[sonic232]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I mentioned Stealth for a reason. It's almost always in a contest with sense rolls, not another skill.

Fair enough, unless the one trying to be snuck past is specifically looking for those hidden (very typical when actively guarding a location), in which case you would use Observation or Electronics Operation depending on the method, with appropriate bonuses for equipment!

Originally Posted by johndallman

I'm not sure this is a good idea. A lot of details in GURPS assume that you'll be rolling dice and "roll three dice, add them up, wanting to roll under your skill number" isn't very complicated. If people new to GURPS play this way, and then switch to dice, they'll have to unlearn some things, which is harder than learning new things.

Again, fair enough. Still, a fun experiment to mess around with to see how one could use the system to go diceless without making major tweaks to what's already there.

Originally Posted by Desthro

If you want to use a diceless system, I would suggest using some other sort of engine like the FATE point economy and assume that everyone rolls a "0" on the dice. I would soften it a little bit, and use advantages and disadvantages to determine "aspects" for invoking or compelling, and provide "soft" bonuses for being more skilled, better prepared, having skill in situations that call for it, etc. Might take a little tweaking, but it would probably get some mileage. Unfortunately, you would end up with the situation where it is more beneficial to be a jack of all trades as opposed to mastering a few areas.

This is basically what the system would already encourage: Everybody starts on the same level, with the advantages that give you situational skill bonuses applying as they normally would determining success or failure.

Originally Posted by Desthro

An example could be Attractive, Beautiful/Handsome, Very Beautiful/Handsome may only provide additional benefit when being compared to another attractive person. Or, since it is leveled, you might allow it to be invoked more than once in order to gain more benefit.

That's what Appearance's bonus to Reaction Rolls would do if you did all rolls as base 11 ;) And Action has rules for 'Hamming it up', where you apply penalties based on per -5 points in a disadvantage. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that somebody could CALL you on a disadvantage once per session to give the same penalty.

Originally Posted by Desthro

I could see it working really well with GURPS, though it would be a bit more of a bother ;)

Yeah, it would, but like I said, its a fun exercise (at least to me). There's been more than one Pyramid article that involves changing how you do dice rolls. Why not a way to eliminate them altogether?

Originally Posted by Desthro

Edit 1: though with the stealth-20 example, in GURPS they are largely going to go by undetected anyway, and high skill only serves to maintain your advantage against people with above-average Per.

My thoughts exactly, plus the point that somebody can counter with Observation or Electronics Operation if they're actively looking for people rather than just standing around.