Joffrey Meets The Reaper: CK II Game Of Thrones Mod Update

It's always a happy day when an update for a much-loved mod appears. The Game of Thrones total conversion for Crusader Kings II [official site] is such a blindingly obvious combination of worlds and mechanics that it simply had to exist. That the team working on it continue to do such a good job is fantastic. The latest update brings in support for the latest expansion to the base game, The Reaper's Due, which adds all sorts of epidemic modelling and hideous disease-related deaths. So, yes, you can watch your least favourite characters suffer and squirm as they try to sweat or bleed out the bubonic plague.

You can find the full changelog over here, but I've picked out some gems:

Dragons and other special characters can no longer be accused of being witches
Restricted experimental treatments to serious conditions (no more removal of limbs to cure the flu)
Added a new method to murder someone
Added an event where a ruler can get cut on the Iron Throne
Characters can now only catch gonorrhoea if lustful or have the seduction focus (except if a lover or spouse has the disease)
Characters on foreign tour will no longer try to marry into pirate realms
Bearded Priests now have beards

Reading through the changes brings home how much work goes into the mod. The Reaper's Due is a fantastic expansion and has sucked me straight back into CKII, but some of its mechanics don't quite suit Westeros and much of the flavour text is completely inappropriate. All of that has or is being changed. I don't follow either the books or the TV series anymore so I couldn't tell you if there are spoilers in the changelogs, or if the whole thing is as authentic as it seems, but the level of detail is hugely impressive.

The new 1.3 version is available here, for Windows, Mac and Linux.