Transmedia Playbook

1. Transmedia Playbook2 TM Transmedia Playbook TM

2. Transmedia Playbook TM You are free to share this book in it’s entirety and free to reuse/remix all text, illustrations and icons under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike agreement. The photographic images have been licensed by us and can’t be remixed or used alone, so please don’t share or remix them unless part of this book. This edition first published June 2014 by Transmedia Storyteller Ltd. www.conducttr.com Design by Eleanor Mathieson

3. Transmedia Playbook TM How to use this Playbook Use this playbook when you’re stuck for ideas. If you want to do something fun but don’t know where to start or if the client puts you on a deadline to propose an experience, use this book as quick reference guide. This book will stimulate ideas and provide structure to your thinking. Each example story has three sections: • Platforms – how this particular example is delivered • Format – the participation tropes and experience characteristics • Story – an example of how the format might be used • Building blocks – the steps used to create the experience. Note that the building blocks relate specifically to implementation in Conducttr but could be used to implement in some other way if you prefer not to use the convenience of Conducttr. To make it even easier, we’ve created template projects for most of the stories here so you can create a new, original project and speed up the implementation by working from one of those public templates. How you can help If you like this playbook and find it helpful, you can help the community of transmedia storytellers by sharing it widely and by sending us your examples for possible inclusion in the next release of this book. If your work is included in the next playbook, we will of course credit you accordingly! Finally, if you’re a Conducttr author, remember that you can even create your own templates too. Introduction The purpose of this book is to stimulate ideas and inspiration. It’s a small catalogue of participatory transmedia storytelling experiences intended to remind, suggest, provoke and inspire creators. What is Transmedia Storytelling? Transmedia storytelling is telling a story across multiple platforms, preferably allowing audience participation, such that each successive platform heightens the audience’ enjoyment. Note the use of “platform” instead of “media”. Video is a media while YouTube is a platform. Text is another media but the platform could be SMS, a book, a blog and so on. With this stricter definition, a multimedia website does not represent transmedia storytelling unless it’s part of some larger, multi-platform experience. Not all multi-platform projects are examples of transmedia storytelling and usually it’s because the same content has been repurposed rather than each platform delivering unique content. What’s a Format? We’ve defined format to mean a combination of experience characteristics and frequently used participation mechanisms (which we’ve called participation tropes). Our definition of transmedia storytelling encompasses many types of projects. It can therefore be useful to think in terms of how the audience experience is shaped such as the use of time, the use of place, whether the experience is intended to be enjoyed alone or with others and so on. Working with these experience characteristics we start to create a format – a certain classification of experience defined by the relationship between the creator and the audience. In addition to the characteristics, we see commonly used mechanisms or ways of interacting with an audience such as a treasure hunt or voting and we refer to these as participation tropes. For example, if you build a twitter experience in which the audience has to make a decision by voting, the experience characteristics would be Scheduled, because you open and close the voting process at a certain period of time and Multiplayer because the audience will work together and vote as a community. In this case, our participation tropes is You Decide which we have created to describe a branching narrative that depends on a community decision.

4. Transmedia Playbook TM JOURNEY LOCATION (on and offline) PERSPECTIVE SHARING Follow Up Character waits for a delay period after an initial reply and then re-contacts the audience with additional or conflicting information Intercepted Communication Audience contacts one character and gets a reply from another Lock and Key Audience must first contact one character who holds the key to unlock information from a second Check-in Audience must go to a location in order to unlock information Treasure Hunt Audience goes from place to place gathering information Video Cues Audience discovers information in a video to send to a character Alternative View Audience gets two or more unfolding stories each with a unique but related perspective Personality Test Audience answers questions to get different information according to their answers Pass it On Ask the audience to bring someone else into the experience AVAILABILITY Participation Tropes Locked Out Audience is unable to access information for the period of a delay Closed Out to Lunch Character availability is limited by time of day and day of week 00:01 Time Limit Information is available for a certain period of time COUNTS EXCLUSIVITY Three Strikes and You’re Out Audience is allowed a limited number of interactions after which information or choices are unavailable Flock to Unlock Content is published after a specific number of people have interacted You Decide Narrative branches depending on majority community behavior First Come, First Served Only the first batch of people to respond correctly get the information Personal Locker Personalized web-based content is made available based on interactive choices VIP

