Classic Stories, Endless Adventures
The literary line will always have a place at Lightspress, even though it’s currently on a hiatus. If you see a stack of books on the cover, framed in deep royal purple, you're looking at a book built for the kind of stories that endure. These are the ones drawn from classic novels, timeless themes, and the wide-open spaces between imagination and reflection. They aren’t a side project that I only do for my own gratification. They’re not an afterthought. They're the heart of what storytelling can be when you treat fiction as the living thing it’s always been.
In nine years of building Lightspress, no line's gotten more pushback than this one. From the first book about using theme, to the adaptations of classic literature, the idea that roleplaying could meet literature brought out a fury that fantasy, science fiction, and horror never did. Maybe it's because these stories are harder to gatekeep. Maybe it's because they refuse easy categories. Either way, the reaction made it clear this line needed to stay, needed to grow, and needed to be built stronger than before.
I read. I read more classics and literary fiction than the stereotype says a roleplayer ever would. These books aren’t less imaginative, less adventurous. They offer deep characters, complex worlds, and stories that open into all kinds of possibilities. Escapism doesn’t belong to one genre. Adventure doesn't belong to one set of tropes. These stories offer new ways to play, new ways to build worlds, and new ways to find yourself inside something unexpected and real.
Even if you're not a reader, there's potential here. There are characters to create, worlds to explore, mysteries to unravel, and adventures to live. The literary line's starting fresh, aligned with The Simple Approach, shaped to hold strong against the bad-faith critics who think there's only one way to have fun. This summer, the line begins again with six games based on Jane Austen’s novels. And that's only the beginning.
The stack marks the story. The purple frame marks the possibility. The future of literary roleplaying is wide open.
