Okay. Say hypothetically I was an enterprising evil overlord. There was a mix up at the truck office that day...

Okay. Say hypothetically I was an enterprising evil overlord. There was a mix up at the truck office that day, and I’m isekai’d to be the new demon lord.

How do I go about amassing a power base, and what are the necessities?

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>I’m isekai’d to be the new demon lord.

First you're going to have to explain what this means.

Then you have to specify some elements of the setting. Is it high fantasy specifically? Do you retain your knowledge of the modern world?

Dark Lords are pretty cool though.

Isekai is an anime term, it means a person from the real world is sent to a fantasy world. Usually by means of car accident.

For the purposes of the thought experiment it means I know I will be demon Lord, and have from the moment I hit the cradle (if you are curious sometimes you are sent as is sometimes you are set as a baby, I pick the later for prolonged lifespan and planning time) to make preparations.

I’d toss around the terms low medieval or epic fantasy but I’m noncommittal. It has the standard races maybe a few more, and nothing is too zany or wacky.

You can't even have your own unoriginal thoughts? We have to do that for you too?

First off, you'll need an edgy childhood, or at least time to learn some magic and combat skills.

Then, you'll want to find a dimwitted or cowardly race of minions and become their leader.

So what’s the best kind of minions and where do I find them?

Orcs? Goblins? Undead? An army of golems?

make a list yourself of your favorite minion races and roll a dice to determine which group is yours, you can even roll a second time for a antagonizing race that is against your power

then whichever race you get also decides the locale you start in (if you get orcs, then your starting area may be swampy or wherever you imagine orcs live).

Well that goes into my second point- where to amass a power base.

Presumably our of the way of civilization, with a good mix of difficult terrain, decent infrastructure, defense, and resources.

i would just google the minion race you get + buildings and see what comes up

Shadow run as hard as possible

Without restrictions on the setting being a demon lord could mean anything. Maybe demon lord is one of a kind, or maybe there are dozens of demon lords (see Abyss and Baator in D&D) competing for a comfy place.

Possible power level of the setting determines if you are going to be a brutal guy capable of killing a anyone who is beneath you, unless they are exceptionally skilled, or if you are going to need to have a proper retinue and bodyguards.

And so on, and so on.

Difficult terrain, decent infrastructure plus defences and resources either not exist or are already taken. In medieval/semi-medieval setting all such places would be prized very high. If you want to get something like this for your power base/capital you'll need to beat someone first.

Jews. They will never try to escape and kill all of your firstborns.

I’m thinking about this tactically, I don’t want to just pick this willy-nilly.
I’ll say I’m the only one around for now.

I get some powerful buffs, so I can take the average schlub, but I don’t want to solo heroes or armies.
It doesn’t have to be the most optimal- like say a volcanic wasteland, but with access to ports or something.

"tactically" this is all made up imagination in your head so you can make any race, landscape or buildings superior and strong

the re:monster manga is a good example of this even turning trash mob goblins into a formidable force

I’m giving myself a challenge here. What are the logistics involved if I’m starting with nothing or near nothing?

Or put another way- how does an overlord get going if he isn’t sealed evil in a can or has hijacked an already powerful kingdom?

Hijack an already powerful kingdom.

Bonus if you become sealed evil in a can doing it.

make a circular wave of lands with increasingly tough creatures with your starting point in the center, as you defeat / dominate the different races in the spheres you steadily gain more power and abilities.

>It doesn’t have to be the most optimal- like say a volcanic wasteland, but with access to ports or something.
Volcanic wasteland is shit. First you will have trouble getting any food there. Second there is always a chance that volcano decides that he no longer likes you. Of course old volcanic areas are actually good for farming, but that also means that the danger of volcano waking up and drowning you in magma is much higher. Check Pompeii for references of what awaits you.

Don't forget that being in a fantasy world could mean being hit by common story tropes. Evil citadel sitting atop a volcano just asks for a nice fiery eruption.

Ports on a wasteland island or in peninsula could be pretty good base for a pirate fleet but they are not good for creating a lasting base from which you can expand. You will always have problems with food and basically be at most a month or two away from starvation.
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As a general rule in the long run farming beats raiders and nomads due to ability to support much larger populations. So you want to be able to have your people farm and feed cattle. A base in a place that is hard to reach or that no one likes that much (mountains, volcanic island, wasteland) could be used a staging ground for a land grab but as a permanent base you need fertile land and people working them.

If you have powerful demons/monsters/whatever you could get away with segregation and get say humans working the land. Risky in the long run, but gives pretty good bonuses at the start and could be turned in such a way that your troops will get a morale boost.

>What are the logistics involved if I’m starting with nothing or near nothing?
Then first you need to establish yourself as a leader. Get a gang going. Upgrade them to proper mercs as fast as you can.

Get the lay of the land and mingle in local politics a little. See who is strong, who is weak, try to prod the lords to get their character. Support someone who is smart enough to work, but not smart enough to see that you are going to shank him in the back pretty soon.

Ideally you should support someone rising to a kingship and be their right hand. The best time to kill them is before they have enough power to surely win, but enough that their side got momentum and your people actually want you to succeed. So you organize an assassination an pin it on the opposition while beating yourself in the chest and proclaiming to bear the dreams of the dead with you.

Kill everyone who even looks at you funny.

Become king and spend some time consolidating your power. At least a couple of years to let the kingdom solidify and people to get accustomed to you as a king. Getting a heir is optional depending on how evil and powerful you are.

Well I do like the corruption angle.
Obviously feeding the army will be an issue. I think it may be mitigated by fantasy crops, like fungi or cave wheat or something like that. A port definitely seems like a must. Also I’m thinking if I get to be the evil guy, I get the evil geography to work for me- at least until my death. Or maybe I use some magic or strike a bargain with the local volcano god to ensure the lava doesn’t go where I don’t want it.

Also since I want to be anime- if I’m doing the ‘I’m the bad guy who’s fighting for good’ maybe I could try for conquering the world and do land redistribution- ensuring food from the wealthy fertile areas are sent to the desolate wasteland areas.
How to establish legitimacy though? Say I’m born into a lowborn family, what would I need to do to be established as a legitimate ruler? Military might? Banish/execute all the nobles?

>How to establish legitimacy though? Say I’m born into a lowborn family, what would I need to do to be established as a legitimate ruler? Military might? Banish/execute all the nobles?
Legitimacy is not about the means. It's about being more useful to everyone than anyone else. If any nobles that are still alive consider you the best variant for the throne? That's legitimacy. You need army, nobles, church (if there is) and common people to support you on the throne, so that they would consider everyone else a worse alternative. You could drop some of the groups but you need to have most of them on your side.

If you have nobles, army and church on your side you could spit on common people. Church and nobles will make sure that they are reigned in. But if you say don't control the church and common people both? Man you are in for a rude awakening.

So it’s standard politicking then? Just making sure the right people are backing you.

And what else did you expect? As long as you can't be strong enough to just roll over everyone you'll need to do more or less the same dance.

I'm guessing that just having that title will grant you a number of followers ready to help you build a stable power structure.
Anyway, don't forget to read this. If it's an isekai, cliché are bound to abound.

eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Well I was hoping for stuff like ‘do this to get a demon army’ or ‘once you have a dragon mount do this’.
Thanks man.

You must make sure best girl wins.

That’s a given. I’m planning on having a silver haired wolfgirl and a dragongirl if possible.

Go for trolls.

What’s the tactical advantage of trolls? What are the costs involved in feeding them??