Okay here are my notes.  I don't know how fast this will progress and I'm making no promises but it's where I'm heading anyhow.

Open Stricture
   Rewriting a 3d6 points based rpg for no particular reason.
Factors
   Because character creation is point based, Open Stricture calls modifiers from Characteristics, Traits, and Skills Factors to avoid confusion.  Factors are normally added to success rolls when determining the results of actions attempted by the character.

Characteristics
   At the core of a character is a block of characteristics that measure their broad innate capabilities.  These start at zero, which is the human average, and can be improved or reduced for ten points per factor.

Awareness
   This measure of the individual's natural reasoning ability, focus, and awareness of their surroundings is used as a general modifier to accademic skills as well as rolls to detect and notice.
   
Coordination
   This measure of the individual's neuromuscular control and fine manipulation ability is used as a general modifier athletic skills and attempts to dodge attacks.

Resolve
   This measure of the individual's physical and mental endurance is used to overcome fatigue and resist mental attacks.

Strength
   This measure of the individual's size, build, and fitness level is used to carry burdens, lift loads, and wield weapons.

Statistics
   The following abilities are derived from the Characteristic values.

Movement Rate
   10 + Coordination

Hits
   The amount of damage a character can take before dying of their wounds is determined by adding twenty to the total of their Strength and Resolve.  They are knocked unconscious by half as much and critically wounded by any blow inflicting more than one quarter.

Hits To Kill = 20 + Strength + Resolve
Hits To Incapacitate = (20 + Strength + Resolve) / 2
Hits To Wound = (20 + Strength + Resolve) / 4

Base Damage
   The Strength factor determines the damage done by melee attacks as shown on the following table which shows damages for two handed, one handed, and unarmed attacks.

   2h   1h   u      
-8   +1   +1   0
-7   +2   +2   0
-6   1d   +2   +1
-5   1d+1   1d   +1
-4   1d+2   1d   +1
-3   2d   1d+1   +2
-2   2d+1   1d+1   +2
-1   2d+2   1d+2   +2
0   3d   1d+2   1d
+1   3d+1   2d   1d+1
+2   3d+2   2d   1d+1
+3   4d   2d+1   1d+1
+4   4d+1   2d+1   1d+2
+5   4d+2   2d+2   1d+2
+6   5d   2d+2   1d+2
+7   5d+1   3d   2d
+8   5d+2   3d   2d

Traits
   Traits represent specific details about a character which are not learned or covered by the characteristics.  Traits are binary in nature with the ability to increase or decrease them to spend or gain points.  Thus they can be beneficial or harmful as is necessary.  Traits are priced by their influence on success rolls to resist or overcome their effects.

Social 5 per factor
Physical 5 per factor
Mental 5 per factor
Natural 5 per factor
Supernatural +/- 10 per factor

Agility - Physical
   The coarse motor skills portion of Coordination.

Decency - Social
   There are those who naturally reach out to their fellows to succor them in times of need and there are those who are always looking for a sucker.

Dexterity - Physical
   The fine motor control and coordination portion of Coordination.  Most animals have reduced Dexterity because they have no hands.
 
Endurance - Physical
   The physical health and cardiovascular  aspect of Resolve.

Fitness - Physical
   The muscular development portion of Strength.  Fitness adds to the character's Hits and Melee Damage.

Independence - Mental
   The ability to act outside the bounds of social conventions and rules or the tendency to follow them.

Intelligence - Mental
   The mental learning, and reasoning portion of Awareness.  Intelligence modifies success rolls for academic skills.

Perception - Physical
   The alertness and reaction speed portion of Awareness.  Perception modifies rolls to detect, notice and seize the initiative.

Size - Physical
   The mass portion of Strength.  An overweight person may have a higher size than their Strength.  Size adds to the character's Hits and Melee damage but reduces Agility and

Willpower - Mental
   The mental portion of Resolve.  Willpower is used to overcome temptation and resist mental attacks.

Skills
   Learned abilities are represented by purchasing skills.  The cost of learning a skill is based on its difficulty, each factor of which can be bought off for one point.  Once a skill is fully learned to zero factors it can be improved for four points per factor.  While skills are added to Characteristics when making success rolls it is the factor that determines the actual level of training and experience.

