The Tower (why?) and the Game (What?)

So a bit of a quick one--kid's been sick, but at least magic is starting to gel...

Why did I take a magitek fantasy with politics and culture and cool toys and throw it in Necromunda?

There are actual answers for that.

From a thematic vibe, all mankind stuck in one last tower gives your actions importance. You have to fight off the bad guys because there's no where else to go--just the tower or the ice. There's also the symbolic aspect of it--I love tarot cards for their ability to tap into Jungian shadows, as it were. Tarot cards aren't the core concept anymore, but there's a lot of ideas from the cards that I liked.

From a design element, it's a quick way for me to let things slide, which is very helpful for me. I've play around in detail with game worlds before, and it's very easy for me to get trapped in minutiae "But if they had riding terriers in the 1200's in Northern Not-England, how would that impact semaphore towers in SOUTH Not-England?!", and from there my brain falls apart trying to make a tight clean world. Having an apocalypse hit and then shove everyone into a cramped spot lets me say "Yeah, history--that was a thing that happened somewhere else" and move on.

On a random note, This is the main mental image I'm getting for the Tower. Good old Xanatos and his "sweet God, this is the most unrealistic skyscraper ever!" A massive, three-mile high tower, one entire face the golds and reds and sapphires of meta-enhanced stained glass, angles and gargoyles along the edges. The Tower should be more than just a big tube that people live in--it should show the beauty and power of mankind. It is a cathedral to survival, and a beacon in the long dark night. It should be a character itself, one more interaction you and your characters will have to deal with.

Finally--it's just cool.

So there is a reason I've done what I've done, and what I want to do with it. I'm fine with "DUDE, AWESOME!!" as a reason to throw something into your game, but I feel you need to be able to explain and defend your choice beyond "Dinosaurs riding Battlemechs!! Why are you asking me about this?!", and preferably use said new awesome idea to make a more entertaining sandbox.

Part the Second: Another thing I really wanted to chat about was what kind of game I want to be able to run with this. For me, there's three major things that I want this game to be able to handle:

1. Pick-up and Play: It's the main reason why I'm including the dungeon crawls. I've talked about the problems of RPG's, and one of the big ones is the time element. A major aspect I want to be able to pull of is that if you and three friends are hanging out waiting for Chad to arrive and GM already, you can roll up a quick four room dungeon, grab some characters, and get fighting.

2. The Summer Blockbuster: One step above level 1, the "Blockbuster" is what I consider the quick two to three session game where we meet characters, have a story, and beat the bad guy/get eaten. In many ways this is my "Play by Post" game--one where we start with our heroes and get going with the fun and the plot, and finish up.

3. The Semester of Awesome: I should have gotten a major in RPG in college (represent Cornell Chess and Game!) with all the gaming I did. Being able to run that long chronicle of awesome, of building up and exploring the world, getting into the deep elements of your character and the world--this is the rare moment that I play games for. It's the strength of the hobby.

Obviously, these things will affect what I expect the game should do, and what should be focused on in the story element. These will impact the mechanics more than the plot, but it is something I want to focus on story-wise as well.