Fun with ruins

[WarKitty]

First off: Slaydemons, Cobra_Ikari, and Inigo Montoya, get out of here.
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Ok, for everyone else: I have a bunch of level 1 sneaks I'd like to put through some ruins. Pretty basic idea, something in the ruins is generating warped versions of the normal desert wildlife (basically a bunch of monstrous/dire/fiendish creatures). The local oasis guardian would like the party to go clear it out.

Now the fun part: I'd like this to be a trap-heavy dungeon. However, I don't want it to be a clear out the traps, fight, clear more traps - I want to have fun with them. And sadly I'm running out of ways to do that. It would be nice to combine traps and encounters in ways that take advantage of the creature's natural abilities, if possible. So I was thinking of say some swinging blade traps combined with a small viper, which is of course too small to actually set the trap off. Any ideas?

[nedz]

You could go for some non lethal traps — in fact at level 1 lethal traps are likely to be precisely that.

Traps which restrict movement — ideally as some large monster lumbers towards them. This can create tension as the party try to run away, only to find that one guy is stuck — will he get out in time ? I did a very simple one with a level 2 party: Room with lots of murder holes covering stairs leading up from below, Ogre known to be approaching from above, one guy gets his foot jammed in a hole.

Fear traps can be fun, especially if triggered in the middle of a large mook fight. Big fight going on and suddenly half the PCs, and Mooks, run away.

[HammeredWharf]

Encounter traps from Dungeonscape. Some examples of what you can do by combining them with normal monsters:

A huge creature clearly beyond the CR of the party bursts through a wall and starts chasing them around! They have to run through a bunch of traps as it chases them through the ruins, dodging boulders, attacking wall spikes, etc.

The entire room is a trap! The PCs have to balance on poles above boiling water while stealthy ninja guys rain acid flasks on them.

It's a trap monster! Several traps are fluffed as body parts of an enormous construct that stomps, bull rushes, probes and AoE dispels the PCs each round.

Hallways that try to eat the PCs! They are mere distractions for the tiny monsters that climb on the PCs' back and stab them to death.

Floors that open to reveal the gelatinous cubes underneath!

Rooms full of boulders! Breakable boulders full of Living Blasphemies! Well, you'll have to pick something less deadly for lvl 1 adventurers.

Their rules are a bit less restrictive and the traps can remain active for several rounds, making them more fun than the normal "Roll dice.. ok, you failed. 3d6 damage." traps from DMG. They also rely on a more diverse set of skills than just Disable Device, so even the less skilled party members can contribute.

[Nibbens]

This isn't so much a trap, but could be.
Goblins are playing a game as the party comes in: turns out the "game" is quite deadly. Think hot potato with a goblin skull bomb (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/goblin-skull-bomb) OF course, there's no reason why you can't weaken the GSB for the level of the players.
Imagine the scenario: Players turn the corner and watch a goblins singing a song and throwing a "ball" back and forth. As the players watch, they see a goblin drop it. BOOM. The goblins cheer as their "friend dies" and they pick up the GSB again and continue singing the song and playing the game. The best part here will probably be the player reactions.
Creepy, strange, uniquely goblin. lol.

[WarKitty]

I don't want to add in any non-animal monsters. They're going to be facing monstrous scorpions and vipers and I think a fire snake at the end, but no humanoids or other intelligent creatures. Which means it would also be nice to have traps that could be turned to their advantage...or the animals. Hmm, now I'm thinking of a fire ant trap...