The Evil Overlord List
.I was reminded of this today. It’s something of a nostalgia trip, having been online for years, but it’s definitely worth reading if you haven’t come across it before—and re-reading if you have: The Evil Overlord List.
I think that the most important item is number four, and that it should be in the number one position: “Shooting is not too good for my enemies”.
Other favorites of mine include:
17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.
23. I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in their use. That way — even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless — my troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears and rocks.
72. If all the heroes are standing together around a strange device and begin to taunt me, I will pull out a conventional weapon instead of using my unstoppable superweapon on them.
I also think that reading this list should be a mandatory step for all science-fiction/fantasy/espionage works, and that plots/scripts/scenes which violate the precepts therein should have to be rewritten…