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A bit late to the party, but I happened upon your thread this morning while researching my own S&S conundrum and couldn't help but weigh in. I've been running S&S as a mod into another system and setting, and so was prepared for all sorts of NPC modifications. Nothing major, but obviously the cities of origin need to be changed, etc. For the most part, I just used it as an opportunity to flesh out the Wormwood crew, since most of the NPCs have very scant background information.
The first interesting thing was that one of my players really fixated on Cog from day one, after finding out about his faith. That rapidly changed him from being a probably ally of Plugg to a firm friend of the PCs. Amusingly, it's going to require a lot of character decisions in future sessions, as they now want to put him through anger management therapy (more or less).
The other amusing change is Owlbear. My players love him. They are even going so far as to seek magical help and/or wondrous items to see if they can restore him to sapience. It is incredibly amusing.
The interesting change was Plugg. So long as I was modifying the AP, I decided to change around Plugg's class levels a bit to make him match the party's anticipated captain. It was a minor change, but really bothered the player, and made him turn towards Plugg as a sort of personal rival. Considering my own S&S game had featured the party unaware the Plugg was a villain (or even a separate entity from Mr Scourge) until the final showdown, I considered it a positive change. That lasted right up until he faced off with the PCs. Goaded by the party paladin, the rival PC decided he couldn't bring himself to kill Plugg and instead rescued him. They took him captive and, as in Lintecarka's game, insisted on trying to redeem him. I was a bit sceptical at first but, wanting to be fair and allow the players to write their own story, I told them they could make their attempts according to the rules for redeeming villains in the Book of Exalted Deeds. Privately, I thought they'd tire of so many high DC diplomacy checks, and eventually release their prisoner either to custody or to the wilds.
Countless high DC diplomacy checks, over several designated sessions, and over a month of in-game time...I was in a pickle. I decided fair was fair, and slid Plugg up to Neutral alignment. Eventually, this resulted in the players inviting him to stay on as a member of their crew, which was accompanied by yet more high diplomacy checks. I didn't see the harm. Then the players offered him the position of first mate. I fell out of my chair. But their argument was sound: they pandered to the character and convinced him that he would be safest from Harrigan if they stuck together, and that his best shot at getting his own ship was to help the idiots who were dumb enough to spare him and help them gain a second ship in their fleet. After much debate, I decided: why not? And thus I have now obtained the world's weirdest S&S party. >.<