What 1 Year of Solo RPG Taught Me (Between Two Sandwiches)

# What 1 Year of Solo RPG Taught Me (Between Two Sandwiches)

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A year ago, I launched Pocket Quest. A bite-sized solo RPG designed for lunch breaks, for the beach, for those moments when you have 20 minutes and feel like rolling dice without hauling out a 300-page rulebook.

Honestly? I thought I’d quit after three months.

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## Why I built it

I work. I have kids. Life happened. RPGs have always been my thing, but finding four hours in the evening to align everyone’s schedules became a myth. So I had this dumb idea: **what if I made a game you could play solo, and fast?**

No prep. No GM. No textbook to study. Pull out your phone, start the game, get an adventure in 15 minutes.

Pocket Quest came out of pure personal frustration. And a healthy dose of selfishness — I built it for myself first. If it helps others along the way, that’s a bonus.

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## The constant doubt

Let’s be real: the numbers aren’t crazy.

I check the stats every now and then. The visitor count is modest. Not enough to quit my day job. Not enough to make the front page of anything.

So why do I keep going?

Because I’m insane. No rational explanation. I keep going because I still like the project. Because I like the idea that it exists somewhere on the web, waiting for someone to stumble upon it.

I had doubts at the start. I still have doubts. The only difference? I learned to doubt **while moving forward**.

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## The moment that kept me going

One day, someone wrote to me. They’d found a typo in the rules. A tiny mistake, barely noticeable.

Most creators would fix it silently and move on. For me, it felt great.

Why? Because they’d actually played. Long enough, deep enough to stumble on that error. They hadn’t just opened the page, scrolled for 30 seconds, and closed it. They **actually played**.

That message reminded me why I do this. Not for the numbers. For the person who grabs their phone at lunch, starts a game, and lives a story.

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## The hard lesson: marketing without selling out

Lesson number one: **marketing is king**. I learned that the hard way.

You can craft the best game in the world, but if nobody knows it exists, it doesn’t matter. But here’s the thing — I don’t want to spam. I don’t want to post three times a day on social media, make tutorial videos, build a 10,000-subscriber newsletter.

What I figured out is that you can do things your way. Post when you have something to say. Reply to people who take the time to write. Keep the project alive without screaming about it everywhere.

It’s less effective. But it’s more honest.

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## The advice I’d give

**See your idea through — as long as it still brings you joy.**

It’s simple, it’s cliché, but it’s all that matters.

If you want to make a solo RPG, a board game, a novel, something nobody asked for — do it. Finish it. Put it online. Keep going as long as you’re having fun.

The day it feels like a chore, you stop. But not before.

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## What’s next?

Pocket Quest will keep going. Quietly. No world domination plan, no funding round, no ridiculous goals.

I have some ideas brewing — new adventures, maybe a more complete version someday. But I’ll take my time. Like I always have.

If you’re passing by, if you stumbled on this site by accident, and you have 15 minutes to spare: start a game. That’s all I ask.

After all, that’s why I built this thing.

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*Pocket Quest turns one — thanks to everyone who played, wrote in, or just opened the page. You’re the only reason this mess is still alive.*