One of the most notable features in Royal Court, Crusader Kings 3’s first major expansion, is the ability to hold court and lend an ear to the pleas of your subjects. This action lets you break away from the often solitary task of figuring out who to invade next while potentially being a source of both entertainment, as Paradox revealed today.
Holding court is a repeatable action in Crusader Kings 3: Royal Court, that “lets you hear a number of requests from various characters, listening to petitioners seeking your aid and legal ruling on many subjects.” It’s also a great way to gauge how honorable (or insane) the people in your realm are.
“At present, you’ll receive three such petitioners each time, with all events delivered in the new courtly event style (though follow-up may be character events or similar),” dev diary 72 explains.
Judging by the work-in-progress screenshots shared so far, the events run the gamut from dead serious to completely nonsensical. As a ruler, you’ll get to decide the fate of a boy who’s lost his father – taking him in, finding him a new home, or leaving him to his fate –, but also settle disputes between subjects bickering over a piece of land, whether through a decision of your own or by potentially having them duel each other for it.
Members of religious communities can arrive at your court, bearing valuable books that you can hold onto and examine more closely, or asking you to sponsor their totally not shady cults. At the same time, you’ll also get to decide whether enforcing a dress code for petitioners is the way to go, or if the peasant wasting your time with their irrelevant tales should become your new jester or not.
These events can grant different effects, including stressing your ruler out and potentially making vassals you side against hate your guts, but also give you Grandeur.
“This system is something pretty dear to our hearts, as it models a task that would’ve been a pretty big part of the day-to-day for many rulers, and we’ve put a lot of effort into getting plenty of alternate events to keep it as varied as possible for as long as possible. We hope you find it a fun & proactive way to explore some of the smaller (and uhh, not so small) issues developing in your realm.”
Judging by what was shown so far, holding court seems to marry a functional side that grants your realm boons with a fair bit of flavor that helps craft your ruler’s story as they deal with their subjects.
We’ll know for sure when Crusader Kings 3: Royal Court launches later this year alongside Patch 1.5, which introduces a coat of arms designer among other features.
Keep updated on the latest PC Gaming news by following GameWatcher on Twitter, checking out our videos on YouTube, giving us a like on Facebook, and joining us on Discord.
