Back in the 40's Isaac Asimov wrote a short story called Nightfall. It was adapted a couple of times for the Old Time Radio show X-Minus One and Dimension X, which is where I head it, on the Sirus XM classic radio channel. I dont know if it's usable as a Star Wars game, but it seemed like a pretty cool background event for the players to encounter.

The nutshell is this: What would happen if people saw the stars only once every two thousand years?

Asimov created the planet Lagash where there are six suns and perpetual daylight. With no nighttime, the stars cannot be seen and therefore are not known. Astronomical science has not yet reached the point of being able to look beyond the suns. The concept of darkness is mysterious and frightening.

The scientists at Saro University are predicting a total eclipse of all the suns at once. They are aware, based upon archaeological studies, that civilization seems to have been destroyed about every two thousand years, the same time period of the occurrence of the eclipses. If the two are related, will the darkness once again cause a hysteria that will destroy the world?

As the scientists prepare for calamity, they are joined by a newspaper reporter, and all hope to save future generations from fear through a record of factual knowledge. However, a religious cult is also predicting the phenomenon as a judgment against evil.

So imagine the player as traders, landing on Lagash just before the Nightfall. The natives have contact with the outside universe, but the general population tends not to wrap their brains around the concept of Outer Space. Or they can process it on a logical level but on the deeper psychological level, the absence of light triggers a basic, primitive response. The planet freaks out despite their best efforts.

And they have to cut a deal, perform a transaction or rescue someone while the collective planet loses it **** minds. That could be . .. . interesting.

Here's the original radio play if you want to check out the full story:

Oh that's going in the vault.

I use to love reading Asimov in high school, never had time for it in college, sadly. Wouldn't it be more dramatic if the players crash landed on the planet? This way you can say the planet is completely isolationist, and they, themselves are trying to escape. Maybe there is a scientist character, or that reporter from the story who are trying to help them. The PCs can be proof that there is more to the galaxy and that night time is a natural part of world, just like different species. If the cult finds out about them, then PCs might be seen as heralds of the coming destruction arriving, a sign of the end. Might be a good idea to put this planet in wildspace to explain why it is so remote from the rest of the galaxy.

The problem of course is that if/when I adapt this for my game, we're running with a bunch of mis-matched aliens. If it were an all human crew, you could pass them off as locals no problem. Two Twileks, a Mirialan and a Cathar on the other hand? Not so much.

But yeah, if I were doing it all one species, I'd totally do it your way.

The problem of course is that if/when I adapt this for my game, we're running with a bunch of mis-matched aliens. If it were an all human crew, you could pass them off as locals no problem. Two Twileks, a Mirialan and a Cathar on the other hand? Not so much.

But yeah, if I were doing it all one species, I'd totally do it your way.

AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

ALIENS!!!!

THEY’RE THE CAUSE OF THE COMING APOCALYPSE!!!!

KILL THEM ALL!!!!

and then... there's always this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLM4VtLC4CE

just to mix things up a little.

I vaguely recall reading this story when I was in junior high.

Nightfall was a great story. My dad had an anthology of "Anthropology Through Science Fiction" where I first found it at around age 15, with lots of other great short stories of things like that.

A planet that was so overcrowded, you had to win the lottery to have children.

The future planet of Mercury, where everyone lived underground, everything was completely recycled and reprocessed, but the family who had to handle the sewage processing were outcasts/untouchables because, well, they dealt with sewage. So when the family went on strike, the colony was doomed by their own effluent, but nobody would step up to the plate, until one guy volunteered with the understanding he'd be a hero...and once he got the machines running again and automated, he just became a new outcast.

A cryogenic colony vessel narrated in the first person about what the proper gender ratio would need to be to minimize the number of people you had to send, but create a viable human population, with all the complex social issues around that. It was narrated in such a way that you thought it was a dude, but then it turned out it was a woman...all the women had the cool jobs, and the guys were just breeders, and the male/female ratio was about 1:6.

heh, found it on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Anthropology-Through-Science-Fiction-Carol/dp/B000OEOWH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458586385&sr=8-1&keywords=anthropology+science+fiction

The future planet of Mercury, where everyone lived underground, everything was completely recycled and reprocessed, but the family who had to handle the sewage processing were outcasts/untouchables because, well, they dealt with sewage. So when the family went on strike, the colony was doomed by their own effluent, but nobody would step up to the plate, until one guy volunteered with the understanding he'd be a hero...and once he got the machines running again and automated, he just became a new outcast.

