#PLAAYING VASSAL WITH FRIENDS HOW TO#
#PLAAYING VASSAL WITH FRIENDS FULL#

The way that the game treats racism and xenophobia isn't explicitly named as such, but based on their personal traits as well as the Doctrines of their religion, people of differing religions and cultures can be extremely hostile to each other, and people of different cultures automatically are resistant to becoming one another's vassal. Within the complicated rendering of character personalities there are some snarls as well. Every choice you make has echoes in this world, because as much as it can, Crusader Kings III tries to break down implacable human nature into systems. This isn't just complex math bouncing off each other you begin to see it as people reacting to stimuli. Having those surprising-but in retrospect totally expected-events happen puts you in the mindset of thinking of your player character as having an immutable personality. Crusader Kings III says, 'burnout is real.' You really can't push that either when I played as a Russian vassal, my player character once got so stressed out he died. Picking that option as a player will lead to the player character accruing stress, just as it stresses me out when it's my turn to do all the grossest household chores. A character who is wrathful isn't going to enjoy the kinds of platitudes one must make when hosting a feast, for instance. Over time, your character will gain traits that modify how they react to certain choices.

It is very easy to play Crusader Kings III completely in character as the figure that you're currently playing as from your chosen dynasty.

#PLAAYING VASSAL WITH FRIENDS FULL#

It made me want to dive right into a place and time that the game portrays as full of emerging culture and humanity. But what I found over time was not only was it easy to cast yourself in the role of a ruler, trying to shape history to your whims, it made me even more interested in my family history. Crusader Kings III is not a pedagogical tool-it stops being historical as soon as you press play. I selected a ruler from that time, choosing to start at 1066, the later of the two start dates the game provides.ДЄfter you pick your start date, when the game is still frozen in time, you're looking at a meticulously researched map of history. I do know where my mother was born though: Andhra Pradesh, in the southern shore of India. I can't trace our family history back much farther than that. Though his family is from Selma, Alabama, we are both also the descendents of slaves. As a mixed race black person, I don't know where I come from in specific on my father's side. When I first started out in Crusader Kings III, I wanted to find where my mother lived in India. As long as you have a landed title, you can continue the game as your heir. If not, you might die, but it's not that bad. If you're lucky, your schemes will bear fruit and you'll eventually rule an empire. You and your vassals and your fellow land owners and their vassals with form and break alliances, marry each other, war with each other, murder and seduce each other for centuries. You wouldn't believe the amount of drama a bunch of land owners can get into just within two or three duchies. These definitions can nest within each other too, so if there's a word you don't understand in your definition you can define that as well. Helpfully, the game provides you with a plethora of tools to understand what's going on-if you mouse over a highlighted word, a definition will pop up.

You've got multiple currencies to juggle, as well as at least two skill trees, and both a faith and a culture that give you stats that modify how other characters will treat you and how your character will treat other people. You've got your Domain, and your Vassals and your Council.

#PLAAYING VASSAL WITH FRIENDS HOW TO#

Understanding how to play the game means understanding that you are just going to keep running into proper nouns. This is a game for people who are nerds about people, and why they act the way they do. It has a reputation for being for history nerds, but I think it's appeal is broader than that. What the game aims to do is create a working facsimile of how human beings in the medieval ages interacted with each other. When you're just starting out as someone's vassal, scrolling too far away from the tiny bit of land you're trying to rule is mind boggling. The philosophy of Crusader Kings III is that more is more.

Plaaying vassal with friends