Lightspress Principia Newsletter for 24 March, 2026
In This Issue
A Quick Roundup of News
Roleplaying Guides
Writing Guides
In the Shop
Thank You
A Quick Roundup of News
Remember a few weeks ago, when we said the newsletter had to go weekly, because there’s so much going on that a monthly edition would become exceedingly large? Well, this week we’re keeping things brief to avoid another long issue because there’s a lot to cover.
Principia Canonica
Our first Kickstarter has ended successfully. We’re working on a blog post to go into detail about what we learned, but the key takeaways are this:
We funded the first day!
Having everything done in advance made things run smoothly!
We didn’t get the pushback we expected over only having one tier and not including the hardcover as part of the campaign.
There are a lot of grifters trying to sell you consulting services.
At the time this newsletter goes out,
Backers should be receiving their copies,
In the coming days
More support in the form of blog posts and essays will be published
The Canonica Companion, collecting those essays, will be published
The ebook will be available from other outlets April 28th
The paperback edition is scheduled for release in late September
New Venues
This is an ongoing process, but our books are now/will be available in a broader range of places, including Bookshop.org, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and more. We are working on getting into libraries via Hoopla and Overdrive. And, but popular demand, we’re testing the waters of selling on Itch.io, on a limited basis for the moment but we’re there.
On top of that, we set up new accounts on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. We haven’t posted anything yet, but they’re there and ready for us when we get to that next phase.
Highmoon Press Lives!
Our friend and advisor Daniel M. Perez has revived Highmoon Press! We’ve been proud to host a selection of titles while he took a hiatus from the roleplaying world, and are happy to see so many fantastic games available again!
Consistency
While the Kickstarter threw things off slightly, we kept to our schedule. There were more posts on the blog and Substack than usual, and those will return to their normal frequency. The content shifted a little, but we posted regularly. We actually released this week’s writing guide offerings early, so they didn’t get smothered by the Kickstarter.
Roleplaying Guides
We have three large-scale, “meta” projects in development, and we’d like your feedback on which we should focus on first. This is it. This is all. We have plenty of ideas, and thing we want to revise, but this is enough for now.
Fantasy
This is the safe bet, course. It would include a foundational campaign setting in the Seven Valleys / Lantern Hills, and new Canonica editions of The Order of the Magpieand A Lantern in the Ivy. It would be targeted toward investigative fantasy and cozy fantasy. Sourcebooks would focus on using the Principia Canonica fantasy and fantasy subgenres.
Modern Fantasy
Focusing on the fictional New England town of Heathcliff, where both cozy and supernatural things take place. This would be the shared setting for multiple games across genres, including Dark Academia, Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery, and Folk Horror. Sourcebooks will focus on those genres, and related material that suits the setting’s uses.
Gritty Modern
Using our version of Poisonville as it decays and revives itself across a hundred-year span, this setting would be designed to support hardboiled detective/film noir, organized crime, outlaw bikers, and industrial espionage games. Source material looks at those genres and other areas that could easily fit into the setting.
Writing Guides
These books released early because the Kickstarter threw off our normal rhythm. Normal Wednesday releases resume next week.
The Architecture of The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Architecture of Wuthering Heights
The Architecture of Frankenstein
The next three zine-sized books in the pipeline are
The Architecture of As I Lay Dying
The Architecture of First and Last Men
The Architecture of The Maltese Falcon
Future Plans
The next full book will be The Series Planning Workbook, for writers working on the logistics of multi-volume novels. The title is subject to change as development continues. Let’s talk about why that is...
We think the writing guides line has gotten off to a good start, but there have been some unexpected bumps. There’s a market for this, even though it’s niche. Some venues don’t think it’s worthwhile, so convincing them to carry a few of the titles has been a battle. We’ve been told that Writer’s Digest and a few other have cornered the market, and that the exception are established authors penning writing guide-slash-memoirs. This means we need to take a slightly different tack, to make the books stand out and offer something unique. Not a hard pivot or a full reboot, but a slight recalibration.
Film Guides? Film Guides.
The first issue of our monthly film zine is in development, along with three books on film studies. This will be the final expansion for 2026, after growing from roleplaying-only into the addition of writing guides. Stay tuned.
In the Shop
In addition to the new releases already linked above, here’s what’s happening in the Lightspress Principia shop:
This Week's Discount Code
This week’s code is KICKME20
Use it to save 20% off your order in the Lightspress Principia shop until 31 March 2026.
Sale Page
We have created a sale page, with discounted backlist title. The above discount code does apply to sale items, so the savings add up.
Where to Find Us
Because we’re exploding (almost) everywhere, it’s easier to check the site!
Thank You!
None of this would be possible without your support. We appreciate you sticking with us through the ups and downs over the past few years, and seeing the vision we’re trying to being to life. Don’t forget to use the discount code KICKME20 on your next visit to the shop, and until next time, stay safe.
