The Prime Directive features large in this The New Era (TNE) adventure, which can be modified to other eras with little difficulty. It all begins with the party's vessel receiving a distress call from a primitive spacecraft, which they are of course obligated to respond to. The first part of the adventure involves the rescue and getting to know the astronauts they have saved.

They find that the occupants belong to one of two sentient species who share a planet... but not well, one species oppresses the other. The rescued astronauts are impressed with the way that a multi-species Starfleet crew operates with mutual respect, and ask that the party convey this message to their homeworld. Unfortunately their society is too primitive for this to be permitted under the Prime Directive...and of course they do not take kindly to this and look to forment a revolution of their own, pinching some Starfleet equipment in the process.

There's scope for a lot of debate amongst the party about where they stand on the matter, but their hands are forced to some extent when the aliens steal weapons and a shuttlecraft (vastly superior to their own ship) and head planetwards. This is railroaded for the purposes of the adventure: if the player-characters refuse to help, NPCs amongst the crew are assumed to do so. If the Starfleet captain is a player, and decides to help the underdog species win their freedom, notes are provided for an alternate path through the adventure, so it's all quite flexible as to HOW you reach the endpoint, but it still ends with the Starfleet crew being blamed by the dominant species for the growing rebellion. Things inexorably go from bad to worse and it looks like an all-out war is breaking out. The party will have to try and stop it in its tracks.

The concluding remarks indicate likely outcomes, and include the need for disciplinary action for any Starfleet member who has breached the Prime Directive or disobeyed whatever orders the captain gave. This is an adventure to make the players think, but with plenty of action as well.

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Reviewed: 27 February 2020