The Incredible Umbrella (Incredible Umbrella, volume 1) by Marvin Kaye
Nov. 30th, 2025 09:17 am
An academic's dismal prospects are transformed by a magical umbrella.
The Incredible Umbrella (Incredible Umbrella, volume 1) by Marvin Kaye

what’s a 1k1h?|| time zone converter || 1k1h Calendar
All sprints are run on Discord only. You can find our Discord server here.
Monday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 1pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm UTC LittleMissTPK
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 9pm UTC LittleMissTPK
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 1am Tues UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 3am Tues UTC Joe
Tuesday ( time zone converter)
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Alec
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm UTC PreciousAnon
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 3am Wed UTC Alec
9pm PT/ 12am Wed ET/ 5am Wed UTC NotTooLateForTheGame
Wednesday ( time zone converter)
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm UTC PreciousAnon
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 9pm UTC Frogie
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 1am Thur UTC LittleMissTPK
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 3am Tues UTC Alec
Thursday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 1pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Alec
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm UTC PreciousAnon
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 9pm UTC Treefrogie
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 1am Fri UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 3am Fri UTC Alec
9pm PT/ 12am Fri ET/ 5am Fri UTC NotTooLateForTheGame
Friday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 1pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm UTC LittleMissTPK
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 9pm UTC LittleMissTPK
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 1am Sat UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 3am Sat UTC Alec
I think the advice that says politics is about power is good to consider. However, I would add that it isn't just power for power's sake. Power is energy. If it isn't doing anything, it is only potential--something to account for, but not something that is having an active effect on the world. Politics is kinetic or power in motion.
Power allows its wielders to accomplish one of two goals: secure their autonomy or enact their agendas. These often, but don't always, go together. Sometimes, when they diverge, it depends on the source of the power. Note: Autonomy isn't just freedom, but is also the ability to meet your own needs.
For example, two students go to university; one cooks his own meals and the other eats in the dining hall each day. The latter has paid for convenience and possibly for more time to devote to her studies (fulfilling an agenda), but the former has more personal autonomy. If the dining hall suddenly shuts down, he won't be going hungry.
So, since sources can affect how power is used, I think it is most important to start with those.
Some major sources of power are
It is important to know how each source grants/uses, limits, and revokes power. By grants/uses I mean what are the ways a person can wield the power of the source? In political structures, one way is laws. In influence, one way is a whisper campaign or advising a friend. In religion, one way is declaring something anathema so that adherents avoid it. Each power source determines, to a degree, what a person can do with it. Most people and organizations cultivate multiple sources to widen their menu of actions and to compensate for limitations.
For example, wealth grants power by enabling the wielder to convert the wealth into a different type of power.
For example, they can buy off a priest for religious power or they can spend to be on the edge of trends for influential power. They can cultivate a salon of innovative ideas for both influential and knowledge power. The power of wealth only lasts as long as the money holds out, however. Anyone relying on wealth will find themselves powerless when the money goes, unless they've, for example, collected blackmail (fear-based power) or connections (personal influence; being someone others listen to). Another limitation is that power bought by wealth may carry the stigma of money (e.g., they bought their way in, etc).
Another example, political structures may elevate one person as ruler over the land, but they are limited by the description and responsibilities of their role. They may also need to work with other entities created by the same political structures. Many leaders cultivate another power source to ensure they can enact their agendas (e.g., influence, tradition, religion).
Also, note, no source is infinite. The fewer who draw on a source, the more power they have.
The next step is identifying who in your setting has power and what kind of power they command. Guilds have knowledge power--they're the ones who know how to do crafts. They may also have access power aka the decision of who gets to learn the craft. That access power could also belong to the local government, church, etc.
So, figure out who the players are and what kind of power they access.
Next, going back to the top of this post, think through what each player wants to do with their power. Is their focus fully on remaining free from any strictures and being able to meet all their needs, or do they have an agenda they wish to see fulfilled? Or is it some combination of both?
Also, what are they willing to lose to keep their power and to fulfill their goals? These are not the same. For example, a person may be willing to accept another's patronage (losing autonomy) in order to gain more cultural influence (gaining power). And, if goals conflict, which ones take priority?
Next, remember that there is a difference between the organization that consolidates power and the individuals who act upon it. Some people can cultivate power on their own, especially for personal or cultural influence, but often it is the organization that amasses power and the individuals who spend it. Those individuals all have their own agendas or desires for autonomy and so politics is a fractal.
Finally, power does not exist in a vacuum. It is all connected. Every move tugs strings that affect others. There is two major things to consider here--connections among power players and effects of actions.
Some players, in your setting, may be automatically opposed. This is usually because they are drawing on the same source. If the university starts teaching basic physics and machines, the guilds may be upset that the university is intruding on their knowledge-based power.
This immediate opposition has consequences for individuals as, in order to keep drawing on their institution's power, they must maintain the rivalry. A new guild master is best friends with a university professor, but they hide this because the guild would revolt if they knew or would expect her to use personal influence on the professor to make the university drop the coursework. Etc.
This conflict between the organization the draws and consolidates the power and the people who use it opens up a lot of opportunities for back-channels and manipulation.
The other type of connection to consider is effects. Every action has an intended primary effect and, often, intended secondary effects. Every action also has unintended secondary effects. Then think through who supports and opposes the primary and secondary effects and why. Also, the same player can oppose one effect while supporting the other. So then you need to think through how they act on that divided support/opposition.
The government passes a law that all laws will now be translated into every language in the empire so that no one may claim ignorance of the law. The intended effect is to stop that line of defense from a group of rebels. The unintended secondary effect is that this grants additional power to the university who house the most translators.
