Terrifying little goblins are in the spotlight in Crusader Kings 3's upcoming event pack. I am of course talking about children, the most horrible monsters of all. No, I have not forgiven my nephew for attacking me with a lightsaber. Chosen by the community, the Wards & Wardens pack hones in on the "perils and potentials of being a child ruler", as well as educating the little blighters and continuing that education into adulthood.
Kids are an important resource in Paradox's medieval grand strategy RPG, as both potential heirs and marriage candidates. Raise them to rule, marry them off to forge alliances, or just become incredibly disappointed in them as they squander their days tormenting peasants and pestering you incessantly with dumb questions. Sometimes they end up as food for wolves and bears.
This pack essentially fleshes the tiny terrors out, giving you lots of narrative events, including:
- Childhood education events
- Visiting universities for adult characters
- More childhood personality events
- Hostage events for foreign children placed at your court
- Child-rearing events with courtiers, including a new court position, the wet-nurse
- Child regency events for the training or usurping of rulers who have not reached adulthood
It's a smaller, more focused list of features that you get with the full blown expansions, the last of which was Tours & Tournaments, which ended up being one of the best expansions Paradox has ever developed.
At the time I called it "easily my favourite CK3 expansion, and a high point for the whole series, pushing many of the best parts of the grand strategy romp to the fore. I noticed that throughout I was mostly sticking to low speeds because there was just so much going on. Before Tours & Tournaments, CK3 was already riveting, but there were also big gaps where not much was happening, resulting in me kicking up the game speed while I perused menus. Now I'm engaged more frequently and for longer stretches."
Wards & Wardens might be slimmer, but hopefully still compelling. It's due on August 22 for $4.99/£4.29, but if you want to save your pennies all CK3 players will get some freebies. A new hostage system, the eccentric character trait, new event art and new animations will be included in a free update for everyone.
