Deep Dynamic Quests Update (henceforth DDQ)

Dissecting the "overall" RPG quest is proving pretty challenging. Coming up with ways to implement something with sufficient variety and interest while managing project bloat. The most complex thing so far is the NPC; I've differentiated them into "Supporting" and "Pivotal" groups, with your pivotal chars being the major interaction points, and supporting as say, the barkeep that didn't much like the dead guy you're investigating and doesn't care.

To keep my brain from exploding I'm employing FreeMind, a piece of free Java-based mind mapping software. I'm finding it very useful in visualizing an overall concept and expanding on ideas a bit at a time. It's a nice contrast to the usual practice of working on one thing, then another, and forgetting a huge amount of the first. You can do the whole mind mapping thing on paper, I'm just using the software because I have my laptop in front of me most of the time while at home (it wars constantly with interesting games/movies for my attention).

So, yeah, useful software, and the planning is under way.

Current line of thinking is to just mind map the thing until I can't expand on it anymore, then evaluate that and cut it down to something I could actually accomplish within the space of half a year or so.