the Jester
Legend
I think that, ideally, you would never actually have a random encounter, but the players would always act like it was a real possibility.
Different strokes and all that. I totally disagree with you. Random encounter charts are meaningless if you don't actually use them (IMHO).
If I was running a full out sandbox campaign, then yes I would be all over having T-Rex out taking a stroll along the savanna buffet. But in my current game which is more story driven, I could see it being nothing more than window dressing, or at worst the players getting very side tracked with the novelty of dino hunting. Plus I'll admit to not wanting a wandering monster to overshadow the set pieces that do move the story along.
Which brings up an interesting point- do sandbox campaigns tend to use random encounters/wandering monsters more than story-driven ones? I suspect the answer is yes.