GenCon 2026

[Phoenix]

I will be running 6 games this year. 2 each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at GenCon 2026!

Two Noble Knights. Hope to see some of you there!

[HispaZargon]

All tickets are sold out since weeks ago: https://www.gencon.com/event-catalog?search=heroquest

Unfortunatelly, many of us will not be able to go to the con. Will we have a chance to see the quest "Two Noble Knights" after GenCon? Thanks!

[Phoenix]

perhaps

[HispaZargon]

That would be great...

[CWausH]

Or we see us on "Spiel" in Essen ?
to play your Quest ?

Carsten

[Kurgan]

Kinda disappointed to hear how things went this year at the con compared to two years ago.

I didn't go this time due to my schedule and some other issues (no refund from GenCon, inc), breaking my three year streak attending, but the fans from our online community that were there generally didn't coordinate or connect with each other as in the past. Angus(McBane) and Ribby (Bourbon_and_Boardgames) hung out, but for example BigSpender was one table over and didn't realize until after the fact, etc (I think it was Daedalus I was sitting near but didn't know the last time).

On top of that I hear and granted some of this is speculation, but this year as with last, NO fan interviews were done or even offered (not allowed?) by Avalon Hill staff. Last year there was a highly curated "designer panel" with Joe Manganiello and some other artists and a media person on standby to screen any questions the panelists weren't scripted to answer. So GenCon2025 Doug and the other AH staff apologized to us that they couldn't do any interviews, period (I think Patrick did one with a legacy press station prior to the con and that was it) but urged us to "bring your questions next year." In fact, last year they were even tight lipped about answering any questions, either on OR off camera. We were heavily disappointed of course.

Anyway, seems this year was a similar situation. There was an NBC affiliate talk (thanks Virg for mentioning) prior, but that was it.


I wouldn't have expected Doug Hopkins to spill the beans on a revival of "Advanced HeroQuest" (or Space Crusade or a proper BattleMasters remake) but at the very least we could have learned some more behind the scenes info about Wizards of Morcar or Crypt of Perpetual Darkness (leftover from last year). Apparently a staffer named Lindsay (co-author of "Return of the Witch Queen" quest played at the con) reached out after the fact, but too late...

I'm thinking back and I seem to recall that my first GenCon (2023) Encarmine (Chris Nadeau) was still with the company and basically the go-to guy who could talk with anyone and give teases and answer questions about their games (we came for HeroQuest of course). We also got to talk to Patrick and William Mort ("Avalon Bill"). Chris and Bill were subsequently fired as part of the mass layoffs at Hasbro (infamously shortly before Christmas). The next year there was supposed to be a "panel discussion" about the new quest but it was cancelled. I'm wondering if perhaps Hasbro "all along" wanted to severely limit press access and the only reason we got interviews in 2024 was because the panel was gone? Or else they are just dropping the hammer down because they have so little to talk about and it might be embarrassing? If so, I think it's even more embarrassing that they'd gag their staff at the booth two years running and for what? So they can stand around in their brand t-shirts and hand out merch? They have volunteers who can do that sort of thing, just like they do for the games (Ribby had some things to say but apparently there was at least one game runner in a staff shirt who didn't know basic stuff like don't put out tiles before the rooms are revealed). On the plus side at least two (Ribby and BigSpender) got to run games as Zargon.

So while I appreciate all the people at AH, I'm really disappointed if this is the trend, that Hasbro, the parent company of the AH brand is eliminating one of the key joys of their presence at these conventions, the fan access and interaction. And what's with not allowing the demo quests/adventure design kits be put out in digital format (if for no other reason than to undercut the scalpers who sell this stuff for absurd prices every year).

Sounds like there was nothing new shown, HeroQuest-wise, or given away at GenCon, only repeats from UK Games Expo (brown dread shifters that are as we speak being scalped by greedy jerks online along with more of the green ADK sheets from last year and copies of ROTWQ). Sounds like a shipment of WoM boxes was withheld (and not AH's fault) which probably upset a lot of people (and again, aided scalpers). No hints about any HeroQuest crossovers or joint ventures other than with Talisman's Dracula themed expansion.


Disappointing, if true. Anyone who was actually there care to comment? I'd like to get Ribby's thoughts later and hopefully post up a video or podcast about it by the weekend.

All this AND it apparently literally rained inside the convention hall...

by the way, please don't anybody pay a scalper for the quest, Ribby posted images in the HeroQuestFans Discord for anyone who wants to run it with higher res scans coming soon.

[HispaZargon]

So, nobody from Avalon Hill said anything to media? If so, what is the purpose of these conventions then?

