1. The Grimoire, or the Menagerie of Media
As many of you know, I’m Taylor Hoover and the project I’ve been working on this
semester is called Holographic Scrolls. I started out trying to cover nerd culture in general,
which provided a lot of freedom but was also a bit too broad. As the website took form, I
noticed that I was becoming heavily focused on how stories are told in different ways across
different platforms. I also noticed that many of these platforms had started to blend together to
support one another, and that seemed like a conversation that I wanted to contribute to. We’re
constantly engaged with new stories, across a variety of media, so this integration of platforms is
of particular interest to me.
As an example, Bungie’s new game Destiny has been criticized by many, because the
story presented is arguably lacking. The player is guided by a companion who tells a majority of
the story through vague dialogue about threats that must be eliminated. When I first finished the
game, I was a bit disappointed with the story. But then, I started digging into the Grimoire, an
app built as a companion to the game but not accessible from within the game, and I found that
the world of Destiny has an expansive history that isn’t immediately available. Bungie, the
developers of Destiny, built the Grimoire knowing that putting all of the lore of their world in the
game would quickly become intrusive and would interrupt the fast-paced gameplay. So instead
of forcing the backstory down players’ throats, they hid it in the flavor text of equipment and
through “Grimoire Cards” which are awarded to players for extended play and small
accomplishments. Each Grimoire Card gives the player a small bonus in-game and unlocks a
chunk of lore in the Grimoire.
This was their solution to balancing gameplay and story: a rich library of lore that is
separate from the game, but integral to the story. Even if players aren’t interested in learning

2. more about the world, they earn gameplay rewards from collecting the Grimoire cards, which
keeps them relevant. Bungie uses this to bring eloquently written text and their game together, in
much the same way that Twine makes language an integral part of their games. Both are
experiments in storytelling. Without the Grimoire, the player’s actions in Destiny might seem
hollow. Without the game, the Grimoire would have no context. This relationship ties two
separate entities together in a way that benefits both.
Social media has allowed a similar symbiosis to form between producers and consumers.
Continuing to use Destiny as an example—sorry to those of you who are bored by games—
developer blogs have become something that many players look forward to each week. In the
same companion app that contains the Grimoire, Bungie releases weekly updates on the state of
their game and the changes that they plan to implement, which opens a conversation between
themselves and their players. It’s this conversation that blogs like my own, Holographic Scrolls,
contribute to. The developers release glimpses of their plans for future development, players
ingest these ideas and consider how they might affect gameplay, and then voices in the player
community filter reactions into speculation on further changes that may come and into feedback
for developers to consider. This conversation is perhaps best observed on Twitter, where
developers can quickly and casually answer their followers in a matter of seconds. Randy
Pitchford of Gearbox Software—the studio responsible for the Borderlands series—is very open
to speaking with players, offering insights into the development process, and showing off
fanworks that he finds across the internet.
As another example of platforms supporting each other, Gearbox Software recently
teamed up with Telltale Games to create an episodic, interactive novel based on the Borderlands
series. As a result, Tales of the Borderlands was born and the series villain was given more time

3. to develop. Telltale Games has given a similar treatment to The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among
Us, both based on Vertigo comics series, and Game of Thrones. Each of these games take player
choice into account and the story shifts accordingly, providing a unique experience to everyone
who plays them. Had they been produced as traditional publications, the supplementary
information would have been present, but the experience would have been fundamentally
changed and not nearly as personalized.
These supplementary relationships don’t exist exclusively online and within the realm of
games and apps. Adventure Time, The Last Airbender, and The Bravest Warriors are all
animated series which also have printed comic counterparts. The Bravest Warriors launched its
animated series online, as a part of Cartoon Hangover’s YouTube channel, with the comic
following just a few short months later. With this simultaneous release schedule, the creators are
able to follow a primary plot arc in the animated series, while exploring secondary arcs in the
comics. Adventure Time and The Last Airbender first gained popularity as TV shows, before
breaking off into comics. Adventure Time’s creators use their comics to explore some themes
that may not be appropriate for the target audience of the television series. The creators of The
Last Airbender used their comics to answer plot questions that they didn’t have ample time to
address in the animated series, while simultaneously setting the stage for their sequel series The
Legend of Korra.
Starting Holographic Scrolls, as a part of English 420, forced me to create an outlet for
observations like these, where platforms meld and creators reach out to their audiences to form
communities. It seems that technology, particularly social media, has allowed the gap between
producer and consumer to close so both parties are more aware of what the other would like to
do with new content. With some experience as both designer and player under my belt, I feel

4. that Holographic Scrolls has become a space where I’m able to help bridge whatever gap
remains by offering small insights into nerd culture.
Holographic Scrolls, the blog referenced throughout, can be found here.