I am making a horribly generic RPG, but I don't really care. I am making it to prove that I can make it. I have a turn-based one on one combat system, like Dragon Warrior 1. If you want to be technical it's like the side-view from FF games, but one on one like DW1. But that doesn't mattter. I am wondering how I should determine if there are fights in a given region. Right now I have an area that I place on tiles that can have random enemy encounters. The problem is I also have areas for other things. I am wondering what the alternatives are to using an area for this. Basically, is there a better way to do this, if so what is it?

Oh, the enemy it picks as the random enemy is dependent on your z-coordinate. That's a pretty crummy way to do it, and that's why I'd like to change it. Any suggestions are appreciated.