The Key to Enjoying CK3: Who, Not What

Crusader Kings is a strategy game, yes, but that's only half the story. At its heart, Crusader Kings is a game about people, as was the period it covers a time of people influencing the course of history. In this brief guide, I'll reveal the secret to enjoying Crusader Kings 3. If you're already enjoying the game (however you're playing it!) this guide isn't necessarily for you. If however you're feeling like the whole thing is a slog, a mundane clickfest with long dull periods in between, read on.

What is a character?

What do you see when you look at this character?



If you're like many of us, you see a few things:

• She's a countess.
  
• She's lowborn.
  
• She has two >20 stats.
  
• She has lots of traits.
  
• She has one good and one bad congenital trait.
  
• She has a scholarly background.
  
• She has no glaring weaknesses with regards to personality; she's not a liability.

And then you move on. If this person is in your court, she means nothing to you unless she can be appointed as chancellor or married. If this person isn't in your court, she means literally nothing at all to you. You'll probably never interact with her, she's of no use to you, so she doesn't mean anything. And since the whole game is framed through the player's eyes, that's WHAT this character is. She's a nobody lowborn countess in a neighboring realm.

Now, do you want to know why everyone else seems to be enjoying a game chock full of nothing characters like these? It's all about changing one simple little word and rephrasing your question.

Who is a character?

Who do you see when you look at this character?



Nothing much about this character, mechanically, is different from the last.

• She's a countess.
  
• She's from a nobody dynasty with no prestige and one member.
  
• She has two >20 stats, exactly identical to the last character.
  
• She has lots of traits, exactly identical to the last character.
  
• She has one good and one bad congenital trait, exactly identical to the last charater's.
  
• She has a scholarly background.
  
• She has no glaring weaknesses with regards to personality; she's not a liability.

Yet if you've played the Witcher games, right away this character means something to you. Why is that? It's because this is not merely "some character". Who you see is Yennefer of Vengerberg. This is Geralt's love interest. This is the calm, collected, self-assured mage who survived a world that hated her kind and made plenty of herself.

Yennefer is not a what, but a who. Yennefer is interesting to you because she has character. There's something behind the numbers. Her 26 Diplomacy isn't only a number, it's a reflection of her eloquent speech, her lilac perfume, and her composed way of dealing with others. Her 20 Learning isn't only a number, because we know where she acquired it and of what nature it is. She was King Demavend's advisor for a reason. She was taught at Aretuza, and she learned much from living in the world thereafter.

We know her courage because we've seen it on display many times. We've read about it in prose. Her loyalty is important because we see her stand by her friends even when the whole world turns against them. We know her compassion is important because it helped make Ciri into a responsible woman, and it helped Geralt keep his humanity.

We know she is beautiful, but we also know that her hunchback is congenital and could yet appear in her children. Such a thing would be a reminder of her life before Aretuza. And of course... We know she is a sorceress, something that would be potentially problematic in the world of Crusader Kings, just as it was in the Witcher universe during her time.

Those traits aren't just numbers and icons for Yennefer. They mean something. They're a reflection of her character, and they help to make her memorable. Yennefer isn't just a pretty woman with high marks in charisma, wit, and magic. Yennefer is Yennefer.

But why couldn't most of this be true of Gunhild?

With all the same traits, could she not have learned from a (secret) college of mages? Could she not wear lilac perfume and handle others with poise and grace? Could she not be a courageous adventurer who has faced down threats with her magic? Could she not be the loyal, compassionate companion who kept her surly warrior of a companion from doing anything overly stupid?

And therein lies the secret.

Don't ask yourself WHAT a character is. Ask yourself WHO a character is.

What makes a character memorable?

Reach into any medium and you'll find a common truth: A character is memorable not because of his or her actions onscreen, but because of his or her core traits. Don't believe me? Let's look at a few examples.

If Tony Stark were just a metal suit shooting lasers from his hands, would the last scene of Avengers: Endgame mean anything to us? "Aw, big bad metal man go bye bye. And now so do I, movie's over!" It matters to us because we see his every flaw contrasted by his every strength. It matters because Tony Stark is Lustful, Ambitious, and Fickle... and because he's Diligent, Gregarious, and Brave. It matters because his 80 Learning reflects a man whose mind is as dangerous as it is brilliant, and he chose to apply it to protecting the world.

If Superman were just a guy in blue spandex punching a planet, would we care, or would we find it ridiculous? Superman can overcome most any foe without difficulty. How boring is that? All but the most exceptional fights require him to merely flick a finger and win the day. It matters because Superman is Honest, Humble, and Just. It matters because we care about his convictions. It matters because we care about what happens to the more vulnerable people around him.

