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FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
SETTING:
What is the setting like?
Characters find themselves waking up in a room with three other people, two bunk beds to split between them, within a tower that never seems to have an end. There is a point where characters will reach what seems to be the top floor, only to find that the tower itself continues onward, the spiral stair case they followed to get there winding up and up and up in the empty space above them. Sometimes, after a significant event happens, a new floor will suddenly appear...maybe one day you'll be able to actually reach the top? Rumor has it someone called "The Admin" lives up there, so it must exist...right?
And maybe your exit out of this tower is up there, because beyond that there doesn't seem to be a way out. There's the bottom floor, but its doors can't be opened, and even if they could...one look out of one of the tower's many windows will show you that the tower is surrounded by a wide lake of lava, making escape impossible.
Equally concerning - or possibly just equally curious - as their new surroundings and lack of escape is the palm-sized gem now embedded in the middle of their chest. It's quite noticeable, as everyone wakes up in the same white t-shirt and shorts that makes it easy to see. And no two gems are exactly the same between person to person though there is one single trait that seems to remain similar throughout them all - every gem represents one of six main colours. These gems have become the characters' "hearts", slowly replacing their blood with mana until that's all that "pumps" through their veins, the color of their gem dying the color of their mana - their "new blood". And with that mana comes magic; Magic that grants them powers but also a monstrous new form.
Once the mana has completely replaced their blood - one month after they woke up within the tower - the magic activates and so, too, does their gruesome transformation.
There is, however, a way keep this transformation at bay; Physical touch between characters causes some sort of reaction, the gems of those involved glowing bright and the characters finding themselves remaining human for a little bit longer or even becoming human once again. And this might just be the only comfort you'll find while trapped here.
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The Top is a monster transformation game that is horror centric while also featuring affection, intimacy and smut elements. The game is aimed at being medium paced with events that are gruesome, mentally torturous, and a little bit sexy on the side with some crack-esque events added very occasionally to help break up the trauma. There will be an endgame after which the game will be opened up fully to the public to be used as a musebox or those who want to continue enjoying the setting.
My character is already a monster!
Every non-human character is humanized upon waking up in The Top. It's up to players how they look as a human, but this way everyone has an equal baseline before they begin transforming. The Admin prefers clean experiments.
My character already has powers! Will they get to keep them?
Unfortunately, everyone is stripped of everything super-natural about them, right down to eyes that glow. Characters can keep human-level abilities that they've trained in - up to the Olympic level at most - but anything that exceeds that and/or leans into the super-human will be lowered to a normal human level (characters such as One Punch Man's Saitama, for example, he'll find his punch to be more of a professional boxer now). Extra limbs, eyes, etc are also lost, though sharp teeth and/or fangs may stay.
My character has an illness/missing limb/scar/is dead in canon!
As mentioned before, the Admin likes having clean, even starts for his experiments. He will heal all illnesses and injuries and missing limbs will suddenly be grown back or replaced with a plastic prosthetic that looks like a part of a mannequin.
Scars may be healed or kept, it is up to you. As with things such as blindness, deafness, muteness, etc. You may choose to keep or heal those.
Characters who are dead are in a new, fresh body!
What is technology like? How about the Network?
Technology is rather basic, nothing really more advanced than the lightbulb to be found in the tower, and anything that should run off electricity running on magic instead.
There is a network within the tower, however, and works like this: Each character is given a handheld mirror (of any color you'd like) and using this mirror they are able to see messages left by other characters and interact with them in real time. They can post and respond using video by looking directly into the mirror as they talk, voice by simply speaking to the mirror, or text by writing on the mirror's surface using any means; Marker, lipstick, or just breathing on it and writing in the fog will do.
What if my character loses/breaks their hand mirror?
Luckily any mirror within the tower can act as a network device! You can't use a broken mirror to talk to others across the network, so if a character breaks their mirror they might be stuck in a bathroom screaming at the mirrors in there temporarily until it's fixed. Characters can bring their broken mirrors to the Workshop to have them repaired.
