I need to confess something: I made Pocket Quest because I was frustrated with my own shelves.
You know what I’m talking about. Those gorgeous solo RPGs you buy, read twice, admire the art, play once… and then they start gathering dust because you need 2 hours of prep, 3 different dice sets, and a spreadsheet to track resources. Don’t get me wrong, I love games like Ironsworn. But sometimes I want to roll a die during my lunch break, not start a campaign.
So last year, I started tinkering. The goal was selfish: I wanted something I could print at work, fold into my pocket, and play on the train home.
The first version was terrible.
I mean, really bad. I had these elaborate rules for weapon degradation, complex skill trees, and — I’m not making this up — a nutrition system. Yeah. Your character could starve. In a 30-minute game. My playtesters (read: my confused friends) kept looking at me like « why do I need to track calories for a quick fantasy romp? »
I scrapped about 70% of what I’d written.
Here’s what actually survived that massacre, and why I think it matters:
The 1-page character sheet is non-negotiable
My initial draft had character creation that took 15 minutes. For a game meant to be played in 30. Do the math — that’s half your session just… preparing to play. I cut it down to 6 points total across three stats. That’s it. You can write your character on a sticky note.
The weird thing? People told me they loved the constraint. Having fewer stats forces interesting decisions. When you only have 2 points in « Equipment, » that rusty sword you found in the abandoned village feels genuinely valuable.
Fail fast, but fail sideways
I stole this from the 1HP rule. Every failed roll costs HP. Not because I want to punish players, but because it creates immediate tension. You fail to pick a lock? The noise attracts something. You’re down to 3 HP and the Shadow Lord is still three locations away? That’s a story right there.
But here’s the trick: the game doesn’t tell you what that « something » is. You have to narrate it. I’ve watched people invent the most elaborate scenarios just to explain why they lost that last hit point. One guy spent five minutes describing how he slipped on a loose cobblestone, knocked over a suit of armor, and basically announced his presence to every monster within a mile. He was laughing the whole time. That’s the moment I realized the mechanic worked.
The map was a mistake. Until it wasn’t.
My early drafts had a linear path. Location 1 → Location 2 → Boss. Very safe, very predictable. And incredibly boring on the third playthrough.
The breakthrough came when I made all locations interconnected. Now you can go from the Abandoned Village to either the Forest OR the Plains. And because you need to succeed at one challenge before leaving a location, the order you tackle them changes your resources, your HP, your entire strategy.
One playtester discovered a shortcut I didn’t intend. Three specific locations in a row let you grab two healing items before the boss fight. I didn’t plan that. It just emerged from the connections. I kept it.
What’s next?
I’m working on another setting. Same system, different world. The Citadel of Clouds — floating islands, airships, that kind of thing. Will it work? No idea. I might spend three months on it and hate it. That’s the process.
If you want to check out the current game, it’s here. But more importantly, if you’ve tried making a micro-RPG yourself, tell me what you learned. What did you over-design? What did you cut that you shouldn’t have?
The 30-minute format feels like a solved problem now, but I bet someone reading this has a better idea. Prove me wrong.
— J.
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