The adventure premise in 1-3 sentences.
Introduction
This is an X adventure for Y level characters in Z system. Any other information that would let a game master decide whether or not they want to read further into this adventure.
Prep
Background
Important information to help set the stage for the current situation.
Goals
What the player characters want.
Obstacles
What stands in the player characters’ way.
Seeds
Information to seed with the player characters, like rumors & legends.
GM Only—The Truth
What the GM needs to know before play begins. Read this before the session, not at the table.
Play
This section is meant to be used in play. The goal is to eliminate or limit the need to reference anything else when running the game. Everything the GM needs should be here with well-structured links to optional or extra information.
Procedures & Tracking
Active rules running during play—encounter clocks, turn structure, pacing triggers, chaos rules, date and time, etc.
The Adventure
This is the beating heart of the GM’s tools. Structure varies by adventure type but the bulk of the “adventure” should live here.
Permissions through formatting: bold for freely visible, bullets for discoverable, [!secret]- for hidden.