One of the things i LOVE about kingmaker is the sandbox. You can add and remove any simple quest with out changing much. A few examples are below in the spoiler box.
BOOK 1: During the Opening at oleg's, they have been changed. Oleg has only one arm, do to an adventuring accident when he was younger. And His wife is Pregnant. Just before dawn on the day the bandits come, she goes in to labour. Does the party healer stay with the party or help deliver the baby? DC 10 heal check. Extra 400 EXP if the party Succeeds and the person who helped gets to name the child.
BOOK 2: Front cover (inside) is a quest for Troll blood. Changed the quest to Bokken wanting to try making a potion from a Rare Sky stone + trolls blood. He makes ONE potion and thats it. Party gets it. Its a Potion of REGENERATE. Thats a HUGE reward. But even better... There is an extra 1200 exp and +1 Permanent Loyalty if they give it to Oleg... who will get his arm back if he drinks it.
Those are 2 of the Changes i made, and there are alot of different posts on the forums about what other people did.
I've been quite happy with it, but it is more demanding of both players & GM due to the sandboxy nature and Kingdom development aspects, so it isn't everyone's cup of tea. I started KM1 with two parties competing with each other and it ran just fine, but once we hit KM2 one of the two parties combusted as they found the process of kingdom management a bit too stressful, and at least one of my players complained about the seeming lack of plot (some like their stories linear). But for self-motivated groups it really is great.
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Yes, you definitely want a dedicated healer for the group. Also, starting in part 2, you have the kingdom development rules. It depends on your group, but there is an alternate "kingdom in the background" set of rules for those groups that do not want to go through the processes of building towns and taking care of kingdom stats. Overall I would have to say that this is probably one of the best adventures I have ever run or played (and I started D&D in 1979). It is also very easy to alter parts to fit a different setting (my campaign is in a monotheistic world where all arcane casters are evil). I am running 2 groups now and we are in part 4. So far everyone loves it. Good luck and have fun!!!
As a player in a Kingmaker game, I can say that I am really enjoying it. If you want to see a game customized some for the players over the base AP, you should check out our PBP game by DM Alex, he has done an VERY good job so far. http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/playByPost/dMAlexande rKilcoynesKingmakerPBPChapter1
I know your players would really enjoy this as well.
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This is indeed a great adventure path. I personally really liked it. But it's not for everybody. My group in particular. They didn't like the constant wilderness exploration, hated the kingdombuilding rules, and did not want to be rulers at all. Them and paperwork don't mesh well (you should see the character sheets and backgrounds I get from these guys) But mostly what they didn't like about it was the fact that there doesn't really seem to be much plot to it...at first. They didn't like the seemingly aimless exploration without anything other than this charter that makes them do it (in hindsight, i should have given them a better reason). And really you go through the whole first 2 books exploring and kingdombuilding...the two things that my group didn't like. They wanted an evil, all-powerful villian or organization who threatened them and the region starting right off the bat. They wanted someone to despise and work towards finally defeating. You really don't know that there is such a villian until the last book - 6 books and almost 15/16 levels into the campaign. They really liked Legacy of Fire though.
So, if your players require plot in order to stay focused....this may be not for them unless you modify it to make one. I failed to do that in my campaign and as such, my players did not want to continue with Kingmaker after a quarter way through book 2. Again the first 2 books are the only ones that seem to lack plot...it does thicken once book 3 hits....it takes patience to get there though...something my players really don't have.
They didn't like the constant wilderness exploration, hated the kingdombuilding rules, and did not want to be rulers at all.
Wow, why were you guys even playing Kingmaker?
Kingmaker does have a very different feel. If someone hasn't explained "sandbox" style play to you, it essentially means that there is no traditional plot on rails - the players are dropped off in a sandbox (re: the Stolen Lands) and left to play with shovels while mom (the DM) sips sangria with the neighbours.
Kingmaker 1 & 2 follow this pattern the most. I'm constantly asking my players "so... now what?" - relying on them to control direction and pace and directing traffic only if pacing slows down. Kingmaker 3+ start to introduce more of the main plot and a traditional BBEG for each chapter.
The Big Picture for the most part needs to be foreshadowed with some cut-scenes or encounters of your own to help paint it earlier (if you wish). The focus is more on the nature of the kingdom the PCs are building (which is truly a major character in the AP) and less on solving any mystery of who the main BBEG is or what they are up to.
If your players like the idea of having ultimate control over their own destiny and building their own kingdom, Kingmaker is for them. If they prefer a more tightly-scripted plot then be sure to have a chat with them to see if Kingmaker is appealing.
If you play PC games, the difference is Oblivion (sandbox) vs Dragon Age (scripted).