Sneaking

Sneaking alows you to move quietly and slowly past potential listeners without being heard.

Doing Things Sneakily

Many movements can be made while sneaking, such as climbing, jumping, and opening doors.

Risk of Hearing

Your sneaking chance risks the hearing chance of anyone who might hear you. The better their hearing, the harder sneaking past them will be. If you mess up your sneaking chance, you will usually make a noise that will be heard.

Dexterity Factor

It takes light feet and carefully coordinated movement to sneak silently. Your dexterity factor adds to your hiding chances.

Skill Factor

There are right ways and wrong ways to move silently. Move all your joints to emphasize fluid stepping. Avoid lazy movements, stiffening of the knees and swinging the entire leg from the hip.

Maintain your weight and balance on your grounded leg while you move the other leg into position to bear the weight. When absolute silence is a must, avoid distributing your weight over both legs at the same time.

Speed Factor

To move quietly you must slow down. You can sneak and move up to half of your walking speed. At more than half and up to your full speed, you have –25% sneaking chances. It’s very difficult to sneak while running, giving a –100% sneaking chances.

You can sneak while crawling. Sometimes crawling makes more noise then slow walking because more of your body is touching the ground, especially outdoors.

Weight Factor

The more equipment you carry the the heaver you get and the more noise it makes. Even clothing may make noise as you move.

Carrying Factor

Some gear is noisier than others, causing specific sneaking chance factors.

Examples of noisy equipment to avoid:

Loose change, keychains, creaking leather, sloshing water in canteens, unstealthed dog tags.

Surface Factor

Some surfaces are noisier than others to move across. Sneaking necessitates picking the most silent path possible but if you must traverse a noisy surface like crunchy snow, creaky boards, clanging metal or crackling leaves, you have a –20% or worse chance. Surfaces and noisy objects being touched can both be squeaky, such as floors and doors. Moisture, gravel and sticky substances like chewing gum and sap can make noise by scraping or sticking to the ground as you walk.

Noise Factor

Background noise can drown out the sounds of your movement, though some sounds may only be audible for a short time such as overflying planes and passing cars.

Excerpt from “The Mystic Arts of the Ninja” by Stephen K. Hayes

Maintain balance control by allowing your body weight to sink and be carried by deeply flexed knees.

Breathing Factor

Remember to breathe along with your movement. Unconsciously holding your breath can unknowingly produce unneeded muscle tension, and could result in gasping release of breathe if you are startled or accidentally unbalanced. Overexerting yourself will make your breathing louder and give you away (See Endurance).

Awareness Factor

Watching where you step to avoid noisy surfaces and debris is essential for sneaking over irregular terrain. This focus may hamper your chance of seeing other things, Stay alert to the entire scene. Do not become so engrossed in watching your feet that you do not notice other elements entering the surroundings.

Darkness Factor

When sneaking through dark areas, it becomes more difficult to see noisy surfaces and obstructions. Use your hands to probe for obstructions to the front and sides with one arm higher and one arm lower.

Dealing With Discovery

Pause and hold your position if you feel that you have accidentally caused too much noise. Listen for signs that you were heard, such as the movement of others or the immediate silencing of background noise following your slip. Sink a little lower on your knees to physically relax that could normally jump into your body with alarm. Take a deep breathe and release it slowly to further relax. Continue your pause for as long as you feel is necessary to regain composure and allow possible listeners to decide they did not hear anything after all.

Sneaking is a cat-and-mouse game in which you listen for signs of others. When you detect someone who might hear you, you must take greater care to be quiet by maximizing all positive factors.

Be as patient as possible. If speed of travel is not important, take as much time as you can. Impatience and the resultant hasty movement that it encourages are the greatest dangers to the person who must move silently without detection.

Keep your movement appropriate to your surroundings. Do not go to greater lengths than necessary to conceal your movement, while at the same being aware of what others entering the area may see if they cannot hear. Total silence may not be needed when moving through wooded or densely populated areas where scattered noise is a natural part of the environment. Also be aware that low profile crawling or sliding ma be the only way to move silently without being seen in some locations.

Simulation: Sneaking Training

When you engage in stealth you get "tested" at the start of your usage to perform the actual skill. This is enough to "start the motor" and let the simulation take over from there while you focus on other tasks.

Careful Step Placement

You actually look down and choose quiet places to step to avoid snapping branches and crunchy leaves in favor of soft and clear spots. You glance at your feet and click a few spots in advance and then look back up to maintain your awareness.

Easing Step Pressure

You control your steps:
lifting your foot clear of any scuffing.
Circling it wide away from your other leg to avoid scuffing.
An eased movement of your foot forward.
A pullback of your weight at the end as gravity carries your foot to the ground against your countermovement.

Stable Body Movement

Gear makes noise so a stabilization of your body movements as you move will keep things like carried water from sloshing.