When adapting the STAP for your home campaign how much are you changing and how much do run straight out of the magazine word by word?
And when you change things how much do you do 'on the fly'? As you describe a person, place, or thing that you just change in your head for the players (and do you make notes of these changes for future quetions with your players?)?
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It depends on a lot of factors. If something occurs to me "on the fly" I might go with it, and if I get a positive response then it goes on and on. It's not something that can be forced, though.
I also read the adventures and notice a few things I'd like to change along the way, and if they either won't disrupt the adventure or, if they do disrupt the adventure and I can still figure out how to make it go right, and it's good, I go with it.
Like the T-rex at the tarpits...I got a few ideas about that cat.
I also wanna throw some rakasta in there somewhere, but there's something coming up in a later adventure that I want to take a look at, so I'd wait to see what that pans out to be first.
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Or like, remember Pulp Fiction, when Uma Thurman was talking about a show called "Fox Force Five?" I was toying with the idea of making Rowyn the leader of a Fox Force Five-type crew.
I don't have a crew of gamers yet, so it'd depend on if they just thought stuff like that was stupid or they'd go with it.
But Kill Bill looks like it did pretty decent box office, so hell with it.
I do a few odd things, but some are preference for all games, not just the AP.
Here's the main changes. I award half XP for all "non-boss" encounters, but I make full use of "random" encounters, which are also "non-boss". I enforce material components, and encourage use of consumables, and I also enforce upkeep, like food, lodgings, and the like. So the extra treasure usually gets eaten up just fine.
"Boss" type encounters, like Olangru, Temuahti-Tecuani, Vanthus, and the like give full XP, but I also bring them up in power by rebuilding classes or feats with all the books the PCs have access to. Olangru got Leap Attack (ComAdv), the scarred T-Rex got Roll With It and Improved DR three times (Sav Spec), and Vanthus was rebuilt to a Swashbuckler/Fighter/Dervish/Tempest. What's good for goose is good for gander!
I just ran Vanthus last night, and all the PCs were on the edge of their seats, and pulling out all the stops to beat him. They actually were thrilled and somewhat surprised to see him dead in the dirt, and I think they'll remember that fight with a fond thought for a while.
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I have to ratchet up the encounters and treasure because I have a large party of 8 PCs, Generally that means more thugs and +1 or 2 levels to the PE#1. I mostly do it ahead of time, but am willing to adjust mid-game if I feel like I've missed the mark. Sometimes I'll have extra bad guys come in from behind or from a different room if the party seems to be gliding through an encounter too easily. Other times, if I feel I've overshot and made it too hard, I'll lower enemy hit points and so on, ie if the guy is down to 4 hit points of 27, I say he drops even though he wouldn't.
Usually I don't need to do either, I think I'm pretty good at estimating what the party can handle, but I am always willing to adjust if I find I was wrong.
Altered the start to Bullywug Gambit, since I knew the first thing my players would go for was the Sea Wyvern.
See this thread http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/savageTide/gettingTheSeaWyvern ThroughTheReefs
The cleric in the party wrote a interesting background where his character was captured by the Crimson Fleet (most likely mercenaries attached to them) and his parents killed by them, and prayed that his captures would all die in a horrible storm, which they did and then he woke up on a beach in Sasserine with his clerical powers. He doesn't know which god they come from. I know they don't come from a God at all, and I'm probably going to edit the later levels of the campaign so he can deal with Dagon. He has a foster mother in the form of a madam of one of Sasserine's brothels, who is now intending to retire and use her wealth to set herself up as a respectable woman in Farshore, so his "mum" is coming along on the Sea Wyvern's wake adventure.
Another wrote up one where a brother (a ship's captain) disappeared at sea with his ship. So I'm currently trying to decide if he pulled a Vanthus too, died at the hands of the Crimson Fleet or is just a free lance pirate. Oh and her great great, great, etc. Grandmother might be a Succubi, a Lilitu or Malcanthet (or more likely Shami-Amourae) herself.
Basically the more the players give me the more I try and tweak an adventure to include their ideas, although usually with a twist.
