considered a form of password against all manner of space racists and culturally
insensitive buffoons. The eternal dragon brought forth is Porunga, whose name translates
loosely to “Granter of Dreams” or “Dragon of Law” depending on what kind of accent you have.
The Other World Dragon Balls

When the creator of a set of Dragon Balls dies, they become inactive. But with the Other World
Dragon Balls, the creator was already dead at the time. The first wish they ever granted was to
revive their creator, who has spent the past ten thousand years treating the afterlife like a resort
getaway. The divine bureaucracy goes to extreme lengths to locate and hide all seven of the set
whenever possible, sometimes even putting them under guard.
Due to the power of their creator, the Other World Dragon Balls are as large as the Namekian
ones, except a light powder blue instead of orange, with pearl-white stars within. The eternal
dragon they summon is Fenghan, a feathered serpent kind of dragon who is easily the size of
Snake Way. Fenghan can grant one single wish, and then the Other World Dragon Balls
become dormant for a Namekian century — around thirty-five Earth years and seven months.
The Super Dragon Balls

The original set, created by the Dragon God Zalama when the universes were new, are
planet-sized and exceptionally difficult to obtain, as they scatter across not one but multiple
different universes. They were last distributed between Universe 6 and Universe 7, but their
whereabouts are currently unknown. These Super Dragon Balls are bestowed with literal
divine power, and have no discernable limitations. Anything seems possible with them, but since
using them is beyond most mortals, what they are truly capable of remains to be seen.
The summoning must be done in the language of the gods, and very politely, to bring forth the
divine eternal dragon known as Super Shenron, whose form fills the universe with resplendent
golden majesty. Once the wish is granted, the Dragon Balls are drained and scatter, requiring a
length of time more-or-less exactly equal to one Earth year to restore their power.
The Narrator
As the Narrator, you are as much a player as anyone else at the table. You work with the others
to make a compelling story, to ensure that heroes triumph and that evil is defeated, but making
sure that victory requires a hard fight and isn’t just handed over. You are not there to be an
obstruction to the other players.
When you sit down at the table as Narrator, keep the following things in mind:
▶ Make the player characters the focus of the story. The other players are the heroes
of the tale, they are the ones who will fight the villains and save the day. They need to be at the
forefront of whatever is going on.
▶ Evoke a sense of wonder and fantasy. The world of Dragon Ball is not a dark one.
Villains may threaten all life in the universe, but they can still be ridiculous while doing it. There’s
no reason you can’t have lighthearted moments, even during battles for the fate of existence.
▶ Be prepared to change your plans. Sometimes the big climatic battle you wanted to
happen doesn’t happen, because your players found a different way to be just as dramatic and
fantastic. Don’t panic, find a way to adapt. Leave the story in their hands for a moment, before
springing the next big surprise on them.
Narrator Moves
When it is your time to determine what happens, you’ll be making a move. Do so when:
● ... the players look to you.
● ... a player deals damage.
● ... a player rolls a 6-.
● ... you have the perfect opportunity.
Do your best to make the move match the events that are unfolding, but don’t be afraid to do
something unexpected if it would heighten the tension.
Your moves are not special code words, they are literal explanations of what you have to do.
For instance, “deal damage” means to put a character (or several characters) in danger of being
hurt.
You have the following moves:
● Introduce a new threat.
● Deal damage.
● Reveal a problem.
● Put someone in a tough spot.
● Give them an opportunity to shine.
● Tempt them with something they want.
● Give them a time limit.
● Let the villain die.
● Force a change of tactics.
● Turn their move back on them.
● Have the villain enact a plan.
● Tell them the possible consequences.
● Use a villain’s personal move.
Making Moves
Introduce a New Threat

This is a very versatile move, it can be many different things. The arrival of a new villain, or a
horde of minions. Perhaps civilians are being put in danger. The planet is going to blow up. Let
the characters know something is happening, and have them decide how to deal with it.
Deal Damage
When you deal damage to characters, make it come from an obvious source. The villain is
making an attack, or a volcano is erupting. Give them a chance to Evade Danger.
Damage is always a single step up, you don’t need to roll any dice for it. Remember that if a
character is at maximum damage, taking a hit means death.
Reveal a Problem
Sometimes things don’t go smoothly, and problems occur. The doomsday device has been
activated, the king has been taken ill, someone else is searching for the Dragon Balls and
they’re right here. Reveal to the players that things have taken an unexpected turn.
Put Someone in a Tough Spot
There are times when difficult decisions must be made. A character has to decide if someone
should live or die. Do they push the button on that remote and blow up the android? Do they
give the galactic tyrant a chance to reform? Put them at a crossroads and let them pick a path.
Give Them an Opportunity to Shine

Characters will have martial arts techniques that do interesting things, like Instant Transmission
taking them anywhere, or the Spirit Bomb requiring the energy of the universe around them. If
they have a technique, let them have a reason to use it.
Tempt Them With Something They Want

Everyone wants something, but what you want and what you need can be very different things.
Offering a challenge worthy of their power might just doom the world if they’re not up to it. Play
on the character’s vulnerabilities, but let them know what they’re risking if they say yes.
Give Them a Time Limit

There’s only minutes left until the planet explodes, the tournament starts in a week, and there’s
one year until the invasion gets here. A time limit provides pressure, and it can be any amount
of time. Just remind your players that it’s ticking away, bit by bit, towards the inevitable.
Let the Villain Die

When the characters deal damage, sometimes it is truly spectacular. A three-person
co-ordinated beam attack, a fully charged Spirit Bomb, or anything else that they’ve put all their
effort into. Reward that by letting it defeat the villain soundly, ending the threat permanently. Or
at least for now…
Force a Change of Tactics

Opponents can have all sorts of duplicitous tricks, like absorbing energy, regenerating,
immortality, or having clones. Encourage creativity and planning by making certain approaches
simply not be able to defeat a villain.
Turn Their Move Back on Them

Think about the benefits of the move that’s just been made, and turn them around to introduce a
complication. Alternatively, provide the same benefit to another. If someone undergoes a
transformation, maybe the villain will as well.
Have the Villain Enact a Plan
All the best villains have schemes. Maybe they’re collecting the Dragon Balls, or hunting down
anyone who knows a certain technique, or invading the planet. The villain will have as many
resources at their disposal as they need to get this done, and the characters will have to
respond.
Tell Them the Possible Consequences

This move is useful for when a character has failed in their attempt to do something. You’ll let
them do it, but tell them just what price they’ll be paying if they do. It could hurt them, it could
hurt their friends, it could require a distraction or all the Power in their pool. Make it clear that
there’s no way around the cost.
Use a Villain’s Personal Move

Of course villains will use their own techniques in a fight, but sometimes they have abilities that
go beyond energy waves. Transformations, hidden powers, magic spells, and even fusion.
When things look tough for a villain, consider using one of their personal moves to shift the odds
in their favour for a while.
How to “Fail Forward”