A lost hand mirror, however, is lost forever. Characters who are careless and lose their mirror completely will have to rely on the other mirrors in the tower indefinitely and hope that their mirror is found and returned.
How do our characters understand each other if they speak different languages?
As soon as your character wakes up in The Top, they will magically know a new language that is spoken universally within the tower, though will still retain and be able to speak their previous known language(s) as well. Characters can speak these languages as naturally as they could before, so Japanese characters can still use honorifics and characters who purposefully used foreign languages in the middle of their sentences can continue doing so 'til their heart's content (such as stereotypical lover boys and their gratuitous use of French).
You mentioned a workshop? What does the inside of the tower look like?
Smack dab in the middle of the tower is a giant, spiral staircase connecting every floor. It starts on the bottom floor and goes on and on and on...even when there are no more floors to explore.
The bottom floors are the dorms where characters live and the floor above that is the mess hall, spanning the entire floor to ensure there's enough room and then some for characters to sit and eat. Above the mess hall are the working floors which is where the Workshop and similar rooms are located. The workshop is a room where an old man who refuses to give his name will repair various items for the tower. Anything the students bring in, he'll fix.
For a more indepth look at the tower and locations, see this page.
GAME MECHANICS:
What are Events like?
The Admin loves his experiments, both the characters he refers to as such and the random ones he puts those characters through for the hell of it. And random really does mean random. Events in The Top don't happen on a schedule. Meaning they aren't planned to happen every month, every other month, etc, though this isn't to say that they can't happen that way. When an event is going to be run, it will be announced two weeks before the event log will be posted. This helps makes things more unpredictable ICly for characters.
Parties/weddings/etc are "events" that do not need mod permission to be thrown!
How long will the game last?
The game is set to open its first Application round on September 21st, 2024 with the game officially opening on October 1st. There isn't a set endgame date yet, but it will likely last between one and three years long.
Who can I app?
You can app any character from any series as long as there is enough canon for them. If an application ends up being 50% or more headcanon, that character won't be acceptable.
Non-human characters will be humanized upon arrival thanks to their gem.
Extreme heights; Any very tiny characters or very large characters will also have their heights adjusted appropriately (so girls the size of a thumb or 2' tall dragons will be more around 4' at the smallest and ginormous robots and mechas will be about 7' at the tallest).
CRAUs are allowed! If the character has a monster form from a previous game, they will lose that form and the associated powers. However you will have the option to choose the closest monster type within The Top in your application rather than being assigned something new if you'd like.
OCs and silent protagonists (such as Light Bearers from Final Fantasy) are both allowed. Canon OCs will be allowed as long as they have absolutely no relation to canon characters whatsoever. For example: You can make a BNHA OC who is a student of UA that knows of All Might, but they can't have actually met him before. If you have any questions, feel free to message me about it.
New Series/Chapters; If your character is coming from a new series, you must wait one month from when it was released before apping that character. Similarly, you must wait one month from when a new chapter for a series is released before apping a character from that canon point.
!Age Limits and Physical Intimacy!
There is an age limit of 14 at the youngest with no cap for the eldest, and this counts for physical bodies as well. Characters who are hundreds of years old inhabiting a ten year old's body are not allowed. Characters who are an adult possessing a child's body are also not allowed.
There is a hard age limit of 16, physically AND mentally, for sexual intimacy or smut. If your character is a day away from 16, if your character is 50 years old mentally but 15 physically, if your character is 50 years old physically but 15 mentally - these characters and any others with similar circumstances cannot participate in sexual intimacy, smut threads, or smut elements within events.
The physical touch aspect of this game is extremely broad. It can be as little as hand holding, as violent as fist fighting, as friendly as hair ruffling, or as intimate as sex. All forms of physical contact have equal effect and can be between any sort of relationship; friends, family, lovers, rivals, etc. This will be covered more in depth later in the FAQ, but the main purpose of this is to point out that characters can be under 16 and still fully participate in this game.