I really think it is not a good marketing practice. Of course I can understand they don't want to reveal anything about new products, but at least giving some proximity with fans of the game, giving some insights about the company or the HQ franchise would be appreciated to see that things are actually running, especially by many of us who were not able to attend the con.

I am also rather dissapointed about the new online quest "Return of the Witch Queen" is not still available for downloading from an official source.

Wizards of Morcar should be also available in the official app too at this time, and players don't still have it there either. Bad news if we consider the expansion boxes which are already available since long ago says that "you can play this expansion using the app".

[Kurgan]

Interview with Ribby (Bourbon and Board Games, was at GenCon the last three years including this one) for anyone who missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1fABvxCGuM

More rants incoming! Yes, why pay the designers to show up if they can't really do more than the average volunteer manning the booth, when they could be doing something more productive (if there is such a thing to do)? Those guys and gals seem to enjoy themselves at the Con of course, and maybe it's worthwhile, but from a company standpoint, yeah, what's the point. Why do they have to travel to Indianapolis for this? Is there more to this story?

I like to see their smiling faces. I'm sure they enjoy exchanging pleasantries with convention goers. I'm sure they enjoy running games. But why are they being restricted?

And as far as the general (non-press, non-nerd community) public is concerned, there was NO point to AH being at GenCon. So they moved a few more copies of FL (available "everywhere" by now) and WoM (not available everywhere yet but we know a lot of scalped copies are sure to make their way out of the convention thanks to the botched shipment issue, which of course is not AH's and maybe not even Hasbro's fault this time).

-The general public won't get these brown dread shifters... a few more scalped copies won't change that situation any.
-The lack of an announced quest PDF means most people will have no clue a new quest was released, except the few who get suckered into paying for a scalped copy, until a few months from now (?) when it appears in the Companion App as Dread on the Horizon did earlier.
-No no releases mentioned, much less announced.
-WoM was released early. The official release date was March 1st, nearly 4 months prior.

So some reporters who wanted to know this stuff and tell the fans about it, got nothing new. Here in America we're aware that the UK exists, so we got the news already from them. So let Patrick or Doug do a canned interview, and that's it?

I think many of us have seen big companies drop the ball before. Bureaucratic mistakes and foolish decisions lead to awkward moments for employees.

This makes me think of that scene from "Amadeus" where the Emperor is watching the performers on stage dancing without any music and complaining until someone tells him he was the one who had banned it, making the performers look silly. Only thing is, will the Hasbro "Emperor" own up to his mistake or not? Considering how low a priority they've given to this brand, I'm guessing not anytime soon...

Yes, it sends the message from Hasbro corporate to Avalon Hill: hey, what you guys are doing isn't that important. But of course to keep their jobs, they've all got to toe the line. I feel bad for them.

And let's face it, try as we might, and try as some hardcore fans (like Ash and seekhashem, no shade guys, you are trying and I want to believe as well) to put out positive vibes and calm people down, there is a lot of "negative buzz" online already that HeroQuest as a brand is "winding down" that is... fans who support the rumor that maybe we shouldn't expect a lot more from HeroQuest because there isn't much left to give. Now I for one have bounced back and forth on this part, and I'm currently still with the position that Doug & Co. of COURSE want to continue HeroQuest for years to come, and they have ideas they want to us, but considering how thick headed Hasbro seems to be (and if you want to believe they are "powerless" to do otherwise is not proven one way or another, companies can do "whatever they want" that doesn't mean it's really what's best for business, or what we as consumers would want and we have a right to express our opinion even if the company disagrees with us), I continue to have my doubts about it.

Is HeroQuest dying, going away, about to be cancelled? No. At least they've said no. There's been no official announcement cancelling the brand, ending it, or proclaiming it will be wrapped up or scaled back. But much like the "we won't use A.I." pledge, it rings hollow unless we can see results. Is it fair to at least say that the output of new HeroQuest content for the mainstream has gone down, and slowed down in the last year? It is reasonable to say that the communication access granted by the company to the general public has decreased in the last two years? In complete isolation, the "no fan interviews at GenCon" this year means nothing. But combined with the various things that have happened starting with the layoffs, it starts to feel like a pattern (or is it a paranoid fan "conspiracy theory" and nothing more?).

Sometimes it's not just what they say, but also what they don't say... and not just what they do, but also what they don't do, that makes people nervous. As I often say when reporting "negative news" is "I hope I'm wrong about this" and of course, once again I hope I'm wrong.

Maybe it's time again for some strongly worded (but civil) letters be sent to Hasbro Consumer Care about these issues.