Once again, someone has asked me why I don't do a Kickstarter. It’s like clockwork. People seem to think Kickstarter is the magical answer to all business problems. "You could afford art," they say. Yes, because that’s clearly the only reason I publish books without pictures. Let’s gloss over the entire Lightspress ideology.

The Foragers Guild: Gold Edition has officially landed, so now you can finally stop wondering when your roleplaying sessions will stop feeling like an accounting nightmare. Streamlined, focused, and absolutely not here to pad anyone’s bookshelf—it’s designed to be played, not collected for bragging rights.

I’ve done this the punk rock way, the honest, hard-working way, from Day One. I’ve steered clear of the nonsense in the so-called community, but it’s time to start pushing back and calling it out. While others have been busy whining on social media and forums, I’ve been delivering—consistently. We’re not the same; I don’t have the luxury of wasting time on the internet, I have things to create and a business to run. As Lightspress continues to grow and evolve, the job only gets harder. I’m still a friendly guy, a nice guy if you know me, but I don’t have time for unenlightened critics or bad-faith trolls looking to test my boundaries because it makes them feel like they have skin in the game or some sort of power over people. It’s time to move forward with clarity and purpose. Buckle up. 

If you’ve been following Lightspress for a while, you’ve probably noticed some shifts in our branding and overall approach. From the revised logo to the emphasis on The Simple Approach, there’s a lot happening behind the scenes. A few folks have reached out, curious about what all these changes mean, why I’m revising existing books, and what this means for Lightspress moving forward. I wanted to take a moment to address these questions and give you a peek at what’s coming next.

In this issue we’ve got new releases and updates from #RPGaDay 2024. Everything previously announced is still in development, but we’ve had to pivot on a few things. We all live in the same economy; you know how things are going. I had to take a hard look at what’s been selling, and what hasn’t, and make some schedule changes so we can keep the bills paid. It doesn’t mean everything won’t be released eventually, but commerce has to take precedence over art once in a while so we can keep the lights on and continue to make awesome stuff. 

There are two big things I want to talk about this week. Details will be forthcoming over the next few newsletters, so for now I’ll keep it brief. First, I’m working on a book titled LIGHTSPRESS HANDBOOK. It will contain a primer on our philosophy of roleplaying, an overview of the game system we’ll be using going forward, an overview all of our game lines, conversation notes for both our systems and other publishers’ games, and an extensive frequently asked questions chapter. This will be a free book. I envision it as a living document, to be updated periodically.

Starting Thursday, we’ll be participating in this year’s #RPGaDay.  We’ll have a new blog post every day for 31 days, interpreting the prompts provided by Autocratik and Casting Shadows. And we do mean interpreting; as with past years, there are some prompts that carry assumptions about roleplaying that we don’t adhere to or agree with, and we’re going to talk about that. We’re going to double down on our odd notions about what we think roleplaying is, and we believe it could be. Hopefully, this event will give our odd ideas a little more exposure, and present people with what we feel are valid alternatives to traditional thinking. 

The Lightspress Manifesto is our official weekly newsletter, delivering information on new and upcoming releases, sales and events, and sources of creative inspiration directly to your email inbox. It's your essential guide to all things Lightspress, and the best part? It's completely free. Stay connected and subscribe to The Lightspress Manifesto now!

This week’s discount code is VACATION. Use it through 16 July to get 20% off all purchases at the Lightspress shop.

We’re on vacation this week. Regular operations, including a full newsletter, will resume next week.

I hope you’re doing well today.

I hope you’re doing well today.

Over the coming weeks, you might see some blog posts and product descriptions containing a bit of… let’s call it forced… language. While we’re doing our best to avoid making it cringeworthily obvious and allow the text to flow as organically as possible we are, as any other business, subject to the whims of soulless algorithms. By strategically injecting keywords, we hope to maximize our search engine optimization and draw in more readers and customers. It’s an ugly truth, and one want to be transparent about. We’re a small publisher in a relatively small niche. We have to make that coin somehow, and this is, sadly, how the world works now.

This week brings another minor-but-significant change as the newsletter merges with the blog. From now on, you can access the Lightspress Manifesto freely on the blog, but won't receive it via email unless you’re subscribed. Originally, we planned to offer exclusive discounts in the newsletter to boost subscriptions and sales. However, the blog attracts more readers, and only a couple of people occasionally use the discount code.