   It is assumed that the time needed to learn a skill limits the rate at which factors can be developed.  No more than one factor can be developed in a given skill over the course of a year.  Thus cancelling out the difficulty factor for an Expert Skill would take at least four years.

Skills 4 per factor
Fundamental   -1
Trained   -2
Expert      -4

Languages - Accademic
   Each language is a separate skill.  Those from the same language family as the character's native tongue are Fundamental Skills while those which are extremely foreign or alien are considered Expert Skills. Written languages are treated as a closely related other language.  While Awareness improves vocabulary

Bows
Firearms
Melee Weapon
Thrown Weapon

Success Rolls
3d6 + Characteristic + Skill
Fumble 0-
Success 10+

Perfect 20+

Contests High Roll Wins
Defense Rolls
Parry: Melee Weapon + Coordination
Dodge: Coordination

Range Modifier
-0   10
-5   100
-10   1000


Hit Locations
1   Near Leg
      Foot
      Ankle
      Calf
      Knee
      Thigh
      Hip
2   Far Leg
3   Arm
      Hand
      Forearm
      Elbow
      Upper Arm
      Shoulder
4   Abdomen
      Groin
      Kidneys
      Liver
      Stomach
      Intestines
      Diaphram
5   Chest
      Heart
      Lungs
      Ribs
      Sternum
      Clavical
6   Head
      Eyes
      Jaw
      Skull
      Ears
      Nose

Weapon Stats
   Snap Fire Factor
   Aimed Fire Factor
   Range Increment Per -1 / die
   Penetration
   Damage
   Wounding
   Rate of Fire (Shots)

Autofire
   Roll 1d6 for each six shots to determine number of hits.   Roll 1d3 for 3rnd bursts.

4   1, 2-3, 4-5, 6
5   1,2,3-4,5, 6

So various things I'm poking around with this have got me moving away from the core GURPS structure.

First off +1 = 10 points is going to be a pretty standard model for skills, stats, and traits.  This will allow modifiers to apply to the cost per point.

I'm going to try setting the breadth of the skills fairly high to match that and then allow levels of specialization to narrow things down.

I'm not happy with the stat structure above and it will be changing.  

There will be a life path structure parallel to the points system that will prevent things like dumping 40 points into guns.

Damage is moving to 1d / 5 points with 3 dice at 0 Strength, this will allow a -10 Strength to do 1d damage and make the system more functional for small stuff.

1d
1d+1
1d+2
2d-2
2d-1
2d
2d+1
2d+2
3d-1
3d-2
3d

And so on.

Okay, messing around with ideas some more there are somethings I'll be implementing.

Full Polyhedral Dice Set or Just d6s it will work either way.

Soft levels and classes.  The levels will mainly be a combat ability gauge.  The classes are somewhere between life path careers and templates.  They have fixed requirements that must be met to get a faster improvement rate on related skills and appropriate gear for free.

What I'm thinking about doing with this is creating a system for people who want to make settings and stuff without being rebuffed by the company.  I don't think it'll be open source because I'd like there to be some quality and compatibility control but it will be open minded.

Here is a newer draft that reflects my current thinking better.  Note that the high default penalties for skills are the result of them being added to a base ten characteristics and then to a success roll.  I could have zero centered the characteristics or made the base target number 20 but since they'll also be used as target numbers themselves and as fixed values going with the traditional 3-18 scale made more sense.  Also notice that a core characteristic and traits relating to it can be increased by +5 during character creation for an effective +10.  Gotta watch that stacking.

Characters
   Characters are built using character points.  No Core Characteristic, Trait, or Skill can be improved or reduced by more than five factors during character creation.  Most brave young adventurers would be built on 50 points.

Factors
   Because character creation is point based, Open Stricture calls modifiers from Characteristics, Traits, and Skills Factors to avoid confusion.  Factors are normally added to success rolls when determining the results of actions attempted by the character.

Core Characteristics
   All characters are rated for the three Core Characteristics: Awareness, Coordination, and Strength.  These start with ten factors, which is the human average, and can be increased or decreased for ten points per factor.  The associated bonus for use in success rolls is ten factors lower.

Awareness is the basis for Academic Skills and Activities.

Coordination is the basis for Athletic Skills and Activities.

Strength is the basis for hand to hand damage and resisting damage.

