D&D General Help me build a mini-campaign: The Mindflayer Empire returns from the far future

[Urriak Uruk]

Hi all! So I've recently begun using my miniature collection as a constrain (the idea that having constraints breeds creativity), and recently wrote a pretty fun adventure between a zombie plague against a vengeful church. Building off that success, I turned to the miniatures that I haven't used; because they are from Warhammer. Chiefly, a collection of 30k space marines, which oddly look a lot like sci-fi armored dwarves.

So I was thinking, "Where can I have sci-fi dwarves in a game of D&D?" and realized the weirdest solution is that they came... from the FUTURE! And as I did more research, there is an interesting theory of behind the Mind Flayers, that the reason there is nothing that remains of their destroyed empire, is they actually escaped into the far future, taking their greatest works with them.

The idea was perfect, chiefly because the Mind Flayers enslave dwarves (or duergar), and the source I was planning to use to help run this (Dark Matter) includes some great stats for monsters like "Brain in a Jar" which is incredibly on theme.

So I have the basis of a pretty great storyline set up; that the Mind Flayers not only escaped with their Empire into the far future, but took the time to refortify and militarize. Now, after fully dominating the universe at the end of time, they have returned to the present conquer the Material Plane, in EVERY TIME.

It's reverse Samurai Jack essentially. Aku is back from the future with his evil army.

My first idea was relatively simple, to use Halo: Reach as the basis of the storyline as a crew of heroes attempts to defend their world traditional D&D-fantasy-world from the invading Nautiloid armada that has inexplicately appeared in the sky, complete with legions of enslaved Duergar and Gith, armed with advanced technology from the pages of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

But with that basis, what else should I include? What possibilities have I missed? Sources I should delve into?

Here's some art that helps explain the ideas I'm planning;

 

[aco175]

Great idea, you could base some of the pace off the Dungeon campaign that they did for the Gith invasion. I think it was called Insurrection.

 

[aco175]

I would also work in something where magic died in the future and that is why they turned to technology. Magic could be some link to defeat them.

 

[Eltab]

Potential inspiration from War of the Worlds: Mind Flayers are weak against disease. Which is why they send their thralls to interact with people, and stay safely aboard their sterilized ships at high altitude.

Possible flaw: sounds too much like IRL.

 

[Bitbrain]

1. Maybe have the Spelljamming nations oppose the Mind Flayers?

While I can definitely see the present-day Githyanki and Githzerai marching out to fight the invading Illithids, I can also see the Giff opposing the Mind Flayers to protect their own interests on the planet.

2. In Storm King’s Thunder, the Fire Giants are trying to rebuild a colossal machine called the Vonindod. I can very easily see them attempting it again as a sort of nuclear option against the Mind Flayers.

3. In every time you say... Might I suggest you look up Where Chaos Reigns? It’s a D&D module where

Spoiler

time traveling cyborgs from the future seek to manipulate past events to ensure their timeline becomes dominant.

 

[NotAYakk]

The disease they are weak against ... is magic!

The magicclorions which are omnipresent and infuse this era with magic that is.

They use technology and psionics.

Even their time travel doesn't work well with magic. So they have to invade backwards through time past the edge of what they have conquored.

To fuel their tech/psionics, they actually eat the magic of the world as fuel (humans find oil toxic, but useful). Once they do so, they jump back again and conquor another piece of time, then strip mine the magic again.

Even if the PCs win against this invasion, the mind flayers have already won in the PCs future. In order to stop the mind flayers, they have to time travel themselves to the start of the chain.

They can't go just anywhere with time travel; only places just before the mind flayers strip mine the magic are valid targets. But the last time they did this in the far future was also the first time; by attacking then, the PCs can put an end to the mind flayer infestation forever and always.

Of course having done so they erase everything that happens to them since the mind flayers invaded. So you then cut back to the scene where the much lower level PCs first saw evidence of the invasion and have it not happen.

So, for setup, have the invasion end some big threat the PCs where getting ready to fight. The mind flayers had access to history, and smashing a rival power as an initial move makes sense.

The PCs on the pruned timeline naturally manage to send back help somehow before ceasing to exist.

 

[J-H]

I don't have any good ideas to contribute, and I'm sure you've already looked at Lords of Madness (3.5)... but this is a great idea.

 

[Aldarc]

Fate Cthulhu has a similar vibe, though they explain it as Cthulhu meets the Terminator.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

My current campaign that I'm creating has a similar frame, except for the invading back through time aspect, which is really cool (may borrow). Not much to add, except that Mind Flayers mashed up with Barrier Peaks is :french chef kiss:

Ok, I guess one thing. It might be interesting to have the PCs go into the far future where the mind flayers have already moved on and it's post apocalyptic; or we see a the post invasion and now the mind flayers are the occupying force.

Who else is working with the mind flayers? What other monsters are you developing? I had the aboleths, hags, and svarts (svarts were mostly food...) in partnership with them.
And I had the Giff, Gith, Tortles, Loxodons all arrayed against.

 

[Ash Mantle]

I'd definitely love to play in something like this!

Since you've mentioned the mind flayers wanting dominance in EVERY TIME, what if they do seek to conquer different and all timelines? That might also give you an excuse to introduce different settings into the mix as well, and possibly even work in the modern day (depending on your inclination).

Chasing after the mind flayers then might open up time portals, rather than just portals across extreme distance.

As they say "A Stitch in Time", so your heroes succeeding, or retreating in defeat, might also send ripples of consequences forwards in time or backwards into the past.