How does AC work?
AC is check in every month, on a permanent AC page. All comments can be saved and used for regains instead of being needed for main AC.
However, just because the AC will be lax doesn't mean I will allow people to squat. There is a player report page where you can report players for inappropriate behaviour and that includes squatting. All comments will be screened with anonymous comments disabled to avoid potential abuse of the system.
The purpose of this page is 1) to give players a place to report someone who is making them uncomfortable in any way, shape or form.
And 2) to help keep each other accountable and discourage players from squatting when incentive to tag like regains isn't enough (such as those who don't really want to play in the game anymore but don't want to drop because of their CR or the like).
When to report, how, limits on reporting, what happens after, and more in-depth information can be found on the page itself.
How does the TDM work? Is it game canon?
TDM threads are not game canon. The TDM will be the same prompts every single time it's posted so more focus can be put towards the events themselves. There will be a fun orientation for every app round, which is different from the events, so it wouldn't make sense to keep it canon.
How do Drops, Hiatuses, and Canon Updates work?
You may file for any of these, any time you'd like. When you drop, go on hiatus, or update your character's canon point, they will disappear suddenly. If dropped they won't return until reapped, when on hiatus they're gone for your hiatus period, and when updated they're gone for three days.
Upon returning, your character will suffer from a temporary bout of amnesia that can last one hour or up to two days. When you drop, you may choose to reset your character entirely upon re-applying and they simply will never recover from their amnesia. With canon updates, they will return with immediate knowledge of their update, and slowly gain back memories of the tower.
When it comes to updating to a new canon point, you must wait at least one month from when it was released to update to it.
How does Death work?
A character may only die if their gem is destroyed with magic. Death is not permanent, however if you choose to kill your character they will permanently lose all memories of their time spent in The Top. It's a choice you have to choose carefully, but there are some boons to killing and resetting your character. You may have a free choice of new monster type and if your character dies you also unlock the ability to change into a special monster type, the Ghoul. (Which you can only get otherwise by buying with regains.)
How do regains work?
Every 10 comments is one coin. You may turn in threads at any time to the regain post to earn coins in order to buy regains. ICly, characters will wake up with these under their pillow and they may take them to the giftshop up in the working floors to buy what they like.
How does my character's inventory work? Can they have pets?
Character's arrive with absolutely nothing. They wake up in a white T shirt and white shorts, and no pets will arrive. They can regain them, and they will arrive with everything necessary to take care of them. Characters will also have large chests and closets to put their things in, but they'll have to fight with their three other roommates for the extra storage space.
What if my character commits a crime?
Absolutely nothing! It's part of the experiment to see what will happen during captivity, so if that does happen it's all just part of the results.
What if my character is an inventor/genius/scientist and wants to invent a way home or a way to turn back to normal?
They may try to find or create ways to go home or turn back to how they're supposed to be if they'd like, this isn't a game where those actions are not allowed. I encourage characters to try and invent a ton of things!
But when it specifically comes to finding a way home or turning back to normal, which are big game ending mechanics, they will be fruitless attempts at least until endgame!
MONSTER AND POWER QUESTIONS:
How do they transform?
The short answer? The gems. I've mentioned them a few times before, but let me explain them further. Each character has a gem, and it has replaced their heart entirely. It sits in the middle of their chest, protruding out enough that they can be seen. Think Steven Universe. The gems are connected to a colour, and that colour to a set of powers. The colour runs through their new heart and the blood is replaced with mana. It colours their veins and in turn, their skin can look a little or a lot coloured depending on player's preference.
The magic also is what's responsible for their transformation. It's seemingly random what character has what monsters, with no correlation to the colours whatsoever, but the magic in their hearts is what causes their bodies to transform. It starts as a fever, that turns into chills and cramps all over the body, until the new monster parts finally grow and force their way out to the surface.