If you’ve played a tabletop game before, odds are you have seen failures happen. Perhaps
someone failed to open a locked door, and that door became a disruption in the flow of the
game as you spent time trying to figure out how to get past it. Failures can slow down,
sometimes even stop the fun of a game session entirely, when all that happens is something not
happening.
When dealing with a character’s failure to do something, don’t think about what wasn’t
accomplished. Instead, consider what you could do to keep things moving. Look to your moves
to show you the way.
As an example, let’s say that Matcha the Earthling is attempting to get information from a
shopkeeper. He uses the Influence Another move, but rolls a 6-. While it’s possible to have the
shopkeeper refuse to say anything, that isn’t fun, and it certainly isn’t going to keep the
conversation going. So look to your moves as Narrator and figure out what you could do.
Perhaps you could Force a Change of Tactics and have the shopkeeper tell Matcha that if he
wants information, he’ll have to trade for it, and it won’t come cheap. Or you could Reveal a
Problem and have the shopkeeper say that she can’t tell Matcha anything so long as Big Don
Vizzini runs the town.
If failure leads to a dead end, like a metaphorical brick wall, your players will keep on throwing
their characters against that wall, or turn around and ignore that direction entirely. Instead, make
failure lead to a sudden curve. The players will be able to navigate to a new direction without
stopping, although they may have to slow down for a moment and rethink their approach.
Minions
When using minions, more is always better. There’s nothing like a frenzied storm of a hundred
flunkies desperately trying to pile onto the heroes, only to be flung high into the air by a single
attack. It’s good stuff, and it makes the characters feel unstoppable, providing a lot of positive
energy going into bigger fights.
If a minion takes damage, that minion will die. Maybe they’ll be knocked out, or disabled in
some other way, but they’ll be removed from the fight regardless. Area attacks will eliminate
many minions at once, and it’s perfectly acceptable for the target of a technique to be a whole
group of minions, provided those minions are clumped up, and as long as that technique doesn’t
have the precise tag.
One of the important thing to remember is that minions are only easily beaten by the
characters. Everyday citizens will be in peril, because they lack the necessary survival skills, like
being able to shoot lasers or fly. You can still use minions to provide tension and high stakes,
even if they go down like a sack of bricks at the first punch.
Good minions share something in common with the villain they inevitably serve, so try to
theme them accordingly — for instance: killer robots or space troopers for an alien overlord,
enchanted gargoyles or gruesome imps for a sinister wizard.
Removing all the minions from play, leaving the characters facing only the major threat of the
villains, is a good sign that the final fight is beginning. If the villain has no flunkies to rely on,
they’ll be more willing to resort to desperate tactics.
Villains
Your villains are the bigger threats of your adventures, but also some of the smaller threats.
While Freeza is a villain, so is the Ginyu Force, just reduced in scale. The important distinction
between minions and villains is that no villain goes down in a single blow. They are big
obstacles for the characters to overcome.
There are two basic ways to use villains: the opposing team, and the final boss. An opposing
team is multiple villains working together, like the aforementioned Ginyu Force. You can have
them fight one-on-one matches with each of the characters, or engage in a battle royale style
brawl, where they constantly assist each other or team up for combo moves.
The final boss is more like Freeza or Buu, a single, terrifyingly powerful entity who requires the
characters to work together to stand a chance. These sorts of villains usually have an array of
powerful techniques, multiple transformations, and their eventual defeat usually means the end
of the saga.
However, these are only the simplest ways to use villains. As the Narrator, you can mix things
up a bit. There’s no reason not to have a group of villains as the major threat of a saga. You
could even have a final boss type villain split up, becoming a group instead. Fusion is a big thing
in the world of Dragon Ball, but fission is relatively unexplored.
A key difference in this game, compared to others, is that villains do not have a set amount of
hits they can take. Unlike minions, who die in one hit, a villain can theoretically take an infinite
number of hits. They will only die when you, the Narrator, deem it necessary. But knowing when
to do that can be tricky.
Think of villains as having phases. In the first phase, the villain is indestructible, unable to be
beaten. No damage done to them will have much of an effect until they have established
themselves as being a threat. Once they have done that, they move into the second phase,
where the damage will start to count. Taking damage of any kind will make the villain do
something, perhaps transform or unleash a very powerful attack. Any seriously aggressive
attack — something of at least 7 Power, or perhaps a combination of moves from all the
characters — will push the villain into the third phase.
The third phase is the last one. The villain will assume their final transformation, start their
doomsday plan, or otherwise indicate outright that the gloves are off and this is all or nothing.
It’s time to win at all costs, and at this point any damage taken will seriously jar the villain. But
only a truly spectacular attack will finally finish them off for good, like a super Kamehameha
barrage or a colossal Spirit Bomb.
It can be hard getting into the rhythm of good villain fights, but practice makes perfect. Just
remember that you can always have the villain retreat or be presumed dead, like with Vegeta or
Freeza. Then bring them back later, tougher than ever — or perhaps as a newfound ally?
Destruction
It wouldn’t be a proper fight if the scenery wasn’t falling apart like cardboard. Mountains split into
pieces, buildings collapsing into rubble, and sometimes even the dang planet explodes. Of
course, all this puts both the characters and hapless bystanders in trouble — and when the
whole planet is falling apart, everyone is a bystander.
Certain techniques have the destructive tag, which emphasises that they are tearing up the
scenery. When they get used, you get the necessary catalyst to use one of your moves. Maybe
they’ve now got to dodge all that falling debris, before a boulder the size of a house hits them, or
they get scorched by an eruption of lava.
Use the world around the characters as it falls to pieces. Did they just accidentally put a hole
in a massive dam? Be careful not to get washed away! Are they using powerful techniques
aboard a flying saucer in outer space? Opening up a hole might drag everyone out into the void,
or even make the entire ship blow up. Be creative, but don’t be too punishing.
When it comes time for the planet to blow up, and at a certain point it’s inevitable — either the
villain will do it, or the destruction will spiral out of control, or one of the characters will shoot
straight down “just to see what happens” — it’s not, speaking purely figuratively, the end of the
world. In a certain sense, yes, it most definitely is. But give the characters enough time to react,
and ensure they have an escape route. Whether or not they take it is up to them.
Experience
As you play, the characters will earn experience through their actions. For a start, they will earn
1 experience every time they roll 6-, as well as every time they die, and every time they resolve
a bond. Certain moves will provide an experience reward as well.
If you wish for your players to gain more experience, you can simply decide to hand out
experience more. The best times would be every time a villain is defeated, whenever a wish is
made on the Dragon Balls, or just when the session was a lot of fun for everyone. This can be
useful if you want the characters to improve at a faster pace.
Keep in mind that experience allows characters to “fail forward” — that is, by providing a
means for improvement every time they fail a move, they have the means to acquire ways to
avoid failing in the future. If a character cannot seem to improve despite this, then more
experience will not solve the problem. Instead, look at what they are trying to do. They might be
relying on their lowest attributes, for instance.
Setting Up Your First Session
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Tiers of Play
Dragon Ball Parallels does not rely on the idea of “power levels” because neither does Dragon
Ball. Every time they are used in the story, it is always by the villains, and always so that the
heroes will be underestimated. Even before the fight with Freeza ended, power levels had been
basically abandoned.
While this means there’s no way to put a simple number on characters or the opponents they’ll
face, it doesn’t mean there’s no way to scale things accordingly. However, it’s done from a more
narrative point of view, judging the characters by their opponents, and judging their opponents
by the threat they pose.
There are three tiers of play:
▶ Global: There’s something threatening the whole world. Whether it’s conquest, invasion,
destruction, or something else, it’s going to take the finest warriors the planet has to offer. But if
the threat is too large, it may become...
▶ Cosmic: Entire star systems are at risk, perhaps even a whole galaxy. Danger beyond
imagining has put millions in peril. Planets will be exploding left and right if a stop isn’t put to
this, or else it might grow to become...
▶ Divine: The entire universe, including Other World, is at risk. The divine bureaucracy is
in a panic. The great heroes of the past might be drafted from the dead to help protect the
stability of creation. There will be nothing left if the heroes don’t save the day.
The scale is not a strict one, any threat can be somewhere between two points, but it helps to
give an idea of where the characters need to be in order to take part. Consider Dragon Ball to
be entirely Global, Dragon Ball Z to be Global leading into Cosmic (eventually verging on
Divine), and then Dragon Ball Super to be mostly Divine with a little Cosmic.
Consider Raditz, from the first part of Dragon Ball Z. At first he was a Global-level villain,
stronger than any of the heroes and threatening the whole planet. In Dragon Ball Parallels
terms, any fight with him is going to be a big one, and he won’t die easily. When Vegeta and
Nappa arrive, Raditz is effectively downgraded to being an underling to the other two Saiyans.
Finally, on Namek, Raditz would be considered a minion. Just another mook in battle armour,
there to get exploded in a single hit.
All of this happens at the narrative level. At no point do you, the Narrator, need to change any
numbers in order to make Raditz less of a threat. You just need to use less moves on his behalf,
and have him die a lot more easily. This means that the characters can face progressively
greater threats without needing to actually “increase their power level” by a factor of millions,
which in turn means no mess and fuss over using impractically large numbers.
Planning Your Saga
A saga is an story arc that the characters follow, usually determined by a great threat that must
be defeated.
Global Tier Sagas
Here are some premade sagas that you can use when your characters are at the Global tier of
play. However, you can always adapt them and take them further into the next tier.
The Doll Saga

Global Tier
Setting the Scene

This saga involves a lot of magic, so you could use it as a break between more
technological or alien themed sagas, or to further explore the magical side of the world.
Beginning
There’s always been tall tales and ghost stories told of a haunted dollhouse, that whispers to
you when you get close enough. The tiny voice promises you what you dearly want to hear,
treasure beyond imagining, or a truth you’ve been dying to know your whole life. All it asks is
that you find the key that opens it up… but there is no key, and the owner of the dollhouse is
driven mad searching for it. At least, that’s how all the stories seem to end.
But there is a key, and there is a dollhouse, and someone has found both. They’ve listened
to the little voice, and they’ve done as asked. Not knowing what they are unleashing onto an
unsuspecting world, they’ve opened the door and created a path between dimensions.
The Dollhouse is open, and Doll is free. She wants the Dragon Balls and, most of all, she
wants her revenge.
Doll
Doll is a living doll, approximately child-sized and dressed in elegant historical clothing. She
has long dark hair in loose curls, and wears a porcelain mask painted with an
expressionless lady’s face with closed eyes. She is also completely immortal and cannot be
killed, only contained.
Centuries ago, Doll was a flesh-and-blood person, who was fated to die. Not ready to meet
her end, she made a wish on the Dragon Balls for a body that would never die and could not
get sick. Due to some clumsy wording, or possibly some outside interference, she was
transformed into a doll, living but not truly alive. Over time she lost her connection to the
world around her, becoming more withdrawn and hateful.
At some point, she was considered dangerous enough to be contained, and was sealed
away into a pocket dimension with a magical spell, cursed to live forever within a world
called the Dollhouse where she could no longer hurt anyone. But this prison was flawed,
perhaps because whoever contained her felt pity for her, and it retained a connection to the
outside world that allowed her to formulate a plan of escape.
Doll’s motives for fighting are complicated. She has a great distaste for what she perceives
as the cruel ugliness of the organic world, but also yearns to become a “real person” again,
and will chase down the Dragon Balls to see that wish granted. However, it might be
impossible for her to ever return to how she was. She is a somewhat tragic villain, so she
might be able to become a hero given time.
Doll’s Mask
Her mask actually restricts her power and her emotions, and as it gets progressively more
damaged, she will effectively transform. Her default form is with an undamaged mask, and
she will be well-mannered and rather emotionless while in this state.
When she takes a severe hit, a single crack will appear in the mask, running from the top
down through the right eye. In this form, her glittering emerald ki aura becomes visible, and
sometimes a gleaming sapphire light will be visible where the crack passes over her eye.
Occasional flares of emotion will come through, but muted: intense anger will become polite
disappointment.
Another severe hit will fracture the mask completely, distorting the painted face. This form
only lasts a moment, but comes with powerful waves of chaotic energy that are highly
destructive to the surrounding area. The pieces of the mask will fall away, revealing Doll’s
true face, finally allowing her to express her emotions. Those emotions are mostly going to
be rage and hate as the fight approaches its climax.
Doll’s Fighting Style

