Planning your story

Finished the general plot of my module and thought I'd share the structure I used to plan it out.

I keep the main plot in a separate word document to anything else dealing with the module.

I divide the document into sections, based on the island they take place in. When I put in more quests, maybe involving moving back and forth between islands as part of the main story this may change, but this is what I'm using now.

Now the significant bit. Each quest is written in the following format:

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Quest Number) Descriptive Quest Name (Not used in story)

What the player does to start the quest.

Information:
1) Something the NPC tells the player
2) Something else, if need they tell the player
.
.
n) etc

Tasks given:
1) E.g. Fight way through to person
2) Sneak way through to person
3) Talk war through to person.
(There may be more or less or different tasks depending on what you want)

Rewards Given:
1) E.g. Level 1 XP boost
2) 1000 Gold
3) Receive Item (Item Name/s)

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Each quest done in the story has this stuff filled out, even if I might radically change it or add more quests as I go. It provides some idea of where you begin, where you are as you go and where you finish up. There maybe multiple places you finish up or multiple paths if you have time.

Each quest is listed and numbered as it comes up in the story. E.g.


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Land: Land 1
1) Player takes to NPC 1

The player begins talking to the first guy

Information:
1) It's a nice day isn't it? Lovely place in this town/dungeon/swamp
2) Lots of things to see and do here
3) There's a creature a bit further off, not sure what it is
4) Would be nice if someone could do something about it so that things stay nice

Tasks Given:
1) Find and kill the creature
2) Sneak past monsters to the creature, maybe needing lock picks and confront it.
3) Talk way past entities between you and the creature and convince the creature to leave/stop hurting people. Maybe need high reaction for more options?

Rewards Given:
1) Level 1 XP boost
2) 500 Gold
3) +5 Reputation
4) +5 Good reaction


2) Player goes back to NPC 1

The player has made sure the creature is no longer a threat and returns to NPC 1 to talk about what they did.

Information:
1) Fantastic that you killed/drove off/persuade the creature.
2) Things can now continue to be nice and stuff.
3) The other places in the land will benefit too.
4) Mentions (if not asked) that other places could use your help
5) Town 2 specifically could use your skills - a dude wants to take it over.

Tasks Given:
1) Find and kill the Dude. Then talk to the town mayor.
OR
2) Sneak into his lair and steal his item which gives him strength.
OR
3) Convince someone to talk you into the back entrance and persuade the dude to stop being a prick. The better your persuasion the better the outcome.

Rewards Given:
1) Level 2 XP boost
2) 1500 Gold
3) +10 Reputation
4) +10 Good reaction
5) Given dude's item depending on what you say to the mayor afterwards.

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So that's one way to structure your thoughts, hope it helps!