Today,
I've deconstructed the concept of a random encounter table heavily by borrowing concepts from the pyramid article
It's a Threat! and
Dungeon Fantasy 2. I think the end result solves the big problems that random encounter tables try to solve (getting an interesting fight together quickly) while solving two problems they introduce (too much work to set up, and the propensity to, despite requiring so much work, still spit out bland repetitive encounters)