Crusader Kings 3 is well-known for being a political intrigue simulator that spans history, pitting players against ruthlessly cunning opponents that will stop at nothing to gain more land for its empire. Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is light and arguably esoteric in its intrigue and diplomacy, yet its battles taking place with a bevy of warriors at players' beck and call are impressive even in Early Access.
Crusader King 3 has some of the most anticlimactic battles possible, whether players are invading the capital of an invading kingdom or shoring up defensive perimeters from banditry. On the other hand, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord turns diplomacy into cut and dry mechanics with overly simplistic equations where success can be guaranteed if your score is above a variable for the NPC. So, one fan decided to put the two together.
A mod called "Crusader Blade" is being built that seems to offer the best of both worlds: generate intrigue, policy, and diplomacy from Crusader Kings 3, while sending players into Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord for battles. The mod generates the terrain, equipment, troops, and even the game character from Crusader King 3 and passes it to Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord for users to cry havoc. Upon victory or defeat, the data is then passed back to Crusader Kings 3 and users continue to play from the result of the battle.
This allows military commanders that have the tactical ability and combat prowess to shift the tides of war in their favor, but the implications could stretch beyond this. Crusader Kings 3 offers cooperative play that can struggle to maintain its pacing, and it is plausible that this mod may allow cooperative play in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord as players load into the title together. The campaign would be based on Crusader Kings 3, however, and it's also worth noting that the developer has not yet confirmed this.
The mod is in its infancy, as there is still a multitude of issues that will need to be figured out. Not every battle that occurs within Crusader Kings 3 is worth playing: cleaning up after a battle to wipe small splinters of an opposing military could become an arduous process with all the loading across the platforms. Further, troops in Crusader Kings 3 do not have immediate parity with those in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord.
Crusader Blade currently has a Patreon page where the developer is requesting financial assistance to turn the mod into everything players are dreaming of. However, the initial problem of how to pass data between the two titles has been solved.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC.
Source: Patreon