Behind the Scenes of an Expanding Universe
The need for a lore keeper stems from a simple reality: the show’s narrative has grown too vast for any single person to hold entirely in memory. “Dimension 20” tells its stories in shorter seasons, but the accumulation of timelines, factoids, and plot points demands a dedicated archivist. Smith fills that role, ensuring Mulligan and his players maintain consistency across the adventure. Her work mirrors a challenge faced by other major tabletop streaming productions. “Critical Role,” another prominent show, has streamed multi-year games spanning hundreds of episodes and thousands of hours. Even with a more condensed season structure, “Dimension 20” finds that a game master needs an assistant to keep facts accurate.
Smith’s workday reflects the intensity of live production. “A filming day for me is very different than a regular 10-to-6 workday,” she told Business Insider. “It’s always going to be at least a 12-hour workday. I get to set the same time as our GM, Brennan. And then I stay until pretty much the very last person has left set.” Because “Dimension 20” films multiple episodes per day, Smith and Mulligan maintain what she described as a “consistent Slack” conversation throughout the shoot. She takes notes on the ongoing game, then fields questions called to her from off-camera.
To manage the evolving lore, Smith relies on Airtable for most of her notes. The digital database is supplemented by a low-tech tool: sticky notes. She also keeps a physical printout of the materials the cast uses at the table. “I usually have a printout of either the materials that they use at the,” she said.
Human Memory in an Age of Artificial Intelligence
Smith’s job exists at a curious intersection with the broader field of artificial intelligence. AI, as a discipline, began in 1956. It has since experienced cycles of high optimism punctuated by periods of reduced funding—so-called AI winters. Interest surged again after 2012, when advances in hardware accelerated neural networks. The 2017 development of the transformer architecture drove further growth, leading to a boom in the 2020s centered on generative AI.
Today, research in AI focuses on goals such as natural language processing, reasoning, and perception. Some companies now pursue artificial general intelligence—a system capable of completing nearly any cognitive task as well as a human. These technologies draw from mathematics, philosophy, and neuroscience. They power web search engines, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, and tools that generate audio, images, and video from text prompts.
The widespread availability of such systems has raised concerns about safety and ethics, sparking global discussions about government regulation. But for Smith, the role of a lore keeper—one that demands intimate knowledge of a specific, sprawling fictional history—remains distinctly human. AI can index vast data, but it cannot replicate the contextual judgment required to serve as the living memory of a creative team at work. As her 12-hour filming days attest, the job is not about recalling facts in isolation; it is about being present in the moment, tracking live decisions, and answering questions that no search engine could anticipate. In an era of increasingly capable machines, Smith’s position underscores that some tasks still demand a person who simply remembers—because she was there.
