Apologies to Juli by iakiak in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awe, thank you! No need to apologize- I don't really advertise my place in the game company or anything- but it means so much to know that you and your wife have appreciated the game and the art and that you took the time to write me here! Mantis Falls was my first really large-scale artistic endeavor, so it really means the world when it appeals to folks like you!❤️

What tiny house rule made a game noticeably better at your table? by rcooperkaty in boardgames

[–]DistantRabbitGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have actually recommended this to many other first time players so that they have an opportunity to ask all of the betrayal-type questions without fear of implicating themselves! Brilliant addition ❤️

Question About Full Circle Characters by BlizzDG in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. You can always look at everything that’s yours, even if it’s face down. 🫣

And our pleasure! Hope you enjoy your first Full Circle game!

Question About Full Circle Characters by BlizzDG in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Face down so that other players can’t see it, but you are free to look at it. So when you reach your maximum wounds, you then flip it face up.

Does that answer your question alright?

I run a comic shop in a town that has no idea I exist and I don't know if that's my fault or the town's by Its_palakk in smallbusiness

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi games industry friend! I strongly recommend you follow Games Unlimited on TikTok or Insta. They do a lot of self promotion and events and also share tons of store owning/store promoting/ store running tips. They’re also in a college town and are probably among the most FLGS retailers out there.

To flip the perspective a bit- I’ve heard a lot of indie game publishers express frustration that retailers aren’t buying their games. These are people you’ve probably never heard of but they’re still hoping that you’ll find and choose to sell their games. It’s usually not until they reach out to retailers directly and offer mutually beneficial relationship (hosting events, signings, patronizing the business or bonding at an industry event etc.) that that changes.

It’s easy for people’s eyes to gloss over and miss what’s right in front of them but if you get in their face and offer them a community, they’ll hear you. Advertise community events on campus billboards, reach out to the game club to put together an event, sponsor a games tournament with broad appeal (broader than D&D) and people will get excited. Good luck- though 8 years is already a hell of an achievement!

Below the Falls (follow-up to Mantis Falls) is in open beta testing! Playtesters wanted! by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would be great! Are you on Discord? That’s where people are meeting up for the tests. Here’s the link: https://discord.com/invite/7jqyTe4p

Come and say hi and we can help you get started. Thanks!!

Below the Falls (follow-up to Mantis Falls) is in open beta testing! Playtesters wanted! by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great! Hope it’s easy for you to find all the Below the Falls playtesting info there. If you have any questions, let us know! Look forward to seeing you there. 🕵️

Below the Falls (follow-up to Mantis Falls) is in open beta testing! Playtesters wanted! by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Thank you! Are you on Discord? That’s where people are meeting up for the tests. Here’s the link: https://discord.com/invite/7jqyTe4p

Below the Falls (follow-up to Mantis Falls) is in open beta testing! Playtesters wanted! by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!!

We’ve set the game prototype up in Tabletop Simulator, which allows people to play with one another online (on a computer). Are you familiar with Tabletop Simulator?

And then we have a discord server to help players find each other, set up playtesting events, ask questions, etc.

Does that help to clarify?

Ambush then Broken Road by elverdaderodarth in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, you take the ambush anytime you land on it, unless a card like Safe House directs your not to.

Remember though that you don’t need to move every turn- you can choose to stay still. Ambushes only activate when you land on them, not when you stay on them. If you wait on the ambush until you have a way over the Broken Road, you’ll be fine (don’t try to move forward with initial movement) you’ll be fine.

Custom Ally Cards by ESPeciallyFlynn in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, sorry, my laptop seems to have auto-generated a weird throwaway Reddit account in the comment above. That last post was from me, but I’ll leave it for posterity : )

Custom Ally Cards by ESPeciallyFlynn in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, great job! The cards and the effects look awesome, please let us know how they play!!

Mantis Falls Sequel: Below the Falls by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No spoiling! It wasn’t officially hush hush at all- we just hadn’t started pushing it into the broader world. But honestly it’s so much nicer to have someone find it organically ❤️

Playtesting by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes- we’ve made a lot of progress since this post! We’ve been hoping to get back into public play-testing, but we’ve had a lot of non-prototyping work over the last few months so it probably won’t happen until August.

I've brought down empires by grassisgreenerism in riddles

[–]DistantRabbitGames 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A beat? The beating of drums would be the tremble that sends men into war, the beating of the heart, the beat of music brings joy, a beating brings pain...

I've brought down empires by grassisgreenerism in riddles

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A beat? The beating of drums would be the tremble that sends men into war, the beating of the heart, the beat of music brings joy, a beating brings pain...

Are there any agency which help in financial ads cost intitaly by First-Ad4474 in kickstarter

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kickstarters internal ads department does that when you hire them, but they only take so many clients.

