I was wondering: how the DMs here build your easy, medium, and difficult encounters? I've been DMing solo or duo adventures for so long, I'm beginning to realize I'm a bit rusty on the best way to generate a difficult-but-not-too-difficult encounter. Also, what interactive elements do you implement in your encounters, like traps, environmental effects, etc.? How much of a guiding hand to you use when suggesting a strategy for your party (if any)?

Thanks. Kinda wanna generate a discussion. PbP has been really fun so far, but now I wanna get gooder at it.

Well I've not done much building my own encounters for 4e yet since I've only actually DM'd modules, but...

There are sample encounters listed for most enemy types in the Monster Manual though that include a clustering of baddies for appropriate level and the total XP for the encounter. And I'm pretty sure you can find encounter generators through out the web if you just want random ones... I've not messed with them because normally I'm after a certain type of bad guy due to the setting.

I dont really used them myself, but as far as random generators go there's a few that pop up with a quick Google search:

http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eEncounterGen/

Is a pretty generic one at first glance that lets you generate an encounter based on the number of players and their level. The big plus that is has though is that if you're a DDI subscriber you can clink a link and it takes you straight to the monster card, if you don't have DDI it also lists the sourcebook and page for the monster. Through the advanced options though you can break away from the more generic look of it and start making the fights more unique and in line with what you want by making the bad guys controllers, leaders, etc and selecting how many of each.

http://donjon.bin.sh/4e/encounter/

This site has a ton of generators, everything from fantasy names to establishments. The encounter generator doesn't give you links to the actual monsters like the one above, but it lets you select a terrain to better have a chance of getting the right sort of monster. A fight with a bunch of goblins would normally take place in a mountain area obviously. It also lists out likely treasure that the mobs would be carrying.

So, you guys don't look at your party and tailor encounters for them?

In what regards?

Not particularly, no. But then again, I'm very new to DM-ing and have been going through a lot of trial and error learning how to work with groups. The story is tailored to them, but not the encounters.

~SE++

For example, I created an encounter with difficult terrain so the assassin in my group couldn't easily position herself to take out one of the main enemies. However, with three party members with decent ranged attacks, plus the assassin herself who could wield a light crossbow, the encounter wasn't as difficult as I originally intended, though it worked out almost exactly as I expected it would in terms of how the battle would progress... like, i anticipated most of the damage output, except the monsters rolled really terribly this time and the PCs rolled well to really well.

I like to think that part of the fun in creating characters is watching them perform exactly as they're supposed to, but then also watching them overcome something they didn't anticipate as well. The next encounter I have will embody some of that, I think, but it's still a thing I'm curious about ie other DMs.

Well I've only crafted a few fights as training aids to teach people, so again I'm not a voice of experience here, but...

When I start crafting fights, no, that's not how most of them would be. Once in a while I'd have a fight where certain characters are meant to excel, much like during the roleplay you have certain segments that focus on certain players, but not every fight would be hand catered to the group. While I can certainly see the appeal, I prefer to give the sense that the world the players are in is a real world and doesn't hinge on their presence in it.

I want my encounters to feel like this part of the story would be happening like this whether the good guys showed up with a balanced party, or five monks, or just a single person. Not simply some XP fodder for them to chomp through on the way to the big bad guy. It sort of reminds me some of the fights from games like World of Warcraft, where everyone has a 'job' to do and gets stuck doing that job. If the fight is designed for the archer to attack targets X and Y before they get into the fray then one of a few things happens : The archer feels like he's being strung along and has to attack those guys, the archer attacks other people instead of those guys and they make it to melee and the fight goes screwy, or like any D&D game a few dice rolls in one extreme or the other and suddenly the perfect plan fight goes south.

Its sort of like building a campaign I suppose, if you purposely plan for situation A ... the group is always going to end up doing situation D. You had back up plans for B and C, but the players never even considered them.

Hm, Ok. I guess my DM style is "hovering" too much. Maybe I'll slip in an extra random encounter.

Well, again, I'm not telling you what to do / what not to do, simply speaking my preference.

I don't favor random generators, but rather would prefer to build a fight from scratch using either generators or the MM as a good guide as far as the 'power level' of the encounter. You may also consider using a random encounter and then reskinning it to fit your flavor for whatever you need. That's one of the good things about RPGs is just cause the generator says its an 'Orc Raider' doesnt mean you cant simply swap all the flavor to make it a 'Human Barbarian' from the ferocious tribe of Blahblahblah. Find an enemy stats card that fits in the fight and make it into what you need to move your story along.