> You generally work backwards:
> 
> First, figure out the villains plan. How many steps are there. Then ask yourself how do your PCs interact with this. That should give you a basic storyboard, of the different adventures that your PCs will go on as part of the larger quest.
> 
> Then come up with 1 or 2 miniature quests that advances a PCs personal story. Ideally these don’t actively tie into the quest, because your bad guy is going to use these sessions to catch up on any progress that your PCs thwart.
> 
> Then write 10-20 hints about what the BBEG is doing. You’re going to sprinkle these in 2 or 3 per session until your PCs figure out the BBEG plot and how to stop it.
> 
> Then figure out what the bad side effect is for each step of the villain’s plan. Local mayors, kings, or patrons will hire the PCs to fix these issues. These are the individual adventure hooks for each session, until your PCs figure out the master plan.
> 
> After that you just do normal session planning, one session at a time. And make sure each session addresses one of the steps of the BBEG’s plan, as well as a hint and an adventure hook.
> 
> If you do it by this method, you basically create the outline at the start of your notes, and then you can reference it later on in your session notes.
> 
> [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/vmkh17/comment/ie1jit4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

