Hiya.
Easy...start to "wing it". Basically, you (DM) are getting 'bored' with it because you know what's going to happen next and you are familiar enough with your players and their PC's to have a good idea on what they are likely to do and if/how they will overcome a situation. So...mix it up.
Stop referring to the adventure for what comes next. If the PC's are in a bar and the next 'scene' is for goblins to attack it, maybe someone sees/smells or otherwise detects the goblins first. "You hear a bar-maid scream from out back at the larder!"...PC's rush out, see goblins coming out of it from a hole under an old crate. Goblins scatter; PC's do something. Of course, this is just a slight variation. You could more easily have the goblins start to run *into* the bar, totally terrified, trying to hide under rugs, in the wood pile, under the bar, etc...out back, near the larder, is a *huge* dire-wolf! Again, still similar, but definitely different.
Anyway, my point is that you need to just make some s#!t up and run with it. Your players will detect that this is "different from what is expected". Trust me; you are playing an adventure path. The *biggest* complaint my and my group has about playing them is that they are so-o-o f'ing predictable. Very rarely do we say "Oh! That's cool...didn't expect that!". So, make them less predictable. :)
Oh, and dont' worry about "screwing up" the adventure. It's not there for you and your group to follow it through, book by book, plot by plot, location by location. It's there for you guys to use in playing an RPG and weave a story. Who gives a flying *beep* if your story ends up being nothing like what is 'expected' by the completion of the series, as long as you were all having fun. :)
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Have a break, happens to everybody we all start to run out of steam after a while.
We do this regulaly in our group, Im stopped my Skull and Shackles game after 20 weeks of playing and now another player is GM'ing a Savage Worlds game next.
I find a change of system and being a player for a while helps re-charge the batteries. If you do break my advice is to leave it on a cliffhanger say just before a major battle and a BBEG makes it's appearence.
|
One thing I like to do (since I level by fiat) is start trimming down encounters. A lot of the APs seem to have random encounters that serve only to get use out of artwork or for a writer's pet npc (a kobold in RotRL immediately springs to mind). Replace them with roleplaying events, backstory stuff etc.
Definitely tune the AP for the players' expressed interests. Especially as you level up and get more familiar with them. You have players that are sticking with you through a full AP, which is very good. Run with it!
I've never actually played or GMed an AP all the way through as written. I wouldn't count the diversion you put in as a drawback, that's good fun.
As far as you feeling things are getting stale, take a break. My group does this as a matter of routine. We have three or four games running on a rotation. This gives each story a chance to age well, because both players and GMs get some time to reflect on past and future events and not just continuously grind story.
Ask the group if someone else wants to take over this or another game for a bit and give everyone time to relax on the main story you're trying to tell.