| Nightfall | |
| by Scott R. Evans | |
| Alcritas’ Review | |
It’s been 2000 years since the suns last set. What will result when they do? Whatever results, be aware that there are SPOILERS BELOW!!
In essence, that’s the story of Nightfall by Scott R. Evans (MOUNTAINEER@WONDERLAN.COM), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. Up front I’ll tell you that I haven’t read the book, so can only comment on the scenario as a scenario, and not to its faithfulness, or lack thereof.
Nightfall starts off nicely, arriving at a local campus, where the impending astrological event is about to occur. The mechanics aren’t all that interesting, suffice it to say that all you really need to know is that because this particular planet has six different suns in its sky, it’s always light out — except for once every 2000 years (thanks to a planetary eclipse). Regardless, while nighttime might take 2000 years to come on this planet, you’ll be entrenched into it in around 10 minutes of game time.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. You start the scenario. Learn about the impending nighttime, then it comes, then you wake up. The entire “night” is lost in transition, an effect I wasn’t too found of. To be honest, I don’t think it would have been that hard to simulate the brief night experience, but such was not the author’s intent. So be it.
After you wake up, things, of course, have changed drastically. The once peaceful Ogres have gone rabid, and will attack you on sight. Governments have collapsed, widespread looting and anarchy prevail. Regional warlords have begun to seize power. Most troubling of all, a religious cult, who somehow managed to predict the exact moment of nightfall have emerged as one of the strongest forces in the area.
Unfortunately Nightfall gets a bit disjointed at this point. The remainder of the scenario breaks down into four separate quests — getting a message to a political leader in a nearby city, helping the Ogres back on the path to civilization, opposing a regional warlord, and taking down the pesky religious cult.
These missions are all something of a mixed bag. The courier message is relatively straightforward, but not all that spectacular. Helping the Ogres is much better, involving a series of short and fun missions. Of course, the premise of the Ogres is a bit troubling — the use of a 2000 year event by religious fanatics doesn’t strike any false chords (See, for example, Earth), but a physiological change based on a few minutes of darkness is very odd. What happens to Ogres if they accidentally stumble under a tree?
The regional warlord quest was designed with one serious flaw — use of the “Flight” spell will allow you to circumvent 90% of it. The religious cult is better, but again the scenario runs into plot problems. Instead of logical concerns this time, however, the cult just comes off as extremely anti-climatic. How the religious cult figured out the exact moment of nightfall was the primary mystery of the scenario. The resolution — “They did some research and figured it out,” leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. These may or may not be flaws in the book itself, I don’t know, but they certainly are flaws in the scenario.
All said, Nightfall is a fun little scenario, but not one of the all time greats. It’s designed for low level parties, and is rated PG.
My score — 7.5