How would you run a pathfinder game based on Journey to the West?

[MonkeySage]

How closely would you try to stay to the story of journey to the west?

What would you do with the role of the monk in distress?

And how would you tell your players to prepare?

Do you start the campaign in medias res?

[Morcleon]

I'd probably adapt it for whatever setting I was running it for. The general concept of "holy pilgrimage by horseback accompanied by disciples" could work fine. The PCs would be the disciples, while Xuanzang would probably be an Adept. A lot of the campaign would be focused around character development, set in an almost episodic fashion, probably with some overarching secret about Xuanzang (to emulate all of the monsters' beliefs that eating him would give them eternal life).

To prep, I'd just tell the players that they start off with a long-term escort quest and ask them to come up with something in their backstories to tie them to their charge. In medias res would probably not be a good idea, since it would cut away a lot of the starting and introductory aspects.