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1. Print/photocopy the adventure portion of the module so I don't have to ruin my lovely Paizo products.
2. Read the adventure.
3. Highlight and underline the portions of each encounter that I think I'll need at a quick glance or might miss/forget at the table.
4. Make extra copies of player handouts that may be needed.
After the session:
5. Type up what happened in a quick one page summary and email it out to all concerned. This allows them to email any solo undertakings for their characters and keeps any players that missed out that session up to speed.
I'm sure there's more but that's the basics.
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1. Print/photocopy the adventure portion of the module so I don't have to ruin my lovely Paizo products.
2. Read the adventure.
3. Highlight and underline the portions of each encounter that I think I'll need at a quick glance or might miss/forget at the table.
4. Make extra copies of player handouts that may be needed.After the session:
5. Type up what happened in a quick one page summary and email it out to all concerned. This allows them to email any solo undertakings for their characters and keeps any players that missed out that session up to speed.
I'm sure there's more but that's the basics.
Very good checklist.
Let me add a couple extras:
2.1 Double check the maps. Nothing slows down the game like a DM looking for the proper spot to run an encounter.
2.2 Triple check the creatures/NPCs stats on the Bestiaries/PF appendix. First, be sure to know their special abilities, magic powers, spell-like abilities, quirks, weaknesses. Try to think ahead for a proper strategy to run them, interacting with the players' characters (this spell first, this attack second, this feat if, try to run away for a quick healing, etc.).
5.1 Look on the Paizo blog and in the PF wiki to find extra images and tidbits of info about geography, religion, lore and so on that are pertaining to the adventure. Like something about the Hellknights when the characters are about to arrive in Magnimar (Rise of the Runelords) or before starting the campaign in Korvosa (Curse of the Crimson Throne) or Westcrown (Council of Thieves).
Add these to the e-mails as background material/extra knowledge for the players (just don't overdo - a short paragraph is enough). When you'll make a reference during the game they'll know the implications, reacting "more in character".
2.3 Wait until the ENTIRE adventure path is released before running it. Then read the ENTIRE thing...twice. I know it is exciting to chew up adventure path content as it is hot off the presses, but patience is a virtue. There is nothing more ~wah wah waaaaaah~ than picking up issue #3 or #4 and realizing that you really should have made SOMETHING (NPC, Location, Plot Point) more prominent early on via foreshadowing or other techniques.
2.4 Check out the sub-forum for your Adventure Path of choice. There will always be some nuggets of awesome. There will be issues that other GMs/Groups have resolved, additional encounters, miscellaneous awesome fan content, helpful clarifications/commentary from Paizo etc.
6. Try to build a big picture of any given adventure module in terms of how the NPC's interact with each other, how they might react to your specific player characters, how the encounters slot together, etc. Players will inevitably (almost as consistent as gravitation) go left when the adventure module has prepared you for a 90º right hand turn. Understanding how the various portions of the adventure work together will help you use the material provided and reconstitute it acccordingly. At the end of the session only YOU will know how badly the players borked up your careful preparation. They won't care that the monsters from Encounter 15 ended up ambushing them in the forest so that they could find the "important clue."
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Those are excellant pointers that I forgot! Good ones!
Here's a couple more:
4.1 (and building off of Golem's 5.1) Pictures. Some DMs hate pictures but I love em. Even if they're just the illustrations in the mod that I can print out and hand around the table of the main NPCs, I'll do that beforehand. I'm also a fan of a "mood setter" landscape picture that I can paperclip to the front of my GM screen to remind the PCs of where they are. Whether it's a few pictures of the Lost City or the town they're in. (Usually the first half-page picture in the "adventure" portion of the module works perfect)
6.1 (building off what Herbo said) Know the Events that MUST occure for the adventure to run smooth. Even in a "location based" adventure (ie. explore a dungeon), Event 1 is going to be "Enter the location."
6.2 make plans on what you're going to do WHEN the party doesn't trigger/go along with the events (and they won't.)
Example: you're prep'd for the party to explore a dungeon in a cave. Problem: the party walked passed the cave and won't go in.
Solution: move the same dungeon under an old hollow tree. If they walk passed THAT, move the dungeon behind a pair of ancient doors in a cliff side.
Warning!: be prepared for when they walk out and say "Wow! That was awesome! Wonder what's under that old tree we walked passed?"
