Real strategy requires cunning.
Crusader Kings (2004), Crusader Kings II (2012) and Crusader Kings III (2020) are a series of grand strategy games by Paradox Interactive, with a heavy roleplaying element. Players follow a dynasty rather than a state1 as rulers live and die across the Middle Ages.
I’ve played both II and III2 a lot. I’ve used them for inspiration on what kinds of stories can come up3, to mine for game mechanics - or at least the names for them, and to visually portray characters for player reference4.
I’ve even considered modding it into a VTT for a game - though I think that’s way too much work.
Footnotes
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Meaning, inheritance and personal family power over the overall health of an institution, can matter. ↩
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Technically a little bit of the first game too, but just because I got it for free in a promotion long after II was out. ↩
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The characters tend to be higher aristocracy than the gentry we’re dealing with (though recent DLC with “landless” characters can feel lower class) - but unlike a lot of strategy games can put you in the shoes of Counts who are at least fairly low in the hierarchy, worried about several levels of rulers above them and working out their own power plays around and through those heady higher politics. ↩
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Below (or… above this footnote, but below it’s marker) there’s an infographic I made for A Wind Age, A Wolf Age. The CK3 editor is not just good at having a lot of not-overly-fantastical period clothing that’s focused on the era but also pretty broad culturally and profession-wise, but handling character aging and genetic resemblances naturally - which is useful for a game tracing families over time. The heraldry editor is also pretty solid, and it and the various icons and UI elements of the game have a satisfying period-influenced mostly consistent art style - so stealing that for session recaps and the like is also useful. ↩