A L L I A N C E S

Think a five man band of political states. A group of smaller nations that band together for added political strength, economic assistance, or shared technology. Or maybe just because The Empire is breathing down their necks. Individually, they will be  crushed, but together, they might just stand a chance. Now you’re wondering, how does this fit in with being an Evil Overlord? Isn’t the whole point that you want a totalitarian dictatorship with no need for allies? In the end, yes, but while you’re campaigning, why not mooch off your buddies before stabbing them in the back?

Why?

To start with, it is best to explain in painstaking detail why an aspiring dictator should create or join an alliance. To start with, it is expected Alliances will have one or more "evil" members that joined only because their deal with The Empire fell through, or because they happen to hate The Empire far worse than they dislike the other members. Be sure to backstab your buddies before the war is over, since afterwards they will spend all their time staring at you and your mislabeled water tanks.

Science Fiction

If you happen to have decided to conquer a scifi universe, remember that your alliance will probably have some aliens in it. Though xenophobia and discrimination is good and all, why should your men have to die when some tentacled aliens can do all the dying for you? Just beware of time travel, since if you make one wrong move and give the Hero a warning, he’ll mash that “Reset Time” button like there’s no tomorrow. Nothing is more annoying than having your plan foiled before you’ve even thought it up yet.

Fantasy

Five races, five countries, five perfect mirrors of human society. Usually, there’s the mundane (humans), the cute (hobbits, gnomes), the arrogant (elf), the stout (dwarves), and the magical (fairies). After the first war, fantasy alliances become incredibly boring, and the social standing loss just isn’t worth it and you will flee from the pimple faced universe. If you decide that you absolutely must enslave a fantasy world, then remember one rule: Don’t help Gondor. It’s their own damn fault that they didn’t train a better military. How did they not see the invasion coming? They’re right next to the enemy.

E M P I R E S

What’s the difference? With an Empire, you slowly gnaw on smaller nations until you can completely swallow them. Maybe they start as just allies, then become vassals, then are finally your foot rest. In the end, everything but your main country will serve only a few purposes: padding between your enemy and yourself, a place to dump your toxic waste, a scapegoat, a martyr, or just cheap labor.

Why?

Obviously, you want to be the single person who ushers in world peace, bathes in power, and has all of nouns for your personal verbing. In some scenarios, Empires are efficient, benevolent, enlightened, and fair. In other scenarios, the Empire is realistic. One might assume that you’re trying to conquer the planet in order to unite it, so you can travel to the stars. However, that is a false assumption; writers are too lazy to track two factions, so they just consolidate the planet into an Empire.

Obstacles

Hero. Often have I have examined this foul, illogical barbarian. Why is it they seem to feel that whatever you’re doing is wrong? The Heroes will invariably form a Resistance, which will in turn use untrained peasants armed with pitch forks to somehow overrun your highly trained super soldiers. No. This time, you will send all babies with oddly shaped tattoos, pointy ears, or smiles on their faces to Antarctica; problem solved. Alternatively, the Hero will attack you using some stupid metaphor about snakes, and somehow convince your legions of body guards to take a break. Then the terrorists will waltz into your bedroom, torture you to death, and split up your peaceful Empire into dozens of warring factions.