Demand of Honor (1984) starts to drift a bit. The problem with the FASA Star Trek RPG, one that they never solved and which eventually was the undoing of the line, was that the game’s roots in wargaming meant that the RPG naturally kind of wants to be a wargame. That’s sort of the exact opposite of the core Star Trek belief system, and you can read something like Demand of Honor and actually feel the designers trying to resist the pull of that sort of design. But they generally fail — a lot of the Trek RPG material feels like Traveller’s military science fiction with a coat of Star Trek paint on top.

The thrust of this adventure is a diplomatic mission meant to prevent war between the Federation and the Gorn. This is complicated by unfolding events — a rogue band of Gorn pirates are raiding shipping lanes — and social beliefs — the strong but bizarre-by-human-standards concept of Gorn honor. Most of the scenario is pretty good, though even the ideal path through the plots and counter plots is going to lead to ship-to-ship combat. The problem is that the module gives players far more room to fail than to succeed, the result of which will be a lengthy war between the Gorn and the Federation. Hey, at least you tried at peace! But now those tactical ship combat rules in the revised box set can get some use!