Free template
Hero’s Journey Template: 12 Stage Worksheet
This hero’s journey template is a fillable worksheet for Christopher Vogler’s 12 stages, from the Ordinary World to the Return with the Elixir. Enter your page count and each stage gets a page target. Fill it in here, print it or save a PDF in Letter or A4, or copy it as text.
Written and reviewed by ScriptLix Editorial
Hero’s journey
- 1. Ordinary WorldPages 1 to 8
The hero at home, before the call.
- 2. Call to AdventurePages 9 to 12
A problem or a challenge arrives.
- 3. Refusal of the CallPages 13 to 18
Fear says no, for now.
- 4. Meeting the MentorPages 19 to 27
Advice, a gift or a push.
- 5. Crossing the ThresholdPages 28 to 32
Commits to the journey. End of Act One.
- 6. Tests, Allies, EnemiesPages 33 to 45
Learning the rules of the new world.
- 7. Approach to the Inmost CavePages 46 to 54
Preparing for the big ordeal.
- 8. The OrdealPages 55 to 65
Life or death, at the middle of the story.
- 9. RewardPages 66 to 82
The hero takes the prize.
- 10. The Road BackPages 83 to 98
Consequences chase the hero. End of Act Two.
- 11. ResurrectionPages 99 to 106
The final test. The climax.
- 12. Return with the ElixirPages 107 to 110
Home again, changed.
Compare the stages with Save the Cat and the Story Circle in the beat sheet calculator, check the act breaks with the three act structure calculator, and build your hero with the character profile template.
What does a finished hero’s journey look like?
A filled example for an original story, The Night Ferry, planned as a 110 page feature. A timid hospital porter who has never left her island must pilot a stolen ferry through a storm to bring a dying patient to the mainland surgeon who can save him.
1. Ordinary World
Pages 1 to 8Wren, 34, hospital porter on a small island. Knows every corridor, has never been on the water since her father drowned. Wheels patients to the ferry and stops at the dock.
2. Call to Adventure
Pages 9 to 12The island surgeon is injured in a storm. A boy needs an operation tonight, and the only surgeon who can do it is on the mainland. The ferry captain refuses to sail.
3. Refusal of the Call
Pages 13 to 18Wren says it is not her place. She is a porter. She goes home and sits in the dark, listening to the wind.
4. Meeting the Mentor
Pages 19 to 27Old Ines, a retired ferry pilot in the ward with a broken hip, tells Wren her father taught half the island to sail, including Ines. She draws the channel from memory on a pillowcase.
5. Crossing the Threshold
Pages 28 to 32Wren takes the ferry keys from the captain’s coat and casts off with the boy, his mother and a nervous junior nurse. The harbour lights go out behind her.
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
Pages 33 to 45The radio fails. The nurse panics, the mother wants to turn back, and Wren learns the boat by touch. A fishing crew answers a flare and becomes an unexpected ally.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
Pages 46 to 54They reach the reef channel Ines warned her about, where her father’s boat was lost. Wren has to decide whether to wait for the tide or go through blind.
8. The Ordeal
Pages 55 to 65The ferry strikes rock. Water comes in. Wren goes below into the flooding engine room, the place she has feared her whole life, to restart the pump.
9. Reward
Pages 66 to 82The pump catches. They clear the reef. The boy is stable, and the nurse, steadier now, calls Wren Captain without irony.
10. The Road Back
Pages 83 to 98The mainland coastguard reports her stolen vessel and orders her to stop. The storm turns again, and the harbour mouth ahead is breaking white.
11. Resurrection
Pages 99 to 106Wren brings the ferry into the harbour by the method from the pillowcase, alone at the wheel, and hands the boy to the surgeon on the quay.
12. Return with the Elixir
Pages 107 to 110Back on the island, Wren pilots the morning ferry with Ines in the passenger seat. On the dock, a new porter stops at the edge. Wren waves him aboard.
How to use it
- 1
Enter your script length, or pick a common page count.
- 2
Write a working title, then one or two sentences for each of the 12 stages.
- 3
Check the page targets against your outline and move scenes that land far off.
- 4
Print or save it as a PDF, or copy it as text into your notes.
The 12 stages and the three acts
| Act | Stages | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| One: departure | Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold | Home, a problem, fear, help, and a choice to go |
| Two: initiation | Tests, Allies, Enemies; Approach to the Inmost Cave; The Ordeal; Reward; The Road Back | A new world, the biggest test and its prize |
| Three: return | Resurrection, Return with the Elixir | The final test, and home again, changed |
What are the 12 stages of the hero’s journey?
Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, Allies, Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, the Ordeal, Reward, the Road Back, Resurrection and Return with the Elixir. Christopher Vogler set them out for screenwriters in The Writer’s Journey, adapting Joseph Campbell’s monomyth from The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Where do the page targets come from?
Vogler does not give page numbers. Following the beat sheet calculator, the template places the stages on a three act grid, with Act One ending a quarter of the way in and Act Two ending three quarters in, and spaces the stages inside each act. Treat the targets as a guide for spotting a stage that arrives far too early or late, not as rules.
Does every story need all 12 stages?
No. Vogler presents the stages as a flexible pattern, and many films skip, merge or reorder them. A mentor can be a book or a memory; the refusal can be a single line. The worksheet is most useful as a checklist of questions: what does my hero leave behind, what tests them, and what do they bring home?
Is the hero’s journey only for adventure stories?
It shows up across genres. A romance can treat a first date as crossing the threshold, and a drama can make the ordeal a confession at a family dinner. The stages describe an inner change as much as a physical journey.
How is the hero’s journey different from Save the Cat?
Both sit on a three act frame. Save the Cat names fifteen beats with page targets from Blake Snyder; the hero’s journey names twelve mythic stages focused on the hero’s transformation. The beat sheet calculator shows both on the same page count so you can compare.
Questions writers ask
How many stages are in the hero’s journey?
Vogler’s screenwriting version has 12. Campbell’s original monomyth describes 17 stages in three parts.
Is this hero’s journey template free?
Yes. Fill it in online, print it, save it as a PDF or copy it as text. No account needed.
Is my worksheet saved?
No. It lives in your browser tab, so print, save a PDF or copy the text before you close the page.
What is the ordeal in the hero’s journey?
The central crisis near the middle of the story, where the hero faces their greatest fear or a life or death test.
What is the elixir in the hero’s journey?
Whatever the hero brings home that changes their world: a treasure, knowledge, love or simply the experience.