NPC Escalation

The concept of power levels for NPCs has gone through a series of changes over time. In particular I am talking about static NPCs; guardsmen, merchants, beggars, townsfolk, mayors. The sort of every day people that are constants in any setting. Player characters rarely interact with these sorts of NPCs in a truly adversarial way, but it can happen on occasion, especially if the party is of an evil bent or does a lot of social interaction.
I am not talking about the monsters and villains the characters will be fighting, though some of my points could apply to them as well.

Back in the day the level of an NPC was static. The level was determined by the location of where they were from and what seemed most appropriate. Guardsmen in a city were a higher level than those for a village. It made more sense that way, as a city had a higher number of available guardsmen so logically it made sense those of a higher level would be made guardsmen. In addition, guardsmen in a city had to deal with higher level threats and thus could be expected to be of a level high enough to deal with them (excluding the threats only a PC hero could handle).

Rotting Ghoul- 4E Monster

Rotting Ghoul

The rotting ghoul is an undead barely held together. At first creation it appears much the same as any other ghoul but as time goes on parts start to rot off. Unfortunately, they have a unique and grotesque way of gaining new body parts. They can rip a missing part off another corpse and attach it to themselves, fusing with the part. They also can restore their health by eating the dead.
The lair of a rotting ghoul band usually contains a number of dead corpses both for feeding when hunting is poor but also to heal themselves if their lair is ever invaded.

It's Not the Game System

There are a multitude of rpg systems out there. Want to play a game where you can crunch the numbers to make yourself powerful, try the Shadowrun rules. Want an "old-school" fantasy game, try the Mazes and Monsters system. Want a game that blurs the line between GM and player, try the Mouseguard system. There are a plethora of game systems out there that target a wide variety of styles.

However, the thing to remember is that a game system is only a tool to helping a group accomplish what they want out of a game session. Whether or not a group has fun on any particular gaming night is not dictated by the system.

Twist It

The genre of fantasy (and RPG games in general) is full of clichés. Clichés can be like comfort food, something we all know and like. For people new to rpgs they make things easier and get them in the mood. However, they can be, and often are, overused. They become tired and unexciting by virtue of having seen them before. Eventually there has to be a shift away from using the stereotypical encounter.
However, I say there are many times we still want to use the cliché.

Here are some typical rpg situations most of us have seen before:

Earth Guardian- 4E Monster

Earth Guardian

Earth Guardians can be summoned by those with the proper rituals to protect an area. To be more specific they are a part of the consciousness of an elemental chaos being. This segment of the consciousness is imbued into a collection of common earth or rock and given just enough sentience to allow the guardian to complete its assigned task. The original chaos being is aware of the theft of a portion of its mind, but they seldom can do anything about it.