I'm extremely new to the GM side of RPGs and I'm sure there are many differing opinions about this but I've been wondering. How much information do you give to your Players at the start of the Campaign and each Session? At what point are you giving too much information? For example, I've designed a session to be mostly combat oriented and am expecting the Players to just flat out run and gun. But after rereading the notes I wrote up I've noticed a second approach that involves a little less shooting and more roleplaying by way of Deception. For lack of a better analogy, the second approach gets them in for the close kill without much resistance. How can I let them know of this possibility without being too obvious?

Any advice offered is appreciated..

It's somewhat difficult to answer this without further information. I'm going to make up a scenario to fit what you are speaking of.

Let's say the group is supposed to rescue a friend from a Hutt's palace. His hold has the usual list of bodyguards. You figure they are going to go in guns blazing, but it might be better to use Deception to enter pretending to be a bounty hunter turning in a catch. How to get the players to think of this new approach (other then putting in RotJ and pushing play).

1. DON'T just tell them, "Hey perhaps it would be easier to sneak in posing as a bounty hunter!" Then, when they do this, it is not as gratifying (it wasn't their idea) and you kinda lose the atmosphere with the GM just telling you what to do.

2. Have an NPC suggest the same thing. "Well, if I was trying to get into the palace I would..". Still not as gratifying as coming up with it themselves, but at least it wasn't just blatantly the GM telling them what to do.

3. Give them clues. When they scout out the palace, describe a speeder truck showing up and bounty hunters being waived in the front gate with several chained captives. This way they could come up with the idea and enjoy it more when it works.

4. Expect something else to happen, AND LET IT. A wise NPC suggests a disguise to get in. The PC scouts witness your suggestion. Then, the PCs of course say they use a grappling hook to climb to the roof and use the Jedi's lightsaber to cut through and drop down inside. If it's feasible, let them do it. Let them drop down inside the Hutt's bedroom closest or something fun. Don't just say, "No the roof on this old palace's keep is way too thick even for the lightsaber to cut through, you've got to find a different way in....did you not notice how those bounty hunters got in??" Railroading keeps things on track but is not near as fun as letting the players come up with something new.

Players are almost always guaranteed to think of different options and the trick is to roll with it when they do. To add to what Sturn said, you can't really expect to think of everything, and if they come up with a new way inside, don't be afraid to come up with a challenge on the fly. Just use common sense...even ventilation shafts can have laser detection grids.

Say they decide that the ventilation shaft is the best way in, well, maybe the Hutts had a new bug-zapper installed in the ventilation system that might cause Strain/Stun damage until it's disabled. And maybe the Hutts like their air warm and humid, enhanced with special perfumes, like Eau de FesterBoil. So now you have the PCs crawling along (Athletics/Coordination, more success is more progress) getting spritzed with FesterBoil (Resilience, or barf) and suffering the occasional zap (Cool/Discipline to stay quiet) until they disable the bug-zapper (Mechanics/Skulduggery).

Perhaps the players observe a Deception-based encounter with said Bad Guy prior to theirs to set the stage. Perhaps they see someone fail a Deception check horribly and mutter, "pudu, I could do better than that" and the seed is planted.

I have been known, from time to time, to simply come up with a cool problem that the players have to get around (Say, breaking into an Alcatraz and rescuing someone) and not come up with a way to actually DO the escape. Design the prison, flesh out the details, leave plenty of room to add color - but no obvious means of overcoming the problem.

Since there are more of them than me, since they're **** creative, and since I dont mind pulling some strings behind the curtain to make whatever they come up with work (if it didnt fit), this plan works out!

I have been known, from time to time, to simply come up with a cool problem that the players have to get around (Say, breaking into an Alcatraz and rescuing someone) and not come up with a way to actually DO the escape. Design the prison, flesh out the details, leave plenty of room to add color - but no obvious means of overcoming the problem.

Since there are more of them than me, since they're **** creative, and since I dont mind pulling some strings behind the curtain to make whatever they come up with work (if it didnt fit), this plan works out!

This is great. I recall doing this once in a d20 Star Wars campaign. I completely detailed an Imperial Intelligence Officer's secret hideaway retreat/manor. I set up the physical defenses, motion detectors, alarm system, noted where the power supply for the facility was, and even the commo tower on the next ridge that was needed to transmit out. I then set back and watched the gears move. It was great fun for all.

They noticed the small comms tower and also saw vents that suggested where the small fusion power core was. A timed/synced explosion took out the comms tower at the same time a hole was blown through an outter wall by the vents that allowing them quick access to cut the primary power lines. Most of the group then got into a firefight from protected positions as the guards of course rushed towards the intruders. With the distraction, a jetpack PC crashed through a 2nd story window (rolled a natural 20 on his flight attempt) and surprised the intelligence officer in his upstairs office. The PCs were able to get away with the locked briefcase mcguffin they were looking for.

I think a good group of players won't always go "guns blazing" style. When I ran Perlemian Haul for my group (the only pre-gen we've done so far), there was only one combat encounter. But the encounter was quick and cool and didn't involve death - in fact it wasn't even in the written adventure. It was an encounter with a sector ranger and a traitorous old friend due to an Obligation trigger! The party simply stunned them and left.

Anyway, only two people died the entire adventure - two Imperial Navy Troopers onboard the frigate, who they discreetly eliminated for their uniforms. The rest of the adventure was them being clever and making some killer Charm and Deception rolls (mostly Deception, though - our HRD has four ranks in it!). After capturing the bridge and coercing most of the crew off of it, they shut down life support in the entire rest of the ship to prevent reinforcements from arriving - but only long enough to disorient or knock out the crew. As soon as most of the crew members were down, they reactivated it (they're not cold-blooded killers).

This was their most successful Alliance mission ever. Their Duty skyrocketed that night.

Start with a large overview of the situation. Give the players a chance to ask questions at the outset and answer what they should reasonably be able to know. It may require a roll or two from a player to provide more details. Save a few twists that you might hint at, but never disclose.

Introduce a few locations where they can gather more clues as the game continues if they need to dig deeper.