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riadsala

CK2 Succession Game

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Hi,

 

does anybody fancy starting a CK2 succession "chain" game? The idea is that one person starts the game, plays until they die, then pass the save onto somebody else to play. I'm sure this has been done before, but not on this forum right. During your reign, you should share what's happening on this thread (it doesn't have to be super detailed, but it should allow for your heir to have a basic understanding of what's going on).

 

It will also mean that we can share some tips and play styles. I imagine there's a lot I could learn from some of you.

 

No DLC should be required.

 

 

You can catch up with the story so far here: https://riadgameblog.wordpress.com/category/3maidle-thumbs-forum-crusader-kings-ii-succession-game/

 

(or just scroll down and read it in between all the comments).

 

Player queue:

 

 

Gormongous - Duke Bertrand II of Provence 1066? -

SuperBiasedMan -

Riadsala -

Cordeos -

Anym -

Codicier -

tberton -

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I'd be up for this for sure. I am pretty sure that the way DLC works is that you need the relevant DLC to play as a character, eg. If someone with the Old Gods DLC was playing a pagan and their succesor was pagan, then technically other players without the DLC could still open the save file but play as different characters. Similarly, if you were a pagan but your son wasn't then I think we'd get away with it.

 

I think it's easiest to play without any DLC though, since you can just turn off all of it when you load up the game.

 

Also I am totally writing my posts as a pure in character diary.

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I'm in, sounds a good way to put in a nice limited but fun amount of time with a game i very much enjoyed. maybe we could use the nick/sean save game as a start point :D

 

SBM is 100% right though wed have to obviously establishwhat DLC we all had in common before begining

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I'm in, too, although I might have to tear out my eyes if I have to play Ireland again. I'll do my best to roleplay instead of powergame!

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That's also a good point, how ought we settle the matter of where to start? Do we leave it up to the whims of the first player or try some sort of randomising system?

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That's also a good point, how ought we settle the matter of where to start? Do we leave it up to the whims of the first player or try some sort of randomising system?

 

There's actually a randomizer built into character selection, but it isn't necessarily weighted for interesting plays. Either we use that, with something of a veto system to make sure we don't end up as a pagan count in the Arctic Circle, or we each submit an interesting character and then vote on them, with each person not being allowed to vote for their own submission.

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to make sure we don't end up as a pagan count in the Arctic Circle

 

*scraps idea for our first character*

 

 

I also move that if we go with suggestions, whoever's suggestion is chosen definitely doesn't go first. So that someone else can play the character they picked out.

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Maybe just go with a vanilla ruler and no DLC? Not sure what would happen if a saved game was used with a DLC miss-match. I would totally be interested in this. Maybe have people post what happened during there rule in here before passing the save on. We could build up a nice little story. 

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I own Sword of Islam, Legacy of Rome, and the Way of Life. My game history is: first game started somewhere near Poland. Second game, realised Ireland was a simpler start. Then I spent a while trying to Muslim regions in Southern Spain, or the eastern Med. Current game, I started off a count in the Byzantine Empire, and am now King of Serbia (although still within the Empire).

 

Ok, so my vote for starting is somewhere in the Holy Roman Empire's sphere of influence. As I haven't done this before. Open to other suggestions.

 

I guess I have a preference for playing underdogs rather than kings. but hey, happy to go a ruler if everybody else does, as it will be new to me!

 

Another thing we should decide is if we're going to roleplay a little.. it tick what you think your character would do, rather than gaming and minmaxing systems. I have no strong feelings either way, I just think it would be good to be on the same page.

 

It's a shame we can't do this with ironman switced on, to avoid any save scumming.

 

A final point: one player = one character. You might get another shot if we run out of interested players, but people who've already played get put on the end of the queue, and new players leapfrog them in priority. Exception: if your character dies within a few years, you can rejoin the end of the queue and new players won't leapfrog you.

 

However, kibitzing on the forum is encouraged :) There's no reason why the ghosts of previous rulers, or future visions can't offer advice on whether to go to war or not :P

 

I'd rather not go first! I'll let somebody else set the tone! 

 

I may even investigate steam-streaming so others can watch in realtime. Although that's maybe going overboard :P

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Maybe just go with a vanilla ruler and no DLC? Not sure what would happen if a saved game was used with a DLC miss-match. I would totally be interested in this. Maybe have people post what happened during there rule in here before passing the save on. We could build up a nice little story. 

 

Yes, the idea is to very much post updates on what happens during your rule. Different players can chose how much they want to document events, but I'd encourage people to share enough to that people can follow along. Also, if anybody else wants to take the known facts, and act as court historian turning it into a semi-accurate tale, then that's fine :P

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I own Sword of Islam, Legacy of Rome, and the Way of Life. My game history is: first game started somewhere near Poland. Second game, realised Ireland was a simpler start. Then I spent a while trying to Muslim regions in Southern Spain, or the eastern Med. Current game, I started off a count in the Byzantine Empire, and am now King of Serbia (although still within the Empire).

