I am running a Call of Cthulhu campaign, just generated a character for a 3rd ed D&D game, have a play by post S&W character kind of still in play and an active play by mail De Profundis character. Guess what? I know had my brain bounce unto another game. Gamer ADD...
Savage Worlds is a game where they explicitly in the book tell you not to invent new stuff for it when adapting it to another setting. Since I have been there myself (WH40k, for those who are curious), I can confirm that that is sound advice. The stats are the same in all settings, the skills are the same and most of the Edges and Hindrances are the same. What do differentiates are the so called Trappings, and some specific setting and flavour enhancing Edges. I kind of like this idea, and I guess it makes sense for most people who had played a bunch of D&D characters who actually differed very slightly from the others within the same class and level.
So, I know that I never managed to feel comfortable with the skill list in Rolemaster 2nd ed. It was something like 15 skills, and they were very general. You did have the optional so called Secondary Skills, which on the other hand in some cases was ridiculously specialized. I guess the line developers thought something similar when they developed 3rd ed which had something more like a 100 skills! Maybe you could combine old school Rolemaster with the Savage Worlds way of thinking?
What I'm thinking of is to make each of the Professions in RM each give you a few of those Secondary Skills and differentiators, just like the setting specific Edge in a Savage Worlds game makes that character with the same skills different from another character in another setting. It is the same line of thinking that lies behind the old school feats suggestion (which might or might not be a popular idea. I got many visitors to the blog that day, but few comments...) of making two level 2 fighters be different somehow.
The question is of course if I managed to develop the idea before I get interested in another game...