I change pretty much anything as needed to keep the game fun. In There is No Honor, I dropped pretty much the entire Lotus Dragon dungeon, as my players don't like dungeon crawls. I instead broke it up into several encounters--the well trap (which the PCs didn't fall for), an ambush in the streets, etc. The only things below the taxidermist shop are a guard room and holding cells, the torture chamber, and Rowyn's (much larger) complex. Having such a large dungeon under that islet didn't make sense to me, anyway.
I also dropped the Jade Ravens entirely--Lavinia relies entirely on the PC's, giving them more incentive for their adventures. When I need those characters later in the story they'll join in as members of the Seekers come to help some old friends' daughter.
And of course, as I'm running the campaign in the world of Mystara, place names, deities, history, etc. have all been changed to match the setting as needed.
When you "Tweak on the Fly" d you leave yourself notes so that you can remeber the changes?
I often make tweaks to accomodate my miniature collection.
Fer instance, the Firebats that attack the Tanaroans. The adventure called for 8 smal firebats, and I happen to have 4 Phoera miniatures from DDM's Blood War expansion. So, I added enough HD to the firebats to make them medium-sized, then used enough advanced firebats to equal the original EL.
I have appropriate miniature representation, and the fights remain tough.
What about the story line or background?
What happens when you Tweak that in your home campaigns?
I make it up as I go along, modifying the storyline as needed. I generally remember far more about the game than any of the players, so don't really have a problem with anyone nitpicking minor details. I'm also writing up a summary of each adventure, which both keeps me straight and helps remind the players of what happened. We only play once a month or less, as a note...
How about people who open the magazine, read the adventure once, and are ready to go?
When adapting the STAP for your home campaign how much are you changing and how much do run straight out of the magazine word by word?
Before running any published adventure, I go through it and decide what can be run as-is and what I want to change. A lot of it depends on what I feel would make the adventure better for that particular group of players and characters. Sometimes, it can be as simple as changing the plot hooks to something tailored to the party. Other times, the changes will be rewrites of one or two encounters/NPCs to fit my concept of the plot/NPC or to link them more closely with the party. Maybe I want to swap out the creature types to fit the party's motivations or a different dungeon location (for example, skeletons and goblins are the same CR, so replacing one with the other can change a crypt to a lair or vice versa). Occasionally, I'll have to make more substantial changes to the maps, plotlines, or themes. Sometimes, the adventure can be dropped in without any changes.
I do a few odd things, but some are preference for all games, not just the AP.
Here's the main changes. I award half XP for all "non-boss" encounters, but I make full use of "random" encounters, which are also "non-boss". I enforce material components, and encourage use of consumables, and I also enforce upkeep, like food, lodgings, and the like. So the extra treasure usually gets eaten up just fine.
"Boss" type encounters, like Olangru, Temuahti-Tecuani, Vanthus, and the like give full XP, but I also bring them up in power by rebuilding classes or feats with all the books the PCs have access to. Olangru got Leap Attack (ComAdv), the scarred T-Rex got Roll With It and Improved DR three times (Sav Spec), and Vanthus was rebuilt to a Swashbuckler/Fighter/Dervish/Tempest. What's good for goose is good for gander!
I just ran Vanthus last night, and all the PCs were on the edge of their seats, and pulling out all the stops to beat him. They actually were thrilled and somewhat surprised to see him dead in the dirt, and I think they'll remember that fight with a fond thought for a while.
Pretty much how I like to runt things! The Mundane are just as important as the magical, once got two party members so hung up on the fact they realised they had not brought any rations so went back and purchased them. Maybe a step too far, but they and everyone else thought it was funny regardless, and thats what counts!
As for as adventures are written, I often use them more as a base, then restructure and build from there, keeping notes and running on the fly on occasions.
My players nearly always have fun, sometimes I got a step too far with encounters or optimizing things, but the players view it as even mopre life and death and the tense fights and situations, just become that much more important for them to win!
But whats key to it all is, do you enjoy it, do the players and does it work within your campaign? these are all that matters essentially.