You should definitely play both Crusader Kings and Dwarf Fortress - the feeling that you get when you read it: "Hah, it feels like in real life but damn it's crazy" Is true for gameplay of both games in general. When things are simulated with enough details, stories appear!
Even the amount of pre-written stuff for Crusader Kings is insane.
I once got seduced and murdered by my own sister as revenge for murdering my brothers to inherit their kingdoms. The funny part was that the "getting seduced by my sister" part was apparently a scripted event based on actual history. And that's just one example.
I've started Dward Fortress a bunch of times but I always feel like I'm messing something up and want to restart - never managed to play long enough to lose on it.
So I play both Rimworld and DF pretty often and I always tell people to play Rimworld first. Get used to the type of game itself and then step up to the big boy that is DF.
Both are very much worth your time, and I figure it’s a good introduction without being overwhelmed.
Man, I've been wanting to pick up Rimworld forever, but I'm pretty scrupulous about only buying games at a steep discount (making exceptions for supporting indie devs I like), and I've never seen it more than 20% off. I guess we'll see who blinks first.
I tried both and I just couldn’t get past the initial complexity wall. After the tutorials the game kind of just leaves you like”good luck, figure it out.” And I still don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing.