Hi I just got the complete Crusader kings 1 in the Indie bundle I am an avid CK2 player and my favourite mod there is Prince and Thane.
What mods do you play with in the first and why?
The reason I ask here is that the forum pages are kind of dead in the Paradox forum and I would love some outsider help so I don't have to go through the entire list of mods to find a good build.

Sorry to be unable to assist you, CK is one game I haven't ever played. But I did check out its forum and it looks no deader than other old titles. And that's just illusory. These games last decades, as do their communities. If you post and ask, you're bound to get a reply within a few days at most. That said, same question has probably already been asked, and not all search tools are as... temperamental as GOG's ;)

I was quite active in CK2 forum earlier and to ask in the forum there would not create a good response because everyone is actively working on one mod or another so people are slightly biased. I was thinking that with an old game like this someone had played it here and had a go to mod they always install prior to playing;)

I'm suggesting you ask in the CK forum, not the CK2 one. Ask for recommended mods/mods like the ones you like/mods with certain features, and you should get a good answer.

Usually PDS games don't have a must-use mod, though usually there are a few exceptionally well-crafted ones. However, once patched they're quite playable; mods usually aim to improve historical accuracy or balance (read: tougher for the player), especially on the old Europa engine. There might be some tricks involved if you're running a post-XP Windows or want widescreen solutions.

Deus Vult Improvement Project (DVIP) would be the closest to must have.

There were never that many fan mods for CK1 anyway, and a lot did not get updated for Deus Vult or the various beta patches. There was a ASOIAF/ Westeros mod which was quite good, but the one for CK2 is better.

thanks will definitely try that out