(Answer: it was an owlbear den that ended up chasing them back to the FIRST cave they walked passed... which suddenly ended after 20 feet at a cave-in. Just sayin'...)
Just like Herbo said: only you'll be the wiser to what happened behind the scene.
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2.3 Wait until the ENTIRE adventure path is released before running it. Then read the ENTIRE thing...twice. I know it is exciting to chew up adventure path content as it is hot off the presses, but patience is a virtue. There is nothing more ~wah wah waaaaaah~ than picking up issue #3 or #4 and realizing that you really should have made SOMETHING (NPC, Location, Plot Point) more prominent early on via foreshadowing or other techniques.
2.4 Check out the sub-forum for your Adventure Path of choice. There will always be some nuggets of awesome. There will be issues that other GMs/Groups have resolved, additional encounters, miscellaneous awesome fan content, helpful clarifications/commentary from Paizo etc.
6. Try to build a big picture of any given adventure module in terms of how the NPC's interact with each other, how they might react to your specific player characters, how the encounters slot together, etc. Players will inevitably (almost as consistent as gravitation) go left when the adventure module has prepared you for a 90º right hand turn. Understanding how the various portions of the adventure work together will help you use the material provided and reconstitute it acccordingly. At the end of the session only YOU will know how badly the players borked up your careful preparation. They won't care that the monsters from Encounter 15 ended up ambushing them in the forest so that they could find the "important clue."
Herbo, your 2.3 should be #1.0 for any GM wanting to run an AP. You truely have no idea how things will get twisted from AP to AP if you run them as they are of the production line.
And 2.4 can give you some excellent updates for content before the Core Rules were published, player maps, ideas for alternate builds for npc's, etc...
I like all the other suggestions to, but to me, Herbo's (2.3 & 2.4) are the absolute 1.x's of runnning an AP.
In response to Jenners first suggestion, My copy of Howl of the Carrion King fell apart from re-reading and using it in game. What I did was bought a new copy, and had everyone roll a d-20 after Kelmarane was conquered to see who got my copy. I signed it, and now it is sitting on the kids mantle like a trophy. (they did get to lvl 8 by the end of the first AP and I had Kardswann as a CR10 encounter. So it was quite a victory for them.)
Thanks, CC
I'll second reading the entire AP first. Also, golem101's advice about checking the maps and statblocks is very important, for the reasons he mentions as well as noting any possible errors or disconnects between the maps and the descriptions of the locations. Mistakes are inevitable no matter how good an editing team you have, and nothing is more frustrating than trying to find a particular secret door, room, or other location that's managed to be omitted from the final product, especially in the middle of a game.
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In response to Jenners first suggestion, My copy of Howl of the Carrion King fell apart from...
Yeah. I started copying/printing the APs to run after I loaned my entire Curse of the Crimson Throne series to my friend to run for our group. By the time we were done and I got the books back, two of them had completely fallen apart just from use.
Plus, aside from highlighting and underlining on something that isn't your book, if you print the adventure one-sided and put 'em in a 3-ring binder, you have the back of the previous page to scribble extra notes on (usually this is where I track encounter HPs).
Before I run a new chapter I re-read it (I skim the whole AP when I decide to DM it) and then before each session I read the part that I think we'll do on the session (we almost always do less) and make notes in a txt file. If there's a dungeon I do a list of the rooms with notes on what's inside and if there are some effects in play (traps etc) and reminders about monsters (usually on their speciali abilities that I'll perhaps overlook).
If there are NPCs involved, I write what they're supposed to do and talk about and general behaviour/mood.
And of course, notes about the changes I made to the AP.
I extract the images with SomePDF Image Extractor, transfer them on a friend's iPad for quick and cheap handouts, although if there important NPCs (or artifacts) I make something that resembles GameMastery Cards and print it out for their use. I usually print out journal entries, letters, etc.
Then I find/select appropriate music, rename the tracks to match the encounter names, copy all of that on my flash, set up the game and voila!
Read the AP book you are about to run thoroughly. If there is anything that is important, but you know you might forget it then write it down.
Check random monster's stat blocks. You will most likely find a few that are messed up if it has not already been noted online.
Adjust the difficulty and other things for your specific groups. AP's are not one size fits all.
Try to be prepared for when players run off the rails.