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Hey gang,
Congrats on making top 8 and good luck with round 4. I find myself in a paradox of envy as I'm jealous you've made it this far and not jealous of the deadline/task before you.
In an effort to help I'll likely state the obvious here but ti is intended as advice.
1) Referencing monsters/ncps can save word count if need be...
2) 1 monster without some serious upgrades and a good battle plan is a chump.
3) Too many monsters clutter the field if you go with numbers make sure there's at least one standout.
4) Superstar Monster should be the one you're highlighting from R3 if that means that monster is the boss great if not it should deliver the most devastating in the encounter.
5) It helps to consider the encounter a scene so there should be a set up, a climax of some sort, and if it were me an escape attempt by a villain might be the route I take. Tell a story.
6) Implying a bigger adventure is a valid tactic but it is super risky as it can overshadow the encounter.
7) Tell as much of the story with the map that you can. The map is your biggest chance to save word count and can strongly influence how your submission is read. Picture is first impression.
8) Traps are a trap. They can either look like you tossed it in or it can make the entry. Remember that traps can be triggered intentionally by your villain or your villain can be aware of the trap and attempt to maneuver a foe into one.
9) The worst thing you can do going underground is a boring predictable cave. The map needs something dynamic to make it work be it man made structures or natural features that make the environment interesting.
10) Pick the monster you want to use not the one you think no one else will. If that means we get 7 encounters using the same monster so be it. If one of your top 4 favorite monsters didn't make top 8 that might be the one.
Number 4 has tripped people up in past years. Not featuring the previous round monster as required is a deadly yet avoidable sin.
I think traps are the hardest thing to nail in this round. I suspect most encounters will look like they're sort of tossed in somewhere (as in past years), but if you can get it right, it will be a nice boost for you.
My favorite use of a trap from prior years was a jury rigged ball of poop and debris that rolled into highlighted squares when triggered by a drake I think. The rest of the encounter had flaws but that trap was well executed and cools as heck.
Edit: Found it!
Also I'll warn you in advance I look at the CRs and tend to think Paizo errs on the side of way too easy. When I run your encounters by my murderhobos I hope you use the tools available to make it fun...
I'm pretty sure the rules for this round said no, haunts do not count as traps for the purposes of this contest.
Edit: Yep. The rules say:
"Trap-like game elements such as hazards and haunts are not traps. You may use such things in your encounter, but they should not be the focus of the encounter."
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Some of you might find this helpful/relevant it sort of categorizes encounters a bit might be a good framework for something.