What should be included in a standard 4E D&D encounter? How would this be written in the adventure?

Question

I'm a big D&D fan, but haven't played in ten years or so. The last time I played, it was AD&D 2nd edition. I am trying to write an adventure for a friend, and I'm sort of confused as to what needs to be included about monsters within the adventure text itself. Do I just copy the info from the Monster Manual, or just put in the basic, most important info? Thanks. I'll clarify this if necessary!

Answer 1

Here is what a typical (small) encounter produced by WOTC looks like.

Notice what the monster stat blocks look like. They provide some basic information and all that a DM needs to run the module.

So it includes

1. Top Green Bar

   • Name of Monster
   • Level of Monster
   • Monster Fighting style (Soldier, Brute, Solo, etc)
   • XP provided by Monster
   • Monster type (small, large, humanoid etc.)
   • Letter of the Monster corresponding to the Encounter Map

2. Important Monster stats

   • Initiative and Perception
   • Total HP and Bloodied values
   • AC, Wil, Ref, Fort
   • Immunities and Speed and other combat related skills like stealth (if any)
3. Monster Attacks
   • Attacks have their own special icons to tell you what type of attack it is, and if its rechargeable etc.
4. Additional Monster stats
   • Alignment
   • Languages
   • Attribute Scores
5. Equipment

Answer 2

If you want to make an encounter look familiar to 4E GMs by matching the format used in modules and dragon magazine, you will want to:

• Name the encounter
• Describe the context of the encounter
• List the creatures in the encounter along with the letter (or letters) used on the tactical map.
• Show a tactical map for the encounter
• Provide some read aloud text, and other "pre encounter" detail.
• List the stat blocks for the creatures in the encounter
• Provide suggested tactics
• Describe the features of the area, along with any special game effects of those features
• Describe any events, challenges or changes that may come up during or as a result of the encounter
• List any treasure found in the encounter.