If Naruto (skip this if you're not a fan) were just a cranky guy in bright orange, would we care what came of his story? We care because he's Stubborn, Brave, and Forgiving. We care because we see him just refuse to quit time and again. We care because he starts with some of the lowest stats in the whole damn series, but he finds clever ways to overcome his weaknesses on his way to greatness.

If Lara Croft were just a rich British girl with a pair of pistols, would we become invested in her quests? Would we feel anything at all when she went through absolute hell in the reboot? We care because she's Ambitious, Patient, and Cynical. We care because she sees the world in a way others don't, want we want her to succeed. We care because her dogged resolve to just not die in the face of death itself sees her surviving blow after blow and getting back up.

If Joffrey Baratheon were just a punk kid with a crown who was Vengeful, Craven, and Arrogant, would it matter to us? If he was just some child heir with a stone-faced grandfather for a regent, with low marks in all his stats, would we give him a second look in Crusader Kings? I doubt it. Joffrey matters because those traits come together to make him a villain. He matters to us because his Vengeful nature makes him despise anyone who dares speak against him, and drives him to torture them. We care because his Craven nature makes him run away when it comes time to defend his title. We care because his Arrogant nature makes him an insufferable little bastard to everyone who doesn't terrify him.

And so I hope you see my point. If not, let me state it more succinctly:

We care about characters with CK3 traits all the time. The reason we care is because of what those traits combine into.

If you happened to have seen the Vikings TV series, you'll see Ragnar's sons in the 867 start and they might be of interest to you. You might check in on Halfdan, Bjorn, and Ubbe every now and again because you equate the series' characters with the figures in the game.

There is no reason this can't be true of characters the game generates.

When you see Ubbe, you don't just see a Norse lord who's Brave, Gregarious, and Lazy.

You see a man who was brave enough to stand opposite his brothers when they wanted war. You see a man who inherited his father's tendency to give of himself to those around him. You see a man who would rather be at rest than be pillaging the English countryside.

That sort of depth can be applied to anyone!

Putting it to practice: Cwrig Llifon

I had a game some years ago, which I'll have to be judicious with screencaps for since I took caps, but never of character screens. The new update means these characters don't look the same as they once did, so bear with me as I piece things together.

The first character (always a created character, that's how I do things) was in desperate need of knights as Norse raids chipped away at what little land he had. He basically took anyone who would come, and one of those men was Cwrig Llifon, a diminutive 21 year-old Welshman.


(That's him second from the right there.)

Let's have a look at Cwrig's stat spread, taken as of his death.


Okay. Pretty average, right?

Apart from the fact that he was a dwarf (we'll get to the Murderer bit later, he didn't have that when he was 21), there's nothing exceptional about this man statistically. I could've accepted that and just never looked at him again. Waited for him to die in battle and forget him. But I didn't. I liked him. Despite his stature, he looked more gallant than all his contemporaries in the knighthood, somehow. So I paid close attention to him, and boy did he not let me down.

Making it matter

The first thing I did was sit down and evaluate what kind of person this Cwrig was. I do that chiefly by combining a character's traits and putting them in context of the character's life. To others, Cwrig is Gluttonous, Ambitious, and Stubborn. To me, Cwrig was a little man with a big chip on his shoulder who was determined to prove himself worthy of his new lord's trust, that he might be able to enjoy the finer things in life.

His ultimate goal was literally just to eat good food. He was tired of eating slop every day. Tired of being passed over at the common house and having to take what was left after the biggest, loudest men had gotten their fill. He wanted to eat like a lord. I saw Cwrig as a man who projected a much bigger persona than his stature might have supposed, as inspired by both this backstory and the visage he struck on the character screen.

Already, Cwrig is more interesting than his sheet suggests. The game won't tell you these things; you have to make it up as you go, especially when it comes to random gen like Cwrig.

He arrived as part of a whole class of knights, and as fate had it, one of them was a giant. He would need to work hard to stand out. He had plenty of chances; his lord was at war with Rhodri at the time, and outnumbered by orders of magnitude. Cwrig's first chance to prove himself came on the plains of Burselm, when Rhodri's army caught up to his earl's host, and he performed with exceptional skill.

The battle would not be won, but Rhodri the Great drank himself to death while the battle was ongoing and when he died, his claim on the earl's lands was no more. Cwrig had made a good first showing and, by providence, had been given a chance to breathe that he might later prove himself again.

A few years later, some 450 peasants rose up in defiance of the earl's taxes in Worcestershire. I sent Cwrig to crush them, supposing that of all the knights, he'd be the one to volunteer. He didn't disappoint. So it would be that for the next two decades, the earl's knights would all compete for glory, and Cwrig would always be up there in the running.

Then, abruptly, the earl was killed. Murdered by the machinations of the vengeful daughter of Rhodri, whom he'd tortured years earlier to take out his frustration that Rhodri had put his holdings in jeopardy.

