So I have just started a new Pathfinder game, and at the end of the session one of my players was telling a story of a previous game, and the plot sounds very similar to what i had planned in the near term for the game.

My quandary, scrap what I have been working on, tweak what I have worked up, or just go with what I was planning as is. I am at a bit of a loss on how to proceed. Any advice?

Do what you feel will present the best end product to your players. I've seen the plot behind super hero movies over a hundred times but it can always be reworked into something interesting and fun. Imagine how often the formula of "Find the Macguffin at the end of the dungeon" has been used but is still entertaining to a wide audience. There is nothing new under the sun, so don't be afraid of game plots being similar or near identical if it means the players will be engaged and have a good time.

There's two plots:

The Hero Goes on a Journey
A Stranger Comes to Town

All else is just details, so don't sweat it. Unless there's some sort of big reveal involved that he's going to guess right away, similarity of plot is not an issue.

All the things that Mobius and Freemage said are absolutely true, but in my experience this will hardly matter to the players, who will gripe and complain anyways. Of course, that is probably just be my poor fortune and not indicative of gamers as a whole.

Still, I would advise you to do some tweaking to your campaign. The fact that you posted this question on the forums seems to say that you're at least a little uncomfortable with the position you find yourself, and I've never seen a module or campaign that couldn't be improved with a little bit of tweaking. If I were you I'd ask myself a couple of questions as I was working on the campaign:

1) In a broad and general sense, what did the player seem to like about the last campaign you played in? What didn't they like? This may be a chance to learn from the last GM's mistakes, or build on his successes. If I played Kingmaker in the past and I thoroughly enjoyed the kingdom management aspect of the game and hated the hex-crawling, I wouldn't start whining and complaining if you put me in something with more kingdom management and less hexcrawling.

2) What parts of your campaign are you especially proud of? What parts are you not so sure about? Build on the one and cut the other. Just cutting the stuff you aren't confident in will make the campaign more unique to your style and personality, which is going to go a long way to making the campaign feel unique to your players.

3) Are there any specific sections of your campaign that are so similiar to the last campaign that it will totally pull the players out of the experience? Get rid of them if you can, tweak them if you can't. If it isn't too similiar, just keep it. They may not notice or care. Even one or two different aspects can be enough to satisfy them.

Story tellers tend to develop certain narrative tropes over time that they become especially good at. One of mine is intelligence not of human origin. Every game that can support some for of non mortal intelligence will likely be introduced into the game quickly and play a key role. Because I'm aware this can get old fast, I try to make it a positive aspect of the game. An AI can be new and interesting if you give it the same fleshed out feel as any other character. Have it influences by the setting, form relationships, explore interesting ideas, have deep character flaws, and be part of game changing events.

You can only improve through practice and willingness to take risks.

Thanks for the advice, I think some of my second guessing is due to playing with a new gaming group after med and grad school and family crisis forced an end to my previous Shadowrun campaign.

I have opted to stick with my previous ideas with a little bit of a reshape. i like some of the basic bits of the plot that the player had with a previous GM, and i need to remember I am never quite as clever as I think I am when i am building a story.

You could use his familiarity with the plot against him. Make him think he knows where something is going but then take it somewhere else. You would have to be careful to balance things so that "expecting it to be different" did not become just as predictable.

If you're even slightly worried about it, find someone you can bounce the specific ideas off of. I've come up with some scary concepts for games. My sister has also come up with some scary concepts for games. Nothing yet, however, has been half so terrifying as the stuff we've bounced between the two of us. If you can get a co-conspirator who'll help you mold your ideas, you're much more likely to come up with something that'll leave your players' jaws two inches below floor level.

Probably a little late to this advice giving party, but....

I agree with you decision not to change your plot. I remember a similar discussion about this a few years back in FTB history where Chad was running a game and the players guessed the king was a lizard or something and so he changed everything around.

Because he is Chad the change worked.

But he later mentioned that the reason he changed it was the players thought it was boring and clique and that "Chad would never do something as dull as that."

The moral is, if the story is good and the players are involved they will have a good time even if they have played it some version of it before.

Actually, there's a third plot, A Girl Falls In Love. However, I wouldn't recommend romance novels as the source of plot ideas for your pathfinder game.

That said, if the players do discover you plot before your big reveal, one idea is to play up that the players figured it out though the reaction of the villain.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha, fools! As you can see, I am not really the king, I am a Lizardman in surprise!" <Pulls off costume>

"Really, he really was a Lizard man in disguise, how obvious."

"Yeah, I'd guessed that almost from the beginning."

"What, huh? No, this is a huge surprise for you all. I am a Lizardman Wizard in disguise, and I fooled you all. Act more surprised, I demand it."

"So, do we still get paid, or do we just kill you now and take the reward?"