The Scribbler’s Toolbox · Interactive Story Design · No. 00

Adventure Design Worksheet

The universal sheet -- fill this first, for every adventure, before choosing a structure sheet

Fill this worksheet before any structure sheet. It defines the adventure’s contract: who plays, what they want, what can end the story, and what the story remembers. Hand the finished sheet (plus one structure beat sheet) over as the build spec.

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1 · The Commission

THE ASSIGNMENTIP / source materialsProtagonist (canon / original / choose-at-start)Player goal, one sentenceWin condition, one sentenceScope (teaser ~25 / full ~60 / flagship 100+)Structure (then open that beat sheet)

2 · The Promise

What should a player smell, hear, and fear within three screens? Which real names from the IP must appear so a fan knows where they are?

WORLD PROMISEGenre feel, one lineSensory anchor 1Sensory anchor 2Sensory anchor 3Proper nouns that must appear (5–10)

3 · The Ending Budget

Decide endings before beats. One true win keeps wins meaningful. The hidden ending should need a rare flag combination -- players who find it become evangelists. Every death must be earned by an ignored warning.

Ending Budget

Ending name	Type (win/hidden/death/fail)	What earns it (state, in numbers)	Epitaph -- what would have saved them

4 · The State Plan

Booleans for facts (“knows the protocol”). Counters for anything that accumulates (trust: 4 scales; isTrusted: true does not). The graph holds the branches; this state gates them. Kill any row with an empty column -- a flag that gates nothing is dead weight.

State Plan

Flag / meter	Type (bool / counter)	How it’s gained	What it gates	Where text changes

5 · The Cast

One card per NPC the player can meet. The voice note is two sentences you could perform. The secret is what the IP documents, not what you invent on the spot. “Gates” is the progress this NPC can grant or block -- an NPC who gates nothing is scenery.

NPC 1Name · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

NPC 2Name · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

NPC 3Name · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

NPC 4Name · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

NPC 5 (optional) optionalName · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

NPC 6 (optional) optionalName · roleVoice (two sentences)WantsKnows / will tradeSecretWhat they gate

6 · The Telegraph Ledger

Fair deaths are genre pleasures; arbitrary deaths are rage-quits. Every fatal or failing outcome gets a row here, with its warning planted at least one scene earlier. If you cannot fill the warning column, the death is not ready.

Telegraph Ledger

Death / fail	The warning	Who or what delivers it	How many scenes earlier

7 · The Plant & Payoff Ledger

Meaningful choices pay off scenes later, not in the next line. When you write a choice, name the scene where it fires. No payoff, no choice.

Plant & Payoff Ledger

Choice	What it plants (flag/meter)	Payoff scene	Distance (scenes)

8 · The Choice-Craft Checklist

Run every drafted choice against these before handoff:

The cover test -- hide the passage that follows; does the button still mean something?
Identity over plot -- does the choice ask who the player is, not what happens next?
Named reconvergence -- does every divergence have a decided merge point?
Plant now, water later -- does the consequence land at least one scene away?
Voice consistency -- could one actor perform this NPC across every branch?

HANDOFF: this sheet + one structure beat sheet = the build spec.