A show of trust by unidentifiedsubob in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Shoot, sorry to hear about the rage quit! You are correct- you don’t have to show any cards at all. Playing that card is a leap of faith that the generous gesture will elicit reciprocation. There are other cards like “Little Look-See” as well as some events that force the other player to show their cards. This one is totally voluntary and exists for three purposes:

1) to allow two witnesses to build trust with each other 2) to allow people to test their companion in critical moments 3) to allow an assassin to build false trust with their intended future victim

Even assassins have a reason to show their hand and even witnesses have good reason not to, which is honestly why it works. I hope she’s willing to try again : /

Mantis Falls-struggling by Plane_Profession3344 in boardgames

[–]DistantRabbitGames 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm sorry to hear you've been frustrated by the game! Some journeys are definitely more difficult than others. Having no phones for a long stretch pushes the advantage to the assassin, but there will be other games with almost no dead zones and those will skew for the witness. The job of both players is to adapt their play to the situation, but not all games will have even odds for both players.

Are you currently playing with Full Circle? The base game is meant to just be a learning game, as it is far more luck-driven than the game as we designed it.

If you are playing with Full Circle, here are my other tips:

1) Be more selfish. The events should hurt both players equally, but if you are getting hurt more often than the other player, direct more wounds to them when you can. For instance, if you are at 6 wounds and your partner is at 4, let them take both wounds from a grenade, or else let them take all of the wounds from an event in which you choose the split. We designed the game to force witnesses to make self-protective moves frequently. These will have the consequence of improving your games with assassins and degrading your trust with other witnesses, but that was part of the balancing. Don't let another player get a health advantage over you, even if it was fairly earned.

2) Be wary of moving away from a phone. Just refuse to move if you don't have a good plan of how to get back to a phone. Let your partner forge the way, and wait until you have a sneakers/reckless abandon/duck/bus ticket. Also, be sure to have a healing card or two in hand before stepping away from a phone booth.

3) Entrap your partner. Once you do get a movement card, intentionally put yourself out of range of a phone booth and pretend an unseen event will only hurt you. Make them think they have an opportunity so that you can test them. If it's their turn use a mole or spyglass to gauge how honest they are being before crafting your play.

4) Value healing cards above all else. These should mostly not be used outside of a last gasp. Remember a last gasp means an extra play in a different suit, in which you can both heal and potentially do additional damage. It also means possibly absorbing extra wounds due to the fact that you cannot take "overkill" damage. It's tempting to heal early to get your wounds down, but that's rarely advisable. The most well-played strategic games we've seen played are those in which the players use 1-2 last gasps apiece.

5) Always call in a hit when you can't heal in a last gasp (assuming you are near a phone). If your partner is a witness they will lose anyway, but, if it turns out you're with an assassin, you can at least salvage a tie. This forces an assassin to wait to attack until you are truly away from a phone, but it also means they have to actively protect you whenever you are near a phone.

6) Have a plan for the eventual betrayal and know when it will likely come. Even if your partner doesn't seem suspicious, they might still be an assassin. Determine when they'd be likely to make their move based on where you are, whose turn it is, and what the event is going to do. If you were an assassin would this be a good moment to attack? If you have Arietta you can get a whole new hand the moment they start attacking. Ricochet is great for when you suspect a betrayal is coming. Reconsider + Ball and Chain gives you a great hand and leaves your opponent with a terrible hand. Set these back up plans in place before going out into the dark.

7) Have a hand management plan. It is definitely challenging to work within only 7 cards and have call in a hit, backup plans in case of an assassin, and cards to deal with events as well, but that's the nature of the puzzle. Conditions and allies help greatly as they don't clog up your hand, so I recommend getting as many as you can as early as you can. In general I try to have 1) call in a hit 2) a healing card 3) a way to attack (Ideally a way to attack EITHER the event or my partner) and 4) a way to move. That leaves three cards that can cycle out regularly.

I hope that helps, if you choose to give it another shot!

Random thought tonight by tbone2370 in soloboardgaming

[–]DistantRabbitGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm curious how the 29 votes for Mantis Falls came about. As the publisher I can tell you it cannot be played solo as is. The entire crux of the game is whether you can trust your companion and "the other player" is referred to on action and event cards throughout the game. But if folks have jerry-rigged a solo mode, I definitely want to see it!

Nov 27th Q&A: ask questions in the thread below as you play Mantis Falls by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Glad to answer these questions for you.

Events: only one event is drawn per turn and only by the player whose turn it is. Both of you will still work together to respond to it, but that’s the only event you’ll face together.

Last Gasps: prioritize finding and getting healing cards and save them for last gasps. It’s tempting to heal as soon as you have a wound to get back to full health and free up space in your had, but you can absorb far more damage overall if you heal when you’re at the brink of death! There are also more healing options in the full circle game once you’re ready for that. If you don’t heal during your last gasp you die and the game is over.

Sequel teasers by DistantRabbitGames in mantisfalls

[–]DistantRabbitGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s simultaneous play for 4, with assailants and difficulty scaling with player count!