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Does anyone have a GDD template i could use? I'm not good at just typing, I prefer to follow a format but am not sure should be in it.

There are several around on the internet (several alone floating around gamdev.net), but honestly, I never use them. Most games are too unique to fall into a template. Questions will be left unanswered, and many details will be lost even on the best cookie-cutter template. Rather, I will tell you my general process.

First, I make a new Word-type document, and make typically a long paragraph that explains the general idea of the game. Then I make a "Gameplay" sections that describes, from a high level, how the game will work. For something as complex as an MMO, it can be easier to outline the gameplay from a single player's perspective, outlining probably about every 10 levels per paragraph or longer, since most MMO/PBBG games evolve as the player levels up. Explain what the player will do all through their play experience, but keep a gag on the details for now.

Next, it is time to start making the specifics sections. I start with something fundamental, such as the world setting. I give this part its own heading, and fill in the details with as much text as is needed. Naturally, this first "specifics section" is going to only create more questions. Did you mention that there are several different religions to choose from in the game? OK, time to make a new section to outline those. It should flow rather organically from one section to the next. Very few specifics sections are not going to ask more questions that you will need to answer.

At some point while fleshing out the specifics, you are going to start asking questions about the core mechanics and the "nuts and bolts" the players live with everyday, such as player classes for an MMO, to enemy types in platformer games (and MMOs and PBBGs as well). When those sections start coming up, I usually make a divider between the world details and actual mechanics/specifics about the game. Then I start filling those in, and those really bring up lots of questions that need answering. So you just created a Mage-style class? It needs spells, so what schools or elements of magic will there be? Time to fill those in as well! But still don't start making actual lists of gear, enemies, stages, zones and others just yet. There is a better way to keep stuff like that organized.

One of the last stages I do is open Excel or some other spreadsheet program and start making spreadsheets for the list-style details, such as armor pieces, mobs, enemies, stages, zones, etc. You would want to keep something like armor and zones in two different spreadsheets, but add tabs for the different types of data within each category (such as within armor, you would have one for chest pieces, another for helmets, etc.). The reason for doing this in a spreadsheet program is you are making the data accessible much more easily by a program. If you really plan out the layout to include everything you need, you could pretty easily create a PHP script to dump these spreadsheets right into your database (or, depending on your database, export the spreadsheet as a CSV file and import it directly into your database). You will thank yourself later for sparing yourself the effort of entering each datapoint by hand later into the database. Then you also have an easily searchable and queryable bank of all the details in your game. You can write Excel/Open Office Calc formulas to see how fast the strength of your enemies are scaling, or to see if you are scaling up the power of gear or power-ups too quickly. With some skilled formulas, you could even simulate battles right in your spreadsheets!

Sorry this got a bit long, but I have seen this question asked a few times and had meant several times to write about my process for creating game designs. It isn't the most scientific or standardized, but it works alright for me, and I bet it could work for others. There is no perfect GDD that will never grow, change or miss information through the development of the game, so why kill yourself trying to make sure it doesn't?

Thanks. I like the idea of simulating battles in my spreadsheet...