Don't even think of it without GPS and radar cover.
Wow. How does one imagine we manage to navigate without GPS?
One should be able to do so quite well, else one ought not be navigating.
Is this broadly correct or should I aim for an off-set of a beacon to avoid dangers of collision over a beacon, etc.
Generally one should plan to a waypoint, rather than offsetting to one side or the other.
When planning RNAV or GPS waypoints, one differentiates between "flyover" and "fly past" waypoints, but in planning a flight under VFR or IFR, one generally lays out the waypoints that define the route. If you pick DOV VOR, for example, you're naming that as a waypoint on the route, and your flight is planned to fly to that VOR, then on to another waypoint. A waypoint can be an intersection, a point along an airway arranged by name, distance/radial, or any other means, but one defines the route by waypoints. Waypoints can be airports, NDB's, VOR's, or simply RNAV/GPS intersections (if that's the form of navigation you'll be using). Your flight plan presumes to fly directly to each of these waypoints, one after the other, thus laying out the course you intend to take.
In practice, when actually flying a route, it's common to offset to the right by a little bit. Today with GPS navigation as accurate as it often is, aircraft can find themselves within a few meters or less of an airway centerline most of the time. This puts all the aircraft on the same airway in the same place, which isn't necessarily good.
Offsetting to the right a little creates a little more spacing.
Operating around the world, it's very common to have other aircraft pass directly over or under us, because they're following the same airway that we are, precisely. It's very common for crews to offset a mile, two miles, or three miles off track, paralleling the intended course.
This isn't necessary, but it's good practice, or technique. If each aircraft approaches a waypoint from opposite directions, each offset one mile, then they've gained two miles of separation. This is useful.
In any case, for planning purposes, generally you plan from waypoint to waypoint, until your journey is complete. You can begin and end your journey with a departure procedure and an arrival, and simply plan your flight to a fix on the arrival, then name the arrival, if you like. Likewise, you can simply use an airway and name the airway, rather than citing each waypoint in the airway. You can enter and leave the airway at any point; simply file to a point along the airway (needn't be a VOR), and at some point when you want off the airway, file from the point you want off to a new waypoint some place else.
As others have noted, in Class G, you're fairly free to do as you will because it's uncontrolled.