 

Ok, so my vote for starting is somewhere in the Holy Roman Empire's sphere of influence. As I haven't done this before. Open to other suggestions.

 

I guess I have a preference for playing underdogs rather than kings. but hey, happy to go a ruler if everybody else does, as it will be new to me!

 

Another thing we should decide is if we're going to roleplay a little.. it tick what you think your character would do, rather than gaming and minmaxing systems. I have no strong feelings either way, I just think it would be good to be on the same page.

 

It's a shame we can't do this with ironman switced on, to avoid any save scumming.

 

A final point: one player = one character. You might get another shot if we run out of interested players, but people who've already played get put on the end of the queue, and new players leapfrog them in priority. Exception: if your character dies within a few years, you can rejoin the end of the queue and new players won't leapfrog you.

 

However, kibitzing on the forum is encouraged :) There's no reason why the ghosts of previous rulers, or future visions can't offer advice on whether to go to war or not :P

 

I'd rather not go first! I'll let somebody else set the tone! 

 

I may even investigate steam-streaming so others can watch in realtime. Although that's maybe going overboard :P

 

All my best games have started within the Holy Roman Empire, at least starting in 1066! I've had amazing runs as the Dukes of Bavaria and of Saxony, but one of the dukes in the kingdoms of Burgundy or Italy would be just as good. My official vote would either be Count Werner von Hapsburg of Aargau (yes, that Hapsburg, and thus a little boring but still cool) or the Bosonids of Provence or Folcalquier (because they were descended from a line of losers in the post-Carolingian struggle and also have a funny name).

 

I don't know how much powergaming I can truly leave behind after a thousand hours of play, but I'm going to try! The succession game will finally give me an excuse to play within my character's traits, which I've never had the guts to do when I had at least 400 years of gameplay ahead of me.

 

I'd be happy to start, too. I'm probably one of the stronger players, as well as an actual historian, so maybe I'd be good for it? Maybe I'd ruin it, maybe I should defer to someone else...

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I'm doing favour of role playing. Especially as each player is a new person so they could take some influence from their successor as well as the in game traits but they're basically deciding their own character.

Do people think a duke is a good compromise for amount of power to start?

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+1 for Duke to start with.

 

Sounds like Gormongous is pretty experienced, so I'll let him start and select a character.

 

And role playing it is. Which doesn't mean that you can't try to play well... but please avoid minmaxing exploits and whatnot.

 

If people don't mind, I will repost the game history notes to my  under-used-blog (https://riadgameblog.wordpress.com/) just so we have a coherent record of what happened.

 

Current (suggested) player order:

 

Gormongous

SuperBiasedMan

Riadsala

Cordeos

 

New players can be added on as we find them.

 

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I'm also cautiously interested, just a bit worried that I might be playing too slowly.

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I'm also cautiously interested, just a bit worried that I might be playing too slowly.

 

 

I wouldn't worry... you only have to play one in-game life time, at your own schedule. And if you don't have time to play when you're name comes up on the list,  you can always defer. As long as you don't take much over a month to play out your lifetime, it's not a problem :)

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ck2_1.png

 

I am Bertrand of Provence. Properly, I am William Bertrand, count and marquis of Provence. Historians are not sure if my name was William or Bertrand, so they left me with me both. If it was the former, I am the fifth of my name to rule Lower Burgundy, and if it was the latter, I am the first or the second, depending on whether you count my father Fulk Bertrand as a Bertrand or a Fulk.

 

Anyway.

 

I am of the line of Boso, a nobleman of Lorraine who was appointed count of Lyon and Vienne after his sister married Charles the Bald, king of West Francia. After several years of loyal service, he was elevated to the rank of duke and given Provence, where I now live. He disapproved of Charles' invasions of Italy, not least because he was married to the only daughter of Emperor Louis II of Italy, and led a series of rebellions, which eventually put him in control of Charles' son Louis the Stammerer once Charles died. When Louis also died, after only two years of rule, Boso rejected the joint succession of Louis' two sons and declared himself independent. By this point, his lands included almost the entire de jure kingdom of Burgundy, in addition to much of the French duchy of Burgundy, but most of that was taken away a year later, when the two sons buried the hatchet with their cousin Charles the Fat, king of Italy and soon to be the last Carolingian emperor. They quickly conquered the duchy of Burgundy, which was never again to be part of the kingdom of Burgundy even in fantasy, and most of Vienne. The rest of the latter was lost to a rebellious relative, Richard of Autun, and Boso died soon after. He was hated for his presumption, as the first man to presume to be king in Christendom without a drop of Charlemagne's blood, and his Carolingian enemies had several deliberately inept forgeries of his charters produced to make him look stupid. The kingdom of Lower Burgundy — now more properly called the duchy, marquisate, and county of Provence — has survived, but it is a debased existence.