Doll uses her petite size, and her incredible speed, to her advantage. She will attempt to
dodge blows rather than block them or redirect them, but only so long as she has at least
some of the mask remaining. When her emotions are unchained, she can become too angry
in a fight to think about evasion.
In her intact-mask form, she will use mostly physical attacks, especially kicks that are hard
to read due to her ruffled dress hiding the movements of her legs. It is not until her mask is
broken that she will start to use ki blasts, as her powers become released. Use some of the
following attack ideas, or come up with your own:
● Beaucoup Soubrette, an afterimage technique where Doll appears to be posed in
a diorama-style scene with duplicates of herself, only for the real one to launch a
surprise attack.
● Coup de Tragedie, a fierce flying attack of several powerful kicks that forces her
opponent back or face taking damage.
● Emerald Overture, multiple spears of emerald ki that home in on their target, either
against many different opponents or a single one. In her maskless state, this
becomes Grand Emerald Overture, and produces thousands of spears.
The Dollhouse
The Dollhouse is an additional dimension, a separate realm like the Hyperbolic Time
Chamber, which is both Doll’s home and her prison. Though she can control it from within,
she cannot open the door to the outside by herself. She can still see and hear what goes on
outside, by looking through the windows, and can communicate with anyone close by. She
will use keen persuasive techniques, such as “lying”, to convince people to open the
Dollhouse.
On the outside, the Dollhouse looks like a regular ornate dollhouse, a scale model
mansion around the size of a coffee table. It comes with a large brass lock set in the front,
and a matching key. Putting the key in the lock and turning it will transform it into a
free-standing door, identical to the front door of the dollhouse, which acts as a gateway
between that point and the Dollhouse. Once the door has been summoned, anyone from
either side may open it.
The Dollhouse dimension is an endless labyrinth of rooms and hallways, all in the same
ornate and classical style, like a mansion with no exterior. Though there is at least one
kitchen and one greenhouse contained within its near-infinite maze of rooms, it is not really
fit for habitation by living beings as there is no proper supply of food. Only Doll, and other
immortals who do not need to eat, can live there for long periods of time.
Doll can control the Dollhouse, rearranging the rooms and altering the layout at will, but so
can anyone holding the key. The key-holder’s control will supercede Doll’s, and it will also
grant them the ability to leave the Dollhouse whenever they please, something Doll cannot
do by herself.
No matter how badly damaged the Dollhouse gets, it will always repair itself, returning to
its normal state within a few hours. Its infinite size and maze-like nature means even
planet-destroying techniques cannot hope to destroy everything, although a strong enough
blast might create a hole to the outside world. For this reason, it could make a fairly decent
training area, but probably not while also serving as a prison.
Mixing Things Up
The Dollhouse could be part of the Oververse, the metaphysical connection between
everywhere both inside and outside of the Multiverse. This would allow the holder of the key
to go anywhere in all existence.
Doll might not be the real villain of the saga. Perhaps she was not changed by the Dragon
Balls, but cursed by some unspeakable and powerful evil, that dwells within the deepest,
darkest layers of the Dollhouse. Doll’s quest for freedom is not for revenge, then, but simply
to escape her captor and perhaps find a way to defeat it once and for all, no matter what it
takes.
Perhaps Doll has an entourage of other fighters who appear to also be living dolls at first
glance, but are just being controlled by cursed masks instead. Destroying their masks frees
their captured spirits and lets them move on to Other World.
Taking it Further
As an immortal, Doll’s defeat is only ever going to be temporary. Even if she is sealed
somewhere other than the Dollhouse, like the Dead Zone, there’s still the possibility she can
escape. This makes for a good opportunity for a recurring villain, and perhaps even the
possibility of redemption.
Similarly, her inability to age could come in useful when playing with time travel plotlines.
Perhaps in the future she is a reformed individual, like Piccolo or Vegeta, maybe even
adopting the role of Guardian of Earth. It could be quite a surprise for the characters to find
their old nemesis now ensuring the safety of the planet!
The Sprout Saga
Global Tier
Setting the Scene

This is a fairly high-end Global level saga that is fairly intensive, starting small and building
up slowly. It has a lot of opportunities to be revisited later. It can happen at any time, but it
works best after a period of calm and peace.
Beginning
Not every mad scientist gets to go to a fancy high-falutin’ university and get a doctorate.
Some have to take care of the family farm. But even then, there’s still that glimmer of
megalomania, that desire to go the extra mile. Like, for instance, creating the perfect crop. A
superfood to end all superfoods, that would solve world hunger by any means necessary.
Starting in a little farming town out in the middle of nowhere, people are going missing.
Purely coincidentally, a lot of very large seed pods have started appearing. In fact, the whole
place is getting quite overgrown now. There’s nobody around to do any gardening, what with
everyone missing, so it’s starting to spread.
At the centre of this chaos is a new form of plant life, engineered from the hardiest and
most potent cuttings. The power of the senzu bean, the tenacity of kudzu, just to name but a
few. The result is something rather strange. It walks around, it plots and schemes, and it
calls itself… Sprout.
Sprout
As a plant-based lifeform, Sprout has a number of advantages that make it a dangerous
opponent. Sensing its ki amongst all the other plants around is next to impossible, allowing it
to blend in with the natural world — at least while it is gathering power. Once it has
transformed, it will be an unmistakably large power that can be detected quite easily.
Sprout has a deep-seated set of instincts: to grow and propagate across the world, and to
ensure nobody goes hungry. However, after thinking about it logically, Sprout has decided
that if there’s nobody around to get hungry in the first place, that solves the problem
permanently. So everything on Earth that isn’t a plant has got to go, and things aren’t looking
all that great for the other plants either.
All those large seed pods that have turned up are Sprout’s way of turning the population
into fertiliser, by draining away their life energy. This is a key part of its plan to fulfill its
directives, and these malevolent natural instincts make Sprout a difficult foe to face. Not
desiring something as straightforward as other villains, like galactic conquest or a wish from
the Dragon Balls, means Sprout can be unpredictable in its schemes.
Sprout goes through several transformations during its existence, and will change fighting
style and tactics in each one. However, much like many plants, its transformations are more
of a cycle than a simple progression, which means that defeating Sprout may not always be
the end of things.
Seedling Form
Sprout’s first form is a small and harmless-looking thing, like a fat onion with arms and legs,
and a bulbous pair of unblinking eyes. But do not be deceived by this comical appearance,
because already it has begun to absorb the life force of innocent people to gain more power.
Coupled with absorbing sunlight, this is changing Seedling Sprout’s body. At first a sickly
yellow, it is becoming increasingly greener and larger.
Catching Sprout in this form is difficult. Due to its small size and high speed, not to
mention a knack for burrowing underground, it is very elusive. It has an instinctive desire to
avoid confrontation, and will use defensive techniques to get away from anything it
perceives as a threat.
Sapling Form
Once Sprout has absorbed enough sunlight and life energy, it undergoes a big change. It
grows much larger and stronger. That fat onion body develops into a grotesque, bulbous pod
that acts as its head. Its new body is gangly and root-like, with overly-long limbs and
excessively long fingers that taper to wispy fronds. Unlike its previous form, this Sprout
doesn’t mind fighting. At first clumsy, it learns and adapts quickly, using its superior reach to
great effect.
In this form, Sprout is also smarter, no longer running purely off instinct and able to put
strategies into action. But this is a growing Sprout, and it is not yet done with its
transformations. It continues to steadily get larger and larger, until finally the hideous pod
that serves as its head bursts open to reveal a huge canopy of leaves. Its body stiffens up,
and it becomes a large tree, from which falls a solitary fruit.
Harvest Form
That fruit is none other than Sprout’s next form, Harvest Sprout. At first it resembles an
apple or peach, except with a more melon-like texture. Its skin is a vibrant orange with
purple splotches. Quickly that fruit becomes Sprout’s new head, with a body growing out
underneath. This form is brimming with the life energy it has been taking on, making it
supremely powerful. It is both a capable fighter and a delicious snack high in fructose and
essential vitamins.
The end goal of Sprout is to continue to grow across the planet, so it will be working hard
to create more of itself. A Sprout that is not stopped here and now will restart the cycle by
planting and raising new Seedling Sprouts. In this Harvest form, it can create them, but they
are just minions when first summoned, lacking in their own stores of life energy to survive.
Sprout’s Fighting Style

Being many different plants combined, Sprout has a varied and esoteric fighting style that
makes use of its rapid growth and natural abilities. Rather than energy waves, it will use
homegrown abilities such as cactus-like needles, rapid seed-spitting, and the occasional
splash of stinging citrus juices.
Use some of the following attack ideas, or come up with your own:
● Shoots and Leaves, Seedling Sprout lets out a rapid-fire barrage of exploding
seeds, then makes its escape in the ensuing chaos.
● Creeper Cascade, Sapling Sprout plunges its root-like appendages into the ground,
causing hundreds of coiling vines to shoot up from the soil, trying to ensnare and
entangle anything that comes close.
● Jalapeño Grill, Harvest Sprout gains a spicy ki aura that burns and repels anyone
in close contact with it.
● Ripe Riser, Harvest Sprout unleashes a deluge of juice from its fruit head,
temporarily blinding the unwary.
Mixing Things Up
The characters could come back from an adventure on another world to find the whole
planet engulfed in Sprout’s nefarious pods, requiring a wish to return the Earth to its original
ecosystem.
Sprout might be a tool of vengeance rather than an experiment gone wrong. Perhaps it
has been implanted with the personality and memories of a defeated opponent, who lives on
in this plant body.
Taking it Further
Much like a weed, Sprout can come back unexpectedly, regrowing from Seedling form
again. But also like a weed, its prolonged presence is not going to be very endearing. Don’t
have Sprout continually come back over and over again, or you might end up with your
characters blowing up the whole planet just to make sure.
Make sure to add some variety to Sprout if it makes a comeback. Not just a change of
location, but maybe a change of powers as well. Perhaps Sprout’s mysterious creator could
have created a “version two” that used more plants, maybe even some of the mystical plants
from Other World. Perhaps an additional form, such as Flower Sprout, that provides a
fantastical level of power to challenge the characters once again.
The Time Patrol Saga
Global Tier
Setting the Scene

This is a short Global level saga that can happen between larger sagas as a sort of buffer. It
can help to introduce some hints at what is to come, thanks to the time travel aspect.
Beginning
The characters are approached, out of the blue, by three mysterious fighters who require
their help in tracking down a dangerous foe. They are reluctant to reveal much about
themselves at first, but consider the characters to be trustworthy enough to be clued in to
what’s going on.
The three fighters reveal themselves to be agents of the Time Patrol, each of them
selected from some point in the timeline: past, present or future. But despite their origins,
they’ve been working together as a team for some time now, and are on a very important
case. A fugitive from time-based justice has fled to this present era, and they have to find
them before they do any harm. Just as soon as they figure out who this fugitive is, of course.
Though it might seem like they are inept at first glance, they are actually being duped by
their commanding officer: a supercomputer called Tannen. This supposedly-infallible
machine has decided that the only solution to the constant time-crimes being committed is to
erase all forms of time travel from existence, including the Time Patrol itself. The three Time
Patrollers have been sent on a wild goose chase that will end in their deaths, unless the
characters can lend a hand.
The Time Patrollers