Oh, this one could be cool to adapt too. So the Rebels need to hit a target on Super Crowded Planet, and the players get sent in to disrupt the infrastructure. They have to dodge the Imperial Response Team and sewer hazards while keeping the plumbing systems offline as a distraction - but not so offline as to damage and destroy them - while the main strike team hits the Target.

*makes notes*

Asimov is one of my all-time favorite authors. He and Robert Silverberg expanded the original short story into a novel in 1990. I know I read the story, and I think I read the novel as well, but it's been a long time

The planet would probably need to be somewhat primitive, at least compared to the rest of the galaxy. Only a select few leaders would know where the traders actually come from, with MIB-type stories being fed to the population at large, or the traders' identities being kept secret. The destruction of the planet would have to be on an epic scale, with entire cities burning, complete anarchy, and the resultant plunge back into the stone ages.

There could be an ark ship being constructed (with the help of galactic tech that's been fed to them over the last century or so) that would take a select few off the planet and to a planet with a more standard day-night cycle so the civilization can survive. Maybe the traders are asked to lead the ark ship, since they're the only ones who can really grasp the concept of night and stars (if I recall the story correctly, the planet was actually in the middle of a globular cluster, so it wasn't just the milky way they saw, but an entire sky full of tightly-packed stars). In fact, the ones in charge could have expressly lured the traders to the planet, knowing what was about to happen, because they'd be the only ones who could be trusted to keep their heads.

Really cool idea, you can take it in a lot of different directions!

I wonder if this is where Douglas Adams got the idea for Krikkit.

Perhaps - although I know that the general plot of Life, The Universe and Everything was originally intended to be a Doctor Who story called Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen. Bits of the original story were used in the Key to Time season (where DNA wrote a story) and the rest wound up in Life. The Doctor was replaced with Slartibartfast, the TARDIS by the Starship Bistromath and the Daleks by the Krikkiters.

Imagine something on the scale of the Death Star arriving in the system literally causing a panic to anyone caught in its shadow!

Lord just something as big as that used to collect the truly excessive solar energy and your players are part of a group of scouts sent to discover the source of a rival nation/corporation's energy source ending up being shot down and hunted on one of the various worlds ruled in a variety of cultural styles reminiscent of ancient Egypt and the Mayans with the Corporation's/nation's remaining in control by playing them off each other unaware how badly they're being played!

The real question is would they be virtual desert worlds dependent on ice shipments and trade from outside their system?

Could see a Stargate tech being used as part of a system intended to keep their system liveable except the true rulers died out leaving it in the hands of their successors who really have no idea what they have or any inclination to learn!

Maybe ancient Sith or Rakati maybe a forgotten part of the Infinite Empire?

I read the novel before hearing this. I prefer the novel, both in terms of format and in terms of content. IIRC, the novel pointed out it wasn't a total eclipse of the suns, but that 5 would be over the horizon and only 1 would be in the sky, which was then eclipsed by the unknown planet which caused extended darkness to the world, such that it was hours of a day without light.

Somehow the whole world gets to experience the night, which suggests the eclipse takes a day or more to clear out

The problem of course is that if/when I adapt this for my game, we're running with a bunch of mis-matched aliens. If it were an all human crew, you could pass them off as locals no problem. Two Twileks, a Mirialan and a Cathar on the other hand? Not so much.

Oooh, strong point - a long lost colony that fell out of contact with the rest of the world. Brilliant!

Obviously this was this inspiration for Pitch Black, a terrific fun film with an old Uni friend in it. Guess Who.

Obviously this was this inspiration for Pitch Black, a terrific fun film with an old Uni friend in it. Guess Who.

Claudia Black?

Keith David?

Rhianna Griffith?