5. Transmedia Playbook TM Index HEAD OR HEART? 10 WATCH DAWGS 12 SECRET IDENTITY 14 BOND PARTY 16 GHOST STORY 18 FIND ME A LOVER 20 TIME FOR TEA 22 SATISFY THE ORACLE 24 LOVERS INTERCEPTED 26 PRISON BREAK 28 MASQUERADE BALL 30 PARTY LOVER 32 GOOD vs EVIL 34 OAK TOWN MYSTERY 36 ZOMBIE OUTBREAK 38 WANT TICKETS? 40 FULL MOON 42 STYLE BUDDIES 44 Characteristics Branching Narrative Audience is able to choose between different fixed sequences of interaction Interactive The content and information is delivered depending on audience interaction Exclusivity Audience gains access to exclusive content Solo Player The story is individual and the result depends on each audience member Multiplayer The experience depends on community interaction Personalized Audience receives personalized content Physical Objects The experience requires interaction with a physical object Plays With Time The experience depends on time periods, delays or deadlines 2July Scheduled The content is published at a specific date and time PACING PERSONALIZATION REAL WORLD STORY STRUCTURE N S EW Real Places The experience is dependent on a physical place PLAY STYLE Open World Audience has greatest freedom because there is no fixed sequence of interaction 2July N S EW Closed VIP 2July Closed 2July N S EW

6. Transmedia PlaybookTM 1110 HEAD or HEART Facebook | Blog STORY Kala is confused because she’s torn between two guys. She needs to decide whether to follow her heart or follow her head. She will make up her mind at the end of the week! She asks her Facebook friends to help her decide and they vote for head or heart “Help me decide! Should I follow my heart or my head?” During the week Kala tells the friends how she’s swaying based on the collective opinion but they will need to wait until the final day to see which triumphs! At the end of the week, Kala makes her decision according to the most popular opinion and publishes the whole dramatic experience on her blog! BUILDING BLOCKS Publish call-to-action Use Date & Time Trigger with Facebook Post Maintain the count Use two Change Value actions to increment the Project attributes head and heart Listen for mentions of “head” and “heart” Use two Facebook Triggers - one for “head” and one for “heart” At the deadline publish the result Use Date & Time Trigger at the decision deadline. Use Condition head >= heart to publish the “head won” and Condition head < heart to publish “heart won” 2July

7. Transmedia PlaybookTM 1312 WATCH DAWGS Video | SMS | Location STORY CCTV cameras across the city reveal vital clues and story details that unravel the mystery of what happened to Tony Vargas. Tony, a local charity worker and school soccer coach, disappeared 3 days ago. You play as a vigilante hacker with the mission to find out who took Tony and why. Starting from one location, players need to locate a number of CCTV cameras and possible witnesses scattered across the city. Each CCTV camera has a code beneath it and witnesses wear a code on an armband. Texting the CCTV code sends a link to video footage of what happened from the perspective of that camera sometime in the past 3 days. Texting witness codes results in either a phone call to listen in to past conversations or a warning that the hacking intrusion has been detected! Detection results in the CCTV footage being scrambled for 15 minutes. BUILDING BLOCKS Hack a CCTV camera Use SMS Trigger with matchphrase matching unique camera code to send SMS with link to video Notify player that CCTV footage is no longer blocked Use Publish Trigger connected to delayed notification SMS to remove player from hacked agent Group Hack an agent and detected Add player to the hacked agent Group that corresponds to the nearby CCTV N S EW

8. Transmedia PlaybookTM 1514 SECRET IDENTITY Twitter | YouTube STORY The mysterious rebel and secretive anti-hero “The Mystic Mask” will finally reveal his real identity when 500 people @message him on Twitter the phrase “#rememberthe5th” “The Mystic Mask” (@antiheroeofalltimes) tweets: “If I get 500 replies with #rememberthe5th then I’ll publish my unmasking video!” Start tweeting… and wait… BUILDING BLOCKS Tweet the call-to-action Use Date & Time Trigger to publish the tweet Count the tweets up to 500 Use Condition with Trigger fire count ignored until 500th Listen for tweets with #rememberthe5th Use Twitter trigger with matchphrase = #rememberthe5th When count is 500 then publish video and announcement tweet Publish Video and Tweet on Twitter trigger+Condition true (eg 500th tweet). publish “heart won”

