Have you done this? Do you like it?  Do you prefer to play evil characters in the evil empire? Good characters in the evil empire? Neutral?
Do you play the empire as totally repressive, nightmarish, etc?
Do you play it as a deeply corrupt place with a lot of injustices but where people can basically exist and lead potentially "normal" lives if they keep their head down?
Do you prefer to emphasize the decadence? Do you prefer Mordor, or Melnibone?

That is pretty much Warhammer 40K in a nutshell.  Seriously there is no good faction in that setting.  Looking at Imperium as a whole you can tell it is very lawful evil and looking at the servants of chaos is very much chaotic evil.  If you can play Dark Heresy and Black Crusade you can handle evil empire games.

Edit: I prefer two character types.  Those that try to do good and those that don't give a shit other than their personal lives.  The former makes me feel like I am doing something to improve the setting no matter how little it is.  The latter is more realistic about things and it is just easier to think about the people you honestly give a damn about.

I have played in and ran evil empires (and in a way Hell is akin to an evil empire). And I do enjoy it! Played almost everything alignment-wise.

It really depends on the society, naturally. So all those appearances may show up, possibly even in turns within a mercurial society. That said examples are going to be way more fun.

Here's an immediate one:

I am running a Moonsea rogue game, and currently it is in the "Easy Mode" area to help me diagnostic player strengths and weaknesses. I've been fleshing out the Phlan gangs on the "5e NPC Collection" here on this forum. Phlan is a mild evil amid the gleeful cruelty and betrayal among the pseudo-Baltic city-states. I plan on greater ruthlessness once players "graduate" to Phlan, and will grind them to powder if they jump into int'l politics before a decent powerbase.

The most stable and capable area in my homebrew setting would probably qualify as 'evil'... slaves and necromancy and general racist arrogance... but they're also the guys who 'saved the world' and have a reliable code of honor... so it's complicated.

Quote from: RPGPundit;822524Have you done this?

Yes.

Quote from: RPGPundit;822524Do you like it?

Sometimes.  

Quote from: RPGPundit;822524Do you prefer to play evil characters in the evil empire? Good characters in the evil empire? Neutral?

Depends on my mood.

Quote from: RPGPundit;822524Do you play the empire as totally repressive, nightmarish, etc?
Do you play it as a deeply corrupt place with a lot of injustices but where people can basically exist and lead potentially "normal" lives if they keep their head down?
Do you prefer to emphasize the decadence? Do you prefer Mordor, or Melnibone?

Depends on how I create the "Evil" empire. Is it a fantasy realm populated by undead keeping herds of the living around for food? Is it a superhero setting where the Bad Guys won? Is it a Lovecraftian realm where an Elder God has touched the Earth after cultists brought it here? Is it a science fiction realm where the secret to eternal life is the breeding of descendants for vital mitochondrial DNA used in the anagathics?

You have a shitload of variables here to deal with.

Quote from: RPGPundit;822524Have you done this?

Never full bore.  I do run L5R though, and while Rokugan isn't evil, it's pretty far from a modern democratic mentality.  And my experience has been that people do jump right in to playing samurai.  Up to mandate-of-heaven, peasant rebellions in famine years are the bad guys, right to kill and depart in regards to individual peasants.

I feel like that's part way there.  If you set up the premise, usually someone at the table takes you seriously when it comes time to play their character.  So I can imagine people doing that in full-on evil empires as well.

i am quite intrigued by the idea of a drow campaign high death rate sneaky schemey fun