Evaluating the Players (CSC)

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Start the adventure design process by evaluating the players in the Campaign and deciding what kind of adventures will satisfy their playing styles (novice DMs can skip this step until they know their regular players better).
Most players fit into one of three general types: Adventures, Probiem Solvers or Role-players. Each type brings a different attitude to a roleplay game.
A mismatch of adventure to playing style often results in reduced enjoyment for all concerned. Since most groups will contain one or more of each type, a good adventure is balanced between the various styles of play.
==Adventurers==
These are the bright-eyed, enthusiastic players that most of us were when we first played the game. Many players retain an interest in this style of play for as long as they game.
To Adventurers, a good game is full of physical challenges that their character abilities allow them to overcome. Combat is their top choice for action and they rate their characters' quality by the amount of sheer mayhem and carnage they can cause.
The needs of the Adventurer are easily met. Monsters to fight and booty to haul can satisfy them for weeks on end. The lure of treasure and potentia1 mayhem are all the DM needs as hooks to draw them into his adventures. To keep the game fresh for these hack-and-slash heroes~ make the monsters use smarter combat tactics or try variations on existing monsters like adding poison or magic to those creatures the PCs are used to using as sword fodder.
==Problem-Solvers==
These players see the campaign as a great puzzle and their purpose, indeed their joy, is to put all the pieces together. The more twisted and convoluted the plot, the better. They love unique and mentally challenging gaming sessions and rapidly become bored with anything that does not seem new. They go to great lengths to concoct imaginative and occasionally workable plans to deal with every eventuality.
Problem solvers can be tough to referee. They tend to be creative with the rules of the game and thus require the DM to be creative and consistent.
Don't hesitate to borrow tricks, traps, and encounter ideas from any source available to meet the problem solvers' insatiable craving for mental challenge. They also need more than just the lure of treasure to seek out an adventure. They need a mystery! Give these players motivating backgrounds and let them decide where they will go, then work hard to keep one step ahead of them.
==Role-players==
At some point, every player fits into this category. Role-players love to develop the details of their character's lives, right down to minor possessions, ancestry, and personality quirks. To them, even the routine parts of a game session, such as equipping a character, are an opportunity for a role-playing experience. Given the chance, they'll haggle in the market over every item in their inventory.
Role-players approach the game in the person of their characters. Character development may take precedence over other minor aspects, like survival or mission success. They may choose to talk instead of fight their way out of delicate situations. Since role-players view their characters as the sole reason for playing, the motivation for an adventure must come from within the characters, something that is important to their motivations and goals (which are rarely listed as "kill all monsters, grab lots of treasure, It or even "solve tricky mysteries"). With the amount of detail these players know about their characters, devising a motivation should not be a difficult task for the DM. Pick something out of the character's past and use it as a subplot to get that character involved (more on this later).
As stated earlier, chances are good that the DM will need to provide a mix of styles to please his players. He will also need to keep in mind that during the adventure, the different types of players will want to play the game differently. The chapters that follow on DMing the Adventure will provide help in that regard.