jgsugden
Legend
Adventure Paths can be great tools for DMs trying their hand, or with little prep time. They're not my favorite, but when used, here are the things I'd recommend keeping in mind:
1.) Be Flexible - Don't take the text as written as required. Change things to suit your style, and to adjust for the things the PCs have done. If you want to keep on the path, figure out a way to bridge where the party goes to wheere you want them to be, and use improvised story elements to get them there. If the path expects them to take a job and go to a new town, but the PCs instead decide to decline the job and look for some bandits they heard about, make a quick bandit encounter and then give them a reason in the bandit camp to travel to the new town.
2.) Evaluate as You Go - You may want to run the Adventure Path, but you need to see if the players like it as well. No DM is an island. If the players are not digging it, evaluate and try to adjust. If they're still not digging it, talk to them about what is, and is not working.
3.) Change It Up - Change a few things. Players sometimes 'accidentally' find out things about prepublished adventures. If you change a few things, it can still keep them guessing. When I last ran a commercial adventure, I changed the names of all the NPCs, Locations, etc... and never told the PCs what I was running. They still guessed, but it took a while.
1.) Be Flexible - Don't take the text as written as required. Change things to suit your style, and to adjust for the things the PCs have done. If you want to keep on the path, figure out a way to bridge where the party goes to wheere you want them to be, and use improvised story elements to get them there. If the path expects them to take a job and go to a new town, but the PCs instead decide to decline the job and look for some bandits they heard about, make a quick bandit encounter and then give them a reason in the bandit camp to travel to the new town.
2.) Evaluate as You Go - You may want to run the Adventure Path, but you need to see if the players like it as well. No DM is an island. If the players are not digging it, evaluate and try to adjust. If they're still not digging it, talk to them about what is, and is not working.
3.) Change It Up - Change a few things. Players sometimes 'accidentally' find out things about prepublished adventures. If you change a few things, it can still keep them guessing. When I last ran a commercial adventure, I changed the names of all the NPCs, Locations, etc... and never told the PCs what I was running. They still guessed, but it took a while.