The young earl had begun investigating who it was that murdered his father and it's something that ended up consuming the vast majority of his life. At this time, I as a player had no idea who was responsible, because there were a lot of people inside the court who had done some odd things towards the late earl just before he died, and who were untrustworthy people beside. They all had their own "Cwrig story", but that's not what I'm covering here.

At any rate, there was one woman by the name of Arianrhod who was the late earl's spymaster. She was an extremely devious woman, with very high Intrigue and a blackguard's demeanor. Moreover she was a cannibal who tried (unsuccessfully) to sneak the former earl human meat. I didn't know what was happening at the time (only that she tried to feed him something suspicious) and suspected she might have been trying to poison him, making her my prime suspect.

The new earl was no master of skulduggery, and with Arianrhod a long established member of the council, I couldn't exactly remove her from the spymaster's seat at first, which made investigating her difficult. It wasn't until another knight, Faste, came into the picture that I was able to safely oust her, for he had very high intrigue (only just shy of Arianrhod's) and liked the new earl more.

So I determined my ruler would have Cwrig marry her and keep a close eye on her doings. No, it wouldn't have necessarily worked this way mechanically, but it's a decision I made according to the fiction. Remember this because it matters to Cwrig later.

Then came the Catholic-Lollard wars. You see by now, the earl had died, murdered by the vengeful daughter of Rhodri whom he'd tortured years earlier to take out his frustration that Rhodri had put his holdings in jeopardy. The new earl was a Lollard, and all his court, and he was not the warrior his father was. It fell thus upon knights like Cwrig to take up the banner when Karel Boudewiynszoon, Duke of Flanders, declared a Catholic holy war upon their lands.

It was Cwrig, now in his late 30's, who took command of the defending forces. Outnumbered five-to-one, the stubborn Cwrig made his stand in the swamps, where the enemy's numbers wouldn't be so beneficial. Before his army was scattered, Cwrig managed to slay three hundred foes, a third of which were cut down by Cwrig and the other knights. The battle was a defeat, but it won Cwrig untold glory.

When the war was finally won through bitter grit and a key alliance, bad things happened. One of these was the spymaster, Faste, dying. This was huge because once again, the most cunning woman in the earldom was Arianrhod, who might well have been the father's killer and now HATED the earl for removing her from the council. He took advantage of his sister's coming-of-age to marry her to Aethelberht, an older man whose cunning surpassed even Arianrhod's, and put him in charge of the investigation.

At this time, Cwrig moved up on the world. He was placed as chancellor, replacing a man named Gyrth who had been running around behind his wife's back. By this time, Cwrig had struck up a rivalry with Meilyr. I determined this may have been because they were polar opposites: Meilyr was Cwrig's senior in the knighthood, but survived the first generation of knights only because of cowardice. He was a skittish coward who never reached for more than his due (Paranoid, Craven, Content), while Cwrig was a straight-speaking man who grasped what he wanted with both his little hands.

Years later it was revealed that Cwrig had arranged for Aethelthryth, Gyrth's mistress, to be killed. I didn't act on it, as neither I nor my character had any attachment to her and Cwrig was an important figure, but I figured the earl was disappointed and disgusted that one of his best knights would stoop to the thing he'd spent his whole reign trying to curb. Thus, Cwrig was stripped of his chancellorship and the matter was revealed to the public. This is how Cwrig got his Murderer trait.

Ripples in the lake: Attention breeds context

So what became of Cwrig Llifon? Well, he had a son, Arthfael, who was given mayorship over a little town on the island of Ynys Mon. My character married the young man to his half-sister Annest, in my mind to help ensure Cwrig's loyalty. Cwrig went on to die at the age of 53, why? Complications due to obesity. You see Cwrig had gotten the dream he once desired, and boy did he indulge in it.

Arthfael lived a full life before dying in battle at 43, when a berserker ripped his head off. He, like his father, was a bull-headed sort who preferred to indulge in wasteful consumption. Unlike his father, he lacked all drive, having been born into a comfortable life. This is my interpretation of Lazy, Gluttonous, and Stubborn.

Ah! See what I did? I used context to enrich the backstory this time! When a character is related to another - particularly if that character was someone you followed closely - context can be used to fill in gaps in your imagination. In this case, Arthfael wasn't just lazy and gluttonous. He was lazy because he was born into a life of luxury, hard won by his father. His gluttony was inherited, as he like his father sat down at full tables and indulged every taste bud with glee. Hard times create hard men. Hard men create easy times, which create soft men.

