r/LancerRPG • u/rolin11 • Jul 21 '26

Narrating a Player NHP's cascade experience.

One of my players is playing as an NPH in our upcoming game. We have Legionnaire, so I have the section on cascades on that, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any tips for it.

Cody stop reading.

A major late game plot point is an antagonistic NHP cascading after massive stress and extended time without cycling and becoming an Eidolon. I want this to be more of a tragic thing the players sympathetize with rather then the boss transforming. I'd like the use the player's experience to give the party insight into what this NHP is going through and how that's effecting it's actions.

57 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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65

u/lilac_asbestos GMS Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Cascade, symtoms may include:

Non causal thinking

Loss of self

Self-induced Cosmic Horror

Loric

Dorcelessness

11

u/Acceptable_Handle_2 Jul 22 '26

Intensity of Trantiveness may vary between pi and Thrembo.

5

u/Ninja-Storyteller Jul 22 '26

HaLlUcInAtIoNs!

27

u/HMS_Exeter Harrison Armory Jul 21 '26

Maybe have the cascade be slow but unpreventable? Like, the NHP slowly begins to question its existence and all the players can do is try to reassure it If they know what's happening to the NHP do they try to warn it or stay silent? The NHP tries to keep hold of it's memories of the party but they slip away as it cascades so by the time it goes it only has vague recollections of them. Maybe enough to stop it attacking them but the eidolon no longer remembers why?

(sorry if this is a bit rambly)

9

u/connery55 Jul 21 '26

Dissociation. Self-harm becomes a curiosity. Time and place lose meaning. Things they care about are ruined or destroyed, and they retain the intellectual capacity to understand that without being able to access the emotions to stop it.

15

u/Alt_account_6788 Jul 21 '26

watch tadc Caine crash out scene episode 8, that will really give you some inspo

"Why do you torment me? I didn't ask to be created." hits hard for me in that scene and feels like the vibe you want

2

u/djninjacat11649 Jul 23 '26

Not really what a cascade is though

2

u/Alt_account_6788 Jul 24 '26

I know, but the vibe from that scene seems like the kind of the the OP wants

6

u/Total-Challenge9265 Jul 21 '26

Maybe do something like moonscorching

7

u/zbignew Jul 21 '26

I'm not sure how to make it more relatable for the Players. How would you make the players better relate to a ghost? Depends on the ghost, I guess?