 

Map_Kingdom_Arelat_EN.png

 

I rule from Arles, and in theory my rule extends from the Côte d'Azur to the city of Vienne, but in fact I only control a single county directly — sometimes not even that, if the barons of Grimaud get uppity. My cousin Jaufret, son of my father's brother, rules the hills of Forcalquier in my name. He is much more experienced than me, so I have appointed him marshal, even though he seems to talk a lot about battles that no one else in the court recalls. The counties of Venaissin and Vienne are run by locals, only nominally under my rule. At least they are obligated each to send me a hundred troops whenever I call; the bishop of Vivrais doesn't even owe me that! I hate to say it, because I am the blood of kings, but I am a duke in name only.

 

But I have dreams. The Bosonids will not slowly die out over the two centuries, to be inherited by some Spaniard. I will reclaim our rightful rule over the bishopric of Nice from the upstart money-grubbers in Genoa!

 

ck2_2.png

 

I will regain our lost lands and reunite the duchy of Provence with the duchy of Dauphiné!

 

ck2_3.png

 

I will... probably have to find at least one more territory to pick up somewhere because that's not enough to create the title for the kingdom of Burgundy. But I will! I will take that royal title from the Salian emperors of Germany to whom I now bow and scrape. It suits me to serve the emperor, who is the true ruler over all Christendom, but I will serve him as king!

 

Now, if only I weren't content and slothful. Maybe I should see what they're up to in the kitchens...

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Let me know if that's any good. I'm actually going to be incredibly busy until after this weekend, at least, but I wanted to get the basic thing out there for people to chew on.

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Great start.

 

I'm away for a long weekend, so may not get round to checking in on the forum!

 

Do you mind if I copy and paste the write up to my blog, so we can have all in game events in one place? if you can supply dates which span each post, I can put that in the title and it will  be easy for people to follow along :)

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ps. if you'd like to play, but aren't so keen on writing, please don't be put off! I'm sure we can find a ghost writer to fill in some details. or we can have a few generations that are not as detailed!

 

pps. Thinking ahead... if this goes well.. might be a laugh to try porting it to EUIV and carrying on :P Not that I've ever played EUIV, but this might convince me to pick it up!

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Great start.

 

I'm away for a long weekend, so may not get round to checking in on the forum!

 

Do you mind if I copy and paste the write up to my blog, so we can have all in game events in one place? if you can supply dates which span each post, I can put that in the title and it will  be easy for people to follow along :)

 

Of course you can repost what I post. I was originally planning to do posts every ten years, played in between pages of my article revision, but not enough has happened to fill a post in the first ten that I just played, so I might go for twenty per post or even play the whole life before I decide how to break it down.

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Bertrand II: 1066-1071

 

Immediately I am already disappointed with my prospects. Nothing about my living situation says "royal" right now. I am married to Mathilde de Provence, a local noblewoman of no account either to me or to anyone else. The truth is, though I love my natural daughter, she was conceived out of wedlock and I married dear Mathilde, the most boring person under heaven, to preserve the honor of us all. Some years later, I am less than thrilled with my decision.

 

ck2_4.png

 

Naturally, we are childless, as God does not smile on a loveless union, but I will be patient and tend my garden in the meantime. Getting an annulment is just too much work, anyway.

 

In the first months of 1067, Genoa and Pisa start squabbling over rights and goods. I think it high time to remind the bishop of Nice that his de jure liege dwells not on the shore of the Ligurian Sea. In preparation, I dump my useless cousin, who had begun arguing that swords were the only siege engines we needed, and replace him with my mother's new husband, a scion of the house of d'Este in Lombardy. He, at least, does not talk so much, and thereby we get results. The bishop bends knee, although the local mayor and baron do not do the same until Duchess Matilda of Toscana annexes Genoa in a brief and bloody war a decade later.

 

ck2_5.png

 

Unfortunately, mother is not nearly as happy with Uncle Oberto d'Este as I am, so I have him beaten and locked up for a bit after he strays from her. Everyone wins!

 

ck2_13.png

 

Actually, I'm having problems with every part of my family. My once-beloved sister, married to the dukes of Toulouse, conspires with them for my throne. I heard, from a little bird, that she meant to make me fly from the parapet.

 

ck2_6.png

 

I spend almost a year praying for the proper action, but receive no action, and therefore decide to repay like with like. I send several envoys west, carrying money I have earned from the two bishops now loyal to me, to make sure it is Adalaïda who takes the fall, literally!

 

ck2_10.png

 

The act aggrieves me, not just because killing is a sin even if you do not draw the blade yourself, but also because I still have no heir from the womb of my boring disappointment of a wife. Adalaïda may have been filled with Toulousain poison, but she was blood of my blood and well fit to sit on my throne. With her regrettably dead, I have one less pillar to lean on.

 

And then, in late 1069, my wife becomes pregnant and soon bears me a son! Mirabile dictu, a son for me! His name is Garcia, after a great hero of the Spaniards, and though he is a bit small and quiet insofar as I have come to expect infants to be, he is beloved to me and my line.

 

ck2_7.png

 

Did I mention that Mathilde died in childbirth? Yeah... It is a tragedy, for sure, but no doubt she sits in heaven right now, at the right hand of the Son, smiling at me and my boy. I will raise him well and make our ancestors proud. The Bosonids are on the up and up!

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