Once your character dies, you continue playing as his dynastic heir. These are all easy to pass because, since you have no counts as vassals anymore, no one gets mad.

Naturally you will be weak unless you centralize your power, meaning stealing a duchy or two and some counties from you vassals in your area. I have tried to enjoy Paradox games in the past and while I found HoI3 approachable I’ve not really jelled with any other game. Don't attack across rivers if your forces aren't much larger than the enemy, as that puts you at a disadvantage. The others will slowly improve over time. There are two main ways to expand your realm - war and marriage: The simplest way to declare war is to press a claim for yourself. You spend your time playing as a character. Though you play individual characters within that dynasty, at some point, you will die.

Some of your courtiers or vassals may have claims on titles outside the realm, which you can press on their behalf. So Crusader Kings 2 is out (or is inside a few hours) and if I had the time I would love to be playing it as I loved the demo. After this, the easiest path to power is expanding your budding Kingdom into Ireland, where all the counts and two dukes are divided.

Crusader kings 2 factions