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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kahuna Burger" data-source="post: 1311763" data-attributes="member: 8439">I think the most important piece of information here is what your players have asked for. I tend to enjoy more open ended games so I run more open ended games... BUT if the players (as a whole, not just one) clearly conveys that they would like more direction, I'm not going to just say "no, that doesn't make a Good Game in my godly opinion, seek your own way as the path to enlightenment"  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />  Now, I can see not wanting to hand the best battle plan to the players, but character knowlege is greater than player knowlege... what I did in a one shot where I wanted the characters to understand a few of their options and the drawbacks was wrote different bits of the key information on notecards and gave them to different players as "stuff your character knows, thinks or has observed." So when one of the players suggested just going after and beating down the evil impersonators who had stolen their masters' bodies, it was another player who looked at his "flavor card" and pointed out that he'd always thought the masters were too dependant on their gear, to the point where a gang of street urchins who got all their magic items could probably kick their asses in a fair fight, and with the standard gear on the stolen bodies the direct plan probably wouldn't work. Another card had a bit of info on one specific peice of gear that formed a valuable backup plan, but the player was able to bring it up partway through the game, and it was generally veiwed as an option, not the way it had to be done...So if they want more dirction, but you don't want a 'helpful npc' to wander up and give it to them, consider dividing up the cues and info and hints needed for a good plan (or two) between the different characters and letting them work it out in character. Give one player whose character has some traveling experience a idea of the best route for a caravan and some of the most unavoidable ambush sites. Let the most tactically minded player know roughly how the party would fare against the direct enemy, vs caravan guards, vs whatever guards there are likely to be at the mining/manufacturing site. Give the magic user a feel for what could be done to destroy the powder, or how its power could be spent "harmlessly" or tell him what he would need to find out and tell the sneaky type some seemingly meaningless hints she has picked up scouting the grove, and a feel for her chances of sneaking in to gain a sample of the powder of more info. You may be giving the party the plan (or two plans) but they are putting it together themselves, and roleplaying while they're at it.Or not, but that halfway method worked for me in a situation where guidance was neccassary...Kahuna Burger</blockquote>

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