YOU ARE UP NEXT - Characters & Lore | YOU ARE UP NEXT Board Game
Meet the characters of You Are Up Next, a medieval board game and strategy card game. Discover the stories of the Executioner, Notferatu, Misero, Paprika, and Hamlet.
The Executioner
Beauty is both a blessing and a curse. That's the problem of our beloved Executioner. Legends say his first conquest was the midwife who delivered him. Having spent his entire life as the embodiment of the halo effect, he grew tired. What's the point when everything and everyone comes so easily? So, he did the only thing that made sense: he decided he is a fighter, not a lover. He took over the family business and became the new Executioner. Associated with death itself, surely people would stop looking at him just for his looks. And with endless grace and sex appeal, even in this line of work, he finally succeeded. Now he is not just a handsome guy. He is the sexy Executioner.
Notferatu
He is a ruthless and relentless vampire hunter. After his mother died when a vampire that cursed her blood (-she suffered form sepsis), he vowed to dedicate his life to becoming the greatest vampire hunter in the world, so no one else would ever go through what he did. After years of training and finding the perfect equipment, he is finally ready to face a vampire... once he finds one. His latest trick? Dressing up as a vampire himself so that a real one would come out of hiding without fear... and then... then... the local villagers mistook him for a vampire and sent him to be executed. He is now waving garlic around, scubbbing off his makeup, and shouting that he is a human hoping to saved himself. En vain, though, since everyone already knows he is human, they just wanted an excuse to get rid of him after 10 long years driving everyone crazy with his vampire obsession.
Misero
Humor ages with man. We don't know if that's true, but that is the state of the king's once-beloved clown. After more than 40 years of jokes, cream pies and sarcasm, this clown stopped spreading smiles and joy. In a last attempt to become funny again, he decided to reinvent himself by changing his stage name from Bozo to Smiley, Harley King, Sad Sad Sammy, and every other terrible name imaginable, until he finally gave up and called himself Misero. Now, all he wants is to retire. But the king won't let him because, besides being useless enterntainment, he also happen to be the king's only real advisor (when you're the clown who no one pays attention to, you over hear a lot). Finally, he decided to go out the way he lived: with a joke. He made a particularly vulgar one about the queen's behind and ended up in line for execution. He is oddly happy about it, until a child gives him a clown scepter and says he is his biggest fan. Realizing he can still make someone laugh, Misero decides... it's not his time yet.
Paprika
A young maid with a talent for cooking who, despite being barely able to read, finds a spice book with pictures and uses it for her next pie. She leaves everyone speechless as they've just tasted the most gourmet medieval dish imaginable. A woman who's good at something, can read, and uses spices? She must be a witch! The court sentenced her to two months of community service, but she requested execution because she is in love with the Executioner (she thinks she can "fix" him). After annoying the judge for over 3 hours, he gave up and sentenced her to death. Unfortunately, while waiting in the execution line, she suddenly remembered that if the Executioner kills her, she will never see him again! So, she decided to escape and change her approach.
Hamlet
It's the Middle Ages. A pig appears out of nowhere, knocks a flowerpot off a lady's balcony, and it falls on the head of the local lord, killing him instantly. Would you call that man slaughter or murder? Whether it's a pig doesn't matter... someone must pay for this tragic accident. The worst part? The pig actually is intelligent and self aware. In fact, he is a secret member and informant of an underground organization plotting against the regime. His plan all along was to assassinate the noble so that the city would fall into the control of this secret order and all without breaking the law! After all, who would accuse a pig? Well, everyone actually, because he forgot he's in the Middle Ages when people do believe animals have consciousness and criminal law is still in its early stage and so a cunning conspirator now finds himself desperately trying not to become bacon.