Str   d6      Poly
0   1d      1d6   
1   1d +1      1d6+1
2   1d+2      1d8
3   1d+3      1d8+1
4   2d-1      1d10
5   2d      1d10+1
6   2d+1      1d12
7   2d+2      1d10+1d4
8   3d-2      1d10+1d6
9   3d-1      1d10+1d6+1
10   3d      1d10+1d8
11   3d+1      1d10+1d8+1
12   3d+2      2d10
13   4d-2      1d12+1d10
14   4d-1      1d12+1d10+1
15   4d      2d12
16   4d+1      2d12+1
17   4d+2      1d12+1d10+1d4
18   5d-2      2d12+1d4
19   5d-1      2d12+1d4+1
20   5d      2d12+1d6   

Traits
   Traits modify specific game mechanics including aspects of the Core Characteristics.  Traits cost or provide 5 points per factor.

Features
   Features are free parts of a character that are obtained by meeting a set of qualifications.  For instance a drivers or firearms license costs no points but does require skill in the driving or firearms.  Similarly a reputation modifier is a free feature relating to skills or traits and is not purchased.

Physical
   Agility
   Constitution
   Dexterity
   Size
   Toughness
Mental
   Creativity
   Memory
   Reason
   Perception
Social
   Charisma
   Willpower

Skills
   Every skill gives a bonus to a specific learned activity.  Skills cost 5 points per point.  There are many specialties covered by each skill, these have a “default penalty” which must be bought off one point at a time.

For example Magic +3, Enchantment (Expert) Awareness-10 would cost 15 + 10 = 22 points.

      Penalty
Fundamental   0
Trained   -5
Expert      -10

Athletic
   Climb
   Run
   Swim
Academic
   Magic
   Sciences
Craft
   Carpentry
   Cooking
   Stone Work
   Metal Work
Melee
   Axes
   Swords
   Spears
   Shields
Missile
   Bows
   Firearms
   Artillery
   Gunnery
Technical
   Automobiles
   Computers
   Star Drives

Resolution
   Roll over target number on 3d6 or 1d20.  Beating the target number by ten or more indicates an exceptional success.  Missing the target number by ten or more indicates an exceptional failure.  Most actions will have a +/-5 modifier for taking more or less time.

Sequence
   The order in which combatants take their actions is fixed from one turn to the next.

Sequence
   The order in which combatants take their actions is fixed from one turn to the next using the total of their Awareness, Coordination, Agility, and Perception to set the order from highest total to lowest.

Attacking
   The base target number for an attack is the target’s Agility + Coordination + Melee Weapon Skill if in hand to hand combat.  Ranged weapons have a Snap Fire and Aimed Fire modifier as well as a Range rating.  For each increment of Range the chance to hit is reduced by five and the Damage is reduced by one point per die.

Armor
   Armor acts to spread out, absorb and deflect the force of attacks.  If the armor is harder than the weapon it is more likely to deflect the force of the blow.  Deflection is the number of damage points subtracted from successful attacks.  Structure is the amount of damage the armor can absorb before falling apart.  Armor is damaged by attacks and will never absorb more than it deflects.
         D   A
Leather Armor   3   30 Hard Organic
Chain Mail   6      60 Soft Metal
Plate Armor   9      90 Hard Metal

Small Weapons - 5 Strength or 1d6
Two Handed Melee Weapons  +5 Strength or 1d6

Armor and Weapons are rated for their material type.  Against weaker materials armor's Deflection is doubled.  Some weapons and armor have the ignores or impervious trait regarding a material type which indicates the deflection is halved or doubled.

Soft Organic (Skin)
Soft Stone
Hard Organic (Claws, Teeth, Bone)
Soft Metal (or flexible)
Hard Stone
Soft Synthetic
Hard Metal
Hard Synthetic

Anyhow here's a current breakdown on some traits.  Note that even though they're free the listed Features are still limited to +/- 5 in character creation.

Traits
   Traits modify specific game mechanics including aspects of the Core Characteristics.  Traits cost or provide 5 points per factor.

Features
   Features are free parts of a character that are obtained by meeting a set of qualifications.  For instance a drivers or firearms license costs no points but does require skill in the driving or firearms.  Similarly a reputation modifier is a free feature relating to skills or traits and is not purchased.

