by Stéphane Escapa

After we published the artist diary for Castle Combo, I went through all the feedback from gamers, and I realized the research work on the characters’ background was a key ingredient in the secret sauce, regardless of how fun it was to me. I then thought I had to crank the volume up to eleven for Out of the Oubliette!, the Castle Combo expansion debuting in late 2025 from Catch Up Games.

This time, we would have only twelve characters. While chatting with developer Seb and designers Mathieu and Greg, we realized we couldn’t have weak characters. On the contrary, we needed stylish characters with a nice reference or inspiration behind them — and the mechanical side of the theme wanted all of these characters to be prisoners, locked-down pariahs, so they couldn’t be squeaky clean…

Even so, we didn’t want to caricature dark and brooding characters; we had to stay fun and quirky so that the new cast would feel at home in the base game’s roster! I dove back into a sea of research: pop culture, history, obscure websites…

Outside of their mechanical inner workings (costs, shields, ability, and scoring), the identity and profession of all twelve characters were not set in stone when we started thinking about them. The Man in the Iron Mask and the Fortune Teller were obvious good candidates, but all of the others needed work. As we did in the base game, all four of us brainstormed to find jobs that fit the cards’ abilities or scorings — ideally both. In the end, eleven characters were found easily, but the twelfth was way more of a challenge.

Looking for our twelve felons

Without further ado, here are the thoughts behind these new cast members!

LADY IN THE IRON MASK

The Man in the Iron Mask was an obligatory choice. As he had three shields, I decided that I would start with him…or rather her. Because we care about gender parity, the Man in the Iron Mask became a Lady.

As you may know, I love coming up with stories, so she was obviously going to be the sister (or half-sister, or cousin) of the Queen. I know, we already did that with the Prince and the Stable boy, but a leopard cannot change its spots.

My first instinct was to copy Her Majesty the Queen’s design. This is quite fun because that character was the first one I worked on and the last to be finished. At the last moment, Seb told me the character wasn’t iconic enough, and Mathieu thought the colors I had chosen made the card hard to read, so I completely redesigned her dress, taking inspiration from Marie-Antoinette’s famous and gorgeous puffy dress!

I also placed a lys flower (a lily) on the side of her mask. In the Three Musketeers novels, Milady bears this withered mark, branded with hot iron on thieves’, beggars’ and slaves’ shoulders – and it could be found on other lowly individuals in the XVIIth century. Our characters having very small arms and very big heads, the placement of this symbol was obvious.

The mysterious Lady in the Iron Mask

TOADY & PEDDLER

The abilities and scorings of the Toady and the Peddler (who was initially a smuggler) were similar, so I came up with a link between them. Again, there was a kind of story involved: the Peddler being ambitious (with his vertical scoring) he placed his son at the King’s court (horizontal scoring).

So that you have this parental link in the character design, they have the same face, which is a blend of Game of Thrones‘ odious Littlefinger and the smirking and smug Ser Davos. Both also have a hat with a peacock feather, which is yet another Game of Thrones reference.

Daddy Peddler

Toady kiddo

CONSPIRATOR

The Conspirator‘s ability was obvious, and I had already designed that manipulative character for the base game – he almost ended up taking Michel the Messenger’s place! We thought he would be a good fit for a Clergy role, with his Richelieu-inspired likeness. We added a doll version of the King in his hands, just for funsies.

Conspirator gonna conspirate

PLAYWRIGHT

The Playwright is inspired by Armande Béjart and…her husband Molière himself since he played multiple female roles in his own plays.

Playwright (and actor, obviously…)

PRINTER

The Printer – or at least her garb – is straight outta Madeleine Plantin’s portrait. Plantin is a printer from the XVIth century. Diane de Poitiers, from the same period, had more or less the same accoutrement, so she was a reference, too. The irreverent caricatures around her – that obviously got her jailed in the first place – are a nod to Charles Philipon’s works that depict Louis-Philippe the First as turning into…a pear!

Irreverent Printer

KING OF BEGGARS

The idea of adding the King of Beggars was an early thought. Aside from the Man in the Iron Mask, this was the only other character with three shields, so it needed to be iconic.

Who to embody him better than the Great Coësre from Paris’ Cour des Miracles? An old leper/miser with a lame limb, but who reigns over all the Parisian beggars and thieves? Now this is classy!

All hail the Beggars’ King!

ART FORGER

The Art forger would, of course, copy an adjacent ability: an obvious choice of character. She is directly modeled after Properzia de Rossi, a Renaissance sculptor. You can find a few fakes around her that might ring a bell: a miter, a clock, a sculpture, and a famous painting.

Art Forger and her latest creations

CUTPURSE

Mathieu had the perfect word for the Cutpurse: “Try to imagine Red Riding Hood gone wrong.” Like many characters from the Village, I didn’t draw inspiration from historical figures or works of art. I stumbled on this costume only while browsing an online shop. All this research at least taught me there were harsh trials if you wanted to become Master Thief of the cutpurses’ brotherhood…

Cutpurse dear, what a nice hood you have!

PRINCE OF THIEVES

The Prince of Thieves was a character who we couldn’t miss on since its scoring was one that interacted with the expansion’s new mechanism. We needed a character with serious rizz!

We thought about a poacher, but that was a bit too dark. The card instead suggests some sort of vigilante, with an ability that steals from the rich and a scoring that scales on prisoners (whether freed or not). We stayed in the silly, quirky fun of Castle Combo, and instead of being literal and quoting Kevin Costner, we went for Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood, as well as Westley in The Princess Bride, both portrayed by Cary Elwes.

Prince of Thieves (in tights)

FORTUNE TELLER

For the Fortune Teller, Esmeralda was the main reference, along with Méjaï, in Le Scorpion, too. Enrico Marini’s comic book was a key read when I was younger, and I wanted to pay tribute to that incredibly charismatic character. I even included her black cat, Pharaon.

This Fortune Teller was once an outcast, too

CARDINAL’S HAND

For the twelfth and last character, we hesitated a lot. They were supposed to have a military shield, and their power was to be tied to the clergy. We questioned which character or job was the best suited to tell that story. A Templar would have been perfect, but there’s already one in the base game. So who else? A brother in arms? A kind of Swiss guard? A fanatic?

After multiple sketches, we opted for Milady de Winter, sworn enemy to d’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, and she obviously will be the Cardinal’s sidekick. I drew inspiration mainly from the actress Mylène Demongeot (and her superb red dress), who plays her part in both classical movies shot by Bernard Borderie in 1961.

The Cardinal’s Hand could have been a King’s Hand…

Fear the crimson Cardinal’s Hand!

As for icons, most of the job had been done with the base game, so there was no real surprise or complication. The only really new icon was the padlock, placed right before the ability, and this was meant to be instantly recognizable. It was rather easy to make, taking only a few sketches before we reached its final iteration.

Locking in the design for padlocks

A last word? Thank you again to all who read through my diary(ies!) – your comments on the first one made me want to write a second! I hope you’ve appreciated the research and thinking behind this small expansion. Though I regret the Swiss Guard is not part of the cast, who knows, maybe Mathieu and Greg have more ideas in their heads…

Stéphane Escapa