9. Transmedia PlaybookTM 1716 BOND PARTY Email | SMS | Phone Call STORY A company wants to create a unique event for its employees: a James Bond night filled with amazing drinks, glamorous dresses and casino-inspired activities. The employees receive a paper note with a phone number to which they have to text “RSVP YES” to confirm their attendance. The RSVP is met with two questions sent in succession: Question 1 : Are you Female (F) or Male (M) Question 2: Who’s your favourite Bond? Connery or Craig According to the answer, employees receive an SMS with a link to a PDF with their personal dress code for the party and a ticket to show at the bar to get a personalised cocktail. But things don’t finish there. One hour later, when they least expect it, the employees receive a phone call: It’s Bond himself inviting them to the event! Who can say no to that? BUILDING BLOCKS Audience texts RSVP and gets first question SMS trigger matches RSVP and sends SMS reply Audience sends Connery or Craig SMS trigger fires, adds sender to correct Group and sets question Attribute = 2. Watch trigger fires, Condition checks question number and replies with final response which uses Group Combos (M-Connery, M-Craig, F-Connery, F-Craig) Audience sends F or M SMS trigger fires, adds sender to correct Group and sets question Attribute = 1. Watch trigger fires, Condition checks question number and replies with question 2 Delayed phone call from “Bond” inviting them to the party Delayed trigger from Step 3. fires 1 hr later and make outbound phone call.

10. Transmedia PlaybookTM 1918 GHOST STORY Book | Email STORY A book tells the story of John Fin moving to an old house that seems to have the presence of its previous owner. The book says that John receives strange emails from an unrecognized address (wr_vn@gmail.com) with messages warning him about a dark secret the house hides. If readers send an email to wr_vn@gmail.com then they discover that it’s the ghost of William Raven, the old owner of the house, whose death remains unsolved. The ghost sends emails to the reader telling them the story of his past and his enigmatic house. In this way, the reader receives two parallel stories - one in the book and one via email - both are interconnected yet independent creating an enhanced experience. BUILDING BLOCKS Reader sends an email wr_vn@gmail.com Use Email Trigger with empty matchphrase and Condition to check this is the first email this reader has sent Follow-up replies are sent several days apart Use Email Reply with delay Immediate reply is sent Use Email Reply to respond and add reader to a “first email received” Group Allow reader to start sequence again Use Publish Trigger on last email sent to remove reader from “first email received” Group

11. Transmedia PlaybookTM 2120 FIND ME A LOVER Twitter | SMS | Email | Inventory STORY In this saucy interactive story, every reader has a unique journey to find a “friend with benefits” amoung four fictional characters who pour their hearts out on their blogs. Players find topics of conversation by reading the blogs and try to build relationships by asking revealing questions on Twitter, SMS and email. At the dating site, where each player’s profile is held, they get to see what treats, invitations and messages the characters have uniquely left for them based on their questions and behavior. BUILDING BLOCKS Post revealing information on the character’s blogs Use Date & Time Triggers to make Blog Posts to the dating site Add personalised content Give each player an Inventory attribute for each character and add content according to questions asked Capture the questions in Twitter, email and/or SMS Use Twitter/email/SMS Triggers and matchphrases to listen for questions Display the personalised items at the dating website profile Use Conducttr’s Developer API to display the character Inventories for each player

12. Transmedia PlaybookTM 2322 TIME FOR TEA Email STORY Jonny Teabreak works in the stores of a large factory and always makes sure he’s away from his desk between 1pm and 2pm. He is accurate, punctual and tea time is sacred for him. Any emails arriving during tea break are answered when he gets back at 2pm. There’s no way to get an immediate answer from Johnny between those hours. Just try... BUILDING BLOCKS Audience emails Jonny Email trigger with match phrase “order” fires a store request Respond after tea break Use Delay Until setting on tea break beat to reply at 2pm Check if Jonny is on tea break Use Date & Time Conditions to check which if reply should be delayed or responded to immediately Respond when not on tea break Use no delay settings and reply immediately if not on tea break Closed

