6 Ways to use… Basilisk

1) When basilisks are near, players are going to be tempted to keep their eyes on the floor, especially near corners. Add in archers, or traps, and life becomes tricky. (The basilisks are tamed).
2) The fact that they can’t look around means that if the PCs separate, even slightly, they’ll have a hard time keeping track of each other. Cause this with multiple goals and time limit. (Manage this by keeping 1 battlemap behind the DM screen, and showing them where they are on the other during their turns only.)
3) Formation for an army with basilisks: Have the basilisks lead, put defenders with reach weapons to stop the PCs moving past, put archers behind. (You could just have the basilisks trained not to attack the enemy, but this will be more fun.)
4) The aftermath of a basilisk encounter creates more problems. They have to decide which NPCs to rescue, especially if they have limited potions. You can drop cluses, or just create multiple profiles and see who they pick.
5) Place two burrows. One contains a basilisk, the other contains a valuable but fragile treasure. If they try to grope for it, the run the risk of getting bitten. They obviously can’t look. What do they do?
6) The most important tip to running a basilisk? Don’t let them know that they’ll be facing one until it’s too late to go shopping. Everyone already knows about using mirrors.