There are three time Patrollers in total, each with a different look, attitude, and fighting style.
● Braid, easily recognised by her eponymous hairstyle, is short and excitable. She
comes from a few decades in the future, from the perspective of the characters, and
is very interested in seeing what life was like before she was born. She could
possibly be related to one of the characters, but she doesn’t want to say.
● Titor, a veteran Patroller and leader of the squad. He resembles a noir detective, in
trenchcoat and hat, unshaven and chewing on a toothpick almost constantly. He is
from the relative past, but has been a member of the Time Patrol for so long that
nothing fazes him anymore.
● Android 800, from the distant future, is large, brooding, and mostly silent. In a
leather jacket and sunglasses, emotion is a thing that happens on other people’s
faces. He is very blunt and mechanical in his actions, and what little he says is in a
deep, rumbling, and heavily-accented voice.
Each of the Time Patrollers was chosen specifically for this mission by Tannen, who knows
their weaknesses and will exploit them ruthlessly when confronted. Braid is a rookie who is
overly concerned for the safety of others, particularly those who are important to her, and will
put herself in harm’s way to protect them. Titor lost his old partner, Connor, on a particularly
dangerous mission and will become paralysed by grief when forced to remember or relive
those events. Most alarmingly of all, Android 800 can be taken over and remotely controlled
by Tannen.
Tannen
Time Patrol HQ established the Time-Agnostic Neural Network Entity (T.A.N.N.En) to
monitor and collate disturbances in the time stream. However, being anchored outside of the
flow of time has done odd things to Tannen’s programming. Perhaps something from the
Chasm of Time has been influencing it, or maybe staring into the abyss for a countless
eternity has simply broken it beyond repair. Either way, Tannen is seeking to destroy the
Time Patrol.
In its supercomputer form, Tannen can emerge at any point in time. It does so in areas
where it will not be noticed, but not too dangerous, such an an abandoned warehouse in a
city somewhere. It has emerged into the present time in order to ensure the deaths of the
Time Patrollers, and it will use their deaths to draw the rest of the Time Patrol into its trap.
When it takes control of Android 800, it will transform Android 800 into the hybrid T-800,
downloading its entire essence into Android 800’s advanced future circuits. As the T-800, it
gain a shiny liquid metal body that can reform when damaged, and a more skull-like head
with glowing red eyes, but still retaining the same leather jacket and sunglasses combo. In
this form, T-800 will shift its arms into guns and cannons to fire energy blasts, and shift back
into arms in order to punch and block.
Mobile Precinct
When T-800 is sufficiently damaged and losing its ability to self-repair, Tannen will transfer
again, this time to a new body it has been constructing in secret. It has been exploiting its
disconnection from time to spend decades preparing this body, which will erupt out from the
ground under the supercomputer, destroying it in the process. Tannen does not leave copies
of itself behind, so Android 800 will be back to normal, although far too damaged to continue
the fight.
This new body is called the Mobile Precinct, and is a giant robot several storeys tall. It was
intended to be the instrument to eliminate the entire Time Patrol, so it is incredibly tough and
well-armed. If this form is destroyed, Tannen will attempt to transfer back to Android 800, but
he has already locked Tannen out of his processor. Tannen will be destroyed along with the
Mobile Precinct, putting an end to the danger he posed to the Time Patrol.
Mixing Things Up
There is a fugitive, and it’s a future incarnation of Android 800 in his T-800 form, possessed
by a future incarnation of Tannen, who teams up with its past self. Alternatively, Tannen has
framed the three Time Patrollers as criminals, and other members of the Time Patrol are
going to show up and try to take them down. It would be up to the players to decide who to
trust.
Perhaps Tannen’s plan does not involve one giant robot body, but thousands of smaller
ones, creating a vast army of tireless metal fighters who seek to overwhelm the Time Patrol
in strength of numbers, providing an even more intense battle.
Taking it Further
Time travel allows for messing with cause and effect, such as meeting someone for the first
time, only for them it’s the fifth time. While it’s possible to have the Time Patrollers be more
familiar with the characters, from future adventures the characters will have, you could also
flip that around and have this be the first encounter from the Time Patrol’s point of view. If
you do mess around with time like this, be sure to keep notes to make sure there are no
paradoxes.
Introducing the characters to the world of the Time Patrol and their mission to keep the
timeline safe and secure might be a good way to introduce new concepts and even more
dangerous enemies, as well as revisiting moments from Dragon Ball history. Just remember
that membership in the Time Patrol is purely voluntary.
The Vandalu Saga
Global Tier
Setting the Scene

This saga needs to take place during the World Martial Arts Tournament, and that’s about it.
It’s a good introductory saga that can establish the characters as working together.
Beginning
It’s time once again for the World Martial Arts Tournament, and all the greatest and
not-so-greatest fighters from across the globe have arrived to compete. During the
preliminary bouts, a mediocre fighter by the name of Capellini is struggling against a
superior fighter by the name of Trenette. This looks like it’s going to be the fourth tournament
in a row that he’s been knocked out in his first match, except he has a plan.
At first it looks like he’s going to pull out a weapon, except it’s actually a scroll. He starts
reading the incantation aloud: “Vengeful spirits of Vandalu, use this chosen vessel and bring
ruin to my enemies! Rasam, Masala, Keema, Palak!”
The sky darkens, the winds howl, and the scroll erupts into a vivid purple flame, producing
a thick plume of crimson smoke that flows into Capellini’s mouth and nose. He has been
possessed by four wrathful spirits of ancient warriors, amplifying his ki and skill significantly.
If it wasn’t bad enough that this is a clear violation of the rules, the spirits have no intent of
partaking in the tournament. Instead they want to recreate their fallen kingdom, starting right
here and now.
The Four Spirits

There are four spirits, all siblings, that take the form of crimson smoke that can flow into the
bodies of living fighters and take them over. When possessed, a fighter has an aura of
purple fire, and emits wisps of crimson smoke from their mouth and eyes at all times.
● Rasam, the eldest son, is naturally talented and has supreme confidence bordering
on arrogance. He enjoys humiliating his opponents, and uses an ancient fighting
style called Lion’s Roar. It uses explosive bursts of ki at close range, coupled with
powerful palm strikes.
● Masala, twin sister of Rasam, is just as gifted as her brother, but finds everything to
be exceptionally boring because of it. She goes all-out against her opponents to try
and find a challenge, and uses an ancient fighting style called Bright Tiger. It uses
illusions like the afterimage technique, with kicks and leg sweeps.
● Keema, the middle child, is energetic and aggressive, but doesn’t talk much. She
prefers to let her fists speak for her, using an ancient fighting style called Charging
Ram. It uses a lot of physical blows augmented by ki, with very little subtlety.
● Palak, the youngest son, is very moody and throws a tantrum when things don’t go
his way. When he has the upper hand, however, he is just as confident and cruel as
his siblings. His ancient fighting style is called Green Tree, and it uses binding
techniques and precision striking of pressure points.
At first, all four spirits inhabit the one who summoned them, Capellini. He will change
fighting styles, and personality, as they switch who is currently controlling him. He will even
argue with himself using their voices. The spirits are not content to be cooped up together,
as they hate each other as much as anyone else, and will try to possess separate bodies as
soon as possible.
There is a chance that someone in the audience of the World Martial Arts Tournament,
such as King Furry or Master Roshi, bears a vague resemblance to the long-dead king of
Vandalu. It could even be one of the characters. If so, the four spirits will focus their ire on
that person specifically.
Additionally, as evil spirits they are vulnerable to being captured by the Evil Containment
Wave.
Vandalu
The ancient kingdom of Vandalu was one of the mightiest empires on Earth thousands of
years ago. Its king was wise and just, but had four children who were quarrelsome and
conceited. Fearing a war for the throne that would destroy his country, the king divided the
kingdom up equally amongst his children, hoping that they would be satisfied with ruling as
equals. They were not.
The princes and princesses of Vandalu are now those spirits, and they are unaware of how
much time has passed since they walked the mortal realm. They also don’t particularly care,
despite wanting a return to their life of wealth and glory.
The longer the evil spirits remain active, the stronger they become, and they might even
begin to seek a way to restore Vandalu. This could be the Dragon Balls, or they could use
their evil ghost magic to do so.
Mixing Things Up
The scroll might have opened up a means for all of Vandalu to return from a dark
banishment that destroyed the ancient kingdom. The whole world could be in danger from
thousands of spirits, possessing innocent people and transforming them into skilled fighters.
Capellini could be the one in control, using the four vengeful spirits for his own petty
revenge, goading them on to strike down the opponents who have humiliated him in
previous tournaments.
Taking it Further
Once the ancient kingdom of Vandalu has been introduced, it’s up to you to determine what
sort of place it was. A highly advanced civilisation, a martial arts Atlantis that befell a terrible
tragedy and was lost forever? Or was it something else entirely? What you choose will
shape this saga and others yet to come. After all, if there’s long-forgotten super technology
buried somewhere in the world, someone’s bound to find it eventually.
Time travel of various kinds means it might be possible to visit Vandalu while it still existed,
and maybe even fight the four royal siblings while they were still alive. Since their spirits
cannot be killed, as they’re already dead, they can always make a return. Don’t forget that if
a buffoon like Capellini could become a dangerous fighter while possessed by them, who’s
to say how strong a true monster like Freeza could become?
Cosmic Tier Sagas
Here are some premade sagas that you can use when your characters are at the Cosmic tier of
play. However, you can always adapt them and take them further into the next tier, or scale them
back to a lower tier.
The Bad Moon Saga