Driver's Liscence
Requirements
Perception + Awareness 8+
Appropriate Driving Skill - 1


Physical Traits
   Agility
      Agility modifies the character’s Coordination with regards to their gross motor control and movement of their entire body.

   Constitution
      Constitution modifies rolls to resist poisons and diseases and to recover from injuries.

   Dexterity
      Dexterity modifies the character’s Coordination for tasks involving fine motor control and the manual manipulation of objects.

Large Claws allow the character to attack as if armed with a pair of one handed edged weapons made of hard organic materials but reduce their Dexterity by five.  

Large Teeth allow the character to attack as if they were armed with a two handed edged weapon made of hard organic materials.

   Toughness
      Toughness modifies the character’s ability to absorb damage from attacks.

Size increases the character’s Strength but reduces their Coordination.

Mental Traits
   Creativity
      Creativity modifies the character’s Artistic skills.

   Memory
      Memory modifies the character’s Knowledge skills

   Reason
      Reason modifies the character’s Scientific skills.

   Perception
      Perception modifies the character’s chance of noticing things.
Social Traits

   Charisma
      Charisma modifies the character’s Social skills.

Decency adds to a character’s reputation in their home area but reduces their resistance to requests for aid.

Honor adds to a character’s reputation in their home area but increases the difficulty of dishonorable actions.

Willpower
   Willpower modifies the character’s resistance to social and mental attacks.

When firing missile weapons the action penalty is based on the action.  Aimed fire is when a weapon is fired while stationary, only one other action can be taken in the round.

Snap fire is any shooting which is done while moving or changing targets in a round.  This penalty is per shot and is exclusive with the additional actions penalty as all the shooting counts as a single action.

With automatic weapons only the first shot counts as aimed and the rest count as snap.

Snap Fire Modifier

Eye Bite 0
Pocket Pistol / Wand -1
Pistol -2
Submachine Gun / Short Bow -3
Carbine -4 / Long Bow
Rifle -5 / Cross Bow

Aimed Fire Modifier
Eye Bite  / Short Bow 0
Pocket Pistol / Long Bow Wand +1
Pistol +2 / Cross Bow
Submachine Gun +3
Carbine +4
Rifle +5

Range Penalty
10m  0
12m  -1
16m  -2
28m  -3
46m  -4
100m -5
124m -6
160m -7
288m -8
465m -9
1000m -10

A bit of a change to skills, reflecting evolving design philosophy.

All Skills cost 5 points to train which can be done one point at a time since the default penalty is -5. Improving skills costs 5 points per factor.  Fundamental skills are either so simple that they don't have a default penalty and advanced skills require a prerequisite skill of equal or higher level.  I'll need to go through the Traits a bit to make this work but let me explain the reasons.

1) I don't want Traits to improve skills, if you want to improve a skill, improve a skill.  So I'm going to scale all the traits back to where they don't affect skills.  This may mean removing some traits.  

2) One frequently heard complaint about GURPS is that skills are priced by difficulty while everything else is priced by usefulness.  I'm not totally sure that the second part is true but I am sure that I'm going to make the Open Stricture agnostic as to difficulty and usefulness.

3) One price fits all is simpler and cleaner.

Now here's a section of breakdowns on acquiring certain features reflecting a modern action game I want to run.  One of the things I really want to stay away from is charging points for stuff that comes and goes.  Does your character really lose five points when their underworld contact gets shot?  I don't think I'll be handing out points for personality traits either.  Social benefits and reaction modifiers yes, more points to buy skills and stats, no.

It's a good thing that producing a GURPS retroclone or staying compatible with GURPS isn't one of my goals because we're far from that map now and not looking for a way back.  I guess I'd call it making a game that does what I wanted GURPS to do at this point.  GURPS Heartbreaker anyone?

Incidentally I find building stuff like this very useful when assembling a skill list.

Modern Background Paths

New Money      20 points
   The character’s parents made their money through hard work and determination and they expect the same of their children.

   Accounting      +1
   Information      +1
   Features
      Notoriety
      Wealth

Old Money      10 points
   The character’s parents inherited their money from their parents and they from their parents before them for hundreds of years.  They have been enrolled in the finest schools, had tutors, and every other cultured advantage.

