My players are entering into some ancient, abandoned ruins next

Get rid of the monsters, add more traps, and some natural hazards caused by aging, like collapsing sections and whatnot. give them little treasure, but let them get artifacts they may be able to sell to an interested party like a reliquary or a wizard or something.

>>48592460
A mysterious monster stalks the players as they explore the ruins.

Also all the suggestions above are solid too.

>>48592460
>The thing is, we have all discussed this before the game and decided we did not want dungeon crawls (going room to room, fighting monsters, rewards at the end conveniently, etc.)
The fuck? Are you guys allergic to simplicity or something?

>>48592460
>>48592500
+1 for traps. Also puzzles. If they want to do a lot of exploring, include some sort of puzzle that blocks off a path and the hints to solving it are located further down another path.

>>48592460
One or two roaming monsters, a few spookier areas which MAY have better treasure but are haunted.

I mean, you could play it like an ACTUAL ancient ruin: hauntingly empty, one or two rooms in 5 actually dangerous, but then it's just a collapse or cave in. Tbh, the adventure should be FINDING the ruin, once you're there, the reward is in uncovering what remains of those who have gone, of seeing the bleached bones of a culture long dead.

>>48592460
Look up Chaco Canyon and look how those ruins are arrayed.

You could try making it more like a real ruin. Decide the building's original purpose, and then just apply the ravages of time or whatever caused it to be abandoned.

If it was residential, you could have the trappings of comfort and once living creatures, perhaps with spirits of former residents hanging around. If it was sacked, there might be evidence of the attack it failed to endure. Stuff like that, with few actual monsters or traps and more mystery of just what happened there.

File: Five Room Dungeon.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

Might be useful?

File: N'wah 2016-07-24 20.37.57.619.jpg (490KB, 1920x1200px) Image search: [Google]

490KB, 1920x1200px

>>48592500
This

Do a puzzle gauntlet with some interesting bosses and encounters to spice it up, obviously no one can't come up with shitloads of good puzzles fast so if you can't come up with enough just take a bunch from something else, preferably some niche thing so your players don't just instantly know it.

I was recently playing a Morrowind mod called Sotha Sil expanded which does this and I ran a bit of an experimental GURPS session in the setting with a group who had never heard of it, went great.

Lots of puzzles, 'alien' setting to the PCs with unusual elements of design, Bosses with gimmicks and even some interesting NPC's. Don't skimp on the cool artifacts.

>>48599310
*no one can come up with

>>48592460
Describe things as a character of that realm would see them.

It's not a magical reactor, it's a confusing set of metallic circles on a central axis, covered in a creeping tide of mold that forms into strange rune forms and reacts to magic items.

It's not a multi interface magitek data block, it's a carefully maintained and studded slab of lapis lazuli.

Not an energy transmitter. An ornate bowl with metallic hairs.

No monsters or traps. But if they boot up a computer somehow and start the reactor, or the mold is toxic, or lock themselves inside, or..