Cosmic Tier
Setting the Scene

In order for this saga to work, the moon must have been destroyed. This is easy enough,
even though it sounds like a tall order. Any time Saiyans are involved, it’s always a good
idea to blow up the moon, so either the characters may have done it, or a villain instead. A
villain may have just decided to blow up the moon as a show of force. Regardless, the moon
has to be missing, and it has to have been missing for a while.
Beginning
The population has just become used to the night sky being empty, when all of a sudden the
moon is back. But nobody wished for it back, it’s just… there, all of a sudden. If summoned,
the eternal dragon will confirm that it hasn’t been wished back, and if asked the right
questions, will state that what is in orbit is not Earth’s original moon.
Visiting or investigating this new moon will reveal it has a single inhabitant, a mysterious
stranger who refers to himself as Comet. Tall and thin, with a head like a ball of blue flame,
he sort of resembles a candle in a butler’s outfit. He is the servant and herald of one he
refers to as the “great and mighty Ralune” who is here to take the planet Earth, like dozens
of planets before. If asked who Ralune is, he will simply gesture to his feet. She is the very
moon upon which he stands.
The characters are going to have to fight the moon.
Comet
A well-spoken individual and the most powerful of Ralune’s servants. He has been with her
since very early on, and has benefitted from her increases in power over the long centuries.
He is easily capable of going toe-to-toe with any fighter, and will do so if pressured to defend
Ralune. He dislikes using his hands, as it dirties his snow-white gloves, so he uses a lot of
kicks and energy attacks. His greatest asset is his speed.
He has one transformation he can make willingly, where the blue flame of his head
becomes violet and spreads across his body. In this form he is much more powerful, but at a
cost: it slowly burns through his life force. He will only use this form when he believes the
risk is too great, such as in defense of Ralune’s gallery of worlds.
Should Ralune feel that there is no other choice, however, she can force upon him a
second transformation, where his flame becomes a luminescent white and begins to
consume him. In this form he can last mere minutes, and his chances of survival are next to
nothing. But do not mistake Ralune’s dependence on her servant for gratitude or charity: she
will destroy him without a second thought if it means keeping herself safe.
Ralune
A sentient moon, who steals planets from the cosmos. She puts them into stasis, freezing
the entire population, and reduces them down to the size of marbles. They are stored in a
special gallery at her core. They are the source of her power, removing them will weaken her
greatly. If retrieved, any of these stolen worlds can be unfrozen and restored to their rightful
size by a kai, or by petitioning the divine bureaucracy. Just make sure they’re in the right
place first.
In addition to stealing worlds, she also takes fighters from them and transforms them into
her servants. She insists they all dress professionally, like Comet does, and so she is
handily defended by footmen, maids, and the occasional stable boy. She doesn’t even have
a stables.
Being a living world, she has complete control over her physical form and can create all
manner of environmental disasters to rid herself of pests if she needs to, but would rather
rely on her servants. She doesn’t like getting involved with things that happen on a
non-planetary scale.
Ralune is a callous villain. Even if she seems to care for the worlds she steals, by putting
them in a gallery like works of art, she is still effectively enslaving millions for her own
greedish desires. She has no empathy, not even for her servants, whose lives she would
sacrifice in an instant if she felt it would aid her.
Mixing Things Up
What if Ralune was in fact the spirit of the destroyed moon, wandering through Other World
seeking vengeance? She could be a demon or a god, trapped within the form of a planet.
Ralune could be setting her sights on the Sacred World of the Kais instead of Earth. She
could be attempting to elevate herself to becoming a goddess through the combined spiritual
energy of every planet she has taken.
Her butler, Comet, could be one an enemy previously faced by the characters, rescued
and transformed by Ralune’s power. Her entourage of servants could have greater numbers,
and include multiple fighters of Comet’s level.
Taking it Further
Fighting against Ralune might be a good way to graduate characters from Cosmic tier
adventures into the Divine. Her theft of worlds is definitely something that could bring her up
in threat level, especially if she survives her encounter with the characters. She might not
even have to survive, perhaps a few of her servants could instead, and then make a wish on
the Dragon Balls to bring her back.
As long as Ralune is stealing worlds and turning their best fighters into her servants, her
strength will increase, letting her become a greater threat. A defeat, or even a death, might
make her significantly more wary about how she goes about it, though. She is calculating
and very intelligent, if rather arrogant about it, so play to those strengths.
The Darkula Saga
Cosmic Tier
Setting the Scene

This is a good early Cosmic level saga that needs very little set-up. Starting this saga
immediately after a training session, to let the characters practice their new powers, is a
good idea.
Beginning
Dark clouds are spreading across the sky, blotting out the sun and casting the world into
eternal night. Life forces across the planet are weakening and vanishing suddenly. From the
black clouds, heralded by thunder and lightning, descends a gigantic gothic castle. It lands
somewhere on the planet, perhaps in the middle of a city, or in an out-of-the-way corner.
Either way, it will soon spread its influence.
The longer the castle remains, the more it twists the landscape. Gloomy pine forests begin
to spread out, along with crumbling cemeteries and desolate marshland. The whole planet is
being slowly changed into a Halloween nightmare landscape. With the sun blocked, the
world is becoming colder and darker, and this will spell certain doom unless things change.
From within the castle emerge a legion of skeletal warriors in bat-wing armour, spreading
out in small groups to sow fear and panic among the population. People are being abducted,
carried off, and it’s down to the characters to put a stop to all this and restore the world to its
rightful state. But that means going up against the master of the castle: the dreaded Baron
Darkula.
Baron Darkula
Space vampire and self-appointed aristocrat, Baron Darkula is a tall and imposing figure,
easily eight or nine feet tall. He has pale skin, piercing red eyes, and slicked-back black hair.
His ears are slightly pointed, so is his nose, and also his teeth. He is distinguished-looking, if
not particularly handsome.
Because he is a vampire, he has no way to generate life energy of his own, and must steal
it from others. He has done this for centuries across many different worlds, accumulating a
sizeable store that he uses power his castle, including animating his skeletal minions. His ki
feels wrong, twisted, unnatural, and just plain bad.
While he has reserves of power, he is functionally immortal, allowing him to recover from
anything, even regrow his body. But this will drain him, leaving him in need of more energy. If
it is depleted completely, he will die. To replenish himself, he steals the energy of others,
mostly those he abducts, but he can also attempt to drain his opponent in a fight.
He has three different forms. The first is his basic form, as detailed above. His second
form is his Battle Bat form, where he becomes more bestial and monstrous, growing in size
and sprouting wings. In this form he has higher physical strength and speed, and relies more
on that than energy blasts. His third form is his Night King form, where he turns into mist
and summons a heavy suit of regal armour, armed with a lance, for himself to inhabit. This
form takes up a lot of energy, but is by far the most powerful of the three.
The Brides of Darkula

Baron Darkula’s three main lieutenants, who are also his groupies, are called his Brides
even though there’s been no marriage to speak of. Space vampires aren’t known for their
commitment.
● Drisheen, distinguished by her red hair and green eyes, assumes she’s the leader
of the group because she’s the oldest. She’s definitely the strongest physically, and
has a lot of close-range blast attacks.
● Gurma, a platinum blonde and something of a ditz. She’s happy to just go with the
flow most of the time. She is quick and effective at dodging, using her grace and
speed to get in close without taking damage.
● Morcilla, dark-haired and considers herself to be the brains of the trio. She’s
definitely the most calculating, and prefers long-range attacks to keep her distance
from her foes.
Individually they are fairly powerful, but it is as a trio they work the best. Though they might
argue with each other, they get along well enough to unleash devastating combo techniques
on their opponents. However, this does mean that if one of them falls, so does their
effectiveness.
Each of the Brides subsists entirely on the Baron’s power, meaning that as long as they
are around, his power is reduced slightly. While his reserves are plentiful, they enjoy the
same immortality as him, but should those reserves dwindle, or the Baron decides he needs
the full use of his power, the Brides will turn to dust immediately.
Castle Darkula
The castle itself is a vast and imposing structure with a confusing layout. There are many
passageways and halls, staircases (spiral and otherwise), and secret doors. It is remarkably
difficult to destroy, as it is linked to the Baron’s power, allowing it to withstand potent attacks,
and even rebuild itself when damaged. Blowing up parts of it will definitely get the attention
of the Baron and his lackeys.
In addition to the Baron, the Brides, and the skeleton minions, the castle houses a few
additional servants. Two such servants are Igor and Stein, a pair of squat, bug-eyed lab
assistants turned mad scientists. Their favourite subjects for experimentation are other
people, but they’ll happily settle for each other. Both of them are a patchwork of crude
stitching and mismatched body parts, all in the name of creating the ultimate being.
Neither are that competent when it comes to fighting, but they have a trick up their
oversized sleeves. The two of them can combine using a technique called Promethean
Fusion, creating the creature Igorstein. In this combined form, they are a gargantuan,
two-headed monstrosity with interchangeable limbs and a lab coat the size of a circus tent.
Though nowhere near as strong as the Baron or even the Brides, they are still quite a
formidable foe due to their rapid healing and oddball tactics.
Other servants should take cues from classic horror movie monsters as well, such as
werewolves, mummies, headless horsemen, and so on.
Mixing Things Up
Baron Darkula could be just another servant of the true villain, the castle itself, which
conjures up phantom warriors to defend itself when necessary.
It could be the Brides who are the true power behind the castle, and when the Baron is
defeated they engage in a triple fusion technique that sees all three of them combine into
the powerful Countess Sanguina.
Taking it Further
The Baron’s peculiar method of conquest, terror-forming the galaxy bit by bit, means that it’s
possible for the characters to see evidence of his passing before they ever encounter him.
Perhaps coming across a spooky planet of ghost warriors sends them on the trail of the
Baron, only to find he’s coming to Earth or another friendly world.
Being a space vampire, the classic cape-and-fangs kind, it’s more than possible for
Darkula to come back from the dead. Besides wishes on the Dragon Balls, there’s all sorts
of creepy rituals that could be enacted. Loyal servants who take what’s left of the castle and
imbue it with enough life energy to bring their dearly departed master back.
Even though he’s an aristocrat, Baron Darkula isn’t so conceited as to go it alone. He’d
see no problem with teaming up with another villain, as long as their goals were acceptably
in line with each other. Or at least just long enough to enact his revenge, before betraying
them — or being betrayed himself.
The Popinjays Saga
Cosmic Tier
Setting the Scene

