Why Calvin?

Calvin was played by Eddie. Eddie is an old friend who I used to game with when I lived in Seattle. Eddie was a bit unreliable as a gamer. You'd never know if he'd show up or not.

He has a vivid imagination, a very active sense of humor, and he likes to play very quirky characters. So, when he's there, you really notice him. It changes the course and tone of your game. Often the change is for the better, but it's always unpredictable.

I gradually learned that it was a good idea to have some tangent prepared anytime I thought Eddie was likely to show up. Something related to the plot, but kinda odd, so he'd focus on it instead of derailing everyone with his own craziness. That's why I decided to do the Kassandra thing. I chose the training aspect because his spotty appearances had left him far behind the group in clocks (aka experience). It also provided an opportunity for characters to develop in different directions and have their own stories despite the group-travel dynamic that Phase II had forced upon them.

As it happens, it worked pretty well. He got to act out failing to fend-off Kassandra. We role-played just a tiny bit of her hauling him off, then I dropped character and asked him how long he wanted to spend with her. He chose a year, and I handed him the list of clocks to mark down. I returned him to the group a scene or two later, and he had his tangent to talk about: "How you guys doing? Haven't seen you in months! Did you know this place is about to be invaded?"

Later (or earlier, depending on whether you speak of narrative or leveller time), I did the same thing for Aaron/Jeremy, though for entirely different reasons.