13. Transmedia PlaybookTM 2524 SATISFY THE ORACLE SMS STORY A traveller needs to correctly answer the three questions from the oracle. The audience will help him to answer questions so he can pass the oracle without being killed. The traveller sends each question to the audience, expecting them to answer correctly. But, what happens if they don’t? Well, then unexpectedly the oracle gives the traveller two more chances to answer the question. If the audience still doesn’t get it right after all three attempts then the oracle takes charge and sends an SMS to the audience telling them the traveller is dead! If the audience does get it right, then more questions continue. Will the audience be able to save the traveller? BUILDING BLOCKS Someone texts the traveller Use two SMS triggers - one for the right answer, one for wrong answer. Use “question number” Audience attribute and Condition to track progress Next Question or Game Over Use watch trigger to check value of “wrong answers” Audience attribute. If the value equals 3 then send Game Over message from Oracle Count incorrect answers Use “wrong answers” Audience attribute and increment if answer is incorrect

14. Transmedia PlaybookTM 2726 LOVERS INTERCEPTED Email STORY The audience, playing the role of Lady Wiltshire’s lover, emails her only to have their communications intercepted by her husband! Lady Wiltshire, still in shock, follows up with a secret email a day after her husband has replied. She has been discovered but will the lovers find their way? . BUILDING BLOCKS Audience emails Lady Wiltshire. Use Email trigger with empty match phrase for Lady Wiltshire. Use Condition on trigger to reply only once per audience member Lady Wiltshire replies one day after Use Email reply with one-day delay The husband intercepts the communication! Use Email reply from Lord Wiltshire

15. Transmedia PlaybookTM 2928 PRISON BREAK Inventory STORY Four convicted criminals get one week to have their conviction quashed. Over the week, player interactions will unearth important documents that could save their necks or send them back to prison. Check to see what information each character is holding... Maybe they have incriminating evidence on the others... maybe evidence to support their defence? Only one of them is innocent. Players work as a community to save the innocent - building alliances and solving puzzles. There is a website at which the audience can check the information for the accused. Be alert! The website changes over time! BUILDING BLOCKS Create a personal folder for each prisoner Create an Inventory attribute for each character Add content to each prisoner’s folder Add different content to the Character’s Inventory according to the audience interaction Capture different key phrases in Facebook and Twitter Use Facebook and Twitter Triggers and matchphrases to listen for certain interactions Display the prisoner folders at the court website Use Conducttr’s Developer API to display the character’s Inventories

16. Transmedia PlaybookTM 3130 MASQUERADE BALL Blog /Facebook/Twitter | Email STORY The audience has a chance to win a VIP invitation to the glamorous Secret Masquerade Ball organized by the fashionable, scandalous and very much admired Olivia Waldorf. But hey, there’s a challenge… there’s a restricted number of invitations. Olivia publishes a challenge: “Email me (Olivia@Waldorf.com) the answer to this question ‘What is the real name of Coco Chanel?’ “ The first 50 who answer correctly: “Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel”, will get a VIP invitation plus one invitation revealing the secret time and location of this fantastic party. Don’t forget to bring your mask… BUILDING BLOCKS Publish the question Use Date & Time Trigger with Blog Post Add guests with correct replies to “VIP” Group Use Add Group action to add guests to Group Limit the correct replies trigger to fire only 50 times Use Condition with Trigger fire count limited to 50 Broadcast an invitation only to the VIP Group Use Date & Time trigger with email broadcast to VIP group to say “You’re invited!” VIP 2July

17. Transmedia PlaybookTM 3332 PARTY LOVER Phone Calls STORY The popular and desired bachelor Justin Heartcrusher is famous for his busy and party- full lifestyle. It is said that he’s never home or relaxing from Thursday to Saturday night. The audience can corroborate this by calling Justin during these periods. Every night from Thursday to Saturday, he will pick up the phone and the audience will hear him partying in different noisy and awesome nightclubs. Of course, he won’t be able to hear anything, so he tells the audience to call at another time. If the audience dares to call him on a Sunday morning, he will pick up the phone with a massive hangover (or maybe tells them they’re crazy for calling him during a Sunday after-party). BUILDING BLOCKS Create Justin’s schedule Use Date & Time Triggers with Change Value to set Project attributes to his whereabouts Audience calls the character Use Phone Call Trigger with Conditions using Project attribute to determine correct message to play Closed