That's why I say that when you give a character focus, it can create context, which in turn creates new stories. Over time it starts to snowball and the stories practically write themselves. Case in point:

The daughters of Arthfael Llifon

Nest is a woman who hoped to be carried by her betters to a place of status, where she could return to her family's glory days and live a life of luxury once more. (My interpretation of her traits combination + context.) She married Gwerstan, the lord of Ynys Mon, and had one daughter with him before he died of injuries inflicted in battle. Now living poor in Ynys Mon, she is understandably irritable.


Essyllt is an educated skeptic who wonders if God can be real and loving considering the fall from grace her family has had. She waffles back and forth between devotion to the Lollard faith and apostasy, not knowing where her thinking lies. She is the wife of one of my character's courtiers, who is presently imprisoned in Sweden.


Finally, there's Hellawes, who went and married Prince Rhodri IV. A full four generations after the war her grandfather fought against Rhodri the Great, her husband has inherited a Gwynedd relegated solely to the island of Ynys Mon, over which her sister used to sit as lady. She is a woman of mild manner, content with what she has after learning from her family history that glory and wealth come and go with the seasons. She only wants to be comfortable now with her regal husband on this little island. But if you take that much away from her, she will become a monster in her pursuit of revenge.

So there we have it. Three intriguing stories, three intriguing people, who all came off of one dwarf knight. Imagine if I'd just dismissed Cwrig as "lol short boi who I'm picking because he's available and I need a knight". If I had, the princess of Gwynedd might also not matter to me right now. If I had, Rhodri IV would have a boring wife I might happen upon while scrolling through menus, passing over without a second glance.

Instead, he has a woman from a family that went from the lowest low to great heights, who now just wants more than anything to treasure what she has. A woman I can look at and remember the dwarf knight who gave everything he had to defend my land from the Catholics so many generations ago.

One stone cast into a lake creates dozens of ripples, and each time a ripple strikes a reed it creates a dozen more. So it is with Crusader Kings. Give you characters attention and they'll create more characters you want to pay attention to. Make your characters someone rather than something, and the stories will write themselves.

All because you asked "who", not "what".

Blessings from the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ on you, whether you be Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, atheist... Whoever you are, God is presently at peace with you through His Son. Blessings and grace to you, and I wish you many happy runs with CK3.

[The Former]

I'm glad it helped! Here's to many more hours of enjoyment, I hope.

[MasterEtienne]

I've only recently started playing CKIII, and I knew that the game was meant to be a game about people, but I never really gone in depth on that. I more played as nations, (Probably because I'm more used to HOI4) instead of people. I never even considered creating your own lore about your character, let alone people you would just forget about until they need to be replaced. Actually creating lore about the characters involved with me and my nation makes the game so much more enjoyable. Thanks so much for posting this, it's really helped me a lot in enjoying this game.

Peace be to you, and have a good time playing CKIII!

[The Former]

Haha, you're not alone there. Many people have expressed a desire to mix the two, or even this game and Total War. Something about seeing the outcome of your efforts as though you were there is rewarding.

[dustyn.barlow]

This was REALLY GOOD, I may pick it back up and play once the China/Japan/Steppe civs launch. The problem I always had is I just happened to be playing this the same time I was playing Mount & Blade II.

Once I would get into the story, and I found a character a really liked (huge fan of the lowly country Lord march to become King of his realm story) and we would march to war, I would immediately start feeling my caveman roots, and wanting to bash stuff with a GreatAx. So I would be jumping back and forth so often that I really never got truly immersed in either.

I so wish I could smash the games together so that CK had the Mount and Blade battle system during War. OMG that would be my ultimate game.

[calamityferret]

This is a skill that I can't seem to get the hang of. I absolutely adore stuff like this in Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld or any other story simulator out there. Be it on youtube, as greentext or as a forum thread. The second I open the game up myself it loses its magic and becomes a heap of mechanics while my creativity takes a nap. Only thing I find that helps is when it's a multiplayer game like SS13 where others are in the RP as well but I'm not sure if multiplayer CK3 RP is even a thing

[piercebuster]

You're a gifted storyteller, friend! Out of curiosity, do you play Rimworld?

[Deadfishlel]

Wow insanely good post and a great read for people who only play this game to max out numbers. This is truly what CK3 is at its core, a roleplaying game with a medieval backdrop. The stories are truly what makes this game special

[The Former]

Merci, je suis heureux que vous l'ayez apprécié!

[[GB] Frank Mangano]

First, sorry for my google trad english. Thank you for your guide which I find very useful and important. Personally, I tend in some games or mods, especially on fictional universes like GOT or others, to give life to characters but I admit to restricting myself to certain favorites or to "the close entourage". However, I had never gone as far as the reed and its subsequent undulations. I want to thank you for this because it will give a whole new dimension to my future games! In AGOT it will only be tastier! Thank you from France

[paladin_67]

Thank you🙏