How to Play the Browser-Based Dragon Ball Z RPG

The Basics

Planet Mado is a Dragon Ball Z–themed browser RPG that you play entirely on this website. Once you sign up and your character is created, log in and open your character page. This is your home base: it shows your character’s stats, your inventory, the moves and abilities you know, and the live map you move around on.

From your character page you can train, explore, talk to the people you meet, take on quests, and fight — all in real time. Everything that affects your character (training gains, healing, combat, quests) is tracked automatically by the site. Larger storylines, world events, and special rulings are still guided by the game’s referees (GMs) behind the scenes.

How to Play

If you’ve played other text-based DBZ games, this one works differently. You are responsible for only your own character. You don’t narrate the world or decide what you find — you interact with a world that already exists. Think of it like a video game or a game of Dungeons & Dragons with a Dragon Ball Z theme: very open, lots of freedom, but you play your character and the game (and its refs) handle everything else.

You move your character one tile at a time across the map. As you explore, you’ll discover towns, shops, masters who can teach you techniques, other players, enemies, and quest-givers. Walk up to someone and you can talk to them, fight them, or — if they have work for you — accept a quest.

Your Character & Powerlevel

Your character’s core stat is Powerlevel (PL) — strength, stamina, ki, and endurance all rolled into one number. It determines how much damage you deal, how likely you are to dodge, and how much punishment you can take.

You actually have two powerlevel values:

• Base Powerlevel — your maximum; the true measure of how strong you are.
• Current Powerlevel — the powerlevel you’re walking around with right now. It drops when you take damage and recovers over time (or with healing items).

Every way of getting stronger comes with a trade-off, so choose how you build your character wisely.

Getting Stronger

Self-Training

The most basic option, available to every race except Absorb Androids. Self-training is fully automated — just use the train action on your character page. You can self-train up to 4 times every 24 hours. It’s the best way to grow when you’re starting out, but the gains shrink relative to your size as you get stronger, so eventually you’ll rely more on other methods.

Sparring

Find another player who agrees to spar with you. Each spar, you gain (or lose) 1% of your base powerlevel. Sparring is weak early on but becomes more valuable as you grow, right when self-training starts to slow down. You can spar up to 3 times a day.

Meditating (Namekians)

Namekians can meditate — one of the safest ways to grow, because it adds to both your base and current powerlevel. Gains shrink as you get stronger. Namekians may meditate up to 3 times a day.

Training Under a Master

Every race except Absorb Androids can train under an NPC master they find on the map. Each session grants 2% of your base powerlevel — but only while you’re weaker than that master. Once you surpass them, they have nothing left to teach you. Up to 3 times a day.

Fighting

Winning fights makes you stronger. There’s no daily limit on fights. When you win, you gain a share of the loser’s powerlevel (with bonuses for certain races). For Absorb Androids, fighting is the only way to grow — they absorb 60% of a defeated opponent’s power.

Races

Your race shapes your starting power, how many moves you can learn, and your special abilities. A few highlights:

Moves & Abilities

Attacks and abilities are learned from NPC masters you find on the map. Talk to a master to learn what they can teach. Players can also teach moves they know to one another (some moves have race, alignment, or story requirements). Learning or teaching a move takes one in-game day, and each race can only hold a limited number of moves — so build your kit with purpose. You can see everything you know in the moves/abilities section of your character page.

Exploring the World

You start out weak with a small toolkit, so the best first move is to explore. Walk the map tile by tile — most starting areas are a town or city full of things to do. You’ll find shops to buy and sell at, masters to learn from, NPCs to talk to, and quests to complete. Some buildings just hold townsfolk; others hold someone with a job that pays a reward.

Traveling:

• Walking moves you around the current area.
• Flying (if you know Fly or Hikou) reaches known destinations faster.
• Spaceships carry you between planets. A few races can even travel space without a ship.

NPCs & Quests

The people you meet aren’t just scenery — you can talk to them, and they’ll respond in character based on who they are and what’s happening around them. Quest-givers are marked on the map, and you accept and turn in quests right there in the conversation. Quests might ask you to gather items, defeat certain enemies, or reach a location, and they reward you with items, money, power, new moves, and more.

Fighting

You can challenge almost anyone you meet — but be careful: guards don’t take kindly to fighting, and picking the wrong opponent can get you killed.

Combat is turn-based and plays out in a fight window. Each round you take a turn attacking, your opponent defends, then they attack and you defend. When it’s your turn, you choose your action:

• Pick any move from the dropdowns, or use the quick buttons for your highest-damage physical attack and highest-damage ki attack.
• Swing equipped weapons — and if you’re a Human wielding two swords, you strike with both.
• Charge a big energy blast over several turns, transform if you’re able, or Ki Channel (if you know it) to surge to full power for a few turns.
• When defending, choose to dodge, block, counter, or take the hit.

Everything is decided by your stats and your choices — the stronger fighter isn’t guaranteed to win if they play carelessly. A few things to know:

• Martial arts stances (Karate, Aikido, Kenjutsu, and more) grant combat bonuses; you can set one before a fight or switch mid-fight.
• Running: You can try to flee on your attack turn with the Run! button. Success depends on your power versus your strongest opponent’s — and even if you escape, opponents keep any power they earned from damage they dealt.
• Turn timer: Fights are asynchronous — you have 6 hours to act each turn (the clock resets whenever you act). Go idle and your turn simply passes; you won’t auto-lose, but ignoring a fight can still get you killed by accumulated damage.

Alignment

Your character sits somewhere on an alignment scale from −10 (evil) to +10 (good). Your actions move it — for example, slaying a truly evil NPC pushes you toward good, while killing a good one pushes you toward evil, and some abilities require a certain alignment to learn or use.

Healing, Death & Coming Back

Your current powerlevel recovers over time. If you go long enough without training, sparring, or fighting, you’ll fully heal — Saiyans recover fastest. Sensu Beans restore you instantly (and are very rare), and various food items heal you partially.

If your character dies, you go to The Next Dimension, where you can stay for up to a week. From there you can be wished back with no penalty, or return on your own at reduced power. Each death carries a stacking penalty to your maximum power, so staying alive matters.

The legendary Dragon Balls are out there too — gather all seven of a set and the holder can make a wish, including bringing the dead back to life.

Tips for New Players

Learn moves that fit your race and playstyle, since your move slots are limited.

Explore your starting area thoroughly before wandering off — shops, masters, and quests are usually close by.

Self-train early and often; it’s your best growth while you’re weak.

Talk to NPCs — they point you toward quests, training, and story.

Don’t pick fights you can’t win, and steer clear of guards until you’re ready.