How do you pick my monster type?
On the application, I ask that you pick your three choices out of the existing types in game. From there I will pick one, which can be based on their personality, if there's more of one monster type than of another that you picked, their entire vibe or sometimes it may be picked entirely at random.
Do you pick my gem colour too?
Nope! The colour is completely up to the player. What powers your characters have is in your hand, and remember that they're not connected to the monster types and only the colour! Also remember that you may pick any gem in existence, and any shade. Pinks for red, for example.
GEMS MUST BE ONLY ONE COLOUR.
You may pick a ruby, which is all red. You may pick rhodochrosite, which is many shades of red in one stone. But you may not pick watermelon tourmaline, as it is both red and green.
Do I have to stick to the exact outlines on the information pages?
You do not! As long as you don't suddenly mix and match monsters together, you can do basically anything. Any colors for fur, scales, eyes, hair, etc is allowed. Any inspiration from similar creatures that haven't been mentioned is allowed-- basically go for whatever you'd like, and if there's anything specific you're worried won't be allowed then feel free to comment below!
How do monsters eat?
Every monster has their own way of eating. It's listed on their information page, and the mess hall will provide anything their little monster heart desires.
Tell me more about the gems and their powers.
As I mentioned, gems replace a character's heart and pumps mana all through their body. It beats like a real heart, but glows on every beat and the mana has a slight glow when you look closely at the veins in your skin. There are six colours for players to choose from, and they have to choose a gem to represent their character. For example, I could choose red for my colour and a ruby for my gem. It doesn't matter if more than one character has the same kind of gem, it's more for aesthetic purposes honestly. The colour can also be any shade, so if you choose red you may have your character have a ruby or something pink like a rose quartz. A dark red like a garnet would be acceptable as well. Remember to think of it like Steven Universe-- the colour you choose will change their skin tone as well. Which will also carry over into the monster form.
The powers, as mentioned, are based on the colour. There are six colours-- Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. Go to the powers page to see which colour has which powers.
I've also mentioned this before, but a unique mechanic to this game is the ability to stave off your monster form with physical touch. An hour long hand holding session will leave you in your human form for one day, two hours will leave you two days and so on and so forth. Every level of physical touch is the same ratio -- one hour of punching is one day of human form, one hour of sex is one day of human form, etc etc.
UPDATE: There can be stages for your monster form! Using Werecreature as an example: mostly human when there has been a lot of physical touch, furry anthro when they haven't been touched in a while, and more monstrous form when been alone for a period of time.
The only way a character may die is by their gem being destroyed. They're only able to be broken with magic, no physical attacks will leave even a scratch. But magic attacks will, and the more scratches the worse physical health a character is in. Physical touch can buff out scratches in gems and restore them to full health.
I want to be a monster permanently so I can be intimate with my monster bits!
No problem! There is a regain that is priced cheap so you may buy it as soon as you can! Once they have their permanent form, physical touch no longer keeps them human.
MISC QUESTIONS:
Got a question that's not been answered? Comment below, and I will update this section with new questions as I go!
The Top is an homage to some of my favourite games, so the setting might feel a little familiar because of that! Tower of Animus and Ryslig are the biggest inspirations, with a dash of Seasons.
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This game sounds great! I'm already writing my top level for the test drive!
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Does that work with the other monster types too? For example: For Dragon, Mostly human with some dragon scales and full dragon form? I'm asking for my sister that wants to join too!
I have another question! Do the arrivals come dressed in their own clothes or do they find themselves in some new outfit (I'm wondering how obvious would the gem be at the start? Like if it was covered by the clothes it might not be so noticeable. But if it isn't (or lightly), it could be more noticeable.
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Characters all come in white T shirts and white shorts and may regain their clothes from home. I also can't believe I forgot to mention that somewhere, but that's where the FAQ comes in!
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Can the gems be in any shape or are there mostly normal looking (not accounting color). Like for example: A periot in the shape of this or something familiar.
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