hi hi
So, it turns out that I goofed up a little bit. I had some rules for alertness and observing that I thought I had written down in the rules document, but in actuality they were only in my head. (There's a few more of those kinds of rules, I'm sure of it, but I'll have to get to them when I get to them.) Since it may be relevant soon, I would like to quickly go over how alertness and observing works. Imagine that your character is a guard, just like in Fallout 3 or NV. If you're facing away from someone, its harder to spot them sneaking up on you.
Normally, when you are sneaking, hiding yourself, hiding an object, or just being a hard-to-see-inanimate-object; you roll your relevant skill + SPECIAL. Usually (Stealth + Agility) for sneaking, (Stealth + Perception) for finding a good hiding spot, or (Object Rating) for a small object. ((There are also some generic modifiers for distance and visibility, etc.))
The target number for that roll is anyone else's Alertness score.
When you are actively looking for something, you can increase your Alertness score by designating something or some direction that you are looking. Your Alertness is increased for that specific thing or direction, and
decreased for all others. How big of a bonus/penalty you get depends on how specific you are. (So observe carefully)
For example:
• If you are walking down the street and you are looking for traps. You would get a +5 bonus to your Alertness to spot a trap, while you would get a -5 penalty to your alertness to spot a pony trailing you.
• If you are looking specifically for tripwires, you would get a +10 bonus to finding a tripwire. However, you would get a -10 penalty to spot a proximity detonator buried under a pile of rubble.
• If you are searching in front of you, it is +5 to things in front of you, -5 to things to each side and behind you.
I hope this helps.
