Probably the most important thing about creating an adventure map is the story. What drives the characters? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? An most importantly: What is the goal of the adventure map?


Some sample goals:

-Hide from someone
-Kill the evil person
-Get the treasure
-Kill Everyone Else
-Don't Die!

Once you have your goal in mind you can start creating the rest of your story. Most stories begin with a driving event, like a leader being killed or a war starting. Some start out with subtler events, like, say the amount of slave trade has gone up. The characters don't know that that is due to the evil person killing all his minions :P

A good middle is where the characters want to usually be fighting something, not mucking about in puzzles. Good boss fights, great treausre, and a backstory woven into the world all provide the player with a reason to keep playing.

A good ending usually has a great finale. Some are victorious, some are sad, some are even heartbreaking. Most of the time it will end with a final puzzle or boss. Don't Worry. So long as it is hard, and it reaps good rewards, the characters will most likely not hate it. 

A Note: Fake Endings

Fake Endings are sometimes good, but most of the time they are bad. Let me give you two examples:

Good: The demon was summoned before you could stop it, so now you have to kill the demon.
Bad: He was actually being controlled by a wizard who was being controlled by a demon so now you have to kill both!

A fake ending should only be used once, if ever, and should be integral to the storyline.