Paradox Interactive announces The Reaper's Due, an upcoming expansion for Crusader Kings II that will infect the strategy sequel with the plague. They offer this announcement trailer (sure to go viral) to show off the joys of the black death, and here are some details on the expansion as well as the release of a new interactive article called Crusader Kings: Chronicles. Here's word:

The Reaper’s Due is the newest expansion for Crusader Kings II, the best-selling medieval strategy simulator from Paradox Development Studio. This expansion highlights the historic importance of epidemics and disease in the Middle Ages, especially the Black Death – an outbreak of the bubonic plague that may have killed a third of the population of Europe

The Reaper’s Due introduces many new systems and features to what is already the richest medieval tapestry in gaming:

• Epidemics Boosted: As diseases may spread from province to province along trade and sea lanes, they lower your manpower and sap your wealth
• Hospitals and Royal Physicians: Prevent the outbreak of disease in your kingdom, and make sure your courtiers have access to the latest in Dark Ages Medical Science
• Prosperity and Royal Focus: Well managed provinces in peaceful kingdoms will pay huge dividends in gold and levies
• Seclusion: Shield yourself from the diseases tearing your kingdom apart, even if it means ignoring the plight of your people
• New Event Chains: Is the new epidemic the End of Days? Is there someone else to blame for these horrors? Are there supernatural origins or solutions to the world’s problems?

To help you pass the time until release, Paradox is happy to announce the release of a Crusader Kings II gamebook. Crusader Kings: Chronicles is a mobile interactive adventure from M. Harold Page set in the tumult of the Black Death as it ravages England. Read more about the game book here.