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Now that we're winding down this campaign, I decided to give my impressions and some advice. WARNING: DM SPOILERS FOLLOW! So, here's what I did differently.
First, exploration of Chult got simplified: rather than using the provided fold-out map with all the blank hexes, I scanned the DM map from the book and photoshopped all of the location names out. This meant no need for a giant bulletin board (which the game store where we play doesn't have) and also no cartography skills needed by the players.
Second, I integrated Lost Shrine of Tamoachan and Dead in Thay from Tales from the Yawning Portal into this story. Lost Shrine became a way for them to discover a map to lead them to Omu, and Dead in Thay was made into an epilogue.
Third (and this was a really tough decision that the players will never never know about), I decided not to run the city of Omu the way the book says. It was going to be a massive pain, so I just wrote a script for events that would happen each day they were in the city. So, they thought they were moving around on the map, but in fact I had them arbitrarily find what I needed them to find. So, no random encounters, and no measured movement on the map. I picked the five shrines I thought the group would have the most fun with, and guided them to those; all the others they found pillaged. So yeah, maybe that makes me a crap DM, but it's all about having a good time, and that was the best way.
Fourth, I had to give a lot - a lot - of ad hoc XP awards to keep the party at a reasonable level. Random encounters just aren't enough if you only use them as often as the book says. So ad hocs for each puzzle/room/trap, and that keeps the party level just about right.
Finally, a mistake I should have seen coming and didn't: don't give your players 50 temporary HP each turn during the fight with Acererak. I think 20 or 25 would be better. With 50, you have to do more than 50 damage to any player each turn in order to make a dent in them at all. Seems obvious, but even Acererak had a hard time putting out that much damage. And that's assuming they don't use healing potions or spells! When I manage to kill only one player character in the final showdown, there's a balance problem.
Anyway, those are my lessons learned. It's been a great time for everyone, and I'll definitely do this campaign again some day. Cheers, everyone, and carpe DM!
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