The rebels oppose the law because it limits them by reasserting the empire's control over them. The church also opposes the law because they do not want the university to grow in power. However, the church does support limiting the rebels. So, the church makes a show of supporting the law in public, but then works behind the scenes to revise or revoke it in favor of the church's solution to the rebels. Or, maybe, they support the law, but then appoint a few priests to reach out to the rebels in sympathy or take action to require all translators work through the church. Etc.
Anyway. These are just my thoughts on the matter. I hope they're helpful!
How I'd design a villain for a story is different than how I'd do one for a ttrpg game, which differs from how I expect I'd do one for a video/computer game. Here are some thoughts and ideas to keep in mind, though.
Type of Villain
I think you can divide most villains into three categories: good motive/bad means, bad/disputed motive, and chaos or self-seeking.
Type 1: Good motive/bad meansSomething to also keep in mind is that many villains also have one of two traits: (1) they're holding onto some old slight or regret and can't let go; or, (2) they embody a positive value to the extreme.
Also, all of these villains may have bad guys working for them. Mooks, though bad, =/= villains.
Villainous Goals and Threat Level
I grouped these together because they determine whether or not a villain should be pursued.
For a game, a villain with a clear goal is the least frustrating for players. This does not mean the villain is easy to thwart, only that they're easier to engage with and they tend to generate longer stories. (Chaos/self-seeking villains are either one-shot adventures or too hard to predict to plan around).
A goal is simply what the villain wants to accomplish. If the villain is leading or part of a cult or organization, it is a good idea to have the organizational goal, the villain's reason for leading/working with the organization, and the villain's personal goal.
The Cult of Salt is stealing blood for a ritual to flood the land, returning it to aquatic creatures. They believe their god will reward them with appropriate bodies when the time comes and then they'll rule the seas. Marin Wavewalker is leading the cult but she is doing so because flooding the Temple of Ove is the only way to prevent a prophecy about the end of the world from being fulfilled. If the Temple is under the waves and its priests drowned, no one can call down destruction from the stars.
Threat Level refers to the villain's speed, brutality, and capability.
Speed refers to how quickly and frequently the villain is acting. If a villain is planning a long-game, they can be back burnered for a while as the players address a more immediate (and level appropriate) foe. If the villain is attacking right now, then they're of a higher threat than a more brutal or capable villain that isn't.
Brutality refers to how much the villain's actions hurt people in terms of the impact and length of their effects. If they use magic to make people fall asleep for a day, they're far less brutal than if they cause people to sleep for a year. A villain who beats people up is less of a threat than one who kills people. And the guy who kills people with a single shot to the head is less brutal than the one who tortures them first.
Capability refers to the villain's ability to make things happen either personally or through cat's paws, allies, or underlings. If a villain can't make things happen or their plans often fall through, they're less of a threat than one who can.
Stages to the Plan
Accomplishing a villainous goal should either require multiple steps to complete or be something that never really ends. Summoning a god via ritual is an example of the former while protecting the environment is the latter. (Though, a villain could develop a master plan to save the environment that has multiple steps).
To do this, start with the ultimate goal and ask "What does the villain need to accomplish this?" Brainstorm maybe 3 different things. Then, for each of those things ask the same question, but this time, brainstorm 2 things. Finally, either stop there or brainstorm one thing for each of them.
Level 1Then just put those things into a timeline and you've got a lot of little actions for players to slowly realize are all connected and some clear goals for them to mess with. Honestly, having them be the ones to find the lyrics for a client in an early adventure could be a great way to make them care a bit more later on about stopping the villain.
To ensure that stopping one level 3 event doesn't stop everything, villains should have plan Bs. You free the toymaker and saved his daughter? Lovely! But the villain had some bones in reserve or will pull another heist and, this time, they work on swaying a puppet-maker to their cause so that they'll build the doll willingly. Etc.
Level 3 goals should always have a Plan B. Level 2 goals are necessary. If they are missing in full or part, the final goal comes out wonky. Level 1 goals have no back-up plans.
I know this isn't a clear step-by-step guide, but I hope you find it helpful regardless.
mantra [man-truh]
noun:
1 (Hindu) a word or formula, as from the Veda, chanted or sung as an incantation or prayer.
1 an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism
Examples:
Maybe the 'us against the world' mantra is something that can drive the team on towards the heights that they have so far been unable to get to. (Andy Burke, Is there 'entitlement' around Scotland or has Townsend misjudged criticism?, BBC, November 2025)
Maharishi taught a form of meditation derived from the Vedas, the foundation of philosophical thinking in India, known as mantra meditation, in which a person silently sits alone with the eyes closed, and repeats in the mind a sacred Sanskrit mantra that is believed to be endowed with spiritual potency. (Syama Allard, Buddhist mindfulness is all the rage, but Hinduism has a deep meditation tradition too, Hindu American Foundation, May 2021)
Greenland is still a place where 'the weather decides' can be a liberating mantra - once we accept that we're powerless to do anything about the weather, we can give up control. (Gabriel Leigh, Greenland Wants You to Visit. But Not All at Once., New York Times, February 2023)
It was hard to find adequate space to run and stretch and even harder to find a quiet corner for my breathing and mantra ritual. (Ibtihaj Muhammad, Proud)
He was sitting on the ground, his knees drawn up to his chest, and he was chanting the statement like a mantra, but loudly. (Dave Eggers, Zeitoun)
Origin:
1808, 'that part of the Vedas which contains hymns,' from Sanskrit mantra-s 'sacred message or text, charm, spell, counsel,' literally 'instrument of thought,' related to manyate 'thinks,' from PIE root men- 'to think.' Meaning 'sacred text used as a charm or incantation' is by 1900 (Online Etymology Dictionary)