Has anyone ever attached experience points to dungeon exploration? e.g. The party covers X amount of area in a dungeon and gets Y amount of experience points.
I do something like this currently, since I hate the fact that xp is focused almost solely upon the combat pillar. I wouldn't do xp per area, just like I wouldn't do xp for gp like AD&D, since it just doesn't translate as well. What I've done is I broken xp into four categories: monster experience (MXP), exploration experience (EXP), social experience (SXP), and the occasional quest experience (QXP). The amount of xp for the adventure doesn't change, so it shifts the focus away from combat towards the other two pillars.
Combat has been the primary source of xp for a long time. In 1E, players got way more experience for treasure, so combat was avoided whenever possible, since the risk/reward ratio was bad. Non-combat xp was still significant in 2E, but by 3E it was largely negligible. To cover the xp given out to the rest of the pillars, combat only provides half the normal xp value, making direct combat less desirable.
Exploration encounters are fun, and really a core aspect of the original game. Every trick, trap, and noteworthy check in the adventure is given an EXP value, largely based on difficulty. Tricks, such as secret doors and misdirection, should be rewarded for overcoming, but they usually have the lowest amount of EXP since they're not really problematic. Traps have an EXP value based on difficulty to notice and counter, as well as the impact of the effect, as either defeating or enduring the trap awards EXP. Puzzle and other notable checks aren't common, but they usually have a good amount of EXP attached, rewarding the players for succeeding against them.
Social encounters are tricky, and I try very hard not to have any be required to complete an adventure. I try to place NPCs that can specifically provide assistance with a successful social encounter, and they provide SXP if convinced. If players manage to convince NPCs not specifically related to the adventure into aiding them, I look to see if there's a similar social encounter this would eliminate to give the SXP. If players negotiate their way past enemies, the MXP becomes SXP.
Quest experience isn't used very often, usually just to encourage the players to follow through on an adventure. Some adventures can be bailed on with little cost/penalty, and when this happens I put a good chunk of the adventure's xp into QXP they only get upon fully completing the task. It doesn't come up often, but it's much more frequent during side quests of the main campaign.