The Dragon Balls need to have been used several times, possibly in ways that would get
rumours going through the galaxy. Something flashy, like creating a whole new planet, might
be a good start.
Beginning
Now everybody knows about the Dragon Balls — or at least, anybody who’s anybody, and
there’s nobody more anybody than the Popinjays. Who? Why, only the finest hedonists in
the galaxy, of course! They are dedicated to the pursuit of happiness at any cost, so long as
that cost is paid by someone else. They’ve decided the best way to fuel their decadent
lifestyle is with a never-ending cavalcade of wishes, so they’re heading straight for Earth to
make it their new home.
The Popinjays’ spaceship is an ostentatious golden work of art called the Xanadu, and
when it arrives at Earth they couldn’t give a care about anything but finding the Dragon
Balls. Attacks by a panicked military? Yawn! People showing up to rudely demand answers?
So tiresome! If you’re not bringing a silver platter piled high with confectionary, priceless art,
and volumes of poetry, do kindly step aside. Of course, all that’s going to change when they
set about turning Earth into their own personal playground at the expense of the current
inhabitants.
The Popinjays
There are six core members of the Popinjays, and each one of them dresses in the manner
of a fop: knee-length breeches, white stockings, dapper shoes, ruffled shirts and cropped
jackets. Yes, even the ladies. Think Pride & Prejudice or Oscar Wilde. They are all incredibly
overly-dramatic in both speech and action, and have their own individual colour schemes.
● Galanthus, in white, is a large, broad-shouldered man with a silver pompadour
hairstyle. He is easily fired up about things and will spout poetry when “inspired”. It
is almost always really bad and never rhymes. His moves have a cold and wintry
theme to them.
● Rosa, in red, is an elegant woman with jet black hair tied back with an extravagantly
large ribbon. She is one of the most eager to actually fight, next to Galanthus. She
detests getting dirty. Her moves have a fiery theme to them.
● Ficus, in green, is a stout and round fellow with a receding hairline and prominent
ears. He lives for the finest meals, made from the rarest ingredients, cooked in the
most unusual ways. He is never without a glass of wine in his hand. His moves have
a theme of redirection and illusion.
● Viola, in purple, is a sly-looking lady with a short, pixie haircut. She fancies herself a
connoisseur of art, but thinks she could do better if she tried. She will never try, it’s
too much work. Her moves have a paint-based theme to them, all splashes and
swipes of brilliant colour.
● Dianthus, in pink, is a waifish man with watery eyes and swept-back wavy hair. He
sighs a lot. He lounges around most of the time, draped over any piece of furniture
that’s mostly cushions, and complains about how dry the air is. Literally nothing will
ever make him happy. His moves have a sound-based theme.
● Narcissus, in yellow, is a tall and handsome man with long, untamed dark hair and
a brooding look. He is incredibly self-absorbed, vain, arrogant, and childish, much
more so than any of the others. That is why he is the leader of the group. His moves
have a cloud-based theme, alternating between light and airy, to heavy and
thundering.
Even though they are a pack of hedonists who act like buffoons at times, they are not
stupid. The Popinjays haven’t survived this long by being pushovers. Each of them is a
skilled fighter, and even if they are reluctant to resort to the dreaded physical activity, they’ll
protect themselves and their lifestyle viciously.
Xanadu
The Xanadu is a spacecraft made of gold and other precious metals, studded with millions
upon millions of gemstones. The interior is decorated in the finest silks, full of fine art, with
fountains and everything. It is a floating monument to their gargantuan egos, but it also
manages to be a rather good spaceship despite that. It’s fast and, more importantly, fully
armed with an array of deadly weapons.
The Popinjays are the only inhabitants, all their needs are met by automated systems and
robots which respond to their every whim. The robots resemble classical works of art, white
marble statues and busts that float around via alien hover-technology. They are ridiculously
inefficient, but they look splendid and that’s all the Popinjays care about.
Mixing Things Up
The Popinjays might have employed some rough-and-tumble types to secure the Dragon
Balls for them. They might be fighting against a rival villain who wants the Dragon Balls for
less frivolous reasons.
When the Popinjays are deprived of their hedonistic lifestyle, it is nothing less than the
greatest torture, and it transforms them into dark, angsty versions of themselves with greater
power and greater cruelty.
Taking it Further
The Popinjays are villains whose evil stems from disdain and selfishness, of treating the
lives of others as literally worthless compared to fleeting entertainment. It is only their
position of power that lets them treat the rest of the cosmos like dirt. Take that away and all
you are left with is six poetry enthusiasts with severe entitlement issues.
But being without their inherited/stolen fortunes to fund their lifestyle, either through death
or otherwise, isn’t necessarily the end of the Popinjays. Much like the idle rich of any given
era in time, they know the value of friends in high places. Rubbing shoulders with tyrants
and evil emperors is suspiciously like work, but worth it if it allows them to keep on with their
decadent ways.
What this means is that it’s not impossible for the Popinjays to return once defeated, even
if killed. Six highly skilled fighters who can inflict suffering and subjugation on an entire
population without actively trying to? That’s something a cruel dictator would happily pay for,
even if they had to bring them back from the dead. Do cybernetic appendages clash with
ruffled shirts?
Divine Tier Sagas
Here are some premade sagas that you can use when your characters are at the Divine tier of
play. However, you can always adapt them and scale them back to a lower tier.
The Phantom World Saga

Divine Tier
Setting the Scene

This saga is epic in scale and a great capstone for characters who have progressed all the
way to the end of their respective stories. One last battle against an enemy of unimaginable
scale, for the safety of the entire universe and beyond!
Beginning
Universes get erased sometimes. Written out of existence by the King of All, completely
eliminated… but how completely? Between the universes is the World of Void, an endless
expanse of nothing… but is it really nothing? In the desolate mists of oblivion there are
whispers, echoes, and the haunting screams of those who no longer exist.
Strange things have been happening in the universe. Planets and stars have been seen
that shouldn’t exist, like ghostly visions, fading in and out. The whole fabric of space quakes
and shudders, like something is trying to get in from the outside — and it is.
This threat is the Phantom World, a universe that should have been totally wiped away, but
has somehow managed to cling on in defiance of the King of All’s decision. Reduced to little
more than a shade of its former self, this entire world is trying to claw back, and it seeks to
replace your home universe. Best prepare, because that means the characters are going to
have to fight an entire universe for the sake of their entire universe.
The Phantom World

Once a universe, long since erased, the Phantom World is like a frozen echo. The exact last
moment of that doomed reality, somehow contained within the World of Void. Each star,
each planet, and each person, plant, and animal of the Phantom World are both there and
not-there. They are like a faded photograph, a single instant in time captured forever, the
original long since gone.
As the Phantom World tries to cross over into a living universe, it experiences time and
space again, allowing the residents — on all levels, from whole stars right down to the tiniest
microbes — to move and do things again. At first these incursions only last very briefly, mere
seconds or perhaps a minute at most, before the Phantom World is pushed away and
rejected. But each incursion causes the Phantom World to grow stronger, and push harder.
As they push in, the existing universe will be pushed out, sending it into the World of Void to
be lost forever.
The Ghosts of Forever

The Phantom World has a lot in common with the universe it is trying to replace. People and
planets seem eerily familiar, almost like they were once twinned or, more disturbingly, that
this dead universe was the “original” or the template for the one that exists now. Weird
versions of villains and heroes encountered in the past may reappear in ghostly forms, using
their immense power to drag more of the Phantom World into the universe around them.
Even so, ghosts can still be beaten, and when that happens they will return back to the
Phantom World. But in this state of nonexistence they cannot be hurt, meaning that if they
return again, they will come back with the full force of their power.
The only way to truly stop them is to end the threat of the Phantom World entirely, which
means ensuring that it loses its connection to reality and falls back into the World of Void,
hopefully to disappear forever.
The Yokaioshin
An eternity trapped as formless nothing has twisted the creator gods of the Phantom World,
turning them into the Phantom Gods, or yokaioshin. Because of their deep connection to
their universe, the erasure has hit them the hardest, transforming them mind, body, and
soul. They have little in common with the kais they once were, and now hunger for their
universe’s return, in the vain hope they might be restored to their original state.
As the Phantom World crosses over into the universe, they will begin to appear, and once
they have a foothold they will start using their corrupted powers to anchor themselves, and
also the Phantom World. Each of them will appear in Other World, and there are four of
them:
● Baicho, formerly West Kai. In his mutation he has gained a long tail and a feral
appearance, complete with claws. His ki is like white fire, and he breathes it out in
the form of a roaring flame, as well as wrapping it around himself until he glows.
● Juzaku, formerly South Kai. Her mutation has given her huge moth-like wings with
wild, colourful patterns on that shift and move constantly. Her ki is like crackling
electricity, arcing like lighting to leave a trail when she moves.
● Kenbu, formerly North Kai. His mutation has made him larger and stronger, with a
pair of snake-like appendages growing from his shoulders. He can use these
serpents like extra heads or even arms, picking things up with their mouths. His ki is
like black water, always flowing around him lazily like a tide, but crashing with
extreme power when he attacks.
● Seiru, formerly East Kai. In her mutation she has developed antler-like horns and
fangs. Her ki is like a sandstorm, surrounding her with a whirling cloak that glitters
blue-green like broken glass. When she attacks with it, it cuts like a thousand tiny
razors.
Initially separated, the four will endeavour to rejoin as a group, combining their abilities
with plenty of team-up attacks. If pressured, they will use their potara earrings to fuse
together, preferring Baicho/Juzaku and Kenbu/Seiru when possible. If pushed even further,
they will fuse again to create the Phantom Dragon, all four gods in one single form.
If they become the Phantom Dragon, they will have the twisted features of all four, taken to
extremes and combined. Their body becomes a shimmering gold, the serpents of Kenbu
fuse with Juzaku’s wings, and the beast-like appearances of Baicho and Seiru amplify to
become utterly monstrous.
As four-gods-in-one, their power is truly incredible, enough to drag the Phantom World out
from nothing and start overwriting the existing universe. Should they be engaged in battle,
however, it will distract their focus and keep the Phantom World at bay. Their defeat will
weaken the grip of the Phantom World enough for it to slip away completely, back into the
void, ensuring the safety of the universe.
Mixing Things Up
The Phantom World is a universe that the characters have visited in the past, which has
since been eliminated by the King of All. That connection is what is allowing it to invade.
The God of Destruction of the Phantom World is the true threat, and the way that the
existing universe will be destroyed. They have also been twisted and mutated by
non-existence, and so have become even stronger than any other God of Destruction in
history.
The Phantom World is the same universe from another timeline, with all the heroes and
villains as its ghostly inhabitants. The characters will have to fight against old enemies and
even their own doppelgangers to succeed.
Taking it Further
It’s tricky to go beyond having to fight a whole universe as well as its twisted gods, but not
outright impossible. Perhaps the Phantom World is not an anomaly and all erased universes
are out there somewhere as ghostly echoes, unseen and unheard. A whole Phantom
Multiverse could be trying to restore itself.
Perhaps the Phantom World could be aiming to topple, or even kill, the King of All. As the
one who erases universes, it only makes sense they’d be out for revenge. Plus what’s he
going to do, erase them? It’s at times like this that punching is the only real solution.
The Society Saga
Divine Tier
Setting the Scene

If everyone is dead, it might be a good time to start this saga, which focuses on Other World
and the divine bureaucracy. With so much at stake, it might be a way to bring the characters
back to life without the use of the Dragon Balls.
Beginning
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Mixing Things Up
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Taking it Further
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The Typhon Saga
Divine Tier
Setting the Scene

