Crusader Kings 3 just announced a major series of updates as part of the newest season pass, which, combined together, greatly expands both the map size and mechanical scale of the game with the addition of all of Eastern Asia and a plethora of new gameplay elements to accompany it. One of these features, originally designed to expand on the unique gameplay scenario of medieval Japan, caught my attention because when paired with one of Crusader Kings 3‘s most popular mods, players can finally get a truly authentic Game of Thrones role-play experience.
If you’ve been keeping track of the latest updates to Crusader Kings 3, chances are you’ve heard of one of the most recent developer posts from Paradox Interactive, Dev Diary #172 – The Full Medieval World. In this post, the developers talk about a lot of the new content coming to Crusader Kings 3 with the newest season pass, with a focus on some of the new mechanics featured with the addition of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia to the game. While there is a lot to get excited about in this post, one particular new feature caught my attention above the rest, and it’s one that was implemented as part of the inclusion of Japan.
Feudal Japan has a fascinating history of nobility-focused culture, with tensions and relations between Houses being particularly well recorded. Throughout history, the infractions and gestures of goodwill between two noble houses of Japan were not easily forgotten, and to replicate this feature, Crusader Kings 3 will be receiving a new mechanic that tracks the history of relations between two houses over the years.
“The long-term relationships between different Houses are now tracked, and move along a sliding scale from great friendship to intense rivalry,” says the dev blog’s description of this new CK3 feature. “Whenever a member of a House takes a significant friendly or hostile action against another House’s member, such as a marriage or a murder, the relation between the Houses will change to reflect the act.”
Some may argue that this is a feature that should have been present in Crusader Kings 3 already. I’m one to agree with that sentiment. However, when reading these notes in the devblog, I really got to thinking about one thing: House Lannister.
Particularly, I got to thinking about the long and sordid history of House Lannister as explained to us in the series Game of Thrones. I thought about Tytos Lannister and his relationship with House Reyne, how Tywin Lannister destroyed the House and created an unforgettable bard’s tale in the process. I thought about the relationship between Tywin and the Mad King, and every single little interaction between the lions and the other Houses. As I pictured in my head Tywin Lannister discussing the importance of House and legacy, I pictured a little relationship bar between two Houses shifting one way or another as I pictured everything Charles Dance’s beloved character did throughout the series.
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In my opinion, there is now no better way for players of Crusader Kings 3 to roleplay Game of Thrones than with this upcoming system. George R.R. Martin’s fantastic fantasy series puts much more of an emphasis on the long, well-remembered history of each House more than on the status of the land itself. Before now, Crusader Kings 3 had no way to really track the interaction between two houses beyond a current ruler’s relationships. Now, the role-play experience of the game expands far beyond borders and subjects, with potentially thousands of years of grudges and great deeds to create a true system of rivalry and friendship for entire bloodlines, attaching reputation and remembrance to names and not just your current character.
I have to imagine that A Game of Thrones, the largest and most popular Song of Ice and Fire total conversion mod for Crusader Kings 3, will be quick to implement this feature as part of the mod as soon as it releases. It is hard to imagine playing a Game of Thrones mod without this new Crusader Kings 3 mechanic. After all, how can one properly keep track of the long loyalties of House Karstark to House Stark, or the bitter rivalry between House Martell and House Yronwood, without this CK3 system?
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