Ye Olde Inn

Several alert fans have brought this to my attention and the phrase "don't believe your lying eyes" comes to mind. On social media recently, Avalon Hill (we don't know who is in charge over there since Chris was let go during the infamous layoffs late last year) dismissed suspicions as "rumblings" that A.I. was used in the creation of the cover image of HeroQuest: First Light.

We see a copy and pasted "lengthened" sword for the barbarian. We see what appears to be a missing left nipple (and an almost pornographic reveal of the Elf's right bosom). Rivets are missing on the Dwarf's shield, and the musculature on his arms are strange. The hands look like they've been tweaked (to remove the tell-tale signs of A.I. creation which is notorious for rendering fingers poorly, like adding extra ones). I'm not the only one to notice this, there are whole videos on youtube detailing it.

I was going to rattle off the fact that I've been a HeroQuest fan since childhood circa 1990 and that I've backed the Mythic tier in the haslab campaign to bring back HeroQuest and purchased all of the official packs released into retail since then (to be fair I didn't re-buy Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord though I did buy copies of the Game System in the 2022 repackaging for myself as well as a gift for a friend, I've also purchased copies of it and some of the expansions for other friends). I have only a few hundred followers and subscribers on twitch, youtube, and discord, so I'm "nobody" as far as you're concerned, but I speak for a great number of fans who are very upset over the idea that Artificial Intelligence is being used, even by an artist like Clark Mitchell, credited with creating the HeroQuest: First Light cover. Wizards of the Coast has reeled from many scandals lately, involving pinkertons and misdelivered magic cards (while real thieves commit actual thefts right under their noses at game conventions), the draconian OGL revision, and of course the introduction, multiple times of "A.I. assisted" artwork into D&D and MTG. We noticed how the company let go so many employees before Christmas last year, including two key community outreach people at Avalon Hill (Chris and Bill). We also see the Cynthia Williams, head of Hasbro Gaming, resigned recently. What is going on? Who is calling the shots over there?

Certainly one guy not buying First Light isn't going to be noticed, but I wonder how many customers are waking up to this to see that maybe these products are headed in the wrong direction, and another franchise might be about to suffer losses due to a dip in perceived quality?

Perhaps its time to hire a real artist to do a real cover for HeroQuest First Light? That would be a sure sign of goodwill, besides step by step proving his oddball artwork is really "human produced" (even photoshop has AI within it these days).

As kids we poured over the cover art, noticing every last detail, even copying it as it inspired our imaginations. I hear Les Edwards is still working these days. Maybe he'd step in to do the job right? I know Hasbro is out to save money these days but cutting corners to spite your fans and then gaslighting them is not the way to go. Again, many feel the same way I do, so I hope you listened to what I'm saying carefully. Thank you for your time.