Characters should be used to fighting Divine tier enemies before they take on this very
tough villain, whose particular set of abilities mean that planetary destruction is a certainty.
Some dealings with Other World would help, as this saga is all about the failures of the
divine bureaucracy.
Beginning
Gods of Destruction are not born divine. They are chosen from among the strongest mortals,
uplifted to take the position that balances the creator gods. It is a difficult task that can weigh
heavily on the mind, to knowingly bring about the end of entire worlds or star systems, so
that new things may grow in their place. But then again, there are those who hunger for the
power that the position brings.
Many millions of years ago, one of the candidates for the new God of Destruction was
Typhon. The god at the time had seen promise in him, delegating smaller tasks to him,
testing his powers. But the sacred duty was worth nothing to Typhon, who had plans to live a
life of untold luxury by extorting the planets meant for destruction, and selling his services to
the highest bidder. When he was found out, he was sent to the Demon Realm, as with all
other traitors and criminals to the divine bureaucracy.
But he has thrived in the Demon Realm, attaining greater power, and becoming one of the
most powerful entites there. No longer driven by greed, he has become consumed by
revenge, looking to become the first Demon God of Destruction. If he attains this lofty goal,
all of the divine bureaucracy, and the whole universe with them, will be in danger.
Typhon
Even though he is millions of years old, Typhon has been spared from the ravages of time
by his cunning and manipulative ways. Though he was never officially made a god, he has
managed to gain power and immortality within the Demon Realm, with help from the other
inmates.
His time spent in the Demon Realm has turned him into a Demon, with pale blue skin,
large pointed ears, and jet black hair that he wears in a topknot. He wears clothes that
imitate the God of Destruction style, but with slight differences as he recreated them from
memory. He may pretend to be a legitimate God of Destruction, if disguising who he is would
suit his needs.
Even though he has attained the level of Demon God by absorbing so much power over
his unnaturally long life, he still craves more, the raw destructive power to rival a true God of
Destruction, able to eliminate an entire planet with a single finger. Moreover, he wants to see
the divine bureaucracy burn, and for the present God of Destruction (who may even be his
former mentor) to burn with it.
Base Form
Typhon first appears in his base form, which despite the name is still that of a Demon God,
so he is brimming with power. He is easily a Divine tier opponent in this form, but his hunger
for the powers of destruction spur him on to greater heights.
His goals are to destroy the entire divine bureaucracy, to eliminate the present God of
Destruction, and to assume complete and total control over the universe as its sole authority.
The residents of the Demon Realm will become the new divine bureaucracy beneath him,
and bring with them all the corruption and evil that got them exiled in the first place.
In order for him to attain the level he so desires, Typhon seeks to imbue himself with
stolen divine energy, until he can transcend his current level. To do this he will raid Other
World, siphoning off the powers of everyone there, from the lowliest pencil-pusher to the
Supreme Kai himself. Once he has enough, he will transform into his next form, his
ascendant form.
Millions of years of intense practice fuelled by his burning desire for vengeance have let
Typhon master powerful techniques. Use some of the following attack ideas, or come up
with your own:
● Chimera Rush, a fast-paced series of punches and palm strikes that have
devastating force behind each of them. Not only damaging, it also pushes back his
opponent unless they block it perfectly.
● Hydra Wave, a charge-up attack that unleashes a barrage of energy waves that
Typhon can redirect mid-flight towards one or multiple targets. A useful counter
against multiple beam attacks heading towards him.
● Volcanic Rise, Typhon’s ki erupts like a raging volcano, hot enough to burn
anything it touches. He frequently uses this technique before using a ranged one, to
put distance between him and his enemy.
Ascendant Form
Once Typhon has gained the level of Demon God of Destruction, his form changes to that of
his ascendant form. He gains divine ki, meaning he cannot be sensed accurately except by
those who also possess it. His skin darkens to purple, and his clothes darken even further,
becoming utterly black.
In this form he is much stronger and faster than previously. He can access energy of
destruction now, the particular form of divine ki that allows Gods of Destruction to eliminate
anything without trace. However, while he is still getting used to the form, he will avoid using
it unless necessary, afraid it will drain him and leave him vulnerable before he can
accomplish his goals.
Should he engage in combat with others on his level, the sheer energy unleashed by their
clashing blows will threaten the stability of the universe. In order to take him down safely, it
might be wise for the characters to attempt to relocate him to a location outside the universe.
With his powers amplified, his techniques have advanced. Use some of the following
attack ideas, or come up with your own:
● Gigantes Gun, Typhon draws a circle of ki in front of him, and then places his hand
through it, making it fire a colossal beam straight forward. He can draw multiple
circles and leave them hanging in the air, only activating them when he wishes, but
he cannot move without breaking them.
● Howling Legion, a powerful area attack that creates a ki-infused cyclone around
Typhon, scattering everything around him far away. He can direct it with the
movement of his hands, letting him focus it on a single target.
● Serpent’s Fang, Typhon creates a pair of curved ki blades, like daggers, that he
uses to attack. They leave shimmering trails of energy behind them, and if he
charges up those trails become dangerous.
The Demons
Typhon’s underlings are some of the worst of the worst of the Demon Realm’s exiles.
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Mixing Things Up
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Taking it Further
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Timelines
Part of playing Dragon Ball Parallels is settling on an alternate timeline to inhabit. It could simply
be one not too far removed from the one we all know, but there can be a lot of fun in “what if”
scenarios where things didn’t go as we remember them. Many of these alternate timelines hinge
on a particular event going a different way. If you don’t like the look of any of the ones here, feel
free to come up with your own!
Quick Timeline Ideas