18. Transmedia PlaybookTM 3534 GOOD VS EVIL Twitter STORY Goodatke and Evilmoon are two fantastical creatures that embody a battle between good and evil. The battle is presented at a website in which audience actions on Twitter cause the creatures to grow and shrink in size and change color. The audience is invited to take sides by tweeting “I fight for Goodatke” or “I fight for Evilmoon” Then they send defensive commands to their creature and attacking commands to the other. Attacking commands: #feed, #slap Defending commands: #shrink,#soothe The losing creature is the one that explodes from over-feeding! To survive, the winning creature must have fans who #shrink him! BUILDING BLOCKS Audience tweets their allegiance Use Twitter Trigger with Group Move to place member in one or other of two creature groups Send changes in size and colour to website Use API Call to send changes to the website so it redraw the characters’ size and colour Count attacks and defence Use Twitter Trigger with Change Value and Character Attributes to affect the characteristics: size and colour Celebrate the victory Use Watch Triggers with Conditions to detect when a Character reaches maximum size and then which Character’s size is the smallest – making it the winner

19. Transmedia PlaybookTM 3736 OAK TOWN MYSTERY Inventory STORY Oak Town has been beset with a series of mysterious disappearances since the arrival of the enigmatic and solitary Brian Mystfall. The audience is given the role of the town detective and receive a key to a post office locker in which they will find guidelines and important data to solve the case. The audience can check the locker through the Oak Town website, and as they advance in the game they need to contact different characters, gather facts, and check the locker for clues and personalised information that will allow them to put the pieces together. But... this locker does not only store clues and hints, it also stores prizes and rewards for completing certain quests! BUILDING BLOCKS Give a locker to each player Use an Inventory attribute for each member of the audience According to the stage of the quest, update the clues, guidelines and prizes Use Add Inventory Item action to add items Track the audience journey Use Add Group action to move the audience to respective group Update the online locker with the new items (clues, guidelines and rewards) API content action to display the information in the website

20. Transmedia PlaybookTM 3938 ZOMBIE OUTBREAK Twitter STORY ZetKa lab is working on a very dangerous chemical formula that needs to be carefully stored. During the night shift, an exhausted staff member leaves the lid open and things go horribly wrong. An unstoppable zombie outbreak begins! In the morning, players who have pre-registered to play Outbreak learn if they’ve been infected or given the antidote serum. Anyone can play if they’re registered or not, but play is enhanced through registration. Players with the serum - Medics - can cure zombies by injecting them and can inoculate healthy players not yet infected or bitten. Zombies can infect others by biting them. Medics and inoculated players need to be bitten three times before they turn zombie! Let the zombie-mania begin. BUILDING BLOCKS Determine opening conditions Use sign-up Widget to register player and looping count Attribute to determine if this player is a Medic or Zombie Medics cure and inoculate Use Group Conditions to check if tweeting player is a medic; if yes, use Group Conditions to check if the mentioned player is a Zombie or is healthy Zombies bite others Use Group Conditions to check if tweeting player is a zombie; if yes, use Audience Attributes and 3rdparty to count the times the mentioned player has been bitten Zombie or healthy Use Watch Trigger and 3rdparty to check if the mentioned person has been infected or cured. Use Groups to assign the player to the respective group: Zombie or Healthy

21. Transmedia PlaybookTM 4140 WANT TICKETS? YouTube | SMS STORY The Zebra Movie Theatre is giving away 15 tickets to an amazing premier! The day before this great event, this movie theatre publishes a Youtube video with a movie clip that hides a clue to the premier. Finding the clue is not easy, but things just get harder… the audience also has to find in the YouTube clip the mobile number to which they have to send the answer. The first 15 people who find the clue and SMS the correct answer will receive a link to a PDF that contains the sought-after tickets to the premier. BUILDING BLOCKS Publish YouTube video Use Date & Time trigger the day before the premier, and YouTube video publication Add the correct replies to the group winners Use Add Group action to add players to Group for winners Limit the correct replies trigger to fire only 15 times Use Condition with SMS Trigger fire count limited to 15 Broadcast tickets to the movie premier to the winners! Use Date & Time trigger with email broadcast to the winners Group 2July