   Two From:
      Dance      0
      Etiquette    0
      Music      0
      Sing      0
   Features
      Prestige
      Wealth

Modern Career Paths

Modern Fundamental Skills
   Climb, Computer, Interaction, Drive, Swim
   
Army, Enlisted      10 points
   The common soldier has been the basis for military forces since ancient times.  Modern soldiers are expected to bring practical skills to the table as well as combat ability.

   Climb         0
   Drive         0
   Swim         0
   Fire Arm      0
   One MOS From:   
      Construction   0
      Cook      0   
      Information   0
      Gunner   0
      Medic      0
      Mechanic   0
      Signals   0
Features
   Access To Equipment
   Military Service

Army, Officer         15 Points
   The upper crust of the military are trained and quartered apart from the common grunts.  It would not do for an officer to have any personal attachment to the men they may have to send to their deaths.
   Climb         0
   Drive         0
   Firearm      0
   Information      0
   Leader         0
   Signals      0
   Swim         0
Features
   Access To Equipment
   Military Service
   Officer

Army, Special Forces      45 points
   The elite warriors of the modern age.  Even in times of peace the special forces are likely to see combat.
   Climb         +1
   Drive         +1
   Stealth      +1
   Swim         +1
   Fire Arm      +1
   One MOS From:   
      Information   +1
      Mechanic   +1
      Signals   +1
Features
   Access To Equipment
   Military Service

Navy, Enlisted      10 points
   Boat         0
   Firearm      0
   Swim         0
   One MOS From:
      Information   0
      Gunner   0   
      Mechanic   0
      Medic      0
      Metal Work   0
      Signals   0
Features
   Access To Equipment
   Military Service

Navy, Officer         25 points
   Boat         0
   Firearm      0
   Information      0
   Leader         0
   Signals      0
   Swim         0
Features
   Access To Equipment
   Military Service
   Officer

Navy, Special Forces      45 points
   Boat         0
   Climb         0
   Diving      0
   Firearm      +1
   Stealth      +1
   Swim         +1
   One MOS From:
      Demolition   +1
      Diving   +1
      Medic      +1
      Signals   +1

Okay, I've settled in on:

Skills: 5 points per factor with 5 point unskilled penalty to buy off.
Traits: 10 points per factor
Characteristics:15 points per factor

I think that should balance the over purchasing of any of them.  Combat level will be the best combat skill bonus but I don't think I'll be using a level cap after all.  Getting this cost breakdown right is pretty important so I'll probably play with it a bit yet.

Here's some more detail on the combat round.

Rounds
   Combat is played out in ten second rounds during which each combatant can take one or more actions.  There is a five point penalty to success rolls and defensive Agility for each action after the first.

Sequence
   The order in which combatants take their actions is fixed from one round to the next using the total of their Awareness, Coordination, Agility, and Perception to set the order from highest total to lowest.

Pausing and Waiting
   Combatants are not required to use their entire turn.  Sometimes they will want to see what happens or wait for someone else to act.  A pause action delays the rest of their turn and counts as an action allowing the turn of another combatant to be interrupted using their current accumulated penalty for total actions in a round.  A wait action delays a single future action at no further penalty allowing a combatant to leap out of the shadows to seize an unwitting victim from behind as the walk past or fire on a foe as they dash between hiding places.  Both actions delay their future actions to the point in the sequence that they interrupted for the rest of the combat.  If an action is delayed past the end of the round the delayed action and all accumulated penalties are held over into the next round.

Movement
   Most characters move 10 meters per action.  The faster they run the harder it is to turn,  number of move actions taken in a round is also the number of meters they must move straight ahead before turning sixty degrees.

Okay, a few big changes and a pdf of the current character stuff so you can see the tabs in place.

http://www3.telus.net/public/uncouths/OSChar.pdf

What I've done is remove the core characteristics entirely from skills and made them exclusively things that act as quantities rather than modifiers.  This really made it click for me.  The core characteristics are also used as target numbers for resisted tasks which does a good job of hiding that pesky +/-10 factor.

I'm also happier with the point costs as the stand now.  Characteristics don't wind up being prohibitavely expensive and traits don't wind up being a bargain compared to skills.

It's drifted a long ways from GURPS by now but that's good.  I'd rather move ahead than just copy someone else's work.  I still like GURPS, she may have put on a bit of weight with age but there's a lot an older lady can teach a guy.