Hey guys-
So I've been DMing since I was knee-high to an Arcturan Megagrasshopper, but I have this one, tiny issue. The issue is I can't recall having ever actually successfully run a published adventure. I was trained in the hardcore DMing camp, which is all about originality. This is wearing a bit thin as I grow older and busier. I don't have much time to sit and homebrew a campaign, I'm busy (and I'm out of liver of knewt).
So I'm left in an apprehensive spot. As stated above, I have never had success with published adventures. They've always felt foreign, contrived, etc. Or, in my opinion, they've just been bad adventures. But then I started reading the Age of Worms. I want to run them, but I'm nervous about doing them justice or about them falling flat on their face because I goofed it up somehow. Working from a homebrew script gives a guy a lot of freedom to function with story, and pretty easily from memory. One of the major issues is that I have trouble concentrating on published material. I find myself not remembering something important and having to read descriptions again, etc., this obviously wastes time, makes me look totally unprepared, and the game quickly breaks down into tangenting. Frankly, in the past, the games have not been fluid like my other games are. I don't get the same reactions that I'm used to illiciting from players, and this is all frustrating.
But let's face it, that liver of knewt shortage is pretty bad and I'm also extremely busy, so there's hardly any way that I can run games if I can't run published adventures. So, help me out here! What are some tricks for running published adventures and making them seem fluid, alive, homebrewed? What are some good tips for preparing the adventures so that I'll remember the details I need and won't end up having to re-read or stop play? How can I really make these adventures seem like they're right out of my noodle?
Thanks a lot,
-Phil