22. Transmedia PlaybookTM 4342 FULL MOON SMS STORY The powerful werewolves pack, ‘The Midnight Lycans’, allow certain humans to trespass the boundaries of the paranormal and become part of the pack. When the full moon presents itself, players have 24hrs to text “Lycans” to initiate the transformation. All players that text during the full moon period become werewolves for one month, gaining powers and a place in the pack. After 27 days, their powers are gone and they go back to their human form. Discover what you could do as werewolf… and don’t miss the full moon. BUILDING BLOCKS Create Full Moon periods Use Date and Time Triggers to start the period and a Publish trigger attached to an “end of full moon” SMS using a 24hr delay Inform Non Werewolves that the opportunity is lost Use SMS with 1 day delay and Groups to text only those who are not werewolves Listen for registrations Use SMS Trigger with Project attribute to check Condition that it’s within the 24hrs of the full moon Inform the Werewolves that their powers are at an end User SMS with 27 day delay and Groups to text only werewolves that they’re human again

23. Transmedia PlaybookTM 4544 STYLE BUDDIES Twitter | iBeacon STORY Fashion retailer DressStore is having a Mad Hatter month. They launch a new line of hats and host afternoon tea parties as a celebration. During this month, they offer a discount for friends that check into their stores together and Tweet a photo of one of the friends wearing a hat. At future tea parties, part of the decoration will be all of the great pictures the customers took. Come, wear a hat, and act a little mad with your friends! BUILDING BLOCKS Check store location Use Conducttr API and iBeacon to add audience to correct store Group Check friends are in same store Use Conditions, 3rdparty and store Group to check if friends are in the same store Player tweets photo Use Twitter Trigger with Content/ Attachment option and empty matchphrase to listen for tweets that contain a photo N S EW Send Reply Use Twitter reply to thank friends for their photo

24. Transmedia PlaybookTM 4746 Picture and Story Credits Images Page 16 Photograph by Renato Ganoza https://www.flickr.com/people/rzganoza/ | Licence https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Page 18 Photograph by Daniel Dionne https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrzeon/ | Licence https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ Page 30 Photograph by Susana Fernandez https://www.flickr.com/people/susivinh/ | Licence https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ Page 32 Photograph by Messy Cupcakes http://messycupcakes.com/ | Licence https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ Page 42 Photograph by Niv Singer https://www.flickr.com/people/antichrist/ | Licence https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ Page 44 Photograph by Nataly Rios with thanks to Adriana Caro The purpose of this book is to stimulate ideas and inspiration. It’s a small catalogue of participatory transmedia storytelling experiences intended to remind, suggest, provoke and inspire creators. Use this playbook when you’re stuck for ideas. If you want to do something fun but don’t know where to start or if the client puts you on a deadline to propose an experience, use this book as quick reference guide. This book will stimulate ideas and provide structure to your thinking. Each example story has three sections: • Platforms – how this particular example is delivered • Format – the participation tropes and experience characteristics • Story – an example of how the format might be used • Building blocks – the steps used to create the experience. Transmedia PlaybookTM 98 BRAIN or HEART Facebook | Blog STORY Kala is confused because she’s torn between two guys. She needs to decide whether to follow her heart or follow her head. She will make up her mind at the end of the week! She asks her Facebook friends to help her decide and they vote for head or heart “Help me decide! Should I follow my heart or my head?” During the week Kala tells the friends how she’s swaying based on the collective opinion but they will need to wait until the final day to see which triumphs! At the end of the week, Kala makes her decision according to the most popular opinion and publishes the whole dramatic experience on her blog! BUILDING BLOCKS Publish call-to-action. Use Date & Time Trigger with Facebook Post Maintain the count. Use two Change Value actions to increment the Project attributes head and heart Listen for mentions of “head” and “heart”. Use two Facebook Triggers - one for “head” and one for “heart” At the deadline publish the result. Use Date & Time Trigger at the decision deadline. Use Condition head >= heart to publish the “head won” and Condition head < heart to publish “heart won”. 2July TM