Precursors/Elder Race

What are Veeky Forums's thoughts on this trope/cliche/whatever?
I feel like it's a tad underwritten if that makes sense, like a lot of writers make these "progenitors" too vague to really get a feel for them, while others give us way too much info.

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Speaking of, I'm writing a campaign for this sci-fi game (let's call it Generic Sci-Fi 1) and it heavily features this idea.
Now, the problem is I'm not sure how to write them if that makes any sense. I've been reading a lot on this trope and it seems most of these "precursor races" are really generic and blend together too much. They were all big and powerful, they were all wise but somehow flawed, they all disappeared mysteriously for some reason before recorded history, blah blah blah.
From what I've gathered this is what I'd like to have my precursor/elder race feature:
>They were indeed big and powerful, but they were very flawed, lots of hubris and debauchery
>They were a rather violent race, hellbent on conquering the entire galaxy as the first intergalatic empire ever seen
>Most sentient species are a result of experimentation of this elder race
>A particular sentient species was used as cattle by them, serving as both slaves and even food, which lowered their numbers dramatically
>They claim to have come up with the means of interstellar travel and the foundations of modern technology, but these claims become dubious as the campaign goes deeper into their history
>At some point, during a great conflict that left worlds devastated and/or changed beyond recognition, possibly a slave uprising, this empire was defeated and this elder race was driven to practical extinction
>They are completely gone now and little is known about how they look or sounded like other than some statues that supposedly depict them and some damaged recordings
I basically wanted to avoid some typical cliches and some takes I don't care for, like knowing how this elder race looked, I feel like a fear of the unknown is a better take on the whole thing, add a bit of cosmic horror into the mix.
Does this sound good to you? or would you change something?

I only like them when they're spoopy, unknown, and ambiguously evil.

Seems rather recent if they still have recordings. And wouldn't this slave race make a big cultural point off of "holy shit we actually beat the Aboleths/Mind flayers/Dnyarri"? At least some of this precursor identity is bound to survive via then. Honestly I like having good, fully written Precursors, even if the information is so scarce no one may actually ever know. Makes the writing consistent, and I think that comes through even if the reader doesn't know why it's consistent.

Basically this. They're a really cool concept when there's something vaguely malevolent about them. There's a lot of dramatic power to going down to some ancient alien superstructure, seeing a bunch of Giger shit on the walls, and returning to your ship to find your missing a crew member

or find you have an extra crew member

>Ilos
Man, the music for it was top tier
youtube.com/watch?v=uHkBFymRiOs

Love it. Though instead of evil I often have them be very strange but surprisingly familiar.

Ever thought of the possibility that WE will be the precursor/elder race?

NASA said 92% of Earth type planets aren't even born yet.

Just sayin'

Imagine millions of years from now alien anthroplogists will be going through the internet, learning about memes and our nascent hive mind.

Much more plausible than you think, especially since fucking 9gag literally etched a bunch of memes into a goddamn monolith out in the desert.