Short prompts for alternate paths that the canon Dragon Ball timeline could have gone down:
● Vegeta, Goku, and Freeza all die on Namek — for good, as the Namekian Dragon
Balls go with them. Earth’s heroes are left to pick up the pieces and train a new
generation of fighters.
● During the three years of preparation before the arrival of the androids, Goku and
friends recruited more martial artists to help protect the planet.
● Earth doesn’t get a new Guardian during the Cell Games, and even though the forces
of good eventually triumph over the evil android, those that died cannot be brought
back. The remaining heroes of Earth recruit new students in the years of peace that
follow.
Capsulepunk Future
Doctor Briefs invented capsule technology, allowing anything and everything to be stored in a
pill-shaped device that could fit in your hand. In other timelines, he created the Capsule
Corporation, making him the richest man on the planet as he let his technological breakthrough
improve life for everyone around the world. In this timeline, something else happened.
Maybe it was a wish made on the Dragon Balls, or maybe it was good old-fashioned capitalist
scheming, but the rights and the patent for the capsule technology do not belong to Doctor
Briefs. Instead they belong to Mr. Schwindler, grand CEO of Capsule Corporation, whose heart
is as impure and selfish as possible. The world has become a dystopia of endless urban decay,
where the poor have nothing and the rich have everything. It is a world worth fighting against, by
any means necessary.
Important Notes
● Profit and greed are what motivates the Schwindler-run Capsule Corporation. Even
people are considered exploitable resources, to be used up and thrown away when no
longer useful.
● As the cities spread out and merge together, bulldozing and paving over the wilderness
in the process, the rich build ever-higher towers to keep them away from the poor and
the pollution. The richest live well above the clouds, unable to see the misery they
cause.
● Capsule Corporation values strong fighters — as muscle to beat down and intimidate
those who would defy corporate rule. Many of these fighters are “upgraded” with the
finest in android technology, or mutated through unnecessary and dangerous
procedures.
● Though the poor citizens are beaten and exploited in this world, they are afraid of what a
revolution would mean. Many cling to the futile hope that perhaps one day, they’ll be part
of the rich elite, and that will make it all worth it.
Saga Ideas
● Capsule Corporation is making a deal with an alien tyrant: capsule technology in
exchange for advanced weapons tech. Such a trade would cause suffering across the
galaxy. The shipment must be hijacked or destroyed to ensure the safety of the cosmos,
and severe damage to Capsule Corp’s bottom line.
● There’s a tournament coming up in a few days, violence for the entertainment of the
wealthy, at the expense of the poor. The whole thing has been rigged, so there’s no
chance of anyone actually winning the prize money… or is there?
● The unchecked expansion of the city is threatening some of the last sanctuaries for
wildlife left on the planet, but the guardians of these endangered creatures are being
assaulted by Capsule Corp forces.
The Demon Wizard War
Goku was never sent to Earth, and so when the Demon King Piccolo was revived, there was
nobody who could stop him. Under the Demon King’s malevolent reign, all crime was made
legal with one exception: the practice of martial arts was punishable by death. Those who dared
to defy this proclamation went underground, practicing in secret in the hopes of one day gaining
the strength necessary to defeat the tyrant.
Twenty-one years after Piccolo ascended to the throne, the wizard Babidi came to Earth
seeking the ancient destroyer known as Majin Buu. Not taking kindly to this intrusion, Piccolo
and his demon army locked horns with the alien interloper, starting a planet-wide battle for
supremacy. Piccolo forced a fusion with Kami to become stronger, otherwise no match for
Babidi’s better henchmen. The two of them remain feuding endlessly over the unawakened
Majin Buu, while the rest of Earth struggles to survive their rage.
Important Notes
● The Dragon Balls of Earth are no more. Piccolo destroyed Shenron and then forced a
fusion with Kami, rendering them useless twice over.
● The Red Ribbon Army has been at the forefront of the resistance against the tyrant
Piccolo. Over the years their soldiers and androids have helped to stem the Demon
King’s wrath, but their numbers have waned greatly.
● Babidi has spent years gathering up the strongest fighters the universe has to offer,
looking for the darkness in their hearts. Those unfit to serve him due to their good
natures may have heard about the plight of Earth.
● Many of the greatest martial artists of Earth are now in Other World, helping to train
others. Most of them would do anything to save their home planet.
Saga Ideas
● Babidi is interested in using another planet’s set of Dragon Balls to give him an
advantage, and has dispatched his strongest warriors to bring them to him, as he
refuses to leave the planet while his hated rival still draws breath.
● King Piccolo has birthed his latest demon son, the most powerful yet: Horn. Creating
such a terrifyingly powerful offspring has severely weakened Piccolo, leaving him
vulnerable to attack. There may never be a better time to destroy the demon king… but
Horn’s first task is to remain by his father’s side and protect him from harm.
● The Tournament of Evil is being held, an attempt by Babidi to find strong fighters to join
his army. Some of Earth’s freedom fighters have snuck in, having disguised themselves,
and hope to cripple the wizard’s recruitment drive.
Planet Diablo
The Dragon Balls can grant any wish, no matter how stupid, so when one particular idiot wished
that the entire planet Earth would become like the Diablo Desert, that’s what happened. Every
forest, jungle, meadow, and ocean disappeared in the blink of an eye, replaced by endless sand
and rock, with the occasional giant mushroom. Civilisation collapsed overnight in riots and
panic. Now, over a hundred years later, things are still terrible.
Apart from the rare oasis, water is practically nonexistent and is one of the de facto currencies
of the world, along with gasoline and bullets. Hovercars and other such things are the stuff of
legends now, after the fall of civilisation. New kingdoms, little more than bandit encampments
with delusions of grandeur, have arisen in the wasteland.
Important Notes
● What’s left of Earthling civilisation clusters around whatever oasis they can find, guarding
their precious water supply with whatever strength they can muster. Roving bandits are a
threat, but so are sandstorms and other natural disasters.
● Most technology has been lost or abandoned in this desert world. Finding long-forgotten
Capsule Corp factories buried underneath the sands can be a goldmine of priceless
treasures, perhaps even a working Dragon Radar.
● Nobody knows which Dragon Balls granted this wish. If it was one of the more powerful
eternal dragons, then Earth’s Dragon Balls might not be strong enough to undo it
completely.
● The harsh new world has upset the balance between life and death, causing minor
chaos in the afterlife. Some venture out into the desert to die, only to find themselves
returning as something new, and more powerful.
Saga Ideas
● The Guardian’s Lookout has fallen to earth, now just another ruined temple in the
endless sand. But something evil held captive within its depths for untold centuries has
been freed.
● Who rules Muscle Tower? Immortan Gero rules Muscle Tower, and the colossal water
source deep below it. Gero is a tyrant that must be stopped, but his small army of War
Androids will die for their master before they see him harmed.
● Lizard-like aliens, who find a burning desert planet to be quite alluring, have contacted
the Planetary Trade Organisation with a request for sale. With this much money on the
line, the PTO’s finest squad of exterminators have been dispatched promptly, to erase
the native population, what little of it there is, and render the world fit for its new owners.
The Shattered Universe
Millions of years ago, the wizard Bibidi unleashed Majin Buu upon an unsuspecting universe,
only he was never sealed away. Both the Living World and Other World were devastated, with
the God of Destruction erased in his slumber when the last Supreme Kai was slain. It only
ended when Buu, finding himself alone in a desolate area of space, destroyed himself in a
temper tantrum. Though the great destroyer was no more, the effects of his centuries-long
rampage were permanent.
The present-day universe lacks a lot in terms of solid planets. Instead, the broken remnants of
ancient worlds have become archipelagos, chains of asteroids sharing an atmosphere. Getting
from one asteroid to another in a chain is easy, so long as you have a jet or can fly. But going
between archipelagos requires space travel, a rarer technology in this shattered universe.
Because of this, the threat of galactic tyrants is great, and so the need for heroes to defy them is
just as great.
Important Notes
● When Buu destroyed himself, tiny particles of his being wound up scattered across the
universe. Some of these particles may have grown into full Majin, unaware of their past
as part of the great destroyer.
● Much of Other World was also destroyed during Buu’s rampage, throwing things out of
balance. The Sacred World of the Kais was not just shattered, but scattered to the
furthest reaches of the universe as well.
● The divine bureaucracy is much less powerful, with far less control over what goes on.
There are no Supreme Kais anymore, and the God of Destruction went with them.
However, it is still possible for a kai to ascend to that level, even though none have so
far.
● Since people live on world fragments, rather than full planets, training at higher gravity is
difficult but a sure-fire way to get stronger.
Saga Ideas
● A vicious armada of flying saucers is plundering entire archipelagos, stealing the best
asteroids in a plan to weld them all together and make a new planet. Such a world would
be the perfect staging ground for their eventual conquest of the cosmos.
● With the divine bureaucracy stretched thinly over what remains of the universe, the
residents of the Demon Realm have been making their plans to take over. They plan to
conquer the Sacred World of the Kais, uninhabited for millions of years, and establish a
new order.
● Bibidi’s vast library of magic spells has been uncovered, and the one who discovered it
believes that they can become all-powerful now. But are they controlling the library, or is
the library controlling them?
The Spirit Tree
The Tree of Might is a divine being, and when a seed found its way to Earth, it took root and
took over. But the world was not destroyed, merely transformed. What once was a planet is now
the host for a single, solitary tree whose canopy reaches above the atmosphere. The continents
of the past have been overrun, and now the people of Earth live within the tree itself. New cities
have been built, some even carved into the colossal branches.
Now the world that once was is a distant memory, and only the Tree remains. Once thought to
only destroy, now it brings life, nurturing the ecosystem that lives on it and around it. It has taken
a lot of getting use to, but now the people of Earth have become the people of the Tree, and
consider it their home.
Important Notes
● The Tree manipulates its own gravity, to support itself and keep it intact. Down at the
deepest roots, gravity is much stronger, and many fighters go there to train. There is also
good training to be had at the top of the tree, where the atmosphere is so thin you can
barely breathe.
● The Spirit Tree nurtures and attracts life, including alien life. A number of strange
creatures have been attracted across the void to settle within its canopy, including those
seeking peace and tranquility.
● The Spirit Tree still grows fruit, fit for the gods and able to infuse anyone who consumes
it with great power. But the fruit is exceptionally rare and hard to locate amongst the vast
maze of branches.
● Due to the Tree’s celestial origins, the kais and other members of the divine bureaucracy
have taken a keen interest in it, and seek to protect it from those who would harm it — or
would use it to do harm.
Saga Ideas
● Evil warriors from the Demon Realm have come seeking a seed of the Spirit Tree, to
grow their own twisted version within their nightmare world. Once they have a seed, they
will attempt to ensure their total victory by destroying the Tree entirely.
● During the Tree’s early growth, many sacred sites and hidden temples were disrupted
and destroyed by the spreading roots. Any that were containing evil, holding it back from
escaping, may have failed in that task.
● A swarm of alien beetles from the depths of space have arrived to feast upon the Spirit
Tree, tearing it down from the inside out to create a new hive. Their queen does not care
for those who already inhabit the tree, and will direct her strongest beetle warriors to
strike them down if they dare to interfere.
Universe 13
Time is constantly getting fractured, from miniature pockets of never-was and what-if, all the
way to full-blown echoes of the entire multiverse. Renegade gods and careless mortals have
disrupted and outright wrecked what ought to be the tranquil flow of causality, leaving things in a
dire state. The divine bureaucracy has taken action.
There can be no more apt metaphor than to say all these problems have been swept up and
deposited in a dumpster out back. That dumpster’s name is Universe 13, affectionately referred
to as “Old Lucky” by its branch of the divine bureaucracy, which is overstaffed to the extreme.
Every possibility has been folded up and collapsed together, with no regards for continuity or the
sanity of the residents. At last count, there were at least eighteen individual Gokus running
around, and it just gets worse from there.
Important Notes
● Every alternate timeline has been combined, meaning things did and did not happen, or
happened in multiple different ways. The population has learned to deal with this by
shrugging and giving up on fanciful notions such as “history” or “current events”.
● Multiple versions of the same planet exist, but are scattered across the universe to avoid
orbital traffic jams and awkward collisions. Somehow there is a solar system with both
Namek and New Namek.
● People and events who should not have existed at the same time have done so. Heroes
and villains alike have teamed up with, or fought, alternate versions of themselves on a
regular basis.
● The divine bureaucracy is even more bureaucratic and inefficient than usual, since there
are multiple versions of every position of authority. The kais have been squabbling over
jurisdiction and zoning rights ever since the universe was created.
Saga Ideas
● Multiple versions of Imperfect Cell are fighting with each other over the right to attain
perfection, due to them outnumbering the necessary androids. Some of them have
begun to wonder what would happen if they absorbed each other instead.
● Thanks to the timeline-combining process, Earth has regained the moon at the worst
possible time. Half a dozen Oozaru have begun to rampage across the world, destroying
cities and levelling the landscape. Are they mindless, or are they plotting something?
● Several of the most wicked villains ever to grace the universe are formulating a prison
break plan, to bust their alternate-and-dead selves out from an overcrowded HFIL. With
the divine bureaucracy tangled up in red tape, they might just pull it off.

Dragon Ball Parallels

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Dragon Ball Parallels

Written and Designed by Jonathan Reeves

Investigate the Area

A Map of the Cosmos

Groups and Factions

How to “Fail Forward”

Setting Up Your First Session

Planning Your Saga

Global Tier Sagas

The Doll Saga

The Sprout Saga

The Time Patrol Saga

The Vandalu Saga

Cosmic Tier Sagas

The Darkula Saga

The Popinjays Saga

Divine Tier Sagas

Quick Timeline Ideas

The Demon Wizard War

The Shattered Universe

The Spirit Tree

▶ Several copies of the basic and special moves.

Strike Stamina Energy Insight Temper

☐ Weak -1 ☐ Tired -1 ☐ Drained -1 ☐ Puzzled -1 ☐ Unhinged -1

Android 9, an android who seeks to achieve spiritual enlightenment

Tato: They’ll have to go through me to get to you, buddy.

Narrator: So you’re rolling +Temper for that, right?

Narrator: Roll +Strike and see where that gets you.

Narrator: What’s your dive kick going to do, then?

Tato: Yeah, I know. Knock ‘em dead, Matcha.

Matcha: Awesome! Although this will probably end up killing me as well…

Narrator: That sounds like threats to me. Roll +Temper.

Narrator: That’s correct.

Matcha: All right, cool. Is it obvious what happened here?

Matcha: Last question… what looks useful, valuable, or unique?

Narrator: Roll +Stamina.

Narrator: You’re sensing ki?

Narrator: Correct. It’s a +Insight roll.

Yao: I’m tapped… I can’t match that.

Aircon: Oof, and me at maximum damage… looks like I’m a goner.

Android 23: Guys, I’m blowin’ myself up.

Tato: Could you not, though?

Android 23: Hah! Eat it, wizard!

Infinite Energy Drive

This Isn’t Even My Final Form!

Hazardous Working Environment

Behold, My Final Form!

How Dare You!

Thought You Were Rid of Me?

What Marvellous Fireworks!

You’ve Forgotten Your Place!

I’ve Got Your Back!

Give It Your All!

My Best Friend! NOOO!

I’m King of the Worlds!

Creation, Not Destruction

Home Sweet Home

Who’s the Boss

